Horror Books

Although a lot of people seemed to think this book was well written and went into depth about how life would almost BE like if living (sort of) zombie adolescents romed our streets, I just didn't get into it.

It seemed to me almost a bad imitation of Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" which I am a big fan of. The impecable white skin, eyes a different colour and the obvious none beating heart were just some indications of how it was related not, on the other hand, including the forbidden love.

I still haven't finished my book, and I just feel like putting it down and reading "Twilight" again.

I enjoyed this book quit a lot! its just something i wouldn't read vampire, werewolf yes zombies heck no! but Daniel waters takes you to a different perspective on zombies! Its great i hope theirs more to come. And if you want to read something different get this book!!! Oh and btw the characters are great!

Everyone else who's reviewed this so far has mentioned plenty of the good things about this book, and the other reviewers have also done a great job explaining what it's about. I agree with most of them that it was a fun read, but there were too many things about this book that bothered me for me to say I liked it. I give this book a middle-of-the-road rating, and I'll explain what my fundamental problems with the book are, though I should say for the record that such things will not ruin the book for everyone--just did for me. But first. . . .

I'm the first person to rate this book at less than a perfect five stars, so I realize I am just asking to get kicked in the face by fans who like to abuse ratings buttons. This review is CONSTRUCTIVE. Reviews are supposed to be honest and well-constructed, and this review contains my reasons for not liking the book very much. It's not hateful or full of bashing, so I respectfully ask readers to withhold THEIR hate and bashing and remember that your votes are supposed to be for "helpful" and "not helpful," not for whether you agree with my assessment. I venture to say I am writing helpful things here. Now, on with my comments.

My biggest problem with this book is that the concept is a neat idea but wasn't all that well carried out. It seemed almost like the author wanted to write about the social aspects of how dead people returning to life would affect society, but skipped the gritty details of what WOULD actually happen in between, moving right on to the fun part where dead kids are in your school. Consider this:

Less than three years had passed since the phenomenon began and yet there was already this push to fight for zombies' equality as citizens. Before scientists knew what made this happen. Before they could tell if zombies were in fact unstable, dangerous, diseased, whatever. The way this book is structured, it seemed like the author thought it really was feasible that the scientific community would collectively shrug and let these kids go about their afterlives.

I'm not saying I can't suspend disbelief about zombies in the first place, because that's the fun of it--it's just that since the book was written in a non-humorous, otherwise *realistic* fashion, it seems to be trying to frame how society really would react to dead people joining "our" ranks, and yet it misses some of the basic fibers of human nature.

For an example, let's look at America's embarrassing history when it came to equal rights for blacks. When black and white schools were getting integrated, so many white people were furious that their kids had to go to school with blacks that they withdrew their children, and the black kids had to be escorted to school and protected by policemen, frequently holding back crowds of whites who yelled and threw things. And this is how they acted when the kids were actually protected by the law! Zombies, in this book, have no rights. They would fare far worse. Even in this supposedly enlightened era. Dead coming back to life is a LOT more of a fundamental change than learning next to someone with a different skin color. There would be upheavals on scales that are nearly inconceivable. But here are these kids facing some prejudice and physical danger but going largely unmolested to school shortly after waking up dead.

And . . . how are they in school, exactly? They're not citizens. It's said they can't get driver's licenses or vote. But I suppose somehow they're able to be enrolled in school? No law can be requiring them to go (so one wonders why some of them are even there if they don't "have" to go), but even if they wanted to . . . would they really be allowed? I know visitors who aren't students sure had to jump through hoops to even be allowed inside the schools I worked at in college. Laws don't acknowledge these poor dead kids, so I find it hard to figure out why for no reason whatsoever some laws do seem to apply to them and some don't, depending on if it's convenient for the story's situation.

It's stuff like this that made the world "feel" wrong to me. I did like the slice of life the author chose to portray. Phoebe and Adam's relationship was VERY well-done--their adolescent confusion was believable, and most of the character interaction was convincing; I think character-building is this author's strong point. Another good example was that prejudice existed on both sides; there were some zombies who didn't trust the "traditionally biotic" and treated them badly, so it was refreshing to see zombies were not just a bunch of sad, maligned, defenseless creatures who never did any hating of their own. But I was pretty disappointed in the worldbuilding.

It would be obnoxious of me to demand that every question be answered, but it wasn't so much that the questions weren't answered that bothered me; what bothered me most is that there were several aspects of the story that made it seem impossible or improbable (even while suspending disbelief for kids coming back to life, of course), and no attempts were made to address these. Sorta like the author wanted to skip over some of the realistic ramifications of undead teens and skip right to the part where dead kids are an oppressed minority whose rights are only recognized by PC progressive types (three years after they started existing in the first place), complete with cheesy slogans on tee shirts.

Stuff I'm not sure the author thought of:

Zombies are repeatedly said not to breathe. How are they talking? I'm cool with it if there is a good explanation--like that they *can* breathe but don't need to to "live," or they're talking some different way. But nobody ever tells you.

Why would their eyes and skin lose pigment within a few minutes or hours of being dead? That doesn't happen to people who actually die. They don't suddenly become pale and lose their eye color. So why does it happen to zombies? I'm not saying it can't happen in the story, just that I would like some understanding of why besides "it just does, because that's what zombies look like."

Why do their hair and nails grow? They don't actually grow after death. That's a myth.

I guess my bottom line here is to say that I would see the events in Generation Dead happening more realistically in *micro* if some of the *macro* issues had been thought through a little better. They wouldn't have had to be focused on--just either addressed peripherally or insinuated to have been. The author pointed out several times that the scientists don't have any clue what allows zombies to "live" and why zombiism only occurs in American (or Canadian!) teens--but saying no one knows how it works doesn't do it for me. The ramifications of the laws of physics and biology being violated in an otherwise rational world is not examined at all. Scientists would freak. Society would freak. And not calm down for a very long time. If they don't find the answer, you've got to show what happens when they don't find the answer.

