Horror Books

Bianca's parents decide the best way to help her overcome her shyness is to take teaching positions at a prestigious New England prep school, Evernight. Evernight is not quite what it seems, and neither are its students. Bianca finds that first love can be poignant and dangerous.

Evernight is well-written, and despite the obviousness of the vampires coming somewhere (I would drop the preface), the author maintains suspense and is able to distinguish this story from the vast numbers of other vampire stories in the adult and YA markets. This book is sufficiently racy that I would not recommend it for a girl under the age of 14 or so, but it's a nice change from the super-explicit novels that other authors have been cranking out for adults.

What appears to be the main idea of Claudia Gray's "Evernight," that a new student at an exclusive and remote boarding school finds they don't fit in and begins to suspect there is something sinister afoot and not all is what it seems, is hardly a new one. However, it is a premise that is ripe with allure for both writers and readers alike, so we continue to see it utilized, with naturally mixed results.

However, this book goes in a different direction from what appears to be the set-up for a thriller (this book was a blind acquisition for me). The first half of the book is something of a typical bildungsroman with a rather odd and not quite plausible setting for the 21st century. It focuses on the protagonist and narrator, Bianca, as she strives to get along in the prestigious and extremely remote, cut-off Evernight Academy where her parents have moved her to take teaching positions. There are two groups at the academy: the almost preternaturally perfect "in crowd" and the outsiders. Bianca does not feel like she fits in with either group truly.

The grist of the first half of the book revolves around another well-tread idea for books geared toward young adult females - Bianca's deepening relationship with a sexy, mysterious, dangerous, and inaccessible outsider at the Academy named Lucas. Lucas is something of a prototypical Byronic hero - passionate, righteous, handsome, strong, moody, dangerous. This part of the story explores their relationship and the relationships Bianca has with her fellow students and parents while establishing mystery surrounding the Academy.

Then, halfway through, a plot twist occurs that changes the direction of the book from bildungsroman to something else. What that is I cannot elaborate on without spoiling the book. I will say, however, that the twist is done disingenuously if truth be told. Why is this? Well, Bianca is the narrator and in the first half of the book she asks questions and acts in a way that the reader later finds is contradictory with the twist of the book.

However, I suspect that will matter little to the target audience. The reason? This book is an easy, light read but an engaging one. You may find yourself reading it later into the night that you had anticipated. Because it is such easy reading and does engage the reader well, I found that I kept reading a few chapters after I told myself I would put the book down for the day.

After the plot twist, the book delivers the romance, adventure, conflict, and danger you would expect from such a book. I would not describe this book as high literature but I would call it a diverting read and recommend it, particularly for teenage/YA females, though both genders should be capable of enjoying this book.

As such, I recommend this book, with the reservation that you take it for what it is: a fun, engaging, light read that cheats credibility a little bit, a sin that is forgivable enough by the end of the book.

Finally, if after you've read this book you've found you enjoyed it, I would recommend a manga series by Matsuri Hino called "------e Knight" (I don't want to spell out the first word because it might be a spoiler to this book for a few readers). If you like "Evernight" I think you will really enjoy Matsuri Hino's series; you can also find it on Amazon.com.

I am going to try and write this review entirely in the first person voice. My instincts warning me not to, I do so anyway, hoping some valued reader out there will soon find my internal voice as annoying as that of Bianca, the soul source of information in the attempt to cash in on Twilight's success that is the new novel Evernight. I am so silly, thinking anyone will make it past the first paragraph, but my breath has drawn so tight in anticipation of it, much in the manner Bianca's breath draws tight when she thinks of Lucas. Bianca and Lucas. Buff and Angel in a private academy where everyone is too pretty, too perfect, too rich, that just happens to be accepting a few "different" kinds of students this year.

All the early impressions I have of Evernight are not very favorable ones. The novel is one written for TeenHarper, the imprint for teens everywhere, which makes me nervous because a good teen book is really just a good book that has avoided situations that might be inappropriate for a teen reader. I have seen too many teen targeted books that are written like an adult's idea of what a teen should sound like and I feel queasy I may be entering a trap, just ahead, in the darkness between the pages ahead me. Then there is a teaser. One with burning arrows and a scary moment about dedication to Lucas and a frightening final line: "Outside, the Vampires waited". Hmmmm, I hum in my head. If this book has to tell me in an intro describing a scene near the end of the book that it's an action oriented vampire tale, this suggests it was put at the front because the first chapter will not set that tone. Waiting to discover my anticipation of disappointment is mere paranoia from books gone by, I read on. I am disappointed that I am disappointed.

Bianca, the heroine of the tale, is supposed to be a 16 year old attending a creepy private school called Evernight, but I am sick of the number of times I have read a reference to the place being spooky - or "spooky as hell"- by page 36 that I can almost imagine it becoming a drinking game should this work ever become a movie. Or, I think to myself, more likely a TV Movie. The hardest thing for me is the intolerable first person perspective of the entire novella. The voice of this 16 year old is very 13 year old. It starts off with her running away to teach her parents a lesson about dragging her to this academy. Her parents are a pretty couple who hate getting up before noon, facts delivered with a rather fine point on them, and now the newest teachers at Evernight, so Bianca gets a free ride in. But she hates it here because - because - well it's kinda spooky.

I find myself more disturbed by the behavior of Bianca than the architecture of Evernight academy. I find my mind wandering off the page with each passing paragraph. If Bianca is a less attractive brainy type, why is she so stupid? I could buy it if she was a little slow, a young child at heart who just can't think more than one step down the line and pays a price for it, but we are being sold on the idea she is bright. I ache for some demonstration to match the proclamation. I am perturbed by the italicized flash-back dream sequences right in the middle of a plot motion, each one having to remind me either before or after each italicized description that the italicized part is in fact a dream.

