Jasher Drake
Loved this book and I was so close to rating it five stars, but did find the ending a little rushed and feel that it could have been handled a little bit better.
Other than that though, it was so, so, so, so, so good! Felt like a Black Mirror episode or an A24 movie at times while also feeling like The Midnight Gospel or an enthralling podcast at others.
Super fresh, original, easy to read and hard to put down.
Really wanted to like this but for something that's called a ‘Guide to Dinosaurs', it didn't actually spend too much time on the dinosaurs themselves. Instead, it delved a whole lot more into evolution, extinction, climate change and chickens. And while a few of the conversations were interesting at times, I just wanted to learn about the dang dinos!
Maybe it's just that I'm actually not a grown-up yet, but I think I'll stick with Jurassic Park for now.
This was probably the weirdest book I've ever read.
Like honestly, I really didn't know that I was in for a novel about a musical-theatre actress saving talking animals from zombies in a haunted swamp by using the magical powers of her dancing, but that's what I got and it was actually really good.
Pacing was a struggle at the very start, but once the story gets going, it really gets going.
Dance of the Dead was a super unique book with memorable characters and a great plot. Had a few awesome horror moments as well which I thoroughly enjoyed.
This definitely wasn't as good as Cold Cases, and I probably would've rated this two stars if it wasn't for the last chapter. Most of the chapters were quite hard to follow in audio format, and a lot of them were very short and didn't have much of a plot.
Just like the last audiobook in this series, this is pretty much like a season of the tv show, taking place between seasons 9 and 10. Each chapter plays and sounds like an all new episode with stunningly produced sound effects and the original cast voicing their characters. I'm going to share a couple of thoughts on each chapter.
Chapter 1 - Immaculate: First things first, the plot for Immaculate was very, very... strange. It involved a girl possessed by the devil blowing up an abortion clinic and recruiting people for a suicide cult, which was quite messed-up, even for X-Files. I found the whole chapter hard to follow in audio format and very dark and depressing. Probably my least favourite of the bunch.
Chapter 2 - Chitter: A classic monster-of-the-week episode! This one I enjoyed but it was only about 20 minutes long and didn't have too much of an actual story. It did have a unique monster and classic Scully-in-peril moments though so it won me over.
Chapter 3 - Monica & John: This chapter was alright as well, but just like a lot of the others, it suffered by being short and not having a proper plot. It also kind of sucked to not have the actual actors of Doggett & Reyes reprising their roles because the two voice actors that did do it really didn't do the characters justice.
Chapter 4 - G-23: Another chapter with a strange concept that was hard to follow in audio format. Basically, Mulder and Langly hear about a conspiracy involving a government-created hallucinogenic drug called G-23, they start to investigate it and then end up accidentally taking it. From then on, the rest of the episode is basically just one big trip, with both Mulder and Langly seeing a whole ton of random hallucinations, hence why it was hard to follow, what they were hallucinating didn't transition into audio well and the descriptions didn't come across clearly.
Chapter 5 - Elders: The conclusive mythology episode and the best of the book. Brings back a few surprising characters from the original show and actually has a really thrilling storyline. This chapter by itself was over an hour and a half which was pretty much more than triple the length of each of the others, making it feel almost cinematic in scope.
Just like the last audiobook in this series, I was blown away by the production quality of the whole thing, and the voice acting from the returning cast was great. I found myself laughing at Mulder's quips and sighing at Scully's scullyisms.
Unfortunately though, this was quite a big step down from the last one, and the pacing and clarity of majority of the book was a big letdown. Still worth listening to just for further adventures with the gang, but definitely not essential listening like the last one was.
This was so much better than I thought it would be! David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson and a ton of other original cast members are back as their characters in a fully-voiced and stunningly produced audiobook that feels just like you're watching episodes of the show.
The audiobook consists of five chapters that are essentially 5 all new X-Files episodes that take place between seasons 9 and 10 of the series. I'm going to quickly break each one down and give you a few thoughts on each as some were better than others.
Chapter 1 - Believers: So great having the whole ensemble back and it even had a few surprise appearances from X-Files side characters. This acted as a mythology episode and pretty perfectly made sense of all the twisted alien mythology the show had it its later seasons, making me wish that we'd seen something like this chapter in the actual show. Only downside was that the action sequence at the end was quite hard to follow in audio form, and could have done with a bit more narration from the characters on what was actually happening.
