Horror Books

If you are looking for a romance novel this may not be your flavor. If however, you are looking for MORE than a romance novel, a real paranormal novel then this may be for you. J.R. Ward is fantastic in that the characters are 3-dimensional and recur throughout the entire Black Dagger series. These books are grittier (i.e., with language and sex) but much more realistic than the formulaic romance novels. If you like Matrix-like action and tough men you will probably like these books. I thank God for J.R. Ward for realizing that not all women like men or need men simply to sweep them off their feet...sometimes women can be capable too.

I started the series after finishing Sherrilyn Kenyon and being at a loss for more paranormal romance. I actually liked the book. I did particularly like the hero, who was more human with his flaws and not the oh so powerful untouchable master of the universe. So what he is handicapped...
I also like JR Wards writing style that does include a lot of chivalry from the main characters who are otherwise quite savage.
I wasn't crazy about Beth - perfect model figure while eating Twinkies and Chinese take out?
I couldn't get into the whole Mr. X story and I found it more cruel than the Dark Hunter books - I may have skipped a couple of pages there and didn't find it made it difficult to follow the story nevertheless. But the attraction between the main characters was well developed, the bed scenes were tasty and I think a worthy start to the series. I am looking forward to the other books - especially for Rhage.

I read this book when it first came out, but for whatever reason never reviewed it and after rereading it this week I remembered why it was on my keeper shelf. This is the beginning of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series and probably my favorite. The other reviewers have already given a synopsis of the story so I'm not going to break down the story line for you but if you haven't read this series I highly recommend you do so. Hopefully the author will reread the first couple of books and take the story line back in the direction.

I discovered this author from one of the members at Shelfari. I checked it out from the library twice, but never read it. It always seemed to be that when I was in the mood to read it, I didn't have it. To put an end to the back and forth with the library, I purchased a copy.

For me, the book didn't live up to my expectations. I mean, friends were saying "If you never read another book, read this one." I did and in all likelihood, I won't read another. Here's why. The Mr. X never set well with me. Sure there has to be a villain in the story, but this guy didn't blend into the story, but stuck out like a wart. Each scene with him was awkward and I found myself wanting to skim the pages.

About three-quarters of the way through, I didn't feel the author stayed true to Wrath's character. I understand mentally the changes in him, but it was too quick for me to catch up emotionally. It was too rushed. To remedy the problem, the Marissa & Butch could have been cut way down. I stopped reading parts with them in it. The attraction with them (Marissa & Butch) was way too rushed and should have been saved for another book.

It felt two people wrote the book. The first writer wrote the first half and a completely different writer wrote the second half. Even the dialogue felt off towards the end. It's a real shame as the book did have potential for me, but too many mishaps and I can't see continuing on with this series.

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Ugh. I hated this book. With all of the rave reviews given to this book I was extremely shocked to find how much I hated it. Finding one stitch of intelligent dialogue in this book is like finding a needle in a hay stack. Sadly, my original review of this book has been deleted so here I go again.

Here are the characters:

Beth, the heroine. She's half vampire and half human but knows nothing of her vampire heritage. Her food consumption consisted of Twinkies, fish crackers, cookies, chinese food and cola. Good god I felt unhealthy after reading this book. I was just waiting for her to rip out her pack of cigarettes and start chain smoking. Beth's dialogue is simply terrible. When the author delves into her thoughts it is even worse.

Wrath, the hero, and I use this term loosely. He wants to protect Beth while she is going through her transition. He normally doesn't have anything to do with humans but Beth smells good so he makes an exception. He will basically kill anything that gets in his way although the author claims he's quite honorable. He's blind, leather-wearing, (pants too) emotionally weak and the leader of the vampire mobsters. His homeys consist of Tohrment, Rhage, Zsadist and Phury. They are also leather-wearing, sword-weilding vampires who sit around listening to rap. One of them likes to rape and kill. Cool.

We have some really wonderful baby powder scented villains (no I'm not joking) who are trying to kill all the honorable vampires. Mr. X as he's called is the most one dimensional villain that I've ever read. His scenes are really quite disgusting. There must only be 26 of these soulless, zombie villains because we would run out of letters pretty quickly otherwise and would have to think up real names.