Examples: ...I had a sudden strange flash of something I'd dreamed the night before, as vivid and immediate as though I were still dreaming: Italics Italics Italics. Why did that memory make me shiver? It was only a dream.

Two pages later: ...the lights weren't on yet, making for a dark, difficult trip. Italics, italics, italics. The last thing I needed was to start flashing back to my nightmares.

Next page: ...they began to fade into the fog. Italics, italics, italics. My nightmare was starting to feel more real than reality.

It was humorous for me now, I realized. "My Nightmare wouldn't leave me alone" It wouldn't leave the reader alone either, I quipped to myself.

So I meet Lucas just as Bianca is realizing that her nightmare is realer than her reality, and that she probably made a mistake running away into a foggy woods in a remote place where cell phones don't work (can you hear me now?) and with no food and little money. Sixteen, I ponder, really? Bianca's sixteen? Maybe I'm spoiled, for my child is sixteen and she could pretty much run the place for me if I keeled over tomorrow. I return to reading the book and discover that there in the woods is a creepy guy and he starts chasing Bianca and he tackles her. The two of them all alone in the woods. He chases her down and essentially mugs her and when he asks who she was running from and explains that he was only trying to help her because "I thought we needed to take cover. To hide from whoever was chasing you...", I feel a desperate desire rise within my soul to abandon the book then and there. That's page 11, I note to myself, contemplating with dread the idea of another 316 more.

That's about it for the action for many chapters to come, so I feel a need to make sure readers of my review understand that this is not the tale foretold in the teaser, and in fact, that boredom will overtake you and the story will fall away from your grasp not because it is complex but just because there is a cat outside that is hunting something and that's more interesting than Evernight. The true weakness of this story is simple, it wants a heroine old enough to be sexy and one that can fall in love without getting too many parental units pissed off, but needs to have a kid's voice to please the editors at TeenHarper. You end up getting an adult playing a child with a fake kid's voice, like in those school plays where a thirty-five year old acts like what they want 16 to be like and not at all what it is like.

You can hear the marketer's voice. Vampires, like in Twilight, a school, like in Harry Potter, and clothing and clicks and other high school teen stuff we read/write about in teen magazines. It will sell: Twilight meets Harry Potter in Teen Beat! We'll have some near fights and some moments where Bianca loves things about Lucas. Girls do that with boys, right, love his voice, love his hair, love that little smile. That's 16. Right there. And toss in a vampire... Cash in our pocket. Which is where any prospective buyer approaching Evernight should actually keep thier spending money, in their own pocket

Look, I couldn't even keep up my first person narrative for a few paragraphs. Why? It ruins a story when there are several people involved. You never get anyone else' perspective, never know something the speaker does not know. It binds the story up. I will reveal that you have to get a hundred and many pages into this one before you find the vampire part of the story. I won't give any more away in a review, but I will say - it was a long haul to the circus tent and a one trick pony was all that was within.

I wasn't really sure what to expect with this book. Would it be a cheap knock off of the Stephanie Meyer series or something like Holly Black's books, but about vampires?

I was pleasantly surprised! The main male protagonist was somewhat protective (like Edward of Bella in SM's series), but from there any comparisons changed. The writing was clean and occasionally melodramatic, but thankfully not effusively ridioulous like Meyer's can get at times.

And, even better yet, the main female protagonist ends up being the one who is the vampire! This story had lots of interesting plot twists and was left open to continue as a series. While this is geared for a teen audience, I think adult readers will enjoy it as well.

Bianca has lived her entire 16 years in a small town - Arrowhead - until her parents take jobs as teachers at prestigious Evernight Academy. Evernight is populated by students who are mostly beautiful, and all rich. Bianca, being terminally shy, has a difficult time fitting in with this crowd and becomes friends with several of the new students, who also are outsiders.

A twist about half-way through causes Bianca to realize more about herself than she really wanted to know. In love with Lucas Ross, she is forced to confront her beliefs in the world as she has been taught.

This is a terrificly fun read and one I could recommend most strongly. It is written to be accessible to the junior high to high school crowd, and will be probably most loved by those who consider themselves to be "outsiders" - the shy and the lonely. That should not deter you from reading this very well-written book by a new author who I hope to see more from.

I was gung ho to read the living blood after MSTK and enjoyed them both.....I guess I needed to reread both books to really keep up with this one...it has been a while...but I barely remembered all of the players even though there were new ones and characters were getting kind of confusing in my memory bank....I'd suggest reading all three of these books back to back other than that it's like treading water....

Tananarive Due did not disappoint. Blood Colony is a true page-turner. Since it has been so long since she published the other two books in the series, I thought I might have difficulty recalling where things left off after book two, but she has done a great job of bringing the reader up to date. I highly recommend this book.

Wow. Has it really been over a decade since the saga of Jessica and Dawit first began? After a too-long wait, Tananarive Due has crafted a worthy successor to MY SOUL TO KEEP and THE LIVING BLOOD.

This novel picks up with their daughter, Fana--supposedly the only child born with the magic blood--now a rebellious teenager, and going through all the trials those angst-ridden years inevitably wreak. Except, on top of the raging hormones and looming self-doubts, our fragile Fana has to cope with being treated like a Deity, and feels the crush of the world on her shoulders, literally. How can she best share her miracles with the dying and infirm?

Enter Sanctus Cruor (Catholicism's evil twin). It seems our favorite Africans aren't the only Immortals roaming loose on planet Earth. And perhaps Fana isn't so unique and all-powerful after all. When Fana and her best friend run away, they have no idea what nightmares are lurking around each corner.

So many twisted turns in this story! I won't give all the good stuff away, no spoilers here, just let me say: First love rarely ends up so gory! And few teens have to grow up in the blink of the eye, as Fana does, rising to the occasion, making a choice that will affect the entire human race.