And if, somehow, the zombie phenomenon did NOT cause a widespread panic, and eventually things settled down to the point that they could begin to pursue their rights and enroll at your school, I think it would only be after there were a lot more answers. Look at how schools and society handled the concept of living with students who had AIDS when it was first showing up. The reaction was something like "OMG what are the rules, can I get it from touching him, what if he bleeds on me, isn't AIDS a GAY DISEASE, hey wait you want MY KID to go to school with THAT?" Now try multiplying the height of THAT by fifteen or so and you'll have the attitudes and reactions that'd be caused by walking, talking dead people. I don't demand that the zombie thing make scientific sense or anything; I just ask that the world depicted in a book is internally consistent, and I ultimately could not reconcile the concept with the reaction in this book.

Just one more note: The book had a higher than average language glitch score (which isn't good). Editors and fact-checkers, please put on your glasses for the next edition. I caught "peoples'" instead of "people's," a possessive used incorrectly with respect to someone's house, "Badger's" instead of "Badgers," "fifteen minute" instead of "fifteen minutes," and "sight" instead of "site," and the first time I saw the word "retina" used when the author meant "iris" it startled me. Then he did it again later, which means I guess he thinks the colored part of the eye is called the retina. Retinas are on the inside of eyeballs. Really weirded me out when I thought we were seeing a zombie's retina, until I realized it was just a mistake.

Most people who don't overthink everything and aren't as picky as I am will probably still enjoy this story, so read the other reviews and decide for yourself. Like I said, it's entertaining in micro and the characters are well-written while the concept is entertaining. I just think it could have been thought through a little better, and I have a sneaking suspicion that part of the reason an unrealistically short amount of time was allowed to go by was so we could still get these zombies into the schools when they weren't too much older than when they died. Since reality is skewed to make the premise work, I lost respect for it early on and that upset my ability to enjoy the book.

I picked up the book due to the cover alone, without previously knowing of its existence. Once started, I couldn't put it down, and it's not the sort of book I'd normally read. It provoked some interesting ideas and the ending was startlingly bittersweet. The blog that you can actually visit online is a great touch as well.
I look forward to more from this author.

The popularity of zombies is on the rise. In fact, the fans of the walking dead may be soon encroaching on the number one spot held by vampires. I don't know why this is happening, it's as mysterious as the reasons for the zombies climbing from their graves to start searching for a brain buffet in all the movies (and yeah, yeah, I get that some kind of gas was released in the Living Dead movies and in Raccoon City, but come on. Really?).

Zombies moved back into horror fiction with a much more sure step than they've had in a long time. But now they're launching into teen romance fiction. In a way. GENERATION DEAD by Daniel Waters is a mixed bag, and I'm going to be all over the place while describing my reading experience for you. It just refuses to lie down and die to be reborn into a familiar zombie novel of movie tradition.

The cover of the dead cheerleader with blackened eyes seized me at once. I mean, once you get that image in your head, it's not going to easily go away. Neither will the romantic triangle between Phoebe, Adam, and Tommy, the "differently biotic" boy Phoebe falls for.

Phoebe was one of the Goth girls at school. She enjoyed being different, and the dressed-in-black thing really worked for her. Looking like the living dead really worked for her. It even earned her the name Scarypants from Pete, the novel's villain of sorts. Of course, the look really lost its appeal when dead kids started showing up and coming back to school. The author does an excellent job of catching a teen girl's feelings and confusion throughout the novel. Phoebe comes to life on the pages almost at once.

Adam is the football jock and Phoebe's next door friend. As it happens, he's just discovering that the friendship he's always had with Phoebe runs much deeper. That realization is stymied by his own shyness, the fact that he is a member of the Pain Crew on the football team and he shouldn't go for Goth girls, and Phoebe's sudden crush on Tommy Williams.

Tommy is a pioneering wonder among the zombies. He's articulate and he writes, blogs even. He also goes out for the football team and causes all kinds of tension in the school and the city.

The story revolves around these three characters and how they sort out their lives. However, the author throws in great support characters like Margi, Phoebe's best friend, and others.

Teens these days seem to be almost shockproof to so many changes in their lives. If the living dead did claw their way from their graves and decide to go to school instead of the brain buffet, I would be very surprised if teens didn't act exactly as Waters portrays them in this novel. They split almost immediately into groups that supported the zombies and those that stood against. But mostly they were curious.

I could make a lot of comparisons to cultural differences being played out in the pages, of Waters building his zombies up to comment on race, religion, and economics - the usual dividers among populations, but I won't. I don't think he wants the book to go that deeply into global problems. I believe he just wants to talk about the teen world, get into their heads, and tell a story they'll have a ball with wondering "what-if"?

I also have to admit that you're going to have to push yourself to get through the first fifty pages or so. The book progresses slowly but that's so the characters and all their complications can be set into place. Once that's done, Waters engages fully with the story and keeps things moving.

This is a book for the teens. Some parents of teens or those who want a trip back through the teenage years will enjoy it as well, but the junior high and high school readers should eat this one up. There's no real explanation for why the zombies came back to life, or why only American teens were affected, and I was disappointed slightly in that. But the characters are real, facing situations with genuine emotion, and I believe that the target audience is going to feel that and enjoy the read.

Do you like mummies, witches, dimosaurs, goblins, gremlis, demons, devils, skeletons, ghosts, dragons, ghouls, ogre, giants, zombies, or even phantoms? If you do then you will like " You Read to Me, I;ll Read to You". In this story the author Mary Ann Hoberman tells about different fariy tale creachters. Like when she told about the dinosaur, the dinisaur wanted to stay in a house. But then there are some problems. The illustrator Michael Emberley's pictures are right with the writing. And if you lide poems this book is the one for you. For all ages!!

My daughter can't get enough of this book. She loves the silliness of the stories and gets to listen to my silly voices for the characters. I'll be looking for more like this. She even reads it to her little cousin.

KIDS LOVE THESE BOOKS. THEY ARE READ OVER AND OVER. ADULTS LOVE THEM TOO. A CAN'T MISS ITEM.

I first was introduced to Matheson's work by the novella "I Am Legend", which I loved. I got this book from the local library and it kept me up for two nights. Matheson's a skilled storyteller and he never lets up on the action, even during smaller passages that he uses for character development. I can see why Stephen King calls him a great influence. I'd place Matheson on equal footing with HP Lovecraft any day.

Richard Matheson, well his name alone is a trademark. To be totally honest I picked up Hell House just because of the reviews and the authors name. I just wanted something to read and pass the time. I never imagined that a book could be scary at all, and let me tell you.

