Meagon

This one truly surprised me. It is so haunting in its descriptions and prose. The terror of facing some supernatural evil that no one else believes in or sees, and having that compounded with how women have been treated for centuries… Absolutely chilling story. It does follow three different timelines and I know some people aren’t fans of that sort of storytelling, but it’s used so well here. The differing stories enrich each other rather than distracting from the mounting unease and helpless fear.

I’ll definitely need to read more of this series. This first installment does a good job of laying the groundwork of what seems to be a wacky, gory good time. I’m interested to find out more about the little task force Chainsaw Man finds himself a part of and what exactly their impact on devils is. The artwork is great, I love the character designs.

This was going to be 5 ⭐️s with the unique lore and world building; the characters were so relatable and I was SO invested in them and their struggles. Then that ending comes and punches you right in the chest. I felt like the ending took away the whole point of the story. If there’s ever a sequel, I will absolutely rush to snatch it up because I need closure. 😅🤣

3.5 ⭐️s

I don’t normally do .5 ratings, but this one is definitely better than a 3 but not quite a 4. I loved the unique lore and world building of this novel where zombies are sentient. Angel is a fun protagonist and I was absolutely rooting for her the whole way. The end felt rushed and I had figured out the “mysteries” pretty early on in the book. But I couldn’t put it down and will get to the 2nd in the series sometime soon.

5 ⭐️s

I thoroughly enjoyed this retelling of Poe’s work. I tend to love the premise of gothic stories but end up let down by the end. This one wasn’t like that. I enjoyed the characters, especially their banter. Kingfisher does a wonderful job of creating a foreboding, damp, claustrophobic atmosphere that clings to the reader throughout.

I really love this time travel/alternate history series! Chomping at the bit for the third one so I’ll need to track that down asap. A LOT happens in this globe spanning epic w/ a large cast of characters, but it doesn’t feel bogged down. I adore many of the characters (especially the Hollard siblings and their royal love interests 😉) and I think the author does a great job of not making the ancients stupid or inferior to the Nantucketers.

One of the most beautiful, poignant novels I have ever read. This one will stick with me for a long, long time. I’m so grateful for book clubs/buddy reads because they expose me to the magic of something I never would have had on my radar otherwise. This will be another library loan that I need to hunt down and own. Wonderful message of what it means to truly know and embrace your place in nature. It’s impacted me greatly and I want everyone to read it.

Little underwhelmed. This was another one where at the beginning, I really thought I’d love it. The author’s descriptive writing easily creeped me out. The unique lore that was brought into it had me intrigued. But by the 3/4 point, it felt like a lot of that was abandoned. I still don’t understand the real motive of almost anything any of the antagonists did. The leshii seemed to just be a spooky plot device. Much of the horror came from what two stupid, selfish men inflicted on those around them. It was ok, but not what I was really hoping for at the beginning.

This was a “bought it for the cover” choice and honestly I’m happy with that decision. The story’s a little dated but that sort of just adds to the fun of it. I kind of wish it was a longer book and that we got to spend more time with the characters exploring the huge planet and its extremely varied cultures. I figured out one plot twist extremely early but there were others that kept me on my toes. Will be eager for another read by Vance.

Thoroughly enjoyed this. Can’t wait to read more of Asimov’s Robot series. It’s more of a collection of short stories or even thought experiments. My favorite of them all was “Liar”. It didn’t end up how I thought it was going to at first. The progression through the stories was nice, it kept them all connected. It definitely makes you think about the future of humanity and how it’s interlinked with AI.

A much better installment to the TNG book series. I enjoyed the focus on Geordi and Data, especially the use of Geordi’s visor! The moral questions brought up throughout the story were intriguing and made me think of a sci fi classic I read earlier this year, Way Station by Simak. But in this story, the threat of an alien conglomerate enforcing a handicap on a planets ability to govern itself and reach for the stars has become reality.

The scariest parts were the horrible townsfolk. The last few chapters are filled with some truly chilling violence. There were a lot of questions I had throughout and none of them are really answered in the end. Bit frustrated with how the story was told. The author originally wrote it in Dutch and then rewrote the ending when it was translated to English. I don’t know if that impacted the story for me since I don’t read Dutch. 🤷‍♀️

Read for #RoaringWolfFrightNight book club on Fable

4 ⭐️s

I really enjoyed this one. The descriptions of the tech and time dilation were fun. I honestly liked Will for the most part despite his personal hang ups on a few things. I appreciate the fact that the violence/war wasn’t glorified. The changes Earth went through over the course of the story were fascinating. There were a few things I rolled my eyes at, but they’re mostly products of the time the book and author come from.

*SPOILERS*

I saw the ending coming about halfway through. The Taurans seemed too inept to be an actual threat. But the clones were a surprise. I was extremely pleased with the happy ending for Will but the implication that people could just switch between hetero and homosexual when it suited society’s needs definitely got on my nerves.

(I entered the ISBN for Bluefeather Fellini in the Sacred Realm but Hardcover pulled up this which I believe is the first book in the set. So this review is for the above mentioned sequel.)

-5 ⭐️s (unfortunately Hardcover doesn’t have a negative or even zero stars option, sooo…)

I hate this book. I hate it SO much! Its meandering, plotless story had me questioning why I didn’t just DNF. The beginning is slow and uninteresting but I was holding out for the “supernatural/mythos” bit, hoping that would be a decent payoff. When you finally get to the “Journey to the Center of the Earth” fanfiction, it’s agonizing.

Have you ever had a young kid tell you about a creature they made up and at first it’s interesting but they just keep going and it doesn’t make any sense and they’re just meshing together random things like “and his arms were ketchup packets!” and you start to forget what they were originally telling you about? So like that, but SOOO much more boring and an adult that thinks they’re clever with descriptive writing is doing it, that’s what reading about the underground world Evans wrote in this book is like. At that point, you’re like, “Wait a minute, why are they even really down here? What’s the end game of the two rich antagonists?” I’ll get to that, don’t worry.

But first! Let’s segway into the love story advertised by the synopsis on the back! Calling it a love story is very generous. The two love interests are unlikeable and most of their time spent together is having random parties that don’t drive the storyline AT ALL. Copious amounts of burritos and alcohol are ingested and there’s literally no point. There are side conversations that the MC overhears that read like someone trying to attempt the entertaining random dialogs in a Tarantino movie but doing it SO badly. The MC has sex with just about every woman BUT his love interest while constantly thinking about how much he loves her. When they finally do it, it’s right after they hunt down and shoot a mountain lion and as their hunting dog is gnawing on its still warm body, they drop trow and have sex RIGHT NEXT TO IT! 🤢 That’s not the worst sex scene. Towards the end, there’s a big shootout. Bullets whizzing by, ricocheting off every surface. What do these two morons decide to do? That’s right! The thing that would be the furthest from any rational human being’s imagination in that situation. They have sex, finish, she says his name AND THEN GETS SHOT THROUGH HER EYE SOCKET!!! 🤮 Why?!?!?! What did you think was going to be the outcome?!?!

The teeny, tiny premise of the book is: two greedy old men are feuding, one has access to a totally cool and not in the least bit boring underground world with weird creatures and enough gold to buy the moon and maybe even Mars. Other old guy sends MC in on false pretenses (“I just want some super rare wine”), MC forgets about wine for 90% of the rest of the book. Old wine guy sends his version of Seal Time 6 in to steal all the gold, MC survives but overall there’s about a 90% death rate for everyone else (oh yeah, did I mention that greedy old guy that owns the “mine” has what basically equate to slaves living underground doing everything for him?). MC and another character decide to TNT the entrance so no one from the surface can go down and disturb the natural wildlife (by doing so, they potentially leave any other surviving slaves down below, without asking if they’d rather come live on the surface or not. The idea being that they have plenty of chickens to get by, but end up taking away their electricity and everything). Then MC goes to kill old wine dude and as punishment instead of stabbing or shooting him, he locks him in a cellar to die slowly. Kinda like what he JUST did to innocent bystanders.

I wanted the MC to die a slow, horrible death, but of course he gets to live out his life to the ripe ol’ age of “Omg, the new generations are ruining EVERYTHING”. He contemplates the greed of people and you realize this, THIS is the whole reason this almost 500 page book was written, to illustrate that greed = evil. No fucking DUH, Evans! Was this really the best way to make that point? The last few chapters of the book are him preparing for his death. He goes out into the desert to die because he’s, and I quote, “the last free man”. I think, great, at least he’ll die. But no! The book couldn’t even do me that one solid. Two practicing fighter jets go by overhead and this crotchety old asshole whines, “It’s too loud to die in peace!” and marches his ass right back down the mountain!

*screams*

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot about his useless spirit guide, Dancing Bear (easy to do because he’s barely utilized in any sort of interesting way even though he’s mentioned in the blurb on the back as though he were a pivotal character). He shows up now and then for the MC to basically have something to talk at and does funny little dances. He’s used as a plot device in an effort to make their escape from the underground have even an iota of tension.

This author has won awards and is in the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. What happened with this one? I might give one of his other books a chance, probably one of the ones that were actually made into a film, but not until I’ve managed to erase most of this waking nightmare from my memory.

Don’t read this book. If you value your sanity at all, don’t read it.