Book 4, we're waiting!

Based on the positive reception and number of raving reviews for Tananarive Due's latest novel, Blood Colony, it is quite evident that my commentary will be in the minority based on my "3-star," middle of the road rating for the book. It is the first time I have ever applied an average rating to one of her novels, especially when I am a fan of the Immortal series. Like others, I pre-ordered my copy to ensure I would have it as soon as it dropped. While I LOVED My Soul To Keep and liked The Living Blood, I found Blood Colony to be just "OK" -- a good novel, but not of exceptional caliber.

The novel opens with an alert 17-year-old Fana fully emerged from the seemingly self-induced years-long trance finally participating in the "world" as secluded as it may be. The Wolde clan, along with selected friends and life brother supporters, have sequestered themselves within the Washington forest and secretly share the "living" blood with third world, remote countries under the guise of it being an experimental pharmaceutical drug. However, there is evidence that an underground distribution network exists in North America. With the blood as its catalyst, an illegal drug called Glow, is in demand with a high street value making it the target of governmental crackdowns with harsh penalties and punishments to those involved with its manufacture and distribution. It does not take long to figure out that Fana (without her parent's permission or knowledge) is the primary source of the blood that fuels Glow's production. Without divulging too much of the plot, Fana runs away from the safety of the complex with good guys, bad guys, and the government hot on her tail. The chase is afoot and we follow along and watch the body count increase at nearly every turn.

It is difficult for me to explain what did not quite work for me with this otherwise well-written and well-conceived novel. Perhaps it is the shift to Fana and away from one of my favorite characters, Dawit, who, in this episode, was relegated to a seemingly perfunctory role of neutered husband. It might have been the continued emphasis on Fana. I suppose it was time for her light to shine (no pun intended) and there is no doubt that everyone (including the reader) is supposed to love Fana as the enlightened one with extraordinary skills who holds the future of mankind in her veins. I "got" that this novel showed her as less monster, more human: she is a vulnerable, typical, confused, misguided teenager who throws caution to the wind and lives dangerously with no clue regarding the life-threatening consequences of her actions. In the span of one novel, she zooms through first crush, first kiss, to a ten-year engagement rooted in a questionable, antediluvian prophecy. Unfortunately, I failed to be enamored or empathetic with her in The Living Blood and still did not really connect with her or her friends (do-gooders to a fault) in this novel. Maybe it was the familiarity of themes used in other novels: the telepathic, humanitarian aspects elicited vibes from Octavia Butler's Patternmaster series, the evil Sanctus Cruor seemed akin to the misunderstood Opus Dei of The DaVinci Code fame.

Another annoyance is Jessica's (and now Fana's) overbearing, blinding insistence to share the blood (regardless of the ramifications to their friends and family) comes off as near fanaticism. Following the "like mother, like daughter" mantra, it is now both the Jessica and Fana's decisions that continue to endanger everyone around them while trying to save the innocent masses from disease, suffering, and death. I know that the light and goodness will prevail (or at least I hope so), but in order to pull it off, this hodgepodge family/team really needs to get it together because throughout this novel, it was more than apparent that they could barely save themselves let alone humanity. Last, buried in the pages, there is the banter and discussions from previous novels surrounding the social and philosophical arguments that continue to buoy the plot: Who does the blood really belong to? Who should benefit from it? Who decides who gets it? Should it be rationed? What is the cost of immortality? Is it really worth it? Where did it really come from?

Despite the shortcomings I have with the novel, I am still a fan of the author and will no doubt purchase and read anything she releases, however I am not nearly as anxious for the next installment of the Immortal Series as I was for previous releases - especially if Fana and Michel are at the center of it. YAWN! Here is hoping the trek back to Lalibela will focus more on the Life Brothers and their collective and individual histories, maybe a reappearance of Khaldun, or other supporting characters that seem to have fallen off the pages during this latest episode.

Reviewed by Phyllis
APOOO BookClub
July 26, 2008

I dont know if it was just me, i think it was, but I didnt really ENJOY this book as much as I did the first two. The one thing Due is, is descriptive, Without a doubt. she can describe a scenario, a feeling, a moment that you almost feel as if it is happening to you. But I think thats where the book lost its ability to grab attention in description and less storyline. I love Due's series but this book disappointed me. Maybe the direction is just not a direction I hoped it would go. The Life Brothers are no longer the regal elite, they are easily killed now. Its just not the same. Dawit is rarely included and he and Jessica's love doesnt seem the same. I dont think Fana and His relationship was developed much either. I wish they were closer, more nsync, in tune. But, Im no writer, just a reader. Still looking forward to the next book. I hope and wish for the best. I miss Dawit...mi vida lol i love that

Great book for any JTHM fans Its a bit short but the author makes up for that by adding all of the old meanwhiles,

Best read after reading JTHM. Lots more noodle boy and other shorts. Makes me laugh in the same way I laugh at road kill or handicapped children.

OK this one will be a short review, predominately because this is a compilation of Jhonen's Squee series, but still a definite must have for all Vasquez fans, if for no other reason than the reprint of the Meanwhiles (if you don't know what those are then you're lacking in your daily dosage of mind torture and desperately NEED this book)

I loved this series of dark humor comics. If you are a fan of dark humor and have a twisted sense of humor, you will love Squee!

I love it, its neurotic and it reflects parts of my childhood. It's funny but I dont recommend buying this for very young children just because its a comic book.