Butch is a stereotypical, macho cop who's in love with Beth. He actually hiked up his pants when he was going in for an arrest. Yep.

There are a few other cardboard characters within the book but they are really not worth mentioning.

Within the book you can read such wonderfully original prose:

"His throat was raw, and it felt like he'd french-kissed a blowtorch."

"He looked like he was smuggling paint rollers under his skin." (refers to six pack abs)

These are probably the worst similes I have ever read. There are many more in the book though if you like that kind of thing.

I know I didn't really get into the plot but I think you get what I'm trying to say. This was a bad, bad book. Unfortunately I bought a few of the other books in the series at the same time. I've learned my lesson.

The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty

Well unlike some of the reviews that I have read for this series, I find that Anne Rice's depiction of Sleeping Beauty to be interesting. The entire series (which I have read all 3 books thank you) is set to go beyond what we would percieve as torture. It tests the bounries of what a human body and mind can handle. If you can not be open minding to that then I suggestive not to read this series then. It is not ment to be set to what others think is okay (kinky wise)...as for the spanking..well hellooo! Spanking is one of the lowest form of digration!..

this story is really fun it gives you different perception of what's lust and true love means.... anne rice is so good!!!!! i hope everyone will like it.

This book is the most repetitious book I have ever not completed reading. It takes a classic love story and turns it into ridiculous tale of bondage and punishment over and over and over again. It would have liked it better if Sleeping Beauty would have ate a bushel of apples and went into a irreversible coma on about the 3rd page. Oh, did I mention that this book is repetitious?

Excellent retelling of a favorite fairy tale. This book is a classic in the erotica genre, and I would highly reommend to others who are fans of Anne Rice and her particular writing style.

The Prince wakens Beauty from her century of sleep--and then, as his reward for saving the castle, takes her as his prize. He leads Beauty back to his kingdom, where foreign princes and princesses are trained to be sexual slaves, willingly submitting to the most "depraved" desires. The fairy tale premise strips the story of characterization and justifies an unbelievable land where Beauty and a hundred other royals undergo public and state-sanctioned humiliating display, oft-repeated spankings, and sexual encounters which never require consent. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty has a few darkly erotic moments but quickly disintegrates into repetition, and lacks character growth which might grant it some sense of purpose. I do not plan to read the sequels, and I do not recommend this book.

Initially, the premise of Claiming appears to have beautiful simplicity, but this simplicity is its biggest downfall. An untouched Beauty, woken from endless sleep into vivid life by a Prince--the concept leads easily into sexual overtones. However, fairy tales are brief and reiterative, and trade character for archetype: the sleeping Beauty, the warrior Prince. Rice maintains both aspects. She cannot sustain the simple concept over a novel's length, and the story quickly becomes repetitious: humiliation, spankings, sex, humiliation, spanking, sex. Beauty believes that each instance is worse than the last, but it's hard for the reader to agree. Not much varies besides the order of events, and sometimes a slave is tied up for a while or there's a bit of sodomy, but other than that the book drives in the same circle until the end. Beauty and Prince have little characterization outside of their titles, and while Beauty eventually encounters characters with names and the ghost of an identity, on the whole characterization is kept to a minimum. Without characterization, there is no character growth and no one for the reader to identify with and care about, stripping the story of any sense of purpose.

To be fair, the whole book is not a cycle of simple repetition. Claiming has a few moments of dark eroticism, where the encounter is conceived in such a way that it is appealing to the sympathetic mind (which is to say that the content tends towards idealized sexual violence not unlike BDSM, and may not suit all readers). Such moments, however, are the exception rather than the rule. The number of spankings, each one just like the one before, is so exaggerated that one begins to wonder if Rice has a fetish. On a less humorous note, the variations on sex and punishment tread on the edge of objectionable--not because the two can't be intermixed, but because Rice intermixes them without stopping for consent. To a certain extent, the fairy tale setting justifies this: the Prince's kingdom is an absurd land stripped of characters and run on fetishized sex, wholly unbelievable and therefore excused from rational details like reasonable doubt and sexual consent. But the setting can't excuse the fact that the book begins when the Prince rapes Beauty to wake her and then orders her into slavery against her will. Nevermind the fact that Beauty is forever aroused by her trails--the fantasy of the entire book is still tainted.

