Review: In the Tall Grass

In the Tall Grass by Stephen King
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As I have stated in a previous review, I classify horror stories into two categories: mind-game horror (psychological, paranormal, etc) and blood, guts, and gore horror (dismemberment, slasher stuff, etc).

This book short story reminded me of The Ruins at first. Both stories start out with the mind-game horror (which I like). As In the Tall Grass goes on, it gets tedious with the constant repetition of limericks and gory descriptions. As the story goes on, it falls into the blood, guts, and gory category (not my favorite). In a total coincidence, I also made reference in the previous review about sensitivity with my eyes. Once again, I find myself reading about foreign objects finding their way into an eye. I'm not exactly sure how I find myself constantly reading books back to back with similar themes, but it seems I manage to do it constantly. This story also explores cannibalism.

The further I got into the story, the less I felt compelled to finish it. If this had been a full length novel, I probably would have put it down and came back to it at a later time. I only finished it because it was a short story.

View all my reviews

Review: The Poor and the Haunted

The Poor and the Haunted by Dustin McKissen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received a Kindle edition of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway.

Trigger Warning: I am very sensitive about my eyes. The thought of anything even coming close to being near them freaks me out. With that being said, there are rather detailed descriptions about a sharp object finding its way in into someone's eye. If these descriptions bother you, you will have a difficult time getting though a couple chapters of this book.

I tend to classify horror into two different categories: mind-game horror (psychological, paranormal, etc) and blood, guts, and gore horror (dismemberment, slasher stuff, etc). The good news is this book falls into both categories. The bad news is this book falls into both categories. I do enjoy a good horror story, but I really prefer the "mind-game" horror. To me, the blood, guts, and gore type of horror does not seem like horror in that "I'm afraid" way. It grosses me out more than anything and takes the enjoyment away from the book/movie. The majority of this book is that mind-game, psychological horror/suspense, but there are the moments where it becomes that blood and guts horror (the sharp object in the eye). Even though this was a book (opposed to a movie), I still found myself looking away from it just to distract myself from envisioning how certain events took place. Again, this is partly me because of the sensitivity I have about my eyes, but some of the description could have been left out and still would have gotten the point across.

Overall, a decent read. Took me longer to get through than it would have if this was just all mind-game horror.

View all my reviews

Review: A Cat's Christmas Tale

A Cat's Christmas Tale by Peter Arenstam
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book consists of two of my favorite things: Christmas and a cat. It is a very cute story about a cat looking for her name. Next time I read this, I will be snuggled up with my cat, Gidget, in a bug fluffy blanket.

View all my reviews

Review: Crownbreaker

Crownbreaker by Sebastien de Castell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have enjoyed this entire series. Reichis has always been my favorite, but the chemistry the author puts on the page between Reichis, Kellan, and Ferius is magic on its own. I hope the Spellslinger world is revisited.

View all my reviews

Review: Children of the Fifth Sun

Children of the Fifth Sun by Gareth Worthington
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a free copy of this book through BookSirens in exchange for an honest, voluntary review. Also, I see some other references to novellas and/or multiple parts of the story. To clarify the edition, I read a review edition of the book that was 415 pages (according to BookSirens).

I am really conflicted with how to rate and describe this book. It is like a condensed version of the show Ancient Aliens with a mix of concepts from the movies 2012 and The Shape of Water (among other concepts/theories). When we are first introduced to K'in and what he is, my first thoughts went to the creature in The Shape of Water.

The execution was a little disappointing. I really love the topics the book delves into, but it was not the page turner I was hoping for. It reminds me a bit of a writing assignment I had to do in high school. We were given a list of phrases and nouns and had to use as many as we could in a story. It was like all of the ancient alien theories were on a list and had to be used in someway in the story. The redeeming quality of this book is that it is action packed; in fact, you are into the action in the first chapter or two. I found that the book picked up further down the line as well.

Because of the direction the book goes, this book could have ended around chapter 28 or 29 and everything after that could have been a whole separate book. The segue from chapter 29 to 30 (one year later) seemed a little awkward to me especially since the connections to the all of the theories presented are never fully explained or connected. It seemed like one theory would be talked about for a couple of pages then suddenly a new theory is being talked about for a couple pages with a somewhat connection to the first theory then another theory is dropped that may or may not have anything to do with the first two. The story essentially takes you from theories like Earth Crust Displacement to DNA splicing and back again. While writing this review, I really struggled with trying to explain what I mean in words. Maybe I watch Ancient Aliens too much.

So, back to the rating. I am really conflicted. I found parts of the book to slow down a bit, but I did enjoy the book overall. I almost never give half stars, but this time I would give this book 3.5 stars rounded up to a 4 as I am definitely interested in reading the sequel, Children of the Fifth Sun: Echelon.

View all my reviews

Review: Death From Above

Death From Above by Robert Brooks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This novella gives background into the Mantid vs Mogo conflict. The bulk of the story takes place millennia before World of Warcraft. The epilogue takes place during the Mists of Pandaria expansion.

View all my reviews

Review: The Valley

The Valley by Helen Bryan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received a Kindle edition of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway a long time ago, but life happened and I only got around to reading it recently.

As I start to write this review, I am on at the start of chapter 5 (page 89 according to my Kindle). It’s been 88 pages of Sophia’s character development and her inability to decide on a suitable husband. The chapters are long and the plot is not moving! At page 119 we finally make it to the boat!

Before Annette Blair became a full-time writer, she worked at a high school in Rhode Island and wrote part-time. One of my English teachers invited her to our class to read and critique the stories of one of our assignments. She started to put down my classmate’s story when my classmate exclaimed, “But it gets better!” The advice that Mrs. Blair gave my classmate (and the rest of us) was, “If you have to say ‘It gets better!’, then everything before that part should be removed from the story.” For some reason this stuck with me. During the first 100+ pages, this memory kept coming back because part of me feels like this advice should apply to this book.

The majority of the story up until that point was unnecessary. This is a slow moving book that takes place over the course of nearly 100 years. We start in 1751 and end in 1833. I'm slightly concerned about getting into the second book because based on the description, the book does not pick up where this one left off. In fact, it starts in 1783, and based on reviews it spans another 100 years. I see the potential for confusion because of this. I guess I will see after I get into the next book.

View all my reviews