tobin_elliott's reviews
489 reviews

Yeah, I'm a Beatles freak. I'll pretty much read anything Beatles-related.

And, having said that, I have no idea how a book from Sir George Martin escaped my notice for so many years. Once I found out this was out there, I had to read it.

I've noticed others expressing disappointment in how much technical detail Martin goes into, and how much less Beatles info there is than they expected. Personally, I was delighted with this book.

The sense I get about the person George Martin was, was that he was exceptionally capable, very good at what he did, yet was also incredibly humble about it for the most part. He worked in the field for a long time prior to capturing lightning in a bottle (lightning in the Beatles?) with the band that made his name, and he continued to work his magic long afterward. He got the recognition and the accolades he deserved, and he accepted them graciously.

So, the tone and feel of this book reflects that. Yes, he talks about the Beatles, but he also talks about all the other stuff around those crazy eight years, as he should. Personally, his philosophies on what a producer does, how he problem solved, his outlook on what sound is, how various instruments come into it, and how he helped paint sonic pictures...? All of if was enlightening to me.

This is a fascinating and informative glimpse into the mind of the one guy who said yes to the Beatles, but who also gave us a lifetime of incredible sounds.

I'm just going to say this right up front in all caps, in case the right people happen to see this: J.E. ERICKSON DESERVES A MAJOR PUBLISHING HOUSE CONTRACT BECAUSE YES, HE'S THAT FRIGGIN' GOOD. 

Agents? Publishers? You listening? You should be.

<ahem> 

On to the book. This ithe fourth novel of Erickson's I've both read and enjoyed the heck out of. He can always be counted on to bring the horror, and he absolutely does.

"I breathe nightmares and speak torments. I know fear, Ella. And I know your fear best."

Mara, one of the two main characters says that. But it could just as easily be Mr. Erickson speaking to his readers. I firmly believe this man breathes nightmares and speaks torments. And he knows all our fears.

But what makes his horror visceral is that it's entwined into the soul of each of his characters, and spreads its tendrils between the various characters. Ella and Mara. Ella and Jerome. Ella and Mara and Jerome. 

Erickson excels at characters who live and breathe, who share the same wants, needs, and fears as you and me. Ella's a hot mess, but she's a hot mess that we understand. We've seen her. We've worked with her, been friends with her. She's our sister or our mother or our daughter.

And for the most part, this book could have been written without any supernatural content, just a thriller about a love triangle with two women broken in different, but similar ways, and the man who dares involve himself in their lives. It could have been that, and it would have been both a well-written love triangle, and one seriously amazing thriller.

But the supernatural element only serves to heighten the horror, to increase the emotions, and to raise the stakes.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: In the indie world of horror, while there's many, many incredible authors doing incredible work, Erickson is absolutely at the top of my list as the best of them.

Read this book. 

Ah, The Original Writer...I mean...Alan Moore. I think he's trying to be as spiteful and tempermental as Harlan Ellison, but no one can out-Harlan Harlan.

I have to admit, I have a love/hate relationship with Moore, and it typically rears both heads within the same series.

- Watchmen? Loved most of it, hated the ending.
- From Hell? Well researched, not bad, but Moore truly defecates on the mattress at the end. Completely ruined it.
- League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? Absolutely loved this...until Moore decided to test the patience of his readers by getting more and more ridiculous.

I could go on, but you get the drift. It feels like Moore starts out with a great idea, and is gung-ho, pedal to the medal with writing like we've never seen before, being taken places we've never been before...

...and then...

...and then it feels like Moore either thinks, something along the lines of, "well, I got away with all of that, let's see exactly how much they'll take before the project falls apart" or else it's simply the case of, "no idea how to end this, so let's just through in some unexplained/really bizarre/left field stuff and walk away from the smoking ruins."

This starts out very well. It doesn't bring comics into a more dark, adult sphere of storytelling, it takes the entire genre and pretty much upends it. Which is good. And then Moore unleashes the darkest, unholiest hell imaginable with a truly unrepentant villain. Also good, though it's something can only be done occasionally. 

And then, Moore gets weird. The Warpsmiths. The weird talking aliens. The long long long long long long long screeds of quasi-poetic word jumbles that really add nothing to the plot, but they fill pages. 

And then Moore decides to paint in his new world as gods would remake it, which goes really hard with the heavy-handedness.

I guess what I'm saying is, in the beginning, Moore is there to show you his chops, and to entertain the heck out of you. But then he turns into that homeowner who's held a party but now decides he wants everyone out so he starts acting obnoxious and petty and loses all interest in entertaining you. Instead, he'll just annoy you until you leave.

So, yes, this was absolutely the game-changer everyone says it was, but then Moore...well, I guess the best way to say it is, he got Moored to the idea that he could do anything he wanted and we'd love it.

Some probably even do, but not this kid.

