İrem Altun
İlk kitabı çok beğenmiştim, bu ondan daha iyiydi. Okumam biraz daha uzun sürdü ama olaylar açıldıktan sonra bırakamadım. Çok iyi kitap. Gerisi gelsin.
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.
Enteresan bir Villain ama çok şok edici bulmadım sistemi takip ediyor. Öte yandan zevkli.
Ben mi çok ruhsuzum insanlar mı çok abartmış bilmiyorum ama sıkıntıdan öldüm okurken, dayanamıciim bırakıyorum.
Ok, I don't want to shit on a classic and maybe reading Dracula was fun and interesting back in the day but for me, now, it was so, very, deadfully boring.
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.
Aksiyon/gizem ve tarih/sanat tarihi kıvamlarını melekler ve şeytanlar'da mükemmel şekilde ayarladı ve sonra yeteneğini kaybetti kanımca, artık kıvamı tutturamıyor. Yer yer, anladık biliyorsun içini dışını heryerin uzatma, dedim okurken. Meh+
Quest Quest gitmesi yerine bir ana hikaye üzerine serpiştirilmiş questler şeklinde ilerlese daha iyi olabilirdi. Witcher'ın yan görevleri hemen hemen her zaman ana görev kadar merak uyandırıcı olur. Kitapta da aynı şekilde, ama ana görev eksik. Gelecek kitaplara artık..
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/
This book was only meh. Even for a 56 page story it felt long. I've read Emergency Skin and Summer Frost from the same serie, both superior books. Not terrible, but I won't remember it in the long run.
David Hunter serisi de çok istikrarlı şekilde ilerlememişti her ne kadar biri hariç hepsini sevdiysem de, fakat en kötüsü bile Kapan'a göre başyapıt kalıyor. Ağır, sıkıcı, bağlayıcılıktan uzak boş bir hikaye. Polisiyeden uzaklaşmaya çalışmış ama sanki iki arada bir derede kalmış gibi. Olmamış.
Her bölümde temposu giderek düşüyor. 3rd Act tam bir kabus. İlk bölümü soluksuz, ikinci bölümü azalan bir hevesle, üçüncü Bölümü öah artık diyerek okudum. Şiddetle kötü bir finali olsa da ilk iki bölüm için okunmaya değer.
Fazla başarılı. Nicedir karakterlerini bu kadar benimsediğim bir kitap okumamıştım. Muazzam.
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.
Müthiş!!! Çok zevk alarak okudum, ayrı ayrı tarzlarını çok sevip benzettiğim Neil Gaiman ve Skottie Young'ın birlikte çalıştığını görmek de cabası.
The Passage'ın büyük bir kısmını beğenmiş, merak ederek ilerlemiş ve bu kitaptan da en azından ona benzer bir performans bekliyordum ama yakınına bile yaklaşamamış. Kıyameti başa sarıp farklı açılardan anlatmak kötü bir fikir olmasa da, ne karakterleri ne olay örgüsünü kendini okutacak şekilde kurmayı becerememiş bu sefer. Üçüncü kitabı muhtemelen okurum ama On İki'yi beğenmedim.
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.
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.
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.
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.