There is ample room in literature for erotic fairy tales--especially for eroticism that reveals or revels in the darkness of human nature. (The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter is a breathtaking example of such, and I highly recommend it.) The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, bogged down by blank-faced characters and dozen of identical spankings, plummets where it should soar. The result is a novel with only moments of erotic interest, never thought-provoking or intriguing but instead unbelievable, repetitious, and slightly unsettling. Rice cannot maintain the concept over a mere 250 pages, and I doubt that the two sequels are any better--I don't plan to read them. I was disappointed by this book, and I don't recommend it.

It is hard to believe this is a first novel, so successfully has Elizabeth Kostova captured the atmosphere of the original novel. It is written in a twin narrative by father and daughter, always a voyage of discovery backwards through time via research, documents and letters, left by those who went before...

It is a beautifully conveived idea. It is written with a great eye for detail and a wonderful ear for the academic voice and retrained mores of the time. Despite the length of this book (at over 700 pages of close type paperback) Kostova's style is actually highly economical. What she delivers is predominantly a historical mystery mixed with travelogue and laced with an undercurrent of elusive gothic horror. Occasionally the horror breaks through but Kostova never surrenders to it totally, much to her credit, as this would shatter the style of her writing and the credibility of the characters. She produces more shudders from eerily unsettling us than she could deliver via gratuitious shocks.

Kostova populates her novels with evenly introduced characters. You won't need your family tree wall planner to keep up with who is who. It's not Jane Austen - even if the tone owes something to her discipline. The slow unwinding allows them to develop, yet I found myself greedy for more developments and tearing through this book very rapidly at around 80 pages a day. It really does grip you, and given how detailed it is and and how carefully it is written, that's a terrific compliment. Of course, she inherits a wonderful legacy from Bram Stoker's spell-binding character, and the Dracula novel and films is openly referred to which makes it even more intruiging.

This is an archivists' drama - the librarian meets the undead. It casts a shadow over your nightgown (um...) and if you're thinking to yourself, 'Dracula - horror - blood - gore - etc' you'll be very disappointed. The people who will get most out of this are probably the ones who know least about the films and it definitely repays the literary reader. (Mind you, being a pedant I did spot three split infinitives...).

It is nice to gorge so thoroughly on a book that fully justifies the hype on the dust jacket and inside cover. If I have one minor criticism it is the slightly tapering end and I think Kostova could have made more of the ending somehow - I suppose I am secretly on the side of anybody who keeps a good book collection even if he is a vampire. A very nearly superb work. Four and a half stars.

I've just reread "The Historian," and was amazed for a second time by the deft ease with which Ms. Kostova weaves back and forth between multiple narrators and time periods, and by her ability to evoke a tremendously vivid sense of place with a few well-chosen words. It is a book to savor slowly, rather than a page-turner, and it transcends the "horror" genre to an extent that few others in recent decades have matched.

Out of every word in the English language to possibly describe this book (thrilling, suspenseful, terrifying, ingenious) the one that seems to always pop into my mind when thinking about it is, well, disappointment. The idea behind Kostova's writing is truly brilliant with a wonderful plot and theme. In an age where science fiction and fantasy writing reigns supreme, you would expect a book like this to shatter the minds of the public. Regrettably, it did not "shatter my mind", it melted it... into a woozy puddle of boredom. Kostova's ability to generate intrigue lags greatly between each "blip" in excitement. As a literature student, I cannot help but despair at the unfulfilled promise of ecstasy that this book possessed.
However, as a history student, I was greatly thrilled at Kostova's vivid descriptions of the protagonist's different visits to far-off and unusual corridors of the earth, as well as the multitudes of historical tidbits.
My overall assessment is that it is a very decent book, for a very tailored audience. If you merely have passing interest in the occult, I warn you to attempt this book at your own risk. However, if you are the type of person to fully immerse yourself into every detail of book so that you forget you are not actually in it, you will be thrilled with Kostova's ability to paint every picture in the most elaborate detail.

This is unlike Ann Rice novels or the classic Dracula story. I thought Kostova did a good job building up the mystery and overall plot.