Four stars for the game-changing bits. And one star off for all the bits I had to basically skip over because they were dumb.

You know, I read the first four Dresden books, and I kept thinking, "this is okay, but what's all the fuss about?"

Then, I read the next couple, and thought, "okay, I can see how the books are improving, and he's tying things together now, it's a pretty good series."

Then I got to the seventh in the series, and thought, "damn, okay, Butcher's really hitting his stride with these now, I'm getting it. These are good." That lasted all the way through to the eleventh novel.

And then along comes this installment. And holy mother of god, Butcher ups the stakes in a way that could simply have fallen flat on its face, but instead had me blasting through this novel, wanting to find out what happens next more than I ever have with a Dresden novel.

Butcher literally strips Harry Dresden of everything. I mean every. Single. Thing. 

And it's a crazy rollercoaster, heart-in-your-throat ride. 

This? THIS is where Butcher delivers on his promise of this series.

And the crazy thing is, as of this writing, there's still five more books to go. I have no idea where he's going to take it from here, but I'm absolutely, completely along for the ride. 

This is turning into a top three series for me, and I'm mad at myself that I delayed so long in reading it.

DNF at page 142, so no rating.

Y'know, I paid a lot of money for this special Cemetery Dance edition of King's novel. Then I waited something like four years for them to finally get it done and sent out. 

I'd previously read her SMALL WORLD novel, that didn't do a heck of a lot for me, but I also read THE TRAP, that I quite enjoyed.

And this one? Well, right up to page 120, aside from the grammatical errors (sorry, CD, you just ain't the publisher you used to be), I was actually quite enjoying the story. Then I read page 120...and the following 22 pages after that. And I'm out.

It may sound hypocritical, my reason for closing this novel and not reading further, considering some of the content I've written in my own works, so let me see if I can explain. But to do so, I have to get into some seriously spoilerific content, just so you know...

SPOILERS AHEAD

So, on page 120, having already found out that one of the two major players in this novel, Joe Nevers, isn't always the most stand up guy...he's messed around on both his wives, but now we're treated to his second wife accusing him of being obsessed with the other major player in the novel, Torie Christopher. And it's important to note that she's not wrong.

But Joe punches his wife. In the face. Hard enough that he not only breaks her nose, but leaves her both with nerve damage and needing plastic surgery to repair the damage to her nose.

Then, he takes her to the local doc immediately after, and the doc does what he can, warns Joe that, if she presses charges, he has to tell what he knows, but he promises to do everything he can to avoid that. And then he asks a few pointed questions that begin to shift the blame over to Joe's battered wife. Basically, putting it down to her being so cutting with her mouth that she was inviting it.

Then the battered wife, who's name is Cora, has her adult daughter over for Thanksgiving. The daughter, Jane, notices they aren't talking, then SHE takes her mother to task, ripping into her, and full on blaming her for bringing on the beating, then all but invites her to commit suicide. 

When Cora leaves, the daughter then invites Joe into her bed. Of course he declines, and of course, he goes back on that. 

Finally, Cora comes home, and she's got the town gossip with her. The town gossip starts laying into Joe, and then Joe—the guy that everyone's defending because they all think he's too stand up a guy to really be bad—tells the gossip she's lucky she's married to a friend of his, otherwise, he would have r@ped her.

Yes. Really.

And that's pretty much the summary of pages 120-142.

I'm not triggered. I don't get triggered. And I'm no prude. I've written about all of these acts.

I guess the thing that's bugging me is, everyone's defending him, and it truly feels like the author also wanted you to side with Joe. I know there's times we write despicable characters, and sometimes they're our lead characters. But a guy that does all that? 

I think the author's intent is the thing that bugs me the worst. Sure, he does all this, but he's still a good man.

No, no he's not.

I have zero sympathy for a character painted in those colours. The story just kind of crashed and burned in those 22 pages.

So, whether you read through the spoiler or not, suffice it to say, there were multiple events, back to back to back that just pulled me right out of the story.

...and I think I'm officially done with Tabitha King. Which is too bad. She can write.

I love the story of Frankenstein and his monster in all its forms. It's just a wonderfully tragic story. 

And while my favourite edition will always be the prose novel stunningly enhanced with the most incredible linework Bernie Wrightson ever did, this full on graphic novel of the tale is a close second. Georges Bess captures the emotion as well as the landscapes of Frankenstein's world, and the travels of his monster. 

Read this first for the story, then come back and just study the imagery. This is an adaptation that will keep giving with each viewing.

Mining the same vein as Harper Lee's TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, Grisham's A TIME TO KILL, and Joe R. Lansdale's THE BOTTOMS, Baldacci has his work cut out for him with this novel. It's ambitious and, unfortunately, rather timely as racism rears its ugly head yet again.

I've read a few other reviews that state that this seems to be a rather large departure for Baldacci. I'm not sure, as this is the first novel of his I've read.

