Horror Books

I found The Conquerer Worms disappointing so it took me a while to pick up Dark Hollow by Brian Keene. And once again I'm disappointed, but this time it's because I put it off reading this book for so long.

Dark Hollow is the tale of a small town in Pennsylvania, once a farming community, now home to Adam, a midlist mystery writer, his wife and their dog. But their town is also home to something else, an other-worldly creature, summoned long ago and finally awakened again with the first day of spring.

Dark Hollow is a very compelling tale. Sure there's a monster in woods, and some creepy carnivorous demon trees, but the real horror is in the effect the events of the story have on the characters, particularly Adam and his wife. Keene is able to drive a man's loyalty into very dangerous places, pitting his own nature against his ideals. The conflict made Dark Hollow hard to put down and held up through the very last line.

It's easily my favorite Keene work so far. While it counts as horror, there's less gore and violence and far more dread and conflict, which is exactly why Keene seems ready to cross the line into a position rare for a horror author-mainstream acceptance.

A fun read. A very well paced and entertaining story. An interesting take on the Satyr myth.

Brian Keene's success in telling a story is based upon his ability to create characters that you care about. I think this is an area where so many horror writers fail. In Dark Hollow, we meet writer Adam Senft, his dog, and his good 'ol boy neighbors that are the kind of salt of the earth every-men you know in your own neighborhood. The plot could take us in any direction at this point because we care about these people and we are even interested in the minutiae of their daily lives. Keene exposes us to the surreal very early in the novel and it captivates our attention immediately. The other facet of Keene that makes his writing enjoyable, is the fact that he creates a pretty detailed mythos behind every novel. In fact, if you are reading one of his novels, there is a good chance that it began as a short story in the early stages oh his career. While Brian Keene is not writing literature, his writing is entertaining throughout. Great Summertime reading! Beneath the Surface: 13+ Shocking Tales of Terror

If you like horror and suspense and reading how books are written then this will be a double treat. The main hero, Adam Senft is a decently successful writer who decided to give up his other job to write that great story that would be his ticked to solidified fame. With his wife Tara he settles into a quiet lifestyle in a home in Pennsylvania. His wife carrying the burden of commuting to work gave him time to sit back, enjoy the quiet, walk the dog and write those hot selling books. Little does he know but that peace is shattered with the arrival of spring. From the very first page the story hits off and then drops the reader back on Earth to catch up. Adam finds his neighbor, an attractive female involved in some strange activity in the LeHorn woods. Embarrassed and freaked out he starts a chain of events that brings upon him strange lust, bad luck and a horrific creature that is after every wife in town. When people start to disappear and those left act strangely little time is left before Adam's wife and his entire life is thrown into a well of chaos. Along with his friends he must get to the bottom of a mysterious nemesis that shakes his reality and to defend his territory from a menacing male - something.

Brian Keene surprised me this time, I didn't particularly like "The Conqueror Worms" and after reading it I was afraid that his style was set in stone; that another story would have random additives and would be scattered, but not so with "Dark Hollow". Was it literary genius? No, but it was darn addictive and enjoyable, it did what a good, gripping fiction book should - it enchanted the reader and gave satisfaction for reading it. I felt my teeth sink into the story until I absorbed its contents. It took me in and hardly ever stopped being great. The reason for 4 stars versus 5 ( since I am gushing about it ) is really simple; as I get older I get little tougher when I judge a book, and really only give 5 stars when it stirs my guts with a stick and makes me obsessed with what I just read - hard task, so 4 stars is not too shabby, trust me. Some of my favorite parts were reading about Adam's preparations and how he did his writing, it felt real and was such a treat.

Before I finish I must just say how proud I am of Keene for making this book steamy; he was very liberal with all sorts of naughty scenarios and wrote his book fulfilling his fantasies about just putting out that salty novel out there into the world. I saw no holding back and hopefully he can always write like this, but obviously only when necessary to the plot, gratuitous use of sex is plain fake, when the story doesn't scream for it; don't include it to avoid embarrassment- unless you're Richard Laymon. He was the king of lascivious books - at least to me and it's hard to knock him of that throne in my head. Like Laymon, Keene tapped into that channel and produced a decent read; I really enjoyed it tremendously and will try to read his other works. I know I criticized him heavily in my last review so I am trying to redeem myself, but it feels right only because this book deserved it. Fun, raunchy and actually interesting, good change from the usual gore and bloody horror, I read it on the bus, after dinner and then in bed; it was good stuff.

