İrem Altun
If it had been long enough to be a novella, I would have liked it a lot more.
The book starts off very interesting, but the ending comes so quickly that it feels a bit unfinished.
I quite liked the part that was given to me, but with a little more backstory it could have been much more satisfying.
I would like to read other books by the author.
This book should be a movie. Such a great, fun time. It was very difficult to stop reading and go do other adult stuff, so if you pick this book up, make sure you have a few free hours.
Brian Asman's story is bonkers! I love haunted house stories, and to be honest, I loved the title of the book too so I said ‘how bad it could be' before I started. This wasn't what I expected at all. The whole thing is crazy, shocking, have some interesting twists and turns... Pure fun.
It was a wonderful book to end the year. I would absolutely recommend giving it a chance.
The storytelling in Sleepwalking is again masterful, and Daniel Barnett's descriptions are still very successful in making the reader part of the nightmare he is dragging John and Mariah into, as well as awakening new nightmares in one's mind.
I'm giving this book 4 stars instead of 5 because it spends a lot of time on events and characters that won't make much of a difference in the end, so it drags a bit in the middle. Sleepwalking is the longest book in the series for now, and it's paying the price for it.
I think the star of this story is Marcus, He steals the show and makes a nice addition to John and Mariah's journey.
God, what a dark story. I love it.
Why this book has so few ratings!
Even though I felt lost in the middle of the book, not understanding what was going on in Mariah's chapter (it was all my fault), after clearing my confusion, the story started to flow rapidly, increasing my curiosity, and in the end it made me crave the rest.
The setting is so creepy and disturbing, I was nervous throughout the story. I don't know how I would react if I lived in that world. Eerie.
Barnett is a really good story teller and obviously a good observer. Even though I don't want to live in it, I really liked the world he created. It is extremely interesting. I will definitely continue to read the rest of the series.
It's the early 90s. Something evil is lurking in a small town while we watch the lives of 5 16-year-old boys and their coming-of-age. Teenagers are disappearing from the small town of Harting Farms. The main point of view of the story is Angelo “Angie” Mazzone. While Angie and his friends are trying to shed light on these kidnappings in their town, we also witness their real-life issues like grief, parental relationships, girls, bullies, and school. December Park is a complete coming-of-age story in every way.
This is one of my favorite tropes. When it's done good, it can make you feel all the emotions, and apparently, Ronald Malfi is very good at that. It is not an unprecedented story, we have read this type of story many, many times. Watched movies many, many times. What sets December Park apart from its counterparts is its characters and relationships with each other. It is my first Ronald Malfi book and he is almost at the level of Stephen King at conveying emotion. Almost. But his end-of-book writing ineptitudes certainly match with King which we'll talk about later.
I am a child of the late 80's - early 90's so the setting was great for me. The sense of nostalgia hit the mark. Along with the familiar setting, it is also easy to get into the story because some of the characters in Harting Farms are written with great depth and detail (not all, some). It's not hard to get into their minds and understand how they're feeling also judging some of the decisions they make (besides, it's easy to say they're just teenagers and shrug) By the end, I was deeply moved by the relationship of these five friends and Angie's relationship with his family. Those were the moments that teared me up. Actually, I might have shed a couple of tears in the end. At the train back home.
Although I loved December Park so much, in the end, I gave it four stars instead of five. There are two reasons for this. The first is the reveal at the end. I had no way of guessing and that's not always good. The reveal was like it was a last-minute decision. It felt baseless and very unsatisfying. That was a disappointment but with a story like this, it's the journey that counts, right? By the nature of the reveal, it leaves some questions unanswered and adds to the mystery. Throughout the book, Malfi sprinkles little clues all over the place, but in the end, these too go unanswered. I like some closure in my standalone.