Once you start reading and get familiar with the characters you will difinetly, at least at one point, get a bit scared. It's the basic formula of the horror genre. A haunted house, a terrible past, a place where all the excess and degradation of society took place. So horrible that the first team that tried to "clean" the house from it's spirits went crazy (homicide, suicide and then some).

Now a new team is assembled to make the house normal again. Hell House is a great ride and if you prepare the mood (read at night, in a quiet place with a good tea or perhaps a good scotch) you might get scared. This is a no brainer, pick it up, read, get scared and enjoy!!!!!

Interesting little homage to Shirley Jackson, Matheson's "Hell House" gives us a walloping premise (I, too, loved the whole 'back' tale of Emeric Barasco above everything else in the book) but just doesn't follow thru with characters a reader can feel for. By the end of the book, I cared not a whit who was left standing, and almost began to cheer for the house to win. Compare Florence to Jackson's Eleanor (from Haunting of Hill House) and by Jackson's concise use of words, and significantly less action, I found myself far more mesmerized by Eleanor's character than I could have believed possible. Florence falls flat for me. Her "internal struggles" were so completely laid out for us in the book that there was no subtlety to her actions at all. Nor did I care at all about the doctor and his wife, finding their relationship completely unrealistic (surely he'd have KNOWN she was dying for a little physical love at some point before their venture into Hell House, and they would have worked through that little problem long before then? How long were they married? It hadn't come up in a single conversation in their life together? She was such a doormat that she'd never expressed even a hint of interest in physical love, out of respect for his "condition"? He had never been concerned about the lack of intimacy's effect on her before, or given it much thought? Gee, I think absence of sex is the least of their problems together then.) And who cared about the other guy, who was too frightened to even participate until the last 5 pages of the book? What did we really know about him, since Matheson chose not to elaborate much on the time he'd been in Hell House before? C'mon, if he's going to spill his guts about the wicked history of the house, let's hear the sordid details of the 1940 expedition inside! Others have spoken here about the soft ending, the overuse of the verb "hiss" (everybody and everything, living or dead, animal or vegetable in this book hisses, and repeatedly - that is all you need to keep in mind!) and the weirdly boring "salacious" details - I don't have to elaborate on any of those, except to say that I agree.

One can see the progression from Jackson's novel to Hell House and then on to Stephen King's homage to Matheson's book in "The Shining", however, and from that perspective, Hell House ought to be read if you are a fan at all of the other two books. But it is the weakest link of those three. I am a huge fan of "I Am Legend" and "The Shrinking Man", which are both far superior in character development, among other things. I'm sure Matheson intended well, but this just doesn't stand up to either of those other two books of his. Again, if you start with "The Haunting of Hill House", sandwich in "Hell House", then finish up with "The Shining", you may find yourself with a suitable progression of terror on your hands - it would make an excellent weekend of scary, leave-the-lights-on reading. On its own, "Hell House" needs Dr. Barrett's cane to struggle about on its own legs, moreso than the poor doctor does.

If you want to see how a master storyteller makes it looks so easy on the page, then really you could read anything by Richard Matheson. But, Hell House is one creepy read that you won't forget any time soon; and it was written back in 1971-you have to remember that while reading it; the book stands the test of time and reads like it could have been written today-it's that good.

Two mediums, a doctor and his wife, enter a haunted house with a reputation for the most evil goings on back in its day. Emeric Belasco, a tall, haunting figure of evil, sporting macabre orgies and directing his guests to indulge in evrey perversion they could think of. Sound familiar? Many, many contemporary authors have used what Matheson created as a blueprint for the haunted house horror story.

The novel progresses as each person in the house succumbs to its sinister needs and desires: which seem to be to either kill, or drive every person insane who tries to staunch the flow of evil within the house.

Matheson has created a horror novel that will be read for many years to come; it's survived this long, since the early seventies, I'm sure it will go on much longer.

Read why Stephen King said that no other writer influenced him more than Richard Matheson-and why Hell House, is the scariest haunted house story ever written.

In order to fully appreciate and enjoy this book, you should really try to read it prior to watching any of the movies made about it. Unfortunately I had seen "The Legend of Hell House" back many years ago, so I was familiar with what would happen. Although the book and the movie were different in parts, the truth behind the haunting was the same, which took some of the shock out of it for me.

Short Synopsis: An eccentric dying millionaire commissions a study to prove that there is life after death. Offering On hundred thousand dollars to three people to go and stay the week at "Hell House" and report back to him whether or not there is an afterlife. The three people who go include a psychic medium, a physicist, and the lone survivor of the previous expedition into the house. The four of them go to the house (they fourth being the Physicists wife) and are scheduled to stay there for a week; right away the chills begin crawling up your spine as you learn the depraved history of the house. The windows are bricked up, fog and mist surrounds the house, and the tales of what when on inside are sick and evil.

As I stated before, I wish that I had read this book before having seen the movie, because I believe that having seen the movie detracted from my enjoyment. Still this book is very well written, and was groundbreaking for the time. The problem is that this book was written in the 1970's and has been ripped off or blatantly copied in so many books and movies since then, that when you read it.. it's not shocking anymore. I imagine that this book was quite chilling for it's time. Though I was never terrified, I was interested from beginning to end. And the ghosty in this book is smart... that is probably why this book was so frightening to so many... the battle versus the house was both physical and mental. Certainly we can all duck a few flying dishes... but how do you combat madness? How do you fight an enemy that can see into your very soul, and twist your memories, desires, and hopes into weapons against you?

This could have very easily been a 5 star book, however I found the writing to be very sparse and the characters to be somewhat unsympathetic. At times you almost feel as if you are reading a TV script, the blocking and dialogue are there, but the emotion hasn't shown up yet. In the opening of the book this is at its worst, to the point of my not even being able to distinguish between the two men even by name for much longer into the book than it should have taken. About halfway into the book, Matheson seems to hit his stride and goes from telling to showing the reader what is going on. The second half of this book is 5 star material, without a doubt. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good haunted house tale.

I read this story, "The Monster at the end of this book" to my daughter 25 yrs. ago, and she loved it. She recently requested I find it, and get it for her little girl. I'm sure she will love it too! The book has thick pages and a glossy finish, better than 25 yrs. ago.