Overall, there's a lot to love here, and some stuff that isn't quite as palatable. The story itself is, sadly, one we see time and again, to our great shame. There are days when I question if we'll ever learn to accept our neighbours—regardless of sexuality, skin tone, religion, or anything else we can find to arbitrarily hate because we don't understand it—as humans, just like ourselves. So, yes, this is a common, yet important story.

The main characters are, for the most part, fairly flat and one-dimensional. Baldacci does seem to try harder with his secondary characters, most especially with Jack Lee's mother. As well, the other thing that struck me right up front with this novel was that the writing itself—for an author of damn near sixty books—was only okay. Nothing sharp or spectacular. It got the job done, but at no point was I dazzled or hit with subtle truths like I have been in all of the other three books mentioned above.

And, while the story itself was reasonably predictable, I was a little disappointed with how Baldacci was able to finish the actual trial. It seemed a little too pat, too easy.

Finally, and I think this may be the biggest complaint of the novel both from myself and from many of the other reviewers, while I applaud Baldacci's method, I'll say this yet again: There are ways to get points across in a novel without having characters drop long diatribes that essentially spell out the theme of the novel, or offer screeds against the injustices being addressed in the novel.

Desiree DuBose is often a brilliant character, yet Baldacci actually seems to cheapen her with all of the rants he gives her, either in dialogue with Jack, or a few of the supporting characters, or especially with the press. If you have to give her a soapbox, then choose the spot of maximum effect, and get it in and then get out quick. But having multiple ones? It diminishes the message.

So, this was a fairly standard courtroom drama, but I think it was a touch heavy-handed, and thus fails at both delivering entertainment and delivering what could have been an important, poignant message.

Well, damn. I was positive I was going to rate this novel higher.

Here's the thing: Yes, the story has issues, but overall, there's a really good novel buried in here. Let me explain.

The big hurdle to get over in this novel, right off the top is that there's now a thing called time bubbles, or localized areas that can be set back in time, which has changed humanity. Running out of fossil fuels? Go back five years when there was some, and grab it. Forever renewable...everything.

If the reader can make that leap, the rest is pretty much gravy.

The story spans a million years, but it's very easy to follow, as we have the same crew throughout, going through five years...200,000 times. Again, I found all of this absolutely fascinating. Loved it.

The biggest issue I have with this novel was the pacing. Specifically things like...

The novel starts, then any forward momentum is immediately halted to fill in the world as it is, the last World War (number three, for those who count), etc. While it's mostly a nice to know (and it does come back around at the end), it's stuff that could have been meted out throughout the novel. It wasn't necessary to know immediately.

Fairly early on in the mission (around the 8,000 year mark), an event occurs that—quite frankly should have the crew freaking out and chasing down answers for the next several thousand years, but it kind of feels like they shrugged and said, oh well, that happened, but it's done now. The story does circle back to it, but not until the last twenty-ish pages of the novel, and honestly, had we had this as a mysterious inserted subplot? I think the tension and mystery of the novel would have been jacked way up, in the best way.

There's also a mystery that's brought up regarding a file, but then it's seemingly dropped and once again forgotten about for tens of millenia.

There's also an interesting development that doesn't occur until late in the novel that could have been explored a little earlier.

Overall, there were chunks that sort of felt like filler (particularly the entire bath thing).

I wanted to love this novel, and believe me, the overall storyline? I do love. I just wish it had been plotted a bit differently. But hey, that's literally one reader's opinion. 

Try this book. You may just love it.

I became aware of "John Cougar" like most, in 1982 with his American Fool album, and became a huge fan. I own all his albums, even the three really crappy early ones. But I will say that, from 1979 to his latest release, with the odd minor exception, I love all his albums.

I even count myself lucky enough to have seen the stage show of Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, his collaboration with Stephen King. Loved that too.

I'd read Kenny Aranoff's biography a couple of years ago, and I'd also heard that Mellencamp could be a bit of a dick, but this is the book that confirms it. He's also had to be, to get past the record company's enforced name change, and marketing him as the next Rick Springfield.

He's a dick, yes, but his heart is usually in the right place. I can't imagine he's an easy guy to be around, but I do appreciate the art he makes and I can say I truly enjoyed this warts and all glimpse into his life. Well paced, well observed, well written.

One of the better musician bios I've read.

In the 70s, I discovered comics. I was ten years old. More than fifty years later, I still love them, and what Marvel is now putting up on the screen? Yeah, that's a comic geek's dream come true.

I honestly thought I pretty much had the timeline worked out in my head. But this book, while it starts simple, does a great job of laying out the "what happened when" stuff in this big, messy universe.

And one thing I was surprised about? There's surprisingly few timeline gaffs that have occurred over the years. That's impressive, and so is this book. The only thing is, give it a few more years, and they're going to have to completely revise it and tuck in all the other stuff.