The other reason was the length of the book. If we remove some events and long descriptions that contribute neither to the story nor to the character development, the book could be 100 pages less but much more satisfying. I am ashamed to say it, but I may have skipped some paragraphs and I feel sad when I say it, but this action did not create any deficiencies in the story. Book provides lots of details for small stuff but then the main event in the last act lacked detail and ended very quickly without explaining much. Didn't make sense to me.
I wouldn't categorize December Park as a horror or a thriller. I think it's a YA-crime novel. In the end, although it wasn't exactly the genre I liked, overall I had a good time and really liked the characters. Malfi got me excited, curious and, emotional. Even if all didn't pay off in the end. Hats off to you sir. I will read other books by Ronald Malfi for sure.
Unpopular opinion time!
It's been a few days since I finished Senlin Ascends and I still don't know how I feel about it. It's one of those books.
Thomas Senlin and his wife Marya are on honeymoon at the famous, gigantic Tower of Babel. So much to see! On the very first day of their honeymoon, in the chaotic market of the tower, Marya and Senlin lose each other and thus begin Senlin's quest to find his wife.
This book has a huge hype around it. For a long time, I have not come across a book that is so beloved and praised, especially among self-published books. And it is a debut! So when I started the book, I have already fallen into the hype.
And this is the main reason why I gave the book 3 stars in the end.
The Tower of Babel and the life in it are very different from the calm, calculated, and orderly life that Senlin is used to. What he has to do to survive, and find her mate in this world he has fallen into is far from a classic heroic tale. Senlin is a regular guy, a teacher, a bit conservative and happy in his comfort zone. So in the time it took to build Senlin's character and this crazy world, about halfway through the book, not much happens. The story starts to pick up when the story forces Senlin to leave his comfort zone and do things he wouldn't expect from himself.
Josiah Bancroft is very creative and his writing style is great. Vibrant. Flows smoothly. I feel like I could find my way in the tower with his descriptions. Nothing overwhelming, nothing pretentious, no flowers. It's sublime. I was thinking about what to say as a review when I was in the middle of the book, I was sure of this; the writing is wonderful, but I can't immerse myself in the book. That started to change towards the end but I think it was too late for me to engage with the story fully and crave for the next one. While the path Senlin follows in search of Marya and the clues he finds in every step make a great contribution to the world-building, it also takes away from the pacing. So apparently for me, action is worth a thousand words.
While the premise is very straightforward, there are so many characters who jump in and out of the story and I couldn't connect with any of them. Even at the end of the book, when everything came together, all I cared about was Senlin and Marya and I wasn't 100% interested in them either. I think the strongest, the most prominent character in this book was The Tower of Babel. Besides, the main plot is interrupted by side quests often, and just like the side characters, I thought that these quests only disrupt the flow. As someone whose favorite games are RPGs and who prefers side quests to main quest most of the time, it felt very strange to me to think this way.
But you know, this is a debut and I ended up hopeful about the future installments. After all this, I still will continue to read the rest of the Books of Babel series. Although I didn't enjoy it as much as I was hoping for, I want to see what else will the Tower of Babel and its ringdoms bring to Senlin. But not immediately.
What do you think? Have you read Senlin Ascends? Let's chat!
I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed.
Mr. King is turning into a crime writer and I am worried. Not that I don't like his crime stuff. I really enjoyed Later, Mr. Mercedes was alright and I LOVED The Outsider until a certain point. But Stephen King is my go-to horror writer when I want some chills and I find them less and less. I miss his horror novels and it is upsetting.
Billy Summers did not work for me.
It is a good “last job gone wrong” story with a spin towards the middle and it is a decent adventure but without any thrills or surprises.
My main issue was that spin. In the beginning, I really enjoyed the story. I liked the world that was being built around Billy. Billy Summers, a hitman who settles in a small town for his last job disguised as a writer. A quiet neighborhood, friendly, accepting neighbors, their children, etc. This is what King writes best right! Then something happens towards the middle and changes the whole story. After that point, the novel lost its charm, got boring and predictable. That's my first issue with the book. It was very sad to witness the book lose all its potential for me with the sudden change it made, while it started with great potential and follow in the footsteps of Stephen King's best books.