- Kasia S.

Keene is quickly working his way into my heart as a favorite author, and "Dark Hollow" may have clinched it. If you had told me two days ago that I would read a horror story about satyrs or fauns and actually like it I probably would have cocked an eyebrow at you and asked if you were feeling okay. But I more than "Liked it," this book was an absolute blast!

Short Summary: Adam Senft is a mystery writer who lives with his wife Tara and their dog "Big Steve" in a nice house in a quaint town, bordering an ancient mysterious wood. One day while walking Big Steve though the woods, Adam and Big Steve come across one of their female neighbors performing questionable acts on a statue... or at least it looked like a statue until it turned its head and stared at Adam. Suddenly the women in town are disappearing and the men are turning up headless... Adam and his neighbors believe it has to do with something that happened many years ago at the LeHorn farm... in the center of the dark and sinister woods.

My favorite character by far is Big Steve (yes, he's the dog) who at times seems to be the most human of characters, and unlike most stories that include a dog, Big Steve is always there, being a good boy. The characters in this book are very real, flawed, scarred, and honest. I have always like that about Keene, his people are believable. This book grabs you right from the beginning and it's very hard to put down. At just over 300 pages you can feasibly read it in a day. I stayed up way later than I had intended to finish this book. And the ending is typical of Keene, no the world doesn't come crashing to the end, but there is that sense of apathetic loss that even his "happy ending" books leave you with. I wondered if Keene would have the courage to go where this book needed to go, and he did. There was quite a bit of sex and gore (the gore comes in mostly at the end) though not as much as a Laymon or Lee novel.

Now don't get me wrong, this is no work of literary genius... what it is however, is a fun, fast paced read with a single story line (unlike many of his other works) that the reader can't turn their eyes from. This is one of the few horror novels I've read in a while that makes you actually care about most of the characters, you become involved in their lives, and their routine and truly worry about them... particularly if you have read other Keene novels and know that there is a very high chance that most of them won't make it through the book alive. I highly recommend this book to Keene fans, it is my favorite of his works so far, and I feel that this book is the type of read that fans of old school Steven King would really enjoy.

Minus: The pacing in this book is excruciatingly slow, and the way it's told in the third person with the narrator making self-references adds a detrimentally insulating layer between the reader and the story.

Plus: The story itself is good, and the characters are interesting and believable.

Ok, so I am a huge Stephen King fan, and I do like most of his books, but there are a few I absolutely loathe. When I first read this book, I had no idea what to expect, and I ended up getting hooked to the story, and read it all the way through in one sitting, which is extremely unusual for me; I've only been able to do that with this and the 1st Harry Potter book.

Anyway, this is a fairy tale as only Stephen King can write it. There are some gruesome deaths that would satisfy any King fan, but the bulk of this book is focused on plot and character development. I was so impressed with this story, I gave it to my sister who hates Stephen King to read, hoping that she would like it anyway. She loved it too!! So I'd have to say, even if you're not a Stephen King fan, you should give this book a chance, you might just like it.

The Eyes of the Dragon had some great potential. It had the staple fantasy elements that make any faerie tale a classic as well as classic Stephen King characters. However, King's writing is atrocious and the editing is pretty horrible as well, at least in the edition i have which is one of the earlier ones. Maybe some of the issues with misspellings and simple sentences have been fixed but its really a testament to the story that i can still rate it four stars even with these issues. Good Story but don't expect Kings usually great writing. Here it sounds kinda stale.

Bought this for a gift and ending up reading it again before giving it. The shipping problems were dealt with efficiently and quickly and I would consider using this seller again.

Stephen King, along with Ann Rice and JRR Tolkien, are three of the most overrated writers in history, and for the exact same reason: They inundate and blugeon the reader with so much excruciating detail and pointless description that it destroys any momentum or urgency the story should have. Any pacing it does have ends up feeling like watching grass grow. I read this book after a friend of my practically BEGGED me to read it, because we are both fantasy junkies. After about page 30 I knew it wasn't going to happen, but I managed to make it to page 60, and then I couldn't go any further. It was physically painful at that point. I couldn't believe--and still can't--that this man is considered such a great writer. He probably would be, if his books were edited down to about HALF their length. Skip this one and all of his other books, too.

the book was just wat i expected fantastic, but my package got lost in the mail so i paid extea for getting my package late

I enjoyed both the original, and Dead Days. This however, sucked on all levels. Poor art, Poor story, Pure RUBBISH!