Chapter 2 - Hosts: Easily my favourite of the bunch, even if the ending was anticlimactic. As it's name suggests, this chapter finally gave us the long awaited return of the Flukeman and upped-the-ante just like Alien did with its sequel Aliens, giving us a ton more Flukemen. Some really cool scenes in this chapter, and really fleshed-out the Flukeman backstory.
Chapter 3 - Being for the Benefit of Mr. X: I found this one to be the worst of the lot. It was very hard to follow in audio form, very short compared to the others, and the whole chapter pretty much solely consisted of a single conversation and flashback. Mr. X was back though so even though this chapter was quite lacklustre, he was still as badass as ever.
Chapter 4 - More Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man: This chapter was probably my second favourite after Hosts. It works as a sequel to the Season 4 episode ‘Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man' and follows the same format as that episode did by pretty much only focussing on Cancer Man himself and taking us through different stories from his past for the runtime. Absolutely loved every single one of the stories and how they all connected to different moments in the show. The highlight of this chapter though was easily William B. Davis's voice acting. So good!
Chapter 5 - Pilgrims: This chapter was epic. Clocking in around an hour and a half long it had everything you'd ever want in a mythology episode and totally felt that it was movie-scale in execution. Even though this chapter was long, it went by in a breeze and the story was super engaging. And come on, our favourite rogue agent Krychek coming back? What's not to love about that.
All in all, I was blown away with the quality of the audiobook and honestly think that the stories and route that they took with this should've been what they went with for season 10 of the show, so much more engaging and a better storyline all around.
Would definitely consider this essential listening for any X-Files fan.
Really wanted to like this book, but ended up being very disappointed.
The author obviously had such an awesome imagination. The storyline and monster are so original and unique, but I found the style of the writing very hard to read. I felt lost with the way the author would describe things and constantly found myself bored with the lack of tension and drama in the way that it was written, although that may just be because this is an extended edition of the original novella.
In my opinion, John Carpenter's ‘The Thing' film from 1982 is a much better version of this story. Skip reading this and give it a rewatch.
I actually really dug this book. The writing made this character feel like the Scully I know and love, the story was original and interesting, and it kept me guessing right up until the very end.
Only downsides were the very repetitive chapters spent visionquesting at Beyond Beyond and the confusingly written visions and dreams.
I have serious mixed feelings about this book because, just like a lot of the other reviews are mentioning, it feels like two completely different stories in one.
The first half of the book was incredible. It had me completely hooked and managed to constantly make me feel like I was in the intense, dire and downright terrifying situations that the characters were going through every time I'd read it. It had great character development, so many clever twists and takes on classic horror tropes, and actually may just be some of the best horror fiction I've ever read.
Then in the second half, all of that went away. The whole story lost momentum, almost felt like it even changed genres and just went off the rails into pure fantastical nonsense. That was really disappointing.
All things considered, I'm still going to give it 3 stars simply because of how great the first half was, and the very end was actually decent. It's very disappointing how things ended up panning out though, and I really wish that the feel of the first half of the story had continued throughout the whole book. It's actually quite baffling to me as to why the author chose to go with what he ended up going with when he was onto something so unique and captivating initially.
I cannot believe that's it's taken me this long to finally get around to reading this book, and I'm infuriated that it did because just like always, E.M Powell has written something amazingly thrilling, thought-provoking and wholly original.
This book is so easy to read! It's been written in such a way that you never get bored and you're always left wanting more after putting it down.
Something I always love about E.M Powell's books is that you can tell how much effort has been put into making them historically factual, and it just makes them feel so real. Everything from the intricacies of the way the monastery is run to just her detailing of buildings, objects and clothing. It just utterly transports you to the time period and you cannot help but become completely immersed in the story.
Another thing I love about E.M Powell's writing is how she treats her characters. Every single character, from Stanton & Barling to each monk at the monastery are fleshed out like I've never experienced before. I don't know how she does it but she brings so much life into characters that that may even only be in the book for a page or two. In particular probably the main thing I loved was yet again the relationship between our two protagonists, Stanton & Barling. Powell really does something special with them both throughout the story and builds so much on what was set up in the previous book.
In conclusion, I loved this book. Such a great mystery and such a good thriller. Manages to also teach you so much historically while reading as well which is always something that I enjoy. Thanks E.M!
I really had no clue that this was the first novel I've actually read in over two years, and man, what a one to start reading again with.
From the very beginning you're drawn into a world that feels exactly like what I'd imagine this time period to have been like. E.M Powell has done such an amazing job with her research and descriptions and it really makes the book flow and really just feel genuine.
And I have to say, Stanton & Barling may be one of my favourite duos of all time, and the way their relationship evolves through the story is perfect.
Usually, I like to think I'm good and working mysteries out, guessing the twist before it happens. But I was so wrong with this. For the first time in a while I was involved in the story, constantly double-guessing myself and constantly being surprised with each next plot point or twist.
All in all, such an amazing book, and one that nearly brought me to tears at the end. Soooooo looking forward to the next one! Thanks E.M Powell!
The first book in the Ravenloft series called ‘Vampire of the Mists' was such an awesome mixture of horror, intrigue, adventure and romance, and Lord Soth in the Dragonlance series was probably one of my favorite characters, but I gotta say, together they really don't mix. Soth just felt really out of place in the world of Ravenloft and the shape-changing badger that was paired with him really didn't help. I gotta be fair though, the story was decent but it really wasn't as good as it could be. And the conclusion of the book was truly terrible. All in all, okay story but Lord Soth should've stayed on Krynn.
I love the way Brett J. Talley has written this series so far, the first book written as a collection of short stories and this one written as a collection of different diary entries and articles, it's a really creative way of writing that works fantastically! As far as the story goes, this one was lacking a little bit for me. The first half of the book was reeeeeaaaaalllllllllly slow, but when I finally got to the second half, it was absolutely awesome. I hope we get to see the gang on future adventures and I gotta say, even if it was a bit slow, I like Talley's writing better than Lovecrafts himself. I could even say that I think he's out-Lovecrafted Lovecraft.
Straight after finishing ‘The Blood of the Fifth Knight' I wanted to read another, but the next one wasn't going to come out for about a year. So I waited patiently, reading other random books, some I really liked and some not so much, just waiting until ‘The Lord of Ireland' would be released. So, you can imagine how uncontrollably happy I was when the one and only E.M Powell herself sent me a free, signed copy of ‘The Lord of Ireland' a week before it was actually going to be released. The thing was, when the book arrived, I couldn't get myself to start reading it. I mean, it looked so awesome! And it was signed by E.M Powell! I didn't want to tarnish it one bit, didn't want to bend the spine or tear any pages, so I waited. And finally, on April 5th, the kindle copy was available to buy.
I gotta say, I didn't read it as fast as I would have liked, because of school and work and stuff, but man, was it a good book. It brings back the characters from the first two books that you became so close too, and throws them into another crazy situation. What I really like about this series is how it mixes history in with a little bit of fiction and creates an amazing historical-fiction thriller that keeps you on your toes the whole book through. The twists were so crazy and unexpected but every single one of them made complete sense. Two things really stuck out to me the most from this book: The crafting of the characters of Theodosia, and John. In this book we see Theodisa in a new light, thrown right into the middle of a very dangerous situation, having to fend for herself really the whole book long. This was really cool to see how her character has grown from the first book all the way up to this point. The other thing I really liked was the character of John and how Powell portrayed him. He's such an classic villain, an amazing mix of youthful ignorance and cowardice, but at the same time, someone who is supremely feared by everyone.
In truth, I could probably write forever about everything I loved about the book, but instead, I encourage you to go and read the book instead. It's flippin' awesome! I really hope that this series continues, and until then, I'll continue to stare at the signed copy I have on my bookshelf. Thanks so much E.M Powell!
Probably the best book that I have ever read. To be honest I really have never been a big fan of war stories/films but this book absolutely changed my mind. Such an awesome mix of action, mystery, thriller, romance and even a little comedy thrown into the mix. I got so immersed in the world of the story that half the time, I forgot about everything else all together and was just along for the ride. From the knowledge of everything Leonard Mokos wrote about, the believable and unique characters and the extremely thrilling plot, I got pulled right into Edenville. Also, that finale was completely awesome and felt so cinematic! I could imagine the whole thing playing out before me and it was so cool!
When I bought this, I originally thought it was going to be a psychological horror book or something along those lines, but what I got was not at all what I originally thought, instead of getting a horror, what I got was a book with a lot of heart, a book with valuable life lessons that even I took away from it. I highly recommend it, it may not be that exciting, but it's still definitely worth the read!
What the actual flip!?!?!?!?! The author of this book sent me a free copy, and I gotta say, I was expecting it to be quite lame. But boy, oh boy was I wrong. The two main characters of this book are best friends, Azaroth, a obsessed wizard, and Sefalin, a prince who doesn't really want to be a prince. The comedy when they were together was so awesome, the battle scenes when they were fighting together were so cool, and I gotta say that the are probably my favorite duo out of all the books I've ever read and all the movies I've ever seen. The story-line was so simple, but somehow Leonard Mokos made it more complex and intense, with twists and turns every step of the way. Man! I still can't get over how awesome this book is! And dude! The epilogue was so funny! :'D
Len, I hope you make a sequel! Thanks heaps for the free copy!
Really didn't enjoy this book and it was a chore to finish it, which books shouldn't be. The story was all over the place, the characters were really stereotypical and surprisingly it really wasn't that well written. I will say though, I am intrigued to now how the rest of the trilogy will flesh out, but I don't think I will be reading anymore. Good for you guys who found it a good read, but it really, really wasn't my cup of tea.
Imagine that there was a book so powerful that the wielder of this book could alter reality, control the weak-minded, bring back all-powerful beings from the dead, and then take over the world with those beings. That book is called the Incendium Maleficarum. The Incendium Maleficarum was once discovered by the Pharaohs of old, which they used to build the pyramids and rise up their empires, then it was passed on to the Israelites as they were freed from captivity, then it finally ended up in the ark of the covenant. After that nobody knows what happened to it, until it appears one day in a small town in the middle of no-where, and a young man named Carter Weston is tasked to retrieve it.
I really loved how this book was set out. It has five separate short stories in it, but those stories are being told to Carter by people he meets on his journey. I really liked how Carter's story still flowed really well even though there were five stories intertwined into it. The conclusion itself was awesome as well!
Another thing I really liked was how the ‘Old Ones' (Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth etc.) are actually made out to be Nephilim, which I never knew before.
For my first Cthulhu mythos book, this one was absolutely amazing, and it's for sure not going to be my last!
Saw this book at the library one day and dude, the cover looked absolutely awesome. So I did what anyone would do and I bought the book on my kindle and started to read it. Patrick Ness had a really cool idea for this book, it's not about ‘the chosen one' but about other people, bystanders, that we wouldn't of even known about if the book hadn't been based around their lives.
It was quirky, it was different, and in the end, it was a nice story about friendship, family and getting through stuff together. Still, it could have been a lot better.
So, a fantasy book about vampires. A couple months ago I wouldn't of been interested at all, but after finishing the Weis/Hickman main storyline of Dragonlance, I wanted to delve into another Dungeons & Dragons franchise, so I chose to read the first Ravenloft book. I gotta say, I was pleasantly surprised.
This book was awesome, the right amount of adventure, the right amount of mystery and the right amount of horror. The main character, a elf turned vampire called Jander Sunstar, really makes you feel for him and really makes you feel how cheated and robbed of a normal life that he was.
So yeah, I'm gonna read this series because the whole idea of a realm that takes broken and evil people and offers them redemption is really cool. Forget those flipping vampire-romance novels and read Ravenloft!
There were some really great bits in this book, one of them being the awesome two main heroes. Rhys, who is an ex-monk, and Nightshade, a kender who likes to think he can talk to the dead. These two characters were written so great and all their emotions, feelings, and thoughts were shown extraordinarily well! So yeah, overall, not an amazing book at all, and definitely my least favourite Dragonlance book I have read. That being said however, I'm halfway through the second book in the trilogy and that one is pretty amazing so far, and already so much better than this one. I still have faith in you Margaret!
This was amazing. Even though everything we started with in Chronicles has changed and even though everyone we knew in Chronicles has moved on, it still manages to end in such a way that makes us remember the beginning. I found it simply breath-taking. It's interesting because most of the reviews I've read on this book said that its a huge letdown, that it's not worth reading and that the new character suck. I strongly disagree with them. I found that the book exceed my expectations and straight after finishing it I felt like I could read it again. We actually can see some of the original characters in this book. Glithas actually becomes very much like his father Tanis, Gerard reminds me a lot of Sturm, Palin turns into what Raistlin should have been and Dalamar turns into what Raistlin was before he redeemed himself.
I came to care for this brave new world and care for the brave new characters as well, and I actually felt tears welling up in my eyes as I reached the conclusion. Don't listen to the people who tell you not to read this, just do it. You won't be disappointed.