My second issue was the character work. I found Billy quite superficial for a Stephen King character. I liked what I saw, I wanted him to be successful, I wanted him to live happily ever after but he didn't come out of the page and materialize for me, even though as part of the narrative he articulated what made him what he was.
And Alice, my god Alice. I really didn't like her. Alice lost this book a whole star. I did not find her decisions and general attitude compatible with her experiences and her backstory. King isn't usually as good at writing female characters as he writes men, but Alice is truly unconvincing. Therefore the feeling of love and devotion between them seemed baseless to me and I could not take it seriously.
My third problem was that King's political views were incorporated into the story quite densely. I mean, we know dude, you hated Trump, every sane person did and you are already very vocal on Twitter. We. Get. It. The fact that he vomited his hatred at every opportunity he could find, whether it's irrelevant to the subject or not, without any contribution to the story, got boring after a few times.
I like the multiverse stuff, the ones I caught at least. It's impossible to miss one of the references anyway, as King has repeatedly mentioned it. Keep it, subtle man.
This book could've been amazing. This book could've been amazing if King had continued to tell the story of Billy, using themes of innocence and redemption, as at the beginning of the book, through a small-town, safe home, and accepting community. Could have been one of his recent bests.
Would I recommend Billy Summers? Sure. Absolutely. It sounds like I hated the book after all these complaints, but I read it in a few days, not looking for other options or thinking about dropping it. Billy is a character worth getting to know. I've been reading King's books since I was 11, 12 so that's why I go into the story with high expectations when I start his books. Maybe partly, for this reason, I was not satisfied with the story that I encountered along with the effect of the high praise Billy Summers received.
Sorry, Mr. King, it's not you, it's me.
I was gonna give this 4 stars because it dragged a bit in the middle but no, in the end it deserves five. Because damn. The Last Thing To Burn is not really my genre. I wouldn't call it a thriller tbh but it is dark, heavy, claustrophobic and very gripping. I will remember this story for a long time.
I was gonna give this 4 stars because it dragged a bit in the middle but no, in the end it deserves five. Because damn. The Last Thing To Burn is not really my genre. I wouldn't call it a thriller tbh but it is dark, heavy, claustrophobic and very gripping. I will remember this story for a long time.
Unlike Sour Candy, my first Kealan Patrick Burke story which I loved and still think about it from time to time, I couldn't get into this one. I listened Turtle Boy as an Audiobook, maybe that was the problem. It was 2.5 stars but I'm rounding it up to 3 stars because I love Kealan Patrick Burke and will keep reading his stuff.
Everyone has that one author that they are eagerly waiting to read something new from. Although I haven't read any of his novels after The Outsider, Stephen King is one of those writers for me. I started reading horror with his novels and all those years later (20+ years I tell ya) he is still my favorite. When I published my March TBR, I knew about Later but I thought “it's alright, I'll read it in April, it's fine” but nope! Especially after seeing the many, many positive reviews, there was no way I postpone reading it longer. So, here we are. TBR partially went down the drain and I am reviewing Later with absolutely no regrets.
“There are only so many tomorrows.”
Jamie Conklin, a surprisingly well-mannered young boy who lives with his mother in New York sees dead people. Don't let this gorgeous cover fool you, the story is set in 2008 New York, right before the financial collapse. Although Jamie is adorable and feels like King's 1960s children for the same reason he's not a very believable Gen Z. Hence, I really liked him.
Jamie keeps repeating that his story is a horror story, but it's not quite that. Creepy in some places, yes, it has horror elements alright and if they happen to me I would shit my pants for sure but I got no chills while reading. And I also can't say it is a Hard Case Crime either. There are ghosts, dead people, murder, abuse, dysfunctional relationships but I can't categorize it as a Crime story either. To be honest, to me, Later was a cozy coming-of-age story with some fucked up shit going on the side.