Ash meets the Marvel Zombie Universe and pretty much lets them destroy themselves, he's just along for the ride, as he passes through their dimension.

This is a fun read, but really has no memorable moments. The art, however, is great! I'm always disappointed by comics that have great cover art but lame interiors, but this was a pleasant surprise.

I haven't been interested in any other Marvel Zombie books, but the AOD factor was enough to make me pick this one up.

Buy it if you like pointless crossovers.

I highly recommend this item. It's a great story, and the artwork is phenomenal. The seller was quick, reasonable and I recieved the item in pristine condition. I highly recommend both this book and the seller to anyone!

***Warning, A little bit of spoiler info in the review

I liked Marvel Zombies, I thought it was a really cool idea that deserved my attention. And I love Army of Darkness (Evil Dead 2) a lot. I thought the cross would be double fun. However, I found myself being a little disappointed in the end. The art was fantastic, but the whole story felt a little cheesy (which I do understand is what makes AoD good) and unfinished with very little explanation as to how the virus even found its way to earth. There were even parts of the story where you can really tell the authors ran out of ideas and just started taking short cuts and making crap up. For instance: the part where Ash needed a diversion to get to the ship to make it to Doom's castle and the zombie children were in the way. The authors just made up a team of somebodies as a diversion then said they were brutal taken out off page. I laughed pretty hard, but realized this was just part of the easy way out mentality of the authors. If I had started reading this story with no expectations I probably would have liked it a lot more. But I read Marvel Zombies first, then this one, so I expected a better back story and a little more serious storyline with Ash's off humor as an added bonus. If I could do it over again I would have read this one first then Marvel Zombies, I think I would have found the 2 graphic novels much better in that order.

This is not a poorly written book, but I felt extremely betrayed by Rice in this follow-up to the Witching Hour. She presented Rowan Mayfair as a strong, willful, intelligent woman in WH and it allowed her to come through some incredibly trying moments. I had a great deal of respect for her, and suddenly in Lasher when confronted with this ghost of the mayfairs she becomes trite, weak, passive and grossly contemptuous. She has a wonderful husband but her knees weaken and she becomes utterly silly in the ghosts presence. I feel as if Anne twists her characters to be sexually willful to the point that they have lost all other traits in its wake. Now sexual attraction can be extremely influencial; it may even cause a person to do things uncharacteristically, but it won't change a person's core personality. I felt such disappointment in Rowan, a character I had come to admire and it really ruined the experience for me.

This is the second book in Anne Rice's Mayfair Trilogy. It is an incredible read from start to finish. Anne Rice takes you to wherever the character is and very simply draws you completely into the book. Fantastic read!

Loved it, Loved it, Loved it!!!!! Again Rice dives into such a rich history family that sometimes it is overwhelming but some of the things that have gone on in that family! GEEZ!!!!! I got so emotionally involed with these characters that I was FURIOUS when Rowan Ran away with Lasher!!! My poor Michael! LOL~ Loved this story, sometimes it was a little overwhelming but stick with it! I think it was well worth it!!!!

Anne Rice's greatest strength has always been her colourful writing, her lavish imagery, and her descriptive prowess. Her greatest weakness has always been the recycling of character traits from book to book (one suspects these are merely traits of Ms. Rice herself) and never coming up with anything new or interesting. She is seemingly incapable of creating ugly or interesting characters, preferring them to be beautiful, brilliant, and ultimately one-dimensional.

All of these problems are painfully present in Lasher and obfuscate what might have been a really clever story. The characters of Rowan, Michael, Julien and Mona were ridiculous and laughable and made it impossible to take this book seriously.

Another heaping helping of Mayfair witches, spirits, and incest. Rowan has vanished, and a precocious teenaged Mayfair witch appears in this book. She goes after Rowan's husband, and Lasher kidnaps her and gets her pregnant multiple times, finally resulting in a child.

Some scientific investigating shows Rowan is a freak, so Lasher's plan to pump his seed into all the Mayfair witches may not do much, as the reason he was successful with Rowan was because of her mutant nature.

Not a lot of point to this, I think.

The third book in the Mayfair Trilogy just draws it all together and makes you want more! Anne Rice exceeds all expectations!