Well, it took me awhile but I finally finished this book. First of all, it is the first book in a series and it doesn't really say that anywhere on the cover so just be aware. Second, a lot of people gave this 5 stars. In fact, over 80% of the people who have rated this book gave it five stars. To me a 5 star book you just can't put down and it sucks you in immediately. Not this one. I like a good horror tale but this one really never got rolling. Some of the characters were "chilling" like Karl Rueger - a serial killer turned loose in a small town. I did like the hero "Crow" but quite a bit of the story never really came together. Too many story lines were left hanging, I guess to be resolved in the second book. Unfortunately I won't be reading that one. If you come across this book like I did, attracted by the high reviews, you might look elsewhere. I enjoyed "13 Bullets" and "99 Coffins" by Wellington, pts 1 and 2 of a modern vampire thriller. If you are into some creepy serial killer stuff, try "Shadow Man" by Cody McFayden and it's sequel, the title of which escapes me now. Those books, to me, were all so much better than this one. I was disappointed. This is the first book in amazon with over an over 80% 5 star rating that has failed to live up to it for me. If your curious about what has lived up in my opinion so far, check out "Swan Song" by Robert McCammon, a story about survivors of a nuclear war and "Ender's Game" for you sci-fi fans.

Glad I gave it a try! I am pretty weary of reaching out and reading authors I don't know much about, and I have been disappointed with some of my recent attempts to do so. But this book didn't let me down one bit. It moved along at a rapid pace and truly kept me turning the pages to see what was about to happen next. The characters were enjoyable to read, which is something that either makes or breaks a book for me.

My only regret is that I did not get his second novel, Deadman's Song since I wanted to see if I liked this one first. Now I wish I had the second one to start on since they run back to back. So, if you are considering this book, go ahead and buy Deadman's Song while your at it.

This book is a great read, keeps you wanting more. Can't wait until I get the other two books in this trilogy!

I actually bought Bad Moon Rising not realizing it was the third in a trilogy. I started reading and after a few pages had to find Ghost Road Blues so that I could start at the beginning of this AMAZING trilogy. I am the type that loves a good horror novel, but lately it's been hard to find, until I picked up Ghost Road Blues. Jonathan Maberry makes you just not want to put this book down. You get to know and love each character almost as if they are real. I couldn't put it down and then hunted for the next book, so I could go back to Pine Deep as soon as possible!

I couldnt put this down nor the other two in the series.Wonderful and very ingrossing.With very wonderful characters that made you cheer for them,fear for them, or cry for them.Pick this one up today

This was my first Koontz book and I listened to it on CD, so the narration may be playing a role in some of my negative opinions. Her voice was phony and grating when she spoke as Vess. I pictured her putting her index finger under her nose like a fake mustache for more "effect". Anyway, my comments.

The story was good enough to keep my going, but as many others have said, I think he spent far too much time on irrelevant details, such as the much talked about escape scene. Chyna's mother and lover were a little too thin and Vess became that way after the first few chapters. We knew who he was and what kept him going ("intensity"). Got it. And yeah, there were some bits of fate or luck that some considered unbelievable, but that adds to the suspense (e.g. narrow escapes in the house, etc). In my opinion, there wasn't anything that was over the top in that regard. Overall, the pacing was the biggest problem with the story.

I may be in the minority here, but I also had a problem with style. Misplaced and overused adverbs (how many things were done "ferociously"?), fancy words ("behemoth" was used to death), over the top metaphors, and descriptions of mechanical devices that seemed to have been pulled straight from technical manuals. Seriously, has anyone ever uttered the words "engaged my safety harness", let alone three or four times in a 24-hour period? What's wrong with "fastened my seat belt"? Or simply turning off a light instead of "extinguishing" it?

And the description of the door hinge was way too technical, as was the compare and contrast between a revolver and semi-automatic pistol and their respective ammunition capacities, which Chyna performed in her mind as bullets whizzed past her head. At times I was convinced he was trying to impress with his deep knowledge of a subject and it felt clumsy. There were many more instances of this that escape me now, but you'll know what I'm talking about when you read it.

Anyway, I'll try more Koontz books in the future, but I was somewhat disappointed in this one.

False Memory WAS my top Koontz book but Intensity takes the cake. There are twists and turns during the whole book and no fluff at all. It keeps you guessing up until the very end!

It's a must add to your list!

This is the 3rd Koontz book I read, and it was pretty good. The heroine of the story was excellent and compelling. I despised the villain, which is the goal of the author, so he succeeded. This book could easily be a movie (if it isn't yet).

Six Chilling Nightmares I love horror if it is believable. Intensity is everything you want for an entertaining evening during a snow storm and stormy nights. The beginning was well played and in proper text with the book and the ending was a shocker. A great book to read that is easy to understand with a plot that you might never forget. This story is close to the truth representing murder itself, with spine chilling moments that persuade you to stop reading to think for a minute. I loved this book and it deserves six stars. What more can you ask for in a chilling horror book? It has everything you need for a night alone next to a roaring fire or perhaps a nice corner in the basement. I love comedy horror but this book had no room for humor and the horror throughout the book was intense.

Why do people feel the need to summerize or rewrite all the books on here?? A review is simply an avenue for people to say what they thought of the book, whether they enjoyed it or not and possibly help someone else decide if its worth reading. I can get the summery of the book in product description, I dont need you for that. What's wrong with you people???

"Stolen" was by far my favorite of the three novels by Kelley Armstrong featuring Elena the werewolf. In "Bitten" I didn't much care for Clay or her relationship with him, but in "Stolen" something clicked and I completely fell in love with the characters.
Kudos on the cover art as well.

This is just a really great sequel to the kelly armstrong werewolf trilogy. I've read all 3 and waiting for more!!! And for them to make it to the big screen.