As always, King creates a believable, lovable, relatable kid character. He has always been one of the best at telling a supernatural story from a child's point of view and Later is no different. The writing is of course extraordinary and it is a very easy read. The characters that Mr. King created in Later are very real, vibrant and engaging it doesn't get boring for one second. If you have time and in the mood, you can even go through it in one sitting.
“That thing is from outside the universe. There are horrors there that no man can conceive of. If you truck with it you risk death, or madness, or the destruction of your very soul.”
Discovering a Stephen King novel that takes place in the King multiverse is always a delight. For me, reading the book becomes more interesting because it means while I enjoy the story I will hunt Easter eggs too! And Later has some very delicious Easter eggs along the way. There are references to It, Bag of Bones, and Desperation. These are the ones I noticed anyway. I'm sure I'm missing a few.
“I think that people who say life is all about the choices we make and the roads we go down are full of shit.“
And why I'm giving Later 4 stars instead of 5? Because of its ending. Of course, it's the ending. In the end, King throws in something that adds nothing to the narrative and that spoiled the ending a bit for me. The story doesn't need it, and it's not even explained properly. Such a massive reveal should affect the progress of the story but here it's merely skimmed off like some casual information. In fact, the end came so suddenly, when the credits rolled I had to check the page numbers to make sure I'm not skipping any chapters. The reveal and the way King handles it doesn't sit right with me but I guess even that ending is very Stephen King. What's a Stephen King novel without a little controversy, right?
This review and more can be found on my blog too! : http://valiewrites.com/2021/03/23/book-review-later-stephen-king/
2 stars.
I didn't buy it.
I like the format, story was sometimes tense and interesting but in the end it doesn't make any sense does it?
When the writer mentioned his ideas about the event at first, I thought very far fetched but lets see how it goes.
But at the end of the book it lost all its credibility when the writer put all the violence and murderousness in the park for the same reason and stressed it even more than before. It is a dumb reason and doesn't make any sense.
The audiobook was great tho. Narrations by Angela Dawe and Luke Deniels were top notch. They made everything much more tolerable.
Damn, this was so funny. Especially the first half. I listened to it as an audiobook and it made me laugh out loud (a few times) while commuting. While I was alone! No regrets tho, enjoyed every bit. Dennis E. Taylor's writing is so insightful and his characters are so fun to follow (most of them, anyway. Gets crowded at some point) it was impossible to stop. I have to mention Ray Porter's narration as well. Hats off to you, sir, it must be a daunting task to bring all those characters to life and turn them into unique characters.
Cross posted at : http://valiewrites.com/2021/02/28/opinion-the-shadow-of-the-wind-carlos-ruiz-zafon/
Ok. I think enough time has passed for me to talk about The Shadow Of The Wind without going on a rant since, oh boy, can I rant about this one. I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed.
I first heard about this book in 2020 from Bookstagram and piping hyped. When I finally got my hands on it early January this year. It was magic! If you haven't read it yet, go check it out here on Goodreads. It has a whopping 4.27 stars out of 448k ratings. That should be good, right? Even Petrik gave it 5 stars how bad could it be, right?!
So, I was extremely excited to read this book. And I will not lie the first 5% of the book was magical. I don't know if it was the excitement or the concept, but I loved it. Then it stopped. Saying it has a slow beginning is an understatement. It doesn't pick up the pace like 60% of the book and by then I lost my interest in the story, its characters and my will to read; or, you know, live. It's that dry. I had to hoodwink myself into reading this, so I don't fall into a slump right at the beginning of the year. In the Shadow of the Wind, Zafon writes about love, loss, grief, and regret, but his efforts to reflect all these deep human emotions to the reader (I mean me) fall flat. Or this particular reader has a cold dead heart I don't know.