Taltos in my opinion is the worst of the three mayfair witch books. Unfortunetly you must read it if you have gotten this far in the trilogy. Once again Rowan is annoying!!! It was interesting to find out the true history of the taltos, but somtimes it was a little much. i found myself skimming~ That is soooo not like me, especially since I love this series. The death of Aaron really upset me. All in all it is a great story, however I really think that Rice Fluffed this book up with alot of unneccessary stuff and totally skimped on the ending! The ending STUNK, in my opinion. I am still holding out for another book in this series..............Or maybe a movie!!!!!!!

The end of this story of spirits and incest, and some back story on the whole Taltos development. It turns out that there are a few of these, and one of them becomes and important character in the book.

Mona finds out she is carrying Rowan's husband's child, and they decide to have it.

Supernatural types end up running away togethre.

I've read this only once but I do remember loving it. Along with The Witching Hour and Lasher this trio is a truly one-of-a-kind read. If you are into dark fiction with a hauntingly beautiful twist, you simply must read this and the other 2 books.

I love Anne Rice. She writes in great detail and creates rich, beautiful characters with the Mayfair Witches as well as the Vampire Chronicles. This book is not one of her best to say the least. I'm not that sure it's even an ending the Witches series because the ending leaves you in the air. There was less excitement with this book. I suppose that is due to the fact that the treachery in the Talamasca is resolved very early in the book, leaving little to become excited about in the remaining chapters in the book. I feel that she tried to do too much in this book, resolving past issues from the Witches series and going into more detail on the Taltos species. All in all, it wasn't a bad book because Anne Rice is such a superb writer and it is entertaining to read but in comparison to The Witching Hour and Lasher, this book falls short.

I have to admit Kelley Armstrong's use of sex and violence really makes the werewolf series.
This book confused me a little during most of the plot. The reader isn't really given all of the info up until the second to last chapter and i think I would have liked it better if it made more sense.
I also disliked a pregnant woman being in those situations, but I did think it was a good way to keep the reader hooked.

This isn't the first novel where Elena is the main character, and I love how Armstrong puts you inside her head. Elena is a strong woman/werewolf with a head on her shoulders and guts to do what needs to be done. In this novel, not only does she have 'bad guys' to worry about, but she's pregnant as well, and that has her worried with nightmares to match. You feel what Elena feels right down to your core and you root for her constantly.

Clay is his usual self, completely devoted to Elena, and still has his own worries and insecurities.

The plot is excellent, lots of action to keep you on your toes. Not as many love scenes, but there's a reason for that. Won't say what it is, don't want to spoil it for a potential reader. A plot twist that I really hadn't figured out until it was almost too late, and I love when an author does that to me, LOL! I think the ending is absolutely perfect - I couldn't ask for better. These novels are different than the usual vampire/werewolf/sorcerer/witch/demon novels I've read and not only do I give it a huge two-thumbs-up, but a definite recommendation!

Elena is the only female werewolf. Werewolves are either born with the gene - and it's only passed to boys - or bitten and women usually die. Except Elena. Elena was Bitten but she lived.
The pregnancy is troubling - there hasn't been a werewolf pregnancy so no one knows what to expect. It would be an understatement to say she was bored witless, so when something comes up that requires her expertise - and seems harmless - she jumps at it.

Of course, it isn't harmless. Elena inadvertently opens a time portal and a serial killer and 2 zombies are loose in Toronto. Elena, Clay and Jeremy stay in Toronto to try to send the serial killer and his zombies back. Along the way, they ask Zoe, a vampire, and Jaime, the necromancer, for help. For some reason, the serial killer and his zombies are targeting Elena specifically. The Pack and its friends have to find out why and what to do to close the time portal.

The ending is nearly saccharine but the reader - at least this reader - can't help but cheer for Elena and Clay.

I like this series but I sometimes find myself frustrated with the characters. It seems in every book the main character, expecially Elena, have momentary lapses of stupidity. They make the same mistakes over and over again. It always works itself out but I think by this point they would have gained some insight. I am excited to read the next book. I hope it will be good.

In many ways, this was a top-notch book. The story was quite compelling and the action was enough to keep me reading. When Elena, the only female werewolf, becomes pregnant, it is a big deal and the Pack decides to try to keep it secret as long as they can. However, when Elena starts to show very early and balloon quickly, that becomes difficult. Also, Elena freaks out early on about Changing - when she discovers that this will not harm the fetus, she is OK, but the first few are rough. At any rate, the Pack goes out of their way to try to coddle her as much as possible and keep her from exerting herself if they can help it.

However, a call from Xavier Reese - a demon whom Elena met while being held during Stolen (Women of the Otherworld, Book 2) - changes things. He wants to call in his favor; he has the whereabouts of a "mutt" the Pack has been hunting and in return, he wants them to steal a letter for him (so he can sell it to a collector), reputedly written by Jack the Ripper and sent from Hell. Since Elena is going more than a little bit stir crazy, she talks Jeremy, her Alpha, into going out and stealing the letter. However, obviously, everything does not go according to plan and soon odd people start showing up and strange occurrences are in abundance. That's as much as I'll say as far as basic plot, in order to avoid spoilers.

Now, as far as what I did NOT like. Elena's attitude. She would be fretting about causing damage to the baby in one paragraph, and in the next she would be sneaking off to do something incredibly stupid, like try to run down the bad guy by herself. She would then try to do something like a round-house kick and fall on her butt. Even though she's done this something like five times already. With the exact same results. Is she just incredibly STUPID or what? No, we know she isn't stupid, so why is she being written this way in this book? If she is truly concerned over the well-being of her babies, she should not let her pride and desire to be able to protect herself go so far as to be putting herself into these sorts of situations when she KNOWS she cannot protect herself adequately! I cannot count the number of times I was reading along and she would do something like that and I just had to stop for a moment and go GOOD GRIEF are ye DAFT girl? True strength is knowing when you need to ask for help.

Other than that, though, I enjoyed the story. We got to see a bit more of Jaime, which was cool. And Zoe, a new vampire, was fun to meet - she was an interesting character who introduced us to yet another interesting one, in the person of Tee, who was all kinds of creepy.

I just ordered the 7th in the series today, so I'm eagerly awaiting it to see where else Kelley Armstrong takes this series! A recommend, overall, from me.

Legend, the second installment of the Event Group series is in many ways very different than the first book. The first installment is very fast paced, lots of snappy dialog, the action non-stop, and it is one hell of a rollercoaster ride. Also, EVENT scared the bejeezus out of me. The style of writing in book one is just different than this book. Not worse, just not the same. Golemon switches writing gears and pens this book in a more literary style. I thought this one was just a bit long and drawn out but it pays off at the end. The reader must have a bit of patience and give the author their trust. The first half of the book is a slow build, a warm up approach that in my opinion does take too long, Also, there are way too many characters bouncing all over the place too fast like Mexican Jumping Beans. The reader feels like a ping pong ball ricocheting hither and yon, finding it hard to keep track of who is who and what their part was. In book one there is more character development to set up the main key players. You dont see that here. This book falls under the assumption that you already know who they are and why they do what they do. So I dont think you could really read Legend, without reading Event first, or you'd be floundering a bit as to what is going on and why the Group does what they do. But even though this needed a tad bit of editing, and although there were too many characters and one too many side plots, the author does manage to weave this convoluted story into one heck of great story. He pulls all the threads together very nicely so that when you are done, you are happier than you were during the first half of the story. One thing that I thought was better in this installment was that the action scenes were more believable, not so over-the-top James Bond-like. I have to admit on a whole, looking at the big picture, Event was better for me. It was more exciting and had you on the edge of your seat, and as I said earlier, it was much scarier. When reading Event, I could barely breathe. Legend is still excellent, it just holds a steadier pace and maintains about the same level of thrill and intrique from start to finish. I was not scared at all in this book. Golemon is creative, and he is a good writer, one worth watching in the future. The literary writing style in this book was better I think, and the scare factor was better in book one. So I loved them both for different reasons and would highly recommend them both. I just ordered book three and can not wait to dive in. This is fun stuff for sure, a sort of blending of Robert Doherty's Area 51 series and the television show Stargate SG1. Pure entertainment at it's best!

I stumbled across this book by accident. I'd never heard of either the author or the Event Group, yet when I saw his photo in the back, it looked awful familiar.

This is a long story and has lots of twist, turns, characters, and locations. Though some may find it confusing, I had no trouble following along with things except toward the end when everything came together and I had some trouble keeping track of who was who. My biggest problem was his mixing of points of view within scenes. He does plenty of that, yet it wasn't so bad it turned me off. It has all the elements of a good action/adventure/thriller, and even has some icky bugs in it. It is good plot driven, third person thrills, from start to finish. Even the implausible aspects were not enough to turn me off. After all, it's fiction!

I can't say he's just as good, or better than James Rollins, but he still writes an excellent story that kept my attention. Recommended.

What a great second effort from this author. This was an exciting story from start to finish and personally I thought it was better than the frist book Goleman wrote. I am anxiously awaiting the third installment of the Event Group. Very good characters and great story lines. Sometimes these kinds of books get formulaic, but so far Goleman has avoided that pitfall. Way to go!

The book is the worst piece of dog do-do I've ever "tried" to read. I couldn't get through much more than a hundred pages before I wanted to fling it to the moon. One of the biggest problems with the book is that the story leaps from one side of the world to the other, without giving you a chance to find out who is who and how all of it ties together. There are some creatures running amok in Brazilian Amazonia and then there's anthrax in some old boat on the island of Okinawa. There are apparent good guys in Washington; apparent bad guys in Spain. And the characterizations are as limp as a festering dinosaur. The book jacket equated this book with the work of Cussler and Rollins. Wrong! This Golemon writes like a teenager who seen too many movies based on comic books. (Hey, dude, the conquistadors didn't use flintlocks in the early 1500s; they used matchlocks!) I sure wasted my money on this tripe. Anybody need $8.00 worth of toilet paper?

Golemon is back in this sequel. He weaves an interesting story line with trills and spills that keeping you turning the page. This book is up there with Lincoln Child / Douglas Preston, James Rollins and Matthew Reilly. I do not find it as gripping as his first book, Event. However, it was still worth the time to read.

Event: A Novel (Event Group Thrillers)

If you have any curiosity at all about John Winchester, this is a great read! This graphic novel has great illustrations and delves into a little of the enigma that is John Winchester. You also get a little look into the boys(Dean and Sam) upbringing, but this is about Papa John.
Highly recommended for the true Supernatural connaisseur!

The animation is average to good. The origin story stays true to the very beginning of the TV series. Goes further into John Winchesters development as a hunter.

Just finished this TPB, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'm never thrilled by Mignola-esque artwork, but I am betting that it actually served a purpose: to avoid licensing the likenesses of the actors. That aside, the story is quite good with many different creepy monsters/tones/settings. I'm betting that hard core fans of the show will dig it, and I bet you could enjoy it even if you have never watched the show. With so few horror comics out there on a regular basis... it's a nice break from the spandex monotony. Overall, a welcome addition to the SUPERNATURAL canon! Also recommended: Supernatural: Nevermore (Supernatural) (I have yet to read Witches Canyon, but my wife enjoyed it.) Supernatural: Witch's Canyon (Supernatural)

When a licensed comic is published, it usually focuses on a side-story that takes place during the timeline of the actual series. So when it was announced that the "Supernatural" comic would chronicle John Winchester's origins as a demon hunter and be set before the televised series, I was excited to pick up the story.

The writing isn't as good as that of the show, but it's passable. There are some truly horrific moments (the dead bodies floating in the water when John rescues the Hunter) as well as a few over-dramatic moments (the scene between John, the Hunter, and the shape-shifter), though nothing here sticks out as particularly good or particularly bad. It wasn't as good as I expected it to be, and moves quite a bit slower than your average comic, and readers will miss the comedy that is usually present in a supernatural episode. Some may argue that comedy is out of place in the story of a brooding man looking for his wife's killer, but a few light moments could have been mixed in to make this book more akin to the pace and feel of the series it spun-off from.

The art by penciller Matthew Dow Smith is pretty bad. Stylistically, it's similar to Mike Mignola's work in Hellboy, but it's not nearly as good. It feels like the artist copied the weak parts of Mignola's style and left out all the good. Everything is angular, and the characters simply have no eyes--they are just black dots that are supposed to look like the faces are in shadow. I suppose the intent was to give the comic a very dark look, but in the end it just makes everyone look like they are wearing strapless eye-patches. Not to mention, the style prevents the reader from being able to differentiate very much between some of the characters, leading to a slightly confusing read. This comic would have benefited from a more realistic look. Any of the cover artists, especially Dustin Nguyen who provided a stunning cover to #4, would have been better equipped to handle this series. In a licensed comic like "Supernatural," it is essential that the characters be recognizable, and that isn't the case here.

Overall, "Supernatural" fans will like this but not love it. Regular comic readers who haven't seen the show first won't hate it, but they certainly wouldn't come back for a second helping.

5/10

vol 6 of this series does a good job of continuing the story and leaving you wanting more yet again when it finishes up

Robert Kirkman, The Walking Dead: This Sorrowful Life (Image, 2007)

Kirkman returns with This Sorrowful Life, the sixth installment of his excellent Walking Dead series, with Rick and co. captured by the insane Governor. How will he and his compatriots get out of the city and back to the prison, and what will they find when they get there? As usual, the focus here is less on the zombies themselves and more on the survivors and their relationships with one another, as it should be. Kirkman has created a fine, fine thing with The Walking Dead; even if you're not a big horror fan, this one's well worth checking out. ****

Amazingly, this series is not about zombies. It is about the end of the world and how the remaining humans struggle to survive in this distopia. Not since "Lord of the Flies" have we seen or read about the baser nature of humanity, once modern technology and institutions are removed.
If you are a fan of "Lost" or "Battlestar Galactica", you will love "The Walking Dead". Start with "Volume 1" and enjoy!

This collection is brutal, proving man in his own worst enemies. Our heroes are beaten and hurt. And the story keeps rolling.

Volume 6 is titled This Sorrowful Life and Kirkman sure does hit it right on the nail with the title. The book tells the second half of the story arc begun in volume 5. To recap in the previous volume Rick and his group make way to investigate a crashed helicopter only to run into another group of survivors who have holed up in the partially walled off and fortified town of Woodbury. Whatever joy they find in knowing there are other survivors other than themselves was short-lived as they finally meet the person who runs and rules Woodbury.

This Sorrowful Life takes the story up with Rick, Michonne and Glenn in even a worse situation than being stuck outside with the zombies. The book introduces the people of Woodbury as not just survivors but also the polar opposite of those surviving in the prison. While the book makes a point to not paint the whole Woodbury population as losing their humanity it also points out that they've sacrificed their humanity to those promising them safety. They've pretty much given up their rights to the one who calls himself the Governor who rules Woodbury through intimidation and so-called bloodsports involving gladiator-like fighters and corralled zombies. We see hwo the difference between Rick and the Governor's way of keeping their people safe also show the kind of people the are. Where Rick tries to keep his people safe and together without losing their humanity the Governor goes the opposite way and grabs a hold of power even at the cost of everyone.

Kirkman does a great job of showing the two groups and how its probably inevitable that the two will have a confrontation either in Woodbury or back in the prison. While no everyone in Woodbury are out for themselves, a few manage to sympathize with Rick and his group, the rest of the town could easily be considered as the biggest threat hanging over the prison survivors. Again Kirkman shows that sometimes its not the zombies themselves who are the biggest threat to humanity's survival but the people and their flaws to always get into conflict with each other instead of pulling together for the greater good and survival of everyone.

The book ends with Rick having to make another decision where he has to sacrifice some of his own ideals in order to keep his family and friends safe. Will this sacrifice end up costing him down the line will be up to Kirkman to tell us. I hope he continues to expand on this Woodbury angle but at the same time not go overboard on the extreme end of the emotional spectrum. It's great that he's limited the amount of soap opera-style stortelling which dominated volume 4, but going for just action and action and action without plot would be just as bad. So far, volume 6 and it's predecessor in volume 5 tells me he's got a great hold on the story.

It was good to see Scott Smith finally in print once again after A Simple Plan. The Ruins is a fairly well crafted horror novel. I would have given it more stars, if not for some flaws, such as its length (it dragged some spots), and some holes. I don't wish to give too much away, but, for example, it's hard to believe in this day and age that the characters depicted in this book - especially ones their age - don't carry cell phones. Huh?? The lack of one certainly impacts the outcome.

On the other hand, it makes me laugh to read some reviews which criticize the story for its supposed lack of plot, or for the inanity of the characters. First, the story really isn't about plot at all; it's more of a character study which examines what people do and think under desperate circumstances. And secondly, the characters themselves are college kids. They puke at keg parties. What are the readers expecting? Churchill? Ghandi?

The end of the story was unexpected. Again, without giving too much away, I think a more typical conclusion would have felt more gratifying for the short term, but would have rendered the book eminently more forgettable. As written, the story will stay with me much longer.