This book was extremely good. Here we find Elena checking into illicit werewolf activity as a part of her job in the pack. Following a tip, Elena is led to a meeting with two witches. Things spiral out of control and Elena ends up being kidnapped and brought to an undercover and illegal paranormal "study" organization headed by a bigwig millionaire psycho. Ty Winslow believes in hunting his 'stolen' prey ala Most Dangerous Game fashion. That is once his co-workers get tired of studying their powers, habits, and DNA. Inside the compound adventure upon adventure awaits. Elena most use all her skills and cunning to get out of unreal situations. How does Elena cope? Who are these intriguing co-captives among her? Will and how does Elena escape and who can possibly make it out alive? I recommend anyone slightly intrigued by this storyline grab up a copy of this book and its predessasor "Bitten" immediately. Personally speaking, I liked this book more than the first. I had problems with some of Elena's behaviours in the first book, but I found her much more likeable this time around. Clay and Jeremey had a much smaller role in this one. "Stolen" is all about Elena and the motley group of other paranormal species she is locked up with. As I understand it Ms. Armstrong goes to some of the other species to star in her next books in the Otherworld series and I say this is a great way to do it. Also changing between the characters in a series is a great way to keep that series fresh and interesting. I am going to go order the next book right now...this series is too good to pass up.

I picked up this book hoping that the heroine, Elena(who, by the way, I couldn't stand in Bitten), would evolve into the strong, sensible woman you would expect of the "Only female werewolf ever". With all the 5 star reviews that is what I was expecting and I had no idea I would be so disappointed.

Elena is still as stupid as ever, doesn't listen to her insticts, and makes me scream "PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR SURROUNDINGS, YOU'RE A WEREWOLF YOU IDIOT". She has at least started to accept some of her situations, but not fully.

Initally you are lead to believe that this is werewolf story, but then the author goes and throws in all the other paranormal stereotypes that anyone can think of. The only reason I can think to put this hodgepodge of character types together is in hopes of selling the book to a wider customer base. The plot line of catch and study and then hunt/kill has been done over and over by untold amounts of other writers and been written better by these other writers. Supposedly this is a way in which to slip these other races into the fold smoothly. If it wasn't a first person view, from only Elena, it might have worked out that way.

I picked up this book, then put it down, because I just don't like Elena, then tried again and again and ended up skimming to the end just to see if she died. If you were to base your criteria of a good book on the fact that you get angry with the stupidity of the characters then this book would qualify as a great read.

I read Bitten five years ago and loved it. And I'd intended to look for this one when it came out, but that was before I started keeping a calendar list of what's coming out when, and I ended up forgetting about it. Argh.

Elena Michaels is the only female werewolf. Her job for the pack is to help keep the werewolves' secrecy by investigating anything online that might indicate a mutt (non-pack werewolf) getting himself noticed.

She's following a lead when she agrees to meet with Ruth and Paige Winterbourne, aunt and niece, who are selling proof that werewolves exist. When she meets them, she finds out that not only do they have proof--they know all about her, personally, and that they'd placed the ad specifically in order to meet her. The women explain that they are witches and they wanted to meet her to invite the pack to a meeting of representatives of supernatural races, convening to discuss the disappearance of supernaturals of all sorts, kidnapped by billionaire Ty Winsloe.

Elena is disbelieving, but when a stalker in fatigues who seems to know she's a wolf tries to grab her, she's a little more willing to listen. So she, the alpha Jeremy, and Clay, her lover, attend the meeting along with the witches, a vampire, a shaman, and a half-demon.

Then she's, well, Stolen--abducted after the meeting when her vehicle gets separated from the one carrying Clay and Jeremy. She's taken to an underground facility with cells housing other supernaturals who are being experimented on. Think Season 4 of Buffy, and The Initiative (which, by the way, is mentioned, making me laugh).

That's why the scientists and doctors are there, anyway. Winsloe just wants his own extreme LARP.

Stolen opens up the series by introducing other supernatural races. Witches are pretty much what you'd expect, but vampires are a little different from what I've seen elsewhere, and the half-demons, who have a variety of powers depending on their demon parentage, are quite unusual.

There's a lot of worldbuilding in this story, and the plot facilitates that--first by Ruth and Paige explaining things to a disbelieving Elena, and then by the experiments and observations of Winsloe's scientific team.

Even though the story is told from Elena's first person POV, the various characters are all unique and well-developed, including the villains, who aren't just cardboard cut-outs of Evil, and are all the more chilling because of that.

The suspense kept me turning pages, and I particularly appreciated that Armstrong skipped the cliche of the stupid villains--that most of the ways Elena tried to escape had been anticipated and prevented, and that she kept having to stretch her ingenuity.

There is, of course, less of the werewolf pack and Elena's relationship with Clay--that was done superbly in Bitten, and kudos to Armstrong again for not simply rehashing the first book. There's a bit, though, enough to keep fans happy.

I'm glad I finally remembered to get this. The third book is already in my TBR pile.

For the past 30 years or so, the fantasy genre has, with the exception of a few great works from a few great authors, mired itself in a situation where it has become unimaginative and unoriginal where works have become practically clones of each other. In recent years though, a few inspired souls have gradually tried to take the genre out of its familiar and commercially safe elements hoping to take fantasy back to an environment when it was wide-open in terms of storyline, setting, characterizations, etc., where every other author wasn't trying to be the Second Coming of J.R.R. Tolkien. Daring and creative authors have emerged who have taken their work away from the accepted formulaic approach and looked for inspirations outside of the established works of the genre, instead of keeping on repeating its own successes. Perdido Street Station takes the reader in a totally different world from that of your typical fantasy fare.

China Mielville, who describes his work as "weird fiction" and influenced by early fantasy authors like H.P. Lovecraft and Mervyn Peake, deliberately stayed away from Tolkienesque formulas in order create his work. He incorporated fantasy, science fiction, horror, and steampunk to create this highly imaginative, complex and downright amazing masterpiece that breaks the established boundaries taking the genre to heights unexplored for a very long time.