My two sons (ages 5 and 4) beg me to read this book several times a week. It is one of their favorite bedtime stories.

The first time I read this book they didn't care much for it. That's because I made several mistakes that are very important to making this book fun after repeated readings. Here's the secrets:

1. Imitate Grover's voice. The mistake is to make Grover sound too deep. He's more like Yoda with a panic attack. Vibrate the back of your tongue like you're trying to gargle and let your voice climb when Grover is shouting.

2. Don't forget the sound effects. There's bricks coming down, boards being hammered into place and Grover panting and screaming on every page.

3. Let your children turn the pages while you plead to them to "don't turn the page!"

4. Replace the words. After you read this book 5-6 times, you can spice it right back up by changing the words (e.g. "The Naked Gorilla at the End of this Book.")

5. Use different Sesame Street characters. My sons ask for "The Count" most often as either a stand-in for Grover or as a companion through the story. "Three, three pages left before the end of the book, AH AH AH AH AH!"

I have forgotten all about this book until someone mentioned it in a bookclub that I belong to. She reads it to her son every night. And I remember how much fun I had reading it to my nephew 13 years ago on vacation, so I scurried online and ordered a copy of it. My sons (even though they are probably too old for it) request it every night since it arrived. They think it is a hoot and a hollar. And they beg me to keep turning the pages (I must be raising some fearless boys!) and when they get to the end, they giggle with glee.

My advice is, don't wait to buy this book. Get it now and enjoy some reading time with your children. This book is just absolutely fun and I know that it will keep my sons interested in reading. At least they'll remember mom struggling to keep the pages closed ...

7/22/08

What can I say...it's a blue furry masterpiece. I read it so much as a kid that the cover of the book came off. I'm finding more and more people that count this book among their all-time favorites. An "interactive" book by old school standards. Order this book now.

Stephanie Moulton Sarkis PhD NCC LMHC
Author, Psychotherapist, and ADHD Expert

My son is not into Sesame Street at all, but he still loves this book. I bought it for him because I remember my mother reading it to me and my sisters when we were little. It's a classic that's still great for kids of all ages. My 1 year old loves the characters and my 3 year old loves the story. It's a great addition to our night time stories! I bought 2 so I could give one as a gift because I love it so much

This somewhat oddly-titled series is an import from NBM's Eurotica imprint, created by Dutch author/artist Frank Mensink and then translated into English. I tell you this at the beginning so that you won't be disappointed by the rather strange dialogue, which veers back and forth between spot-on, almost childishly silly, and downright bizarre. If you've ever read HEAVY METAL magazine, chances are that you've already been exposed to this phenomenon. For whatever reason, the distributors of foreign comics will spend boatloads on top artistic talent, and then apparently hire the cheapest translators they can find.

This is a shame, because KRISTINA is that rarest of creatures, an erotic comic with a fun and engaging storyline. The protagonist was slain in the Middle Ages by an angry mob, but apparently they weren't very thorough about it; some fresh blood in her unmarked grave restores her to unlife in the modern day. What makes this interesting is that Kristina seems committed to turning over a new leaf: after preying on the innocent in her first unlife, she decides this time around to feed only on criminals, the human flotsam whose deaths will be unnoticed (or at least unlamented). She quickly takes a couple of human thralls to help protect her during the day, and it's obvious that she truly cares for them.

Kristina's actions bring her into conflict with the human protagonists, a pair of very horny police investigators named Mike and Iris who are trying to find out why street thugs keep showing up exsanguinated. Mike has some kind of mystic connection to Kristina, which causes the vamp to become obsessed with claiming him as her eternal soulmate -- something that Iris obviously objects to. For all that she is trying to be a better person (so to speak), Kristina really doesn't care what Iris wants, and her blithe willingness to try stealing Mike away from the human woman is the one thing that costs her sympathy with the audience. Still, Kristina is such a fun character that it's hard to root against her, even as we also hope for a happy ending for Mike and Iris.

The quality of the art is generally very high, with great facial expressions and gorgeous colors and shading. It occasionally veers toward the more cartoony, particularly when blood and gore are involved, but that doesn't really detract from it.

On the whole, this is a very well-done book, if you can forgive the shortcomings in the translation. If you like sexy stories about vampires, this one and its sequel are both worth a look.

I thought this was going to be a sexy vampire comic but instead its literally like looking at a storyboard of a cheap porno. Don't get me wrong, I definitely dont mind XXX films but I watch them cause I want to watch them - I read comics to be entertained - not... you know.
And anyway, besides that point - its not even good. The art isnt that bad but the main character's face isnt really consistent throughout the book.

The formula for the book goes a little like this:
-Opening scene - raunchy sex thrown in for effect
-Introduce new character - find excuse to throw in raunchy sex
-Plot idea - sex in the meantime
-uh oh! this book needs to end! uhhhh... kill the character and have sex at the end!

This whole comic is exactly like a porn film in that its all about the sex, no one cares about the story - XXX films just have "story" there for filler I guess. It should happen like, "lets make the coolest story ever with some really interesting characters that people will want to get to know and be dying for the next book" but these guys said, "lets make some raunchy sex in comic form and throw in something about a vampire to get all the fanboys to buy our crap!"

Avoid this. Get something awesome like Bomb Queen.

One of the first Eurorotica that I purchased. It is not that bad, but I prefer manga better for the story lines. If you like a tale that gets straight to the point you would like this. It is just too short for my tastes.

I love graphic novels, and I love anything with vampires. So naturally, this peaked my interest. After reading the reviews, I was not disappointed. It was kinky fun, and very erotic. I can't wait for the next issue to come out. Hope it does.

This was one of the best graphic erotic novels that I have. The story line was great and the women are just outstanding. I hope there is a vol. 2. If you are going to get an erotic graphic novel this is one to have.

I was captivated by Flowers in the Attic and so had to read this. It answers a lot of questions left by the first book and develops the story further.

This is my favorite book in the Dollanger series. Its the most heart-breaking, tragic, and interesting in the series int hat we see that the children from book one have grown up and now trying to face a world that was shut off to them for most of their adolescence and childhood.

The protaganist is daring in her revenge, seductive in her romantic choices, and bold as she unleashes her full wrath. If you're a genuine smut reader, then this book (and the third one, Seeds of Yesterday) will wet your appetite.