Trapped on a 12 hour flight from China to the US this was the only book I had and read it I did, flipping pages as fast as I could to get to some legitimate plot point or substative issue/commentary. Alas, nothing but cardboard/cliche characters and unresolved threads that leave you wondering why this draft wasn't massively cleaned up to be at least coherent. Spoiler note - - - so many unaswered questions, such as what was the mine shaft, its meaning and where did it go? is there a monster there that is disguised as a vine? are there actually ruins or is that code for the devolution of the group? what of the Mayans, their issues and motivations? why did the plant let the immobile Greek live for days while it killed the otherwise healthy Amy in a matter of hours? why didn't the archealogists have any real gear and where is there communication equipment? why didn't the plant eat the denim and other cotton clothing left behind in the tent? where is the massive amount of food from the archealogists who were going to dig for a while one would think--if the vines ate that cache of food why didn't the vines eat their meager rations too? why did it take the two other Greeks a week to come looking for their pal? how is it possible that a weak Eric could stab a healthy Mathias, how could Eric even stand up, given his massive blood loss and such? So much of this book just doesn't add up, the last 30 pages were a jumble that felt like he wanted to get the book finished rather than create a proper ending--no way would the Jeff character not plan something more intelligent than rushing the Mayan camp in the storm unarmed and unprotected. . . At eany rate this is not worth purchasing or reading unless you have nothing else to do.

Let's face it: this is one of those books you either LOVE or HATE... I loved it.

For me it wasn't so much about the horrors that befall the group in the jungle but about how they react to the situation. I really felt that the author drew me into their despair and disbelief thus keeping me glued to this book for hours.

The end left me grief stricken and weeping. I thought Mr. Smith conveyed the utter hopelessness, the desolation and the great depth of human emotion throughout the book.

P.S.-- I hated the movie and was bemused by the alternate ending. Trite Hollywood ending. Too bad.

I cannot understand why so many rated The Ruins one star for this novel. It truly was a page-turner. The length, as some described as long winded, was imperitive to the character emotional, psychological, and physcial development, or shall I say degression; if those elements were not present, their determined fates would not have been so gut-wretching . I could see how a film based on the novel would dismally flop at the theater; the essence of each individual's conscious depicted throughout the story would be eliminated, and that is where Smith is able to take a simple, perhaps seemingly ridiculous plot, and turn it into utter creepy horror.

I do not frighten easily, and don't get me wrong, when I heard the villian is killer vines, initially I decided to pass. Next to Count of Monte Cristo, the Alchemist, and A Thousand Splendid Suns, as my three most favorite books of all time, The Ruins would be ranked fourth on my list. If you are not into the human psyche; exploring, analyzing, and assessing human behaviors to ascertain a better grasp on an individual, probably not the book for you--you simply will not like it. It is almost impossible to not think about what you would do in the situation, like chosing your own adventure. What course of action would you take to survive under the circumstances? What would you do to eat? Drink? Escape? How would you do it? Why? When you put yourself in the situation, the story becomes exponentially creepy.

Scott Smith treds on totally different waters when it comes to horror. I wish him much success and a speedy new piece! Thanks for the scare and extreme thought provoking topics! I am planning to pick up a Simple Plan today.

Yeah I know it's a bit late in the day but I just heard this & I've gotta say just how truly awful this story is.
A bunch of extremely self centered & dumb people decide to head out into the Yucatan wllderness & end up being forced to stay on top of a hill surrounded by flesh eating vines.
The set-up has you believing that they will all end up down some creepy mines but that storyline had potential so obviously had to be dumped. Instead we are stuck on top of the hill with our collection of idiots. Behaving like idiots. Dying like idiots. That as many die at each others hands as by the vines is an insight into what an unlikable bunch of people we have here & that they do so little to fight back illustrates just how unbelievably dumb this lot are. Fight back? Yup, your surrounded by a FOREST full of flesh eating vines & you have 3 full bottles of pure spirit tequila & matches so what do you do? I'll give you a few seconds...... THATS RIGHT! you drink the tequila, get drunk & mess everything up! Dumb,Dumb,Dumb.
Not to forget that in the end there are only so many ways you can kill idiots off with a vine so what to do? I know, lets make the vines capable of speech & then thought!
Avoid this,(well read by the way), and try something scary instead.