Perdido Street Station may be a little difficult for some to read as the story takes time and requires focus. He takes the reader into a tour of New Crobuzon and explores a city in decay through some rich and descriptive passages that define the cities structures, societies, creeds, history and its various races and creatures. In doing so, he also explores a little on themes like, crime, and racial intolerance, government control, poverty, commercialism, freedom of expression, drugs, and religious societies. But as one takes the time to immerse in the writing of Mielville, one is taken to a city that is amazing at the same time dark. It is dark, vile, dirty, ragged, ill, decaying but also mesmerizing and amazing, and one which seems to impose itself on its inhabitants. No other city has come this alive with character in the pages of fiction since the establishment of Gotham City.

Such is the way the author writes. Each major character is well-rounded and fully dimensional. They have strengths and they have faults. The main character isn't a handsome and cool physical specimen. He is an overweight person, who makes love to an insect and probably caused the death of one of his friends. He will also make morally ambiguous decisions.

And through him, Mielville makes his readers think about the ethics of some issues. In the story, Isaac makes two decisions that could be subjects of a great moral debate about what is right and what is wrong. Does the end justify the means? How much is one life worth? Do our moral obligations supersede our morality?

And herein lies the reason why Perdido Street Station is a masterpiece. It is a manifestation of the wonderful imagination of a great mind. It dares to break standards and pushes and challenges its peers to reach for new heights in a genre that supposedly has very few limitations. It has a wonderful story and characters, even the non-humanoid types, feel down-to-earth-real that readers can sympathize with them. And most of all, it makes one think about ourselves as human beings.

Perdido Street Station is a dense book, crowded and alive like the city of New Crobuzon where it's set. Not necessarily in plotting - while Mieville sets up a large number of plot threads, once that is done they coalesce rapidly, leaving a large part of the book with a straightforward narrative. But the writing and imagery bring you into the city itself, the lives of the inhabitants and creatures; it's a remarkable bit of writing, though perhaps not the easiest book to read.

New Crobuzon is perhaps the most important part of the book, a putrid, jumbled city built around a river. Mievelle has been placed as part of the "New Weird" movement in science fiction, and the city is an amalgam of races and species, in ghettos and mixed districts, most of the city wretchedly poor. The species are separate from both standard fantasy and logic, wrapped up in and often living on the odd magic of the world. There's massive inventiveness here, but nothing out of place.

The main thrust of the book follows Isaac Grimnebulin, a talented but unreliable outcast scientist, and his researches sparked by a request from the the half-man, half-bird Yagharek. The broader cast gets quite large, but never weighs down the novel unnecessarily, although a few later minor characters never fully mesh. Once the plot lands on the straight narrative later on, there are a few asides and passages that could - and perhaps should - have been cut from this long book. But the slow pacing and dense prose fit to a broad extent the book's world itself, a bustling, grimy, fascinating city - and book.

SUMMARY: No one can fault Miéville for a lack of imagination; but a jumble of cool ideas does not save a book hampered by glacial pacing and major style problems.

The sprawling, dilapidated city of New Crobuzon is the main attraction of China Miéville's Perdido Street Station, and it is a place where anything goes: there are golems made out of trash, and immensely powerful dimension-traversing giant spiders (which speak in frenzied, delirious poetry), and moths with prismatic wings that eat brains, and cactus people, which need no explanation. In this mad mishmash of a world, which draws on steampunk and the Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual, science and magic coexist, and the border between them is highly pliable. In one scene, for example, a repairman feeds a mere handful of punched cards into a robotic construct, and suddenly the machine is sentient.


Isaac dan der Grimnebulin is a quirky, brilliant scientist who lives in the midst of this chaotic, imaginative milieu. He studies Crisis Theory, which involves releasing immense amounts of energy from the disorder bottled up in everyday objects. He has a girlfriend named Lin, a moderately successful artist who has the body of a human and the head of a scarab. One day, a mysterious bird-man with amputated wings arrives at Isaac's lab and offers Isaac an enormous amount of money to restore his lost power of flight. At the same time, Lin gets a commission from an inhuman mobster to sculpt his (its?) likeness. These two plotlines come together when a cocoon in Isaac's lab hatches and a brain-eating moth emerges to terrorize the city. Isaac, Lin, and the bird-man Yagharek chase after it, and in the process discover a conspiracy involving the mobster and the city's corrupt government.


This intricate premise, and Miéville's vivid descriptions of New Crobuzon and its otherworldly inhabitants, captivated me for the first hundred pages. But after a while my excitement petered out. Like a relentless, sadistic tour guide, Miéville drags us through page after page of un-necessary description of New Crobuzon, each one repetitively emphasizing just how dirty and slimy and ugly and monstrous the city is (very), without really adding anything new or interesting. These eclipse the story, and the reader is left too fatigued to care about the fates of the characters. The drawn-out, clunky action scenes are a microcosm of this poor pacing; instead of making me feel a sense of urgency and desperation and speed, I imagined everyone moving through pudding. In the end I was left wondering why this book trickled on for seven hundred pages, and why Peter Lavery (the editor, whom Miéville thanks in the book's acknowledgements) didn't lop off at least two hundred of them. There's a difference between world-building and constantly re-affirming that your world is grimy and gross and oozing; Miéville seems unaware of this.


The long asides about New Crobuzon would be more readable were it not for Miéville's pretentious, wordy prose style; at first it is tolerable, but after a while it becomes grating. Miéville never fails to choose a big word when a small one will suffice. Among the worst offenders are "quintumvirate" and "agglutination." He once describes a tunnel as having a "subversive topography;" I submit that this is silly. Adverbs also abound atrociously, said the critic critically. This example, in particular, made me cringe: "Tentatively, carefully, nervously, Ben reached out with Umma Balsum's hands towards Derkhan." The dialogue is similarly manhandled: all of the characters seem to shout dramatically all the time, and swear far more than necessary.


