wjlongiii's reviews
107 reviews

Miss Olson continues to impress with this second book in her Nightshades series. I continue to be amazed at the texture and imagination placed in her worlds. This one is even more to my liking than The Old World series due to its more grounded portrayal of vampires and their function in regard to humans.

The characters here lack some of the shine her other books are overflowing with, but that is relative to their length. Still, I don't want for personality, only development, though I imagine that by the time the series concludes, I will have the completed arcs that I am looking for.

It's another solid book by one of my favorite authors. 4/5

This story is far creepier than I expected going in. For a tale so short, it covers a great deal and never allows the dread to fade as it rockets along. The Narrator knocks the performance out of the park, nailing the emotion with ease. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a rough night's sleep.

I don't know if these should count as books, but Amazon counts them, so I'm going with it.

This is my first blush with Joe Hill, and I have been looking forward to it for some time. Being a fan of many of his father's books, I wondered just how far the apple fell from the tree. It turns out the distance is negligible in this case.

The Pram is a short but gruesome tale about loss and disconnection with an air of supernatural horror. At first, I was concerned that this would continue the tried and tired approach of masking suppressed trauma beneath some ambiguous scenario that may or may not be only in the main character's head. I was thoroughly relieved to find the threat real and the scenario both simplistic in its existence outside of our characters while being complicated by their emotional baggage.

It's a short read, so give it a shot if you're looking to make your skin crawl.

Don't worry. I'll keep this brief as there is nothing I can say about this unflinching fantasy that hasn't been said by the millions of ratings it's always received.

Put simply, it is fantastic in an occasionally disheartening sort of way. GRRM plugs in a hefty amount of realism for good and ill. That means no one is safe. Villians often prevail. Heroism is usually tainted in some way, and the story is unpredictable, so long as you haven't seen the show or perused the thousands of fan forums or theory forums.

What I love is just how different the book feels from, say, the first season of the show. All the events still happen but with greater subtlety, nuance, and self-control on the part of the author, which I found surprising.

So yeah, I loved the book, and over the next few years, I plan to complete the series, assuming the series is complete.

An old tale well told

I won't bury the lede, as noir-esque stories go, this is solid. 'The Case of the Velvet Claws' is a very old book with all the old fashioned verbage, and sensibilities that go along with it. If you have issues setting aside the "triggered" mentality inherent in our time, I would avoid it. But if you're down for something out of time, this book is a refreshing and interesting read.

From a craft standpoint, it directly contradicts a number of modern writing "rules," some in enjoyable ways, others can be much more jarring. Gardner writes almost entirely from outside his characters in a way that recall plays. At times it can seem crude, but it's undeniably effective for the no nonsense style of the plot and tone.

I didn't come to this novel knowing how it would be constructed, but hoping for a detective (well... investigative lawyer) story with grit and surprises. I got what I came for and it doesn't hurt that it fits with the new series and old TV movies, I was already familiar with.

I could have only appreciated it more if it played that classic theme at the end.

I would love nothing more than to say that The Oath is either terrible or amazing. The truth is much more complicated. I don't usually skim reviews before I read a book, but something told me to do so this time. What I found were several warnings about Peretti being a deeply entrenched Christian writer as if that is inherently a bad thing.

I am not religious myself, but I was raised around it, so I shrugged off everything I read and dove in. At first, I was enthralled. The initial 200-250 pages were like reading an excellent small-town conspiracy horror story. An outsider is killed in a horrific way that cannot be easily explained. The people of Hyde River stonewall every attempt to dig any deeper while alluding to long and closely held secrets. While in the shadows, a mysterious killer stalks our protagonist as he seeks to understand just what happened to his brother.

Great stuff, right? I thought so, too, but it careens off a cliff at about page 300. From there, the rules of the world, previously established, fall apart in favor of the Christian message. Now, if the novel had established this tone and reality earlier on or even highlighted the spiritual troubles of our two main characters before literally having another character speak them into existence more than halfway through, even this could work.

Peretti's views on Christianity are also askew from anything Baptist churches taught me, but that discussion shouldn't count against the book. Only what is written in these pages should matter for
a review. Character assassination becomes the method by which the author brings forward his message. The story's logic takes a massive hit as well, and on top of it all, Jesus becomes the Deus Ex Machina that resolves the story, tying too shiny a bow on the events that take place.

Needless to say, I was thoroughly disappointed in this one. I do not recommend The Oath. 2.5/5

What a difference a day makes. In summing up the impression I was left after reading this pulse-pounding military sci-fi romp, the old idiom comes to mind. When a routine reservist training exercise meets with desperate aliens seeking a means to save their race, confusion and violence ensue. Nick Snape begins his Weapons of Choice series at nearly a full sprint, only to pour on more speed as he goes. We, the readers, are in the thick of it from the very beginning, learning about our characters and adversary on the fly as we moved from engagement to engagement throughout a Scottish forest, occasionally stopping by Washington to get a bird's eye view of the whole situation.

Pacing is the blade upon which this adventure is balanced. We get very broad strokes on characters as we are moving so quickly. They are in the dirt, scrambling to survive, and as such, there isn't much downtime to be had with them. In fairness, this is the first in a seven-book saga, and there are severe hints that quiet moments are coming. At no point was I left mistrusting the author's intent or skill to bring forward his characters in deep and meaningful ways as the story continues.

Make no mistake, this novel is the initial hook, and considering that, it is sharpest when it leans into the science fiction of it all. In the opinion of this reviewer, it is the nature of the aliens, the tech involved, and the motivation of their one-way run to our planet that presents the largest mystery and spurred me forward. While the modern military tactics, action, and politics are well done, give me more of the vivid imaginings present in those moments.

In the end, this is a stellar start to what I anticipate to be a wild ride through an enthralling new universe. 4.5/5

Impressive, but not yet compelling.

As opening acts go, Parliament of Rooks is fine. The art is beautiful. The narrative format is interesting, but the characters fail to shine here especially when stacked against the overall problem that comes to light.

I wanted to be dragged by the nose into issue #2, but I was left wondering if I cared enough to proceed. Perhaps I will one day, but mostly because the art is so incredibly gothic and haunting.

With a story as revered as this, there isn't much to say that hasn't been said a dozen times in the near century since it was first written.

For me Lovecraft is continually the master of intriguing concepts with an oddly emotionless prose style. An odd mix that is undeniably unique.

This is not my favorite work of his, but as I had heard so much about it, I wanted to read it for myself. While I did find a massive chunk of the story dry and largely uninteresting, I have no regrets experiencing it for myself.