I don't want to ruin the book for those who haven't read it. But, if you picked up the first book, finish the series. Its never ending tells of deception, lies, and incestry will have you wanting more.

I also reccommend another series if you liked this one: The Casteel Series, which begins with Heaven.

Omg... this book was AMAZING!!

one of the best i've EVER read!

yes, the concept of the story is disturbing, but its soo well written, you cant but help to LOVE this book!

5stars!

After escaping the prison that was theirs for over three years, the three remaining "Flowers of the Attic" escape to find a new home with Dr Paul Sheffield, a widowed doctor. There in a secure and loving home, Cathy, still bitter about her Mother's betrayal, begins plotting revenge.

This book is bitter sweet, as Cathy throws away true love and happiness to embark on "getting even with Mama". Cathy becomes a twisted obsessed character, who not only uses people to get to her Mother, but hurting those who love her dearly. In the end, the reader is left wondering who Cathy's vengence hurts more, her mother or herself.

Very different from the first book, and only slightly less enjoyable. Highly recomended.

This book focuses more on Catherine's husbands and lovers, and on her revenge against her mother. Both make for great, entertaining reading.

Love story #1: Cathy's forbidden love for Chris. I think it was fitting Chris's full name means Christ-bearer because he really is Christlike when it comes to forgiveness. He doesn't even hate his mother for being responsible for the death of his only brother, neither for Carrie's stunted growth, which, I believe, in part, leads to her dying so young, and his own loss of trust in the woman who gave him life, not to mention the three years, four months and sixteen days of his childhood lost, lost to him forever.

It did take Cathy a long time to finally execute her revenge, but I think she wanted to prove to her mother that she could make something of herself first, which she did, by becoming a prima ballerina, who, sadly, would have been a superstar if only Julian (her first husband and dance partner) hadn't been such a jerk.

I think Cathy's love affair with Paul Sheffield, the doctor who took her and her siblings in, was genuine, and though I believe she really did love him, part of that love was gratitude. I also think his age played a role (Paul was twenty four years and some months older than she, just like her father was, for when she was twelve, Chris Sr. was thirty-six). Paul represented stability, the kind of life she knew with her father, and that was partly why he was so attractive to her. Like Chris, Paul was always there for her because her love life went in this order: Chris, Paul, Julian, Paul, Bart, Paul, Chris. I liked all of Cathy's beaus but Julian, who was in love with Cathy, but she just didn't feel that way about him. I think she only thought she loved him at the end. I know some readers thought Cathy promiscuous, but I didn't get that at all. Chris was a mistake, and it wasn't her who initiated it, Paul and Julian she married, and Bart was part of her revenge plan, but all along, I don't think she realized it until the end that it was Bart who was her true love, ever since she was fifteen when she first kissed him and he thought she was part of a dream. I also don't think Bart realized Cathy was his true love either until the end (though I do believe he did love his wife, Corinne, Cathy's mother), when she revealed to him who she was, the dream that had stayed with him all those many years.

What's heartbreaking is that just as they realized this, Bart dies, leaving Cathy to go back to Paul carrying Bart's child. Cathy's one true love was the one man she didn't marry.

I think Cathy slept with Paul at first only to get Christopher out of her system ("Good-bye, my Christopher Doll", I think she said, as soon as Paul had, um, done the deed), and though her feelings towards her brother that were less than sisterly remained dormant through all her romances, I think she finally accepted at the end that Chris was the one constant in her life. All the rest of the men in it had died on her. I think she was just tired of fighting him, deciding to make a life together with him and her two sons.

I advise against reading, or at least accepting the three latter books of this series. Ms. Andrews totally veered off the path by using Bart and Jory's (Cathy's sons) first person voices, especially when they are still children. I have never been a fan of switching points-of-view. I was used to seeing everything through Cathy's eyes and this totally jarred me. It wouldn't have been so bad if the story had went in a different direction, but, well, I won't spoil it for you. "Petals" ended nicely (Foxworth Hall burns down and Corinne is in a convalescent home for the insane), and could have been left alone (which would have been better than having "Thorns" published), letting Cathy and Chris to just live happily ever after, maybe even going back to Gladstone, Pennsylvania, to visit, and raising two nice, normal sons, with Corinne perhaps redeeming herself at the end by saving one of the boys or something and Cathy finally being able to forgive her. As far as I'm concerned, that's what happened. "Thorns" and "Seeds" is V.C.'s version of what happened to Chris and Cathy after they go to Calfornia (I would have liked it better if they had stayed on the East Coast), but I have my own, where they decide to go to Sarasota after all. Though V.C. created the Dresden dolls, I made them mine.

This book covers a lot more time than the first, which I think metaphorically illustrates how fast life flew by when they had their freedom and were no longer locked in the attic.

Read this wonderful novel.

Note to Amazon: The name's Dollanganger, not Dollanger.

As other reviewers have stated, this is a nice quality book, with a heavy binding and nice colorful illustrations. My low rating for this book comes not from the production of the item but from its content.

I remember loving Scooby-Doo when I was a kid, and now my son is into this show. We prefer the original series shows to the later ones, in part because they are simpler and more innocent: the monsters are not real, they are just people made up to look like ghosts or whatever. It was a fun show that dealt with greed and misdeeds in a light-hearted way, without murder and supernatural forces. Also, at the end of the original stories, the cops always showed up to portray the kids as being on the side of justice, not vengence.

However, in this book there are several stories where the monsters ARE real. In "Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders", the space aliens are really from outer space, they transform into lizard-like forms near the end of the story and get picked up by a space ship. In "Scooby-Doo and the Witches Ghost", the story involves real witches doing real magic and a real ghost who does away with the bad guy at the end. He is not arrested, but is sucked into a spell book along with the evil witch-ghost (see p. 199 in the images). These two stories in particular are not in line with the light-heartedness of the orignal series. They are more frightening (for a kid) than the classic Scooby-Doo tales, and I don't find them appropriate for my young son.

The age range for this book says 4-8, but I think age 4 is maybe too young to be faced with real monsters (just my opinion).

This compilation of 8 stories is perfect for my children. They love Scooby-Doo and you can't beat the price for this set.