The plot isn't as ingenious and masterful as the hype around the book made me believe. I was expecting this great mystery in a gorgeous setting with many interesting characters, but even Barcelona is dull. That is an achievement, I believe. The starting point is not bad, not really, it had me hooked at first for sure. It is just wasted. Zafon tries to create this dual storylines that interconnect, but things usually happen by chance rather than intention. It has so many antique tropes it hurts the eyes while rolling them. Love of your life at first sight, check. A villain just to be a villain, check. Supersperm, check. Sexism, check. I felt like dnf'ing the Shadow of the Wind so many times but I didn't hope things will turn around and after all that, to explain everything, came the long letter. A letter that occupied the last 20% if I'm not mistaken. It is as if Zafon was tired of trying to establish a convincing explanation and decided to tie the loose ends by telling everything straightforward.
Of all these tropes, I have to pay special attention on sexism. Oh, the sexism in the Shadow Of The Wind. I'm not someone who complains about slight things and steps away from the book and the author. My discrimination condemn bar is not so sensitive, but this book is something else. Zafon does not write women particularly successfully, does he? There isn't one three dimensional female character in this book and they are not even shadows they are just there for sexuality and sexuality alone. I don't think he's been around women all that plenty or otherwise how is this possible. I'm speechless.
I really feel terrible about this, because I feel like I've missed out on something and I'm not fully appreciating this book. Although it is a beautifully written book, the content feels bloated. I'm actually sad to think like this, but it is how I feel in the end. And the sad part is with a bit more care to actual plot and character development, this could have been one of my favorites of the year. Yet, here we are. Maybe in time I can try Carlos Ruiz Zafon's other works, but for now I'll put away my giant disappointment and move on.
Confession time! Chaos Walking wasn't even on my radar until I saw the trailer. While watching it, I thought the subject was really new and interesting. Then I found out that it was actually a book series, and the next day I had all the books of the trilogy in my hands.
The Knife Of Never Letting Go was outstanding! Totally blown by it. It's a full-fledged adventure that can preserve its mystery to the end while the action literally never stops. It still has emotional moments in all this activity and ends with a stunning cliffhanger. Solid, 5-star read. I was very excited to read the second book and thankfully; it doesn't disappoint.
The Ask And The Answer continues where The Knife of Never Letting Go left things off, and this time we are in a very different environment.. Because of the nature of this new atmosphere, it is not as action filled as the first book, but it fills this gap with many fresh questions and enriches it by questioning concepts such as racism, sexism and politics. Not a deep dive, but an improvement considering the first book. But I'm here to have fun so I have aaaaaabsolutely no problems. With its dual PoV format, it never stops being intriguing. And as a character driven reader, I enjoyed Todd and Viola's development.
Two things I can mention as a downside is that it is much easier to guess the cliffhanger this time. Rather than waiting for what would happen; after a point, I waited to see how will a certain thing will happen. It's Chekhov's gun. And the other thing, if I have to nit pick, it did not need to be 500+ pages long. But in the end, it really doesn't feel like it dragged.
In the end, it's still a brilliant book. Can't wait to read the conclusion.
My first book of 2021. It started great. Interesting subject, fun to follow protagonist.. About halfway through the book, I thought I'll give it five stars. Maybe 60%. Then it started to stumble. It lost its believability as the protagonist pushed his luck more and more. In the end it was a 3.5⭐ for me which I rounded to 3⭐
Sorry but I think I'll just DNF this. I am at %53 and trying to push through but it's really not working for me. I adored the first book and wanted to like this as well but everything I liked about Silver in the Wood is absent here. I wasn't that into Silver already and I don't like to be in his mind. Also I'm tired of his whining. The impressive atmosphere, the mysterious aura and charm of Tobias is beign missed. What a shame.
What an awesome book this was. It. Never. Stops. The only thing that bothered me was Aaron because I think it was the only unnecessarily prolonged part of the story.
It made me cry my eyes out at that certain part. I put down the book and did not read it for two nights.
Overall great book, even greater ending. I don't usually jump into the second book in a serie but man, I gotta keep reading this.