Miéville also decides that spelling words wrong makes them more interesting: for example, the water-shaping magic of the vodyanoi (these are water spirits; they can be found in the Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual, or in Russian folklore) is called "watercraeft." This is a goofy and amateurish way to build a world. I should know, because I used to do it when I was writing goofy and amateurish fantasy at fifteen.

Miéville considers himself a writer of "weird fiction," which borrows elements from horror and science fiction, and attempts to distance itself from the clichés of fantasy. In interviews, he affirms this by yelling at Tolkien and the Tolkienesque tradition. He calls Tolkien the "wen on the arse of fantasy literature" and decries his "cod-Wagnerian pomposity, his boys-own-adventure glorying in war, his small-minded and reactionary love for hierarchical status-quos, his belief in absolute morality that blurs moral and political complexity." But Miéville himself isn't much better. In Perdido Street Station, the division between good and evil is stark and obvious: there's the plucky rogue scientist who's on a mission to save the city against the sinister, totalitarian government that is so evil that it (in what is admittedly a pretty fun and memorable scene) literally consorts with the denizens of Hell.


Perdido Street Station isn't a horrible book, but it's overrated and disappointing; the comparisons to Neil Stephenson and Kafka on the dust jacket are unforgivable. There are scores of compelling ideas and an interesting premise but Miéville's overblown prose and tedious pacing squander them. Those looking to read original, anti-Tolkienian fantasy should pick up Gormenghast (which heavily influenced Miéville) instead.

This book is interesting, at first. There is a strange new world, richly visualized and described. There are unusual characters, about whom the reader learns gradually instead of having everything spelled out. But it soon starts to feel like the author was making it up as he went along. And it could definitely have used a stronger hand in the editing process. It's clear the author never had an idea he didn't like and didn't feel obliged to cram into the story. Every new character is cooler and more outrageous than the last, and they only stay on the stage for a moment before being displaced by whatever new idea struck the writers fancy.

By the end, fatigue sets in, and it became a chore to finish the book. And I sort of wish I hadn't, as it had a terrible ending, with the big 'reveal' of one of the main characters making no sense, and the reaction of the protagonist being completely out of character.

I bought this book with much anticipation. based on the glowing reviews and awards with which it was presented.

But after having read it, I gotta say, it was a chore. I am a lifelong fan of intricately conceived scifi/fantasy/steampunk worlds and universes, beginning with Dune 35 years ago, so I have a high tolerance for this sort of thing. But I found the endless descriptions of New Crobuzon and it's every back alley and sewer cap to be grating, prolonged departures from plot. Quite, quite tedious.

The story itself is somewhat trivial, though the author tries hard to make it all seem grand. The characters were interesting, up to a point, but they devolve into caricatures of themselves by the end of the book. It was all a bit sophomoric - I could sense the writer's primer peeking through the words.

This book could have been 100 pages shorter.

And for the first time, I didn't put the finished novel on my shelf. I actually put it in the trash, not out of any passion or negative impulse -- it just left me cold.

Forewarned is forearmed!

FROM THE BORDERLANDS ARRIVED ON TIME AND IN EXCELLANT CONDITION. i HAVE READ IT YET. iT WAS PACKAGED VERY GOOD

Not exactly what I expected, but still worth reading. Good stories but not super scary or splatterpunkish.

The book is described as Stories of Terror and Madness. Well, you can strike the 'terror' part and keep the madness. As another reviewer stated it is really full of 'huh?' stories. After completing a story I never really felt the urge to continue reading. I didn't feel like "wow, that was great I can't wait to read the next." Most of the short stories are pretty forgettable and other are really out there, such as the one that reads like notes on some medical experiment about tickling. But there are a few really great stories. Stephen King is obviously the author that keeps this book selling. But his story is only mediocre, although it does fit the very weird feeling of this book. If you really like strange stories the check this book out. This is a book that is much better for getting from the library instead of actually buying it.

In the early to mid-nineties, White Wolf (oh, how I miss their original fiction line) published a set of four anthologies under the title of BORDERLANDS. The only real rule was that there weren't any. Authors were encouraged to experiment. Clichés and common subject matter were to be avoided. These turned out to be four of the best collections of dark fiction ever published. The stories were original, diverse, and memorable.

After a nine-year gap, this fifth anthology finally appeared. What a disappointment.

FROM THE BORDERLANDS is filled with rambling, forgettable, often incoherent rubbish. The ubiquitous Bentley Little, an author who has essentially built a career on writing the same novel over and over, seems to think he can put any kind of bizarre nonsense down on paper and get it published. Unfortunately for us, he's right. (Little is the only author to have appeared in all five anthologies.) His piece appears to have been transcribed directly from a bad dream he might have had. It makes no sense - an absolute head-scratcher. Far too many of the stories are like this. The worst are both incoherent and tedious, like Barbara Malenky's "A Thing," whose narrator is barely literate.

Seeing the editors gush praise about each entry in the introductions only adds insult. I actually thought the Monteleones must have been on drugs when they read for this volume.

Out of twenty-five stories, only a few are worth a look:

"Rami Temporalis" by Gary Braunbeck: Joel has one of those faces, the kind anyone can trust, even a complete stranger. One day, he finds out why. Though the ending is anticlimactic considering the grand nature of what is revealed, this story involves a truly interesting philosophical idea and is exactly the kind of imaginative tale that should appear in these books.

"N0072-JK1" by Adam Corbin Fusco: I'm a sucker for stories that are done as scientific transcripts. You know that they are gradually building to something awful but you can't stop reading: the horror story in its purest form. The deeper unease, I think, comes from knowing that humans are, in fact, capable of doing terrible things in the name of research, and that maybe it isn't far-fetched at all. This one involves a study of the nature of tickling, one that leads to sinister and disturbing conclusions.