This is a rich, well-structured, detailed, and yet extremely exciting book that I could not put down for all of its 500-plus pages. Some reviewers have compared it to the DaVinci Code, but I think the writing is MUCH better than that, and the characters are better-drawn and more realistic. If I can compare Kostova's writing to anyone else's, it would be to Arturo Perez-Reverte, who writes equally intelligent mysteries that grip the reader by the throat (pun intended here) and don't let go until the last page.

There is almost nothing in this book that requires the reader to suspend disbelief -- and, in a book about vampires, that's pretty amazing. I found myself feeling that all of the characters in this book could have existed, and could exist now, in any city in the world.

There was only one small detail that bothered me, and maybe this shows how much of a nit-picker I can be when I read a book. Late in the novel, one character who has been known as "Rossi" throughout the book (Bartolomeo Rossi, the graduate advisor and historian) is suddenly referred to by another main character, his student, as "Ross." This happens in a critical part of the story, and at first I thought it was a typo, but then I saw it at least two more times, and it took me out of the story completely. Luckily, this book is so well-written otherwise that I was able to overlook this minor incongruity, and was soon caugh up in the mystery and magic again.

Not a quick read, certainly, but if you like your stories with some meat on them, and don't mind picking up some extremely interesting history along the way, then I heartily recommend "The Historian." And I hope Ms. Kostova has another novel coming out soon!

A week ago I bought volume 1 of The Walking Dead. The next day, I bought volumes 2-5. The next day I bought 6-8. This series, is relentless, disturbing, heart-breaking and fantastic in every possible horror way.

Fans of zombies, survival horror, clever writing, beautiful art or just good old fashioned loss of humanity, would be seriously remiss to pass on this series.

By far his best volume yet, for Kirkman there are no "sacred cows". I was beginning to think the series was getting a bit stale, Kirkman just upped the ante. How much pain and suffering can poor Rick Grimes take? I don't know, but I'm really enjoying watching him go thru it. It's has been said, what doesn't destroy you, makes you strong. Once Rick truly learns that his survival is important, he will be a force to be reckoned with.

When This arrived in the mail i picked it up and started to read. Now after just finishing it ill say this.

WHEN IS THE NEXT ONE COMING OUT!!!!!!!!!???????

I would give this a ten if i could but alas a 5 will have to do.

I mean it, this book literately made me shout at it as I was reading it. So much has happened in this one volume. I wont say anything cause I hate when spoilers are left in reviews.

But in this book actually has me scratching my head cause im just trying to figure out what Kirkman is going to do with the next one.

If your debating about picking this volume up let me help you with your decision. CLICK THE BUY BUTTON!!!!! YOU WONT REGRET IT!!!!!!

This trade paperback is just great. It's paced very well and the big shockers of the book are only revealed when you turn the page which makes the impact that much better.

I'd recommend reading the previous volumes first but this book is a must read for zombie fans.

I've been reading Walking Dead for some time now; it introduced me to Kirkman's work with Invincible and a friend of mine loaned me Marvel Zombies and the Ash crossover which were both entertaining.

However, this book ended my interest in the series. I will not read another Walking Dead comic or pick up another trade. I simply don't care anymore.

Many reviews mention that prominent characters die, that bad guys come back, etc.

The work is gory (it's a zombie comic, I wasn't expecting Little Lulu) and says a lot about humanity (as much as I'd love to think that EVERY human would band together in a situation like this, I doubt that will happen because some people ALWAYS want power).

However, The Walking Dead had settled in somewhat as a comic about how life can continue when everything falls apart - while there's no reason to think that life wouldn't be filled with conflict, struggle and drama, ESPECIALLY in that world, we had grown to know these characters, care about them, etc. They had found some semblance of safety.

And Kirkman blew it all up. While not doing anything would have basically turned the comic into a serial / soap opera about who was sleepig with who and who ate more than their share of tomatoes, Kirkman destroyed their sanctuary, killed off roughly half the characters and turned the rest loose into the wilderness.

All of which is fine and dandy, but killing off characters that I had come to care about in the context of the comic turning the rest loose doesn't mean I have to follow. While almost all of the reviews of this book on Amazon are glowing, I don't know anyone who was reading Walking Dead who kept reading it after this volume came out, and I also know people who were reading who - after being warned - stopped before this volume. The standard warning given out at the local comic shop lets people know that it's a bloody, savage, unpleasant end for most of the people and that new mothers ESPECIALLY might want to avoid it.