There’s a lot going on and also not much happens… Many of the characters (especially these three doofuses) are very different than their tv counterparts. Data shows too much emotion, I especially hated the moments where he seemingly got his feelings hurt. I LOATHED the part where Carey says he actually pouts like a child. Riker’s an unprofessional lunatic. Geordi was just a tad bit too insubordinate. (Although I must say, his protectiveness over Data definitely fed my inner Data/Geordi ship demon.) 😅

The plot was meh. I still don’t understand how this entity swooped through Earth in the 1990’s, plucked one ship out of the ocean, then apparently left our solar system and didn’t come into human contact again until the Enterprise stumbled across it randomly out in the galaxy… 🤷‍♀️

I don’t know that I can blame Carey for not having a better grasp on the characters mannerisms. The show premiered in late September ‘87 and this novel was published in July ‘88. She had to have been writing it either before it premiered or just as it was airing. So I don’t know how much, if any, of the actors depictions she was able to see before writing this. Wesley especially seems like she wrote a completely different person in the role, down to his physical looks.

A novelization of the first TNG episode. There are some obvious differences that they changed later during filming of the show. Riker goes by Bill in this, but Will in the show. Data’s origin is different. Things happen in a different order and I definitely prefer the tv version of that better. But what I like better in the book are the thoughts of the characters. A fun look into how they think/perceive each other.

I absolutely fell in love with Rye, such an unassuming badass. Westerns catch a lot of undeserved criticism for being gun worshipping propaganda. This story follows the reluctant gunman, Ryan Tyler, as he navigates growing up as an orphan in the dangerous Old West. He fights to hold onto the morals instilled in him by his late parents, even when faced with the ultimate betrayal.

A decent collection of vampire lore from all the way back in antiquity up through to the 1900s. You can definitely see the evolution of these popular creatures of the night, especially the superstitions for dealing with them. My favorite was The Living Dead by Robert Bloch.

I love a bit of satire. Many parts of this book felt like a Monty Python skit or a Mel Brooks film. I’ve never been able to get behind the whole “everything is as it should be” way of thinking, and Voltaire does a really great job of skewering that philosophy in this very short read. The “tend your own garden” line at the end really stuck with me. I think it’s very important advice, especially in this time of social media oversaturation.

I LOVED this book! Each short is a window into the hearts and minds of the colorful characters that only O. Henry could bring to life so well with so few words. I'm not normally a short story reader, but that's definitely changing.

It's hard to choose, but my absolute favs in no particular order: The Pimienta Pancakes, The Indian Summer of Dry Valley Johnson, Cupid A La Carte, The Caballero's Way, The Missing Chord, and A Chaparral Prince.

I have never experienced anything like this book. I've absorbed many a story/account of the atrocities during the war, but this book went further.

In a rather naive sort of blind ignorance, until I read this book, I assumed that life for the survivors of the Holocaust was 100% better than what they'd been through. Unfortunately, Traub's semi-autobiographical story has made it horrendously, achingly clear, that the end of the war wasn't the miraculous end of pain and suffering, rather a twisted, new beginning of new pains, new suffering. My heart breaks. There aren't words that this goyim can put together to articulate the sorrow any better than Traub has herself.

Do yourself a favor, and read this book. If more people were aware of it, and read it, it could help there be just a smidge less pain and hate in the world.

The survivors are few now, we must listen while we can, or their stories and warnings, will be lost to us forever.

I love the way Reiner and Bertolt just nonchalantly reveal themselves to Eren at first! It's just, “Oh yeah, FYI, we're the reason most of humanity, including your mom, are dead. Wanna go chill with us, bud?” No idea what they were really expecting of him. Great cliffhanger ending! I love the last page of Eren bursting from Reiner's hand! “Game on, biatch! Game ON!!!” You feel the rage as a reader; the complete bewildered rage of poor Eren. He trusted them, especially Reiner, and for THIS to be how it has to play out is heartbreaking.

Uh...wow... I truly thought a lot about this had promise, but it never really went anywhere. The ending felt like the author was trying to fit the story into an exact word count without going over. Seriously disappointed in this. Only two stars because I save one star ratings for trash I can't even finish.

This book completely blew me away. I've always had a fascination with the Paleolithic cave paintings and all the questions that they raise. Why? What? How? This book seeks to answer them, especially the HOW. The time, research, AND experiments that went into it are a testament to the authors brilliance. At first I was skeptical, but the more I read, the more I felt that this was the right answer. I could imagine my ancestors crawling into the darkest pits of caves, seeking the perfect spots for their work. I hope someday to attempt something like it myself. I feel that it would be a truly spiritual experience.

I can only assume that Allen's point of telling this shit storm of a story was to show how we humans are still just big, lumbering apes, ready to go mad and fuck or kill anything in our way. I can step out my door or turn on YouTube and see that, I didn't need a hunt for a gorilla to disguise the metaphor. Trash characters, trash story. I was hoping the gorilla was going to rip through more of them but she doesn't even escape til halfway through the book and proceeds to do nothing for most of the rest of it. More awkward sex and incest themed content than a Game of Thrones episode.