"Infliction" by John McIlveen: A delinquent father goes in search of his runaway daughter and finds that sometimes the only way to erase old scars is to create new ones.

"Around It Still the Sumac Grows" by Tom Piccirilli: A man returns to his high school after twenty years to retrieve something he left behind. Piccirilli's tales usually have a surreal quality to them, but not so much that you feel like he's blowing hot air (which is how I felt about most of the stories here.) Besides, I've revisited my old school many years later as well, and it is indeed a surreal experience.

Collections like this make me sad, this one even more so because I'm aware of the potential it had. BORDERLANDS number five is largely a waste of time. I hope the good stories get reprinted somewhere else.

If you are buying this book because it has STEPHEN KING in huge letters, you will be disappointed. Then again, maybe not because if you've been reading his piffle for the past 7 or so years, you may like the long, drawn out, torturous story that I couldn't even finish.

Now, if you're NOT a King fan (and yes, there are many of us out here who are not afraid to admit we are no longer attracted to King's incessant "diarrhea of the keyboard"), then this is not a bad a little book and don't be scared away with the inclusion of his name. In fact, I almost didn't buy it as I figured if Mr. King was included, the rest of the stories must have been horrendous as well. I'm glad I changed my mind.

Award winning stories? A few. "Annabell", "Smooth Operator", "A Thing", "The Goat", and "All Hands" were worth the price of the book. The rest of the stories were entertaining, but as mentioned before, the "huh" factor exists too strongly in some to be even moderately entertaining. One of the worst stories in the book is a story called "The Planting" where a man urinates on a woman's buried panties and "grows" another woman, who falls in love with a monkey-thing that lives in a shack in the woods, and...oh, it's just too embarrassing to continue. But of course, not to be outdone in the "Horrible Writing" category, is Mr. King's work, "Stationary Bike". My cat has scratched out more interesting stories in his litterbox. I understand Mr. King's huge attraction is his insistence on giving us every single detail so our imaginations are put into stasis (and we don't have to - heaven forbid! - think), but this drivel is just over the top.

Since the authors claim they were inundated with manuscripts, I find it utterly deplorable they would pick some of the stories they have included herein. I'm sure they had better choices than these. (I'm not talking the boring vampire, slasher killer, child-abuse victim gone mad stories we're all so tired of reading.) And to include King's name so boldly with such a terrible contribution as what he has here...well, I guess it shows just to what depths people will plunge down in order to sell a book. For shame on the editors. They should have stuck with the lesser known authors and been proud of it.

If you're looking for something to read to scare you out of your knickers, this is not it. Entertaining, yes. Delightful, sometimes. Horrible (not horror), about 35% of the time.

But don't buy (or not buy) this book because of the KING name.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I can't believe this is the end of the book! It has so much potential for a sequel, or maybe even a triology! There were characters to explore, relationships to develop and more demons to vanquish! I loved how briggs was able to develop a relationship between the Reeve and Shamera without concentrating the book on it and how deeply she delved into the world. It amazes me how detailed she could write about this subject because it's so difficult to bring a world to reality out of thin air. However, the explanations did get a big complicated sometimes and I did get lost, but that's my only concern about it. It was a great book and I NEED A SEQUEL! I really hope she considers it!! :D

I am a Kim Harrison and Charlaine Harris fan, who does not usually like fantasy/supernatural fiction involving magic, wizards or mages. However, this book was delightful. This is the second Patricia Briggs book I have read and I truly enjoyed it. It had just the right amount of action, romance, and humor, without going overboard with the sex or violence scenes. She has a great variety of supernatural races and a very likable character in Sham.

Hm, I'm a bit embarrassed. I mean here we have a book which is basically a romance, mixed with some mystery elements and set in a fantasy landscape (you can't get much lighter) and yet I liked it. I liked it so much, I gave it four stars.
The heroine is flashy and sassy, the hero well muscled and and has the famous soft spot under a crusty exterior. Their dialogues are fast paced and witty, the plot flows along nicely and never drags. The world (same as in STEAL THE DRAGON) could have had some potential if it hadn't been neglected so badly (Sham and Kerim need some place to hold their witty dialogues after all). Fortunatelly the novel was revised before being republished in Aug 05, causing a definite improvement of style and story line.
Cliche works, this novel stands prove.

Evil lurks in the halls of the castle, and the Reeve is finally convinced to seek someone with magical powers to find it. Sham turns out to be more then what the Reeve bargins for - masquerading as his mistress, she battles the creature (and the Reeve's mother, who seems infinitely more frightening).

Usually, I dislike overt romance in my sci-fi/fantasy, but Patricia Briggs does an excellent job with this book, making it fun, and interesting, but doesn't read like a bad Harlequin novel set in a fantasy setting.

Definitely "girly" fantasy, but guys with a hidden streak of romance in them, will fall in love with Sham as well.

This is an atypical fantasy novel of spys. The heroine is working for what is technically the enemy. Shamera is a native of Southwood who is asked to spy for the occupational force. Or one faction of it. The current leader of Southwood (Lord Kerrim) is doing his best to improve the conditions for everyone, native and occupier. However, the court in general does not seem to like this idea. There are plenty of options as to who is cursing - and killing - Lord Kerrim. Of course, first Shamera must figure out there is a curse at all.

As with all of the authors books (so far) the emphasis is firmly on character, and the character drives the plot, rather than the other way around. You can watch additudes change and mutate, and conclusions are reached in a seemingly logical fashion.

The world is built from the inside out, so that if you accept the mundane, it is easy then to accept the fantastic, as it ties into what is known.

Reccomended for anyone serching for a little escapism.