The stories are very long but the kids absolutely love Scooby and usually pick this book out for bedtime reading. The only problem I have is that each story has a different font and some of the fonts are squiggly and hard to read and make my eyes water and blur and it's hard to focus. It's weird but if you have the book you'll know what I mean!

My nephew loves Scooby Doo, but he has a rather short attention span, so I was a little worried that this book wouldn't be read much. However, he will sit still for a full story, so this book turned out to be a great gift.

Quality of this book is way better than expected,pages are sturdy, very colorful pictures-great stories for little & big kids.

This was the slowest paced of any Stephen King book I have read. The set-up to the traditional King "battle of good and evil" that occurs in the last 100 pages of nearly all his books could have been honed down, sparing the reader 500 pages of one useless waste of time. Dull, dull, dull. Yawn, yawn, yawn. A jolt of Red Bull could barely keep me awake for this ineptly written tale. The story of the mythological three Fates is neither new to modern literature nor particularly interesting as interpreted by King. Although the characters of Ralph and Lois are likeable, their being wrapped up in a mystery they don't understand leads the reader to lose interest quickly. King needed serious editing on this book. It should have had the the pacing of an Alfred Hitchcock film, but instead, King wrote it like Erich Von Stroheim directed it: a tortured and boring development for an idea that didn't merit it. I needed toothpicks to keep my eyelids open for most of it. As for the King fright-o-meter: listening to crickets chirp in the dead of evening is scarier. Watch "Blair Witch" instead. Even THAT was more frightening than this stinker.

I felt compelled to review this book. This is one of my favorite stories of all time, from any author. I don't really understand reviewers who are disappointed because this isn't "typical King." What would typical King be? Those of us who have been lifelong readers of Stephen King understand that there is no typical Stephen King story. He has given us such diverse gems as The Eyes of the Dragon, Christine, The Green Mile, and The Langoliers. For me this book was no harder to get into than The Dark Tower or The Talisman. I know one thing from reading his stories - it is ALWAYS worth the effort. Insomnia is no exception. In my opinion, this is his most imaginative tale of all. The character development is incredibly deep and true, and the way all loose threads are tied up in the end is absolutely amazing. I think those expecting "typical King" have watched one too many screen adaptations of his early work. Just take the ride - you won't be disappointed!

The rusted chains of prison moons is shaterd buy the sun. I walk a road, horizons change the tourment's begun. The purple piper plays his tune, the choir softly sing; Three lullabies in an ancient tongue, for the court of the crimson king. king crimson. Feed your head.

I read this book in like, 3 days and finished it yesterday. I really like it. Of course it is not one of Stephen King's best, but it is still very good. The main reason I give this four stars instead of five is because of the ending epilogue, "Winding The Deathwatch" in the last 30+ pages. It would have been better if it were not included. I suggest you should read until that point and draw your own conclusions. Anyways, there are way more pros than cons (there are only a few more flaws that I would like to name, but want to make this review short so I won't) in this novel and I recommend it to Stephen King fans.

P.S. If you want to read more on the Maine town of Derry, check out Stephen King's novel "IT."

This book takes me back. I read it after school for about a week straight following its release, and I remember thinking how it was one of the first times Stephen King really showed us the interconnectedness of his works, something he'd been hinting at for years. "I'm actually only writing one long story in dozens of volumes," King had said on occasion, and Insomnia proved him right. With cross-over's, tie-in's, and references to so many previous King tales, from Pet Sematary and the Gunslinger on, Insomnia was like some massive transit station held between two manic looking red book covers.

As for the tale it tells in its own right, Insomnia, King's mid-90's mega-novel, breaks the traditional storytelling mold by being set among a cast composed mostly of people in their seventies and beyond. As he is stricken with insomnia and begins to see some very strange things in the dead of night, Derry, Maine resident and man of advanced years, Ralph Roberts, is unwittingly a witness to creatures from an alternate dimension caught up in the midst of a terrible war. On one side are beings of good who serve order, and on the other are those who seek to bring about the chaotic reign of the dreaded Crimson King, a figure of inhuman evil and insanity who comes to be of great importance in King's Dark Tower (and other) books. Alongside Ralph is another senior citizen and fellow insomniac, Lois Chasse, who has also seen the creatures who inhabit the night. Together these unlikely heroes quest to halt the plans of evil, which have been fed by and become focused on the growing dissention in Derry which surrounds the visit of a powerful and divisive figure in the "Pro-Choice" movement who is scheduled to speak at a crowded civic center. In due time Lois and Ralph learn the murderous intentions of the Crimson King, who has possessed the mind of a citizen of Derry. This man is being unwittingly employed by evil to carry out an act of mass murder, all with a goal of eliminating a single individual who stands in the way of the Crimson King and his minions.

Insomnia has a likable tone and a denser than expected storyline that skips along at a rapid pace and is populated by familiar landmarks, references to other books, and characters so welcoming that it takes a devoted Stephen King reader a long time to notice there really isn't a lot going on in this novel. Mostly if King's career is studied as a whole Insomnia fits in more as a gathering point to re-direct the entire canon toward the conclusion of the "one long story" foreshadowed in the Dark Tower. Although it contains a beginning, middle, and end, and could be read alone without turning the page of any other Stephen King book, Insomnia really functions best when it is understood to be what it is at its core: a signpost passed by on a much longer literary journey.

Three and a half stars.

This is one of those series that I think I am going to read over and over and over again. I absolutely loved this book. I find the way the dragons are described great, I love the chase that Aishling puts up. The only qualm I have with the book is that no matter what this woman does she is constantly making the wrong choices. She flies off the handle and doesn't think. Maybe if she were a little bit less dense, the read would be better, but I still love it anyway! I just tend to prefer my women to have it together a little better!

I don't normally like books written in first person, but this one was great! Aisling is funny and knows how to laugh at herself as well. At first, I was a little turned off by the flippant treatment of the "magical" world that she is in. Most paranormal books have a more serious tone and treatment of magic and such. By the end of the book, I was totally hooked. I love the characters and her side kick is the best I've seen in years. Definitely worth a read.

Wonderfully refreshing series! I laughed out loud through all the books, a rare thing for me. I can't understand the reveiws that compare this series to the "Dead" series. Hello! No vampires! (and no mention of the word "Lurv" in sight, thank goodness.)
This is one of my favorite series right now, definitly a great read!

When I picked up this book up I was expecting a laugh out loud hilarious ride. Just like the reviews on the book claimed. Unfortunately it tried to be too funny for my tastes, making it never really funny. Amusement yes, not laugh out loud funny. And I love humor.

The plot really never becomes gripping, the romance never really felt. The lust yes, but the romance doesn't pulse. Though I got the impression that that was the point with the main character and her dragon mate. Lust, not even bordering on love, like teenagers.

Characters though are well thought up and given flesh. The main character is quirky, sometimes witty, but lacking a real brain, your normal chick off the street. Are said dragon mate, is hot, and dominating, shockingly he actually has some depth to his character. Secondary characters are believable.

***While the plot and ideas aren't origanl, it still worth a glance. A nice little chick lit to be enjoyed. Not quite worth buying, but worth reading. Can't wait to see were the series goes!

The heroine Asiling and her demon sidekick a dog say mean things and use sarcasm toward almost everyone throughout the book. Not once did I find the sarcasm funny, witty or entertaining. It felt like someone telling unfunny jokes. Some readers might enjoy this type of humor. I do not.

The heroine does stupid things which I didn't like. She starts out believing she is a normal human. Others tell her that she is a guardian with powers, but no one tells her anything about those powers. She gets a spell book to tell her how to summon a demon. Instead of following the recipe, she decides to use substitute products and says "I'm sure it'll be good enough" (page 86). This annoyed me. Later she issues a public challenge to someone but has no idea of the rules which she later learns means to the death. At other times when attempting something magical that she's never done before, she will say something like "I am a professional. I have power. I can do this" (page 315). Her "faking it attitude" annoyed me. This author also used one of my hated pet peeves, described below.

CAUTION SPOILERS:
One of my pet peeves: Aisling is delivering a package to Aurora. No one answers the door so she walks in and sees Aurora dead with a dagger in her chest. Aisling stumbles and grabs the dagger, which she is holding as the police arrive and see her. She is now the main murder suspect.

Another stupid thing: She sees a bad guy in Drake's home. She incorrectly assumes that the bad guy works for Drake. As a result she believes Drake is the murderer, which is not true. She runs away from Drake and plans to expose him. Later, she claims Drake is innocent, but I didn't see anything happening to change her mind.

Drake is a dragon in human form. Aisling is the only person who can receive and send his fire which proves she is his one mate. They have sex a couple of times, she is drawn to him, but in the end, she leaves him. He says "You are my mate. You cannot deny fate." She says "I make my own fate. See you around." She leaves the country. This is not the traditional romance novel happily ever after. This is the first book in the Aisling Grey series. I assume they will get together eventually, but I'm not going to buy any more of those books to find out.

Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: two. Setting: current day Paris, France. Copyright: 2004. Genre: paranormal romance.

I purchased this book after reading Barker's "The Hellbound Heart" which was the book that Clive's directorial debut "Hellraiser" was based on. It was a short and sweet novel the showed Clive's ability not just to describe but to intimately visualize horror in great detail. Upon completing that I had high hopes for his greatly praised "Books of Blood." I was not disappointed.
First off I do want to say that there are a couple of dud short stories in this collection which is why I gave it four stars instead of five. I agree with one of the previous reviewers in that I feel "New Murders in Rue Morgue" is without a doubt the worst story in this collection. For some reason it felt as if an ambitious ten year old decided to write a sequel to his favorite horror story with the end result being a absurd retread of the original story. "Pig Blood Blues" and "Skins of the Father" are other stories for whatever reason either lacked Barkers' usual writing flair or ended to quickly for my liking.
With that said I really loved the following stories:

The Yattering and Jack:

A darkly funny story about a demon summoned from hell to break a man on earth who's soul has been promised to them. The battle of wits that ensues between these two is great fun and is the definition of dark comedy.

Dread:

A disturbing story of a young man at a college campus who begins a very bizarre friendship (if you can call it that) with another student who is obsessed with death and human dread. An obsession that will deeply change or take both of their lives.

Jacqueline Ess: Her Will and Testament:

A few other reviewers have said that this is one of the weaker stories but in my opinion I will have to disagree. This is a beautifully written story about one womans newly acquired ability to manipulate her environment and those within her environment. What she does with this new power and where it takes her is very entertaining. Barker writes female characters very well and this is a very sexual story but as stated above beautifully written.

Cofessions of a (Pornographers) Shroud:

I really liked this tale of a conservative accountant who gets involved professionally and personally with shady customers that ends up costing him his life. He ends up possessing a shroud at the morgue and we are off on a bloody good revenge tale.

Human Remains:

I think this one has to be my favorite. A male gigalow comes in contact with an ancient sculpture that has the ability to mimic and impersonate with perfection any person it desires. Unfortunately the desired person ends up losing something in the process.

These are just a few that stand out in my memory but I think anyone who fancies horror and scary stories will get a good kick out of the majority of the stories written here. I will definately read volumes four through six.

Clive Baker, some call him the master of horror even Stephen King Called Barker "The Future of Horror," And someone to call him a master or the future wouldent be too far off. Clive Barkers "Books of Blood:Volume 1-3" were my first attempt at Barker, and I couldent have loved them more. Volumes 1-3 are in here there are five stories in each voulme.

Volume 1

Volume one had to be my favorite out of all three.

The Book of Blood: The book starts out with, well I guess you would call it the cover story or the frame story it's a short one only about 15 pages, but it is a good 15, it tells the story of Mary Florescu who has employed a medium who's a fake, she's hired him to investagate a hunted house. McNeal (The Medium) Fakes the visions at first but then they become all to real and Simon McNeal becomes a living Book of Blood

The Midnight Meet Train: When a man named Leon Kaufman falls asleep on a New York subway he dosent know that his life will never be the same. He wakes up to a living nightmare.

The Yattering and Jack: Jack is an avrage man but theres something in his house something called the Yattering, The Yattering is a demon and this demon will stop at nothing to make jack notice him, He will make jack's life a living hell doing whatever he can just to fullfill a promise made by his father.

Pig Blood Blues: Pig Blood Blues is one of my favorite stories out of the collection. Redman is a retired policemen who comes to work at a school, one of the first thing that happens is a fight or sort of a slaughter, Redmen finds out that a few boys are beating up another boy whos named Lacey, Lacy later tells Redmen the story of Henessey, a boy who's gone missing at the school.

Sex, Death and Starshine: This is a pretty good story by Barker it tells the story of a theter predution and it's actors that are going to preform there last play but when a man named Mr. Lichfield arrives and says his wife will be prefoming the lead things change fast.

In the Hills, the Cities: In The Hills, The Cites is one of the best stories in the collection because of how strage it is. When Mick And Judd go on a vaction they find that the rual area they go to in Yugoslavia has something very strage, something that will cause quite a lot of people to die.

Volume Two

Dread: which is probably my favorite story out of Volume two. Tells the story of Steve, Steve soon meets another student named Quaid, Quaid who is a smart student knows (As Steve will soon find out) what people Dread

Hell's Event: Hell's Event tells the story of a man named Joel, Joel will soon be running a race, but this race counts for a Hell of a lot more then Joel knows.

Jacqueline Ess: Her Will And Testament: When Jacqueline trys to commit suicide, she finds a strage power inside her, a power thats actully quite deadly.

The Skins of the Fathers: When Davidson's car breaks down in the Arizona desseret, he dosent know that he will soon stumble on to something very strage something or somthings that will stop at nothing to get a very special boy.

New Murders in the Rue Morgue: when Lewis (a Descended of the great dectective C. Auguste Dupin) comes to Paris to see a friend thats been convicted of Murder he will soon see that Dupin wasent the only one in the family to find a strange murder. . . a Pretty good take off "The Murders in The Rue Mourge" a Short storry by Edgar Allan Poe, It might be a good idea to Read (If you havent already) Murders in the Rue Mourge before you start on this stoy.

Volume Three

Son of Celluloid: One of my favorites out of Volume Three tells the story of a convict who dies behind a movie screen and later the strage things that happen soon after.

Rawhead Rex: Rawhead Rex was a Monster that was sort of put to death but when a farmer unearths the stone that he's been under, he's unearthing hell.

Confessions of a (Pornographer's) Shroud: Ronnie dosent know excalty what he's gotten into, he thought he had a good job but what he dosent know is that what he's doing is very wrong and now he has to die.

Scape Goats: When four people get shipwrecked on an island they soon find out that there lives wont ever be the same. And some of them will have to die.

Human Remains: a young male prostitute is hired by an archeologist, but what he dosent know is that somehing very strange will go on in the Archeologist's house.

Overall "Books of Blood" is a very good shot story collection it will keep you reading though the night and maybe give you a few nightmares in the process. 5/5

Being older now and still remembering every horrifying adn artistic word of Clive Barker's book of blood, I have to show respect for a great writer and artist. His stories are the best in horror and the most orininal ever. Barker tells with a uncanny and vivid eye. He tells stories that wether you like it or not, will last.
Enough said to the KING of horror and Imajjica.

I came upon the books of blood recently. I read it like 10 years ago and was really entertaingly disturbed. I think some of the short stories are classics that set imagination realms for other reader to follow. ( I noticed a couple of barker influences in Akmal Shebl's The Human Effect, and even the latest Gailamn) I don't mean any harm by this. But like Dracula is the inspiration of all time Vampire bestsellers. Barker is an inspiration for a horror and gleemly enlightened fantastique worlds.
The Books of Blood is like reading 10 bestseller horro books. Every story is original and steeping into gore. I like the story about the vegetarian woman the best, the train at the end of new york city. Hail Barker who doesn't write as sharp as this anymore these days.

This was my first venture into the world of Barker's short stories, and although I was very excited to read the book, I found that it was as many short story books are, hit and miss.

The book opens with a story titled "The Book of Blood" which I suppose would be an intro, though it is almost a short story in itself. It is a good intro, drawing the reader in lots of ghosties, a haunted house, paranormal phenomenon and lots of blood. Excellent intro to amp up the reader and get them ready to dive right through the book. I'd give this short 4 of 5 stars.

The first story is "Midnight Meat Train." I wasn't overly impressed with the title but what the heck, it was a good story. A serial killed of the most disgusting kind, an unwitting accountant who finds his way into that serial killers world, and then bam, strangeness abounds as the supernatural makes its appearance. Excellent story again, 4 of 5 stars.

The second is "The Yattering and Jack." I would in no way call this a horror story... it's closer to something you would find in a Christopher Moore book, in fact I think he based the entire book "Practical Demonkeeping" off of reading this short. This story was a humorous tale of a lesser Demon sent to torment a man to insanity... the problem is that the man just doesn't seem to care about anything the Demon does... including exploding a few household pets. I found myself giggling through this story. I don't felt that it fit all that well with the rest of the book, but it was highly entertaining. 4 of 5 stars.

Third you have "Pig Blood Blues" if I recall the title correctly. This one was strange, but predictable. An ex-cop goes to work at a school for delinquent boys and finds himself mixed up in a strange sacrificial mess. The story seemed familiar, sort of like the Wickerman meets "Children of the Corn." I can't say that it was my favorite, but every short story book has at least one mediocre story in it. 3 of 5 stars.

Fourth is "Sex, Death, and Starshine" and interesting story about the life and death of Theater. Sex, murder and ghosts abound in this story. I think Dionysus would be pleased. Though this may have been the longest story in the book, I enjoyed it. I like ghosts and the theater, and I was very happy that it didn't turn out to be another "Phantom of the Opera" which is what I was concerned with in the beginning. Though at times the story drug a bit, I think this was probably my favorite. 4 of 5 stars

The final story "In the Hills, The Cities" was completely bizarre. I can't even begin to explain it because I couldn't for the life of me comprehend it. I didn't find it frightening, or even disgusting... just perplexing. Two gay guys go out into the middle of nowhere and find... um... two cities? I tried with all of my might to picture what was being described in my mind... but it just wouldn't go together. I felt this story was by far the weakest in the book and a sadly pitiful note to end on. 2 of 5 stars.

All in all, I would say this is a 4 star book, the majority of which is very entertaining to read. I think the only scary stories in it were "The Book of Blood" and "Midnight Meat Train" but the others were good for what they were, except for the finale which was very disappointing.