Honestly, I wish I was one of the people who had avoided it, but I picked it up about two days after it was released and that warning wasn't being given out then.

I'm not arguing that this collection is not worth reading because of gore or morals or anything of the sort - I'm simply saying that if you enjoyed this series, if you enjoyed the characters, that many of them die in brutal, horrifying ways and your reason for reading this series will be significantly reduced, if not eliminated. Take that for what it's worth.

Me fascinan los libros de Twilight en inglés, así q' compré los primeros dos en español. El lenguaje en español es vulgar: 'crap' (caquita, popo, algo desagradable) lo traducen como 'mier_a' y 'oh, my' lo ponen como 'oh, Di_s mío'. Siento que es una malrepresentación de los principios de la autora y hace que Bella se vea +/- chafa or ruda, lo que no es en inglés. Estos libros están en listas de literatura para jovencitos y me cae q' los tradujeran de tal forma nociva.

Bella se vuelve aun peor en este libro! Edward se va y ella actua como que si su vida termino! Es una relacion enfermiza y horrible.

Luna Nueva es el segundo libro de la saga por Stephenie Meyer y sin duda una buena y emocionante continuación para todos los amantes de estos libros.
La novela comienza en donde nos quedamos en Crepúsculo, con el noviazgo de Bella Swan y Edward Cullen, sin embargo, parece que las cosas entre ellos no van a funcionar tan bien como antes: un accidente en el cumpleaños de Bella hace que Edward se de cuenta que su presencia y la de su familia, es peligrosa e innecesaria en la vida de Bella. No les voy a decir qué resulta de esto, pero basta mencionar que el peligro sigue latente en la vida de nuestra protagonista y esta vez se van a unir a ella nuevos y viejos personajes que vienen a cambiar su destino de forma radical.
Verdaderamente, les recomiendo este segundo libro porque contiene la dinámica de Crepúsculo y ahora Stephenie nos añade sentimientos nuevos que nos hacen desbordarnos de tristeza, alegría, desesperación, terror y amor por el destino de nuestros personajes favoritos.

Wow, the price is right for this compilation. There is some beautiful work here by Al Williamson, Gray Morrow, Joe Orlando, Frank Frazetta, Reed Crandall, Alex Toth. Frazetta does the bulk of the covers which are reproduced in color but everything else is in varying shades of black and white. There are a few clunkers with the stories but the art is really the main reason to buy these anyway. beautiful artwork with twist endings and bad puns. The first five issues of Creepy reproduced at the original magazine size. Don't sit on the fence, BUY IT!!

Wow! I've been waiting for years for the Warren magazine archives, Creepy and Eerie. I wonder, though if Dark Horse is going all the way and reprint the whole series. After issue 17, Creepy became really bad for a couple of years until about issue 30, when "new talent" like Richard Corben, Bill DuBay and Bruce Jones came around and the magazine went on to become the best horror mag of all times (sorry EC buffs, but the Warren magazines from the 70's were tops). Let's not forget the Spanish invasion later on, with the top spanish artists contributing to the magazine.

I wonder also if other Warren magazines will ever get their archives (Blazing Combat is being done by Fantagraphics), but what about my fave sci-fi mag, 1984 (later on, due to copyright issues, 1994) and stuff like The Rook and so on.

The main problem I see with these archives (which are beautifully reproduced, they are even better than the original issues printed on pulp paper), is that, as I said before, some time down the line (when most of the good artists and Archie Goodwin quit) they were really terrible (lots of amateur art and even spelling mistakes in the sophomore texts). Should they also be reprinted to continue the whole run of the magazines, even if the artistic quality was below average? Uhmm, dunno... Let's wait and see what Dark Horse has in mind.

Anyway, now I can finally put away all my old copies of the magazine and read the stories once again in pristine condition.

Kudos to everyone involved in this project!

Excellent reproduction of this magazine. I will continue to buy these if the quality remains high.

Just an absolute feast for the eyes, Frazetta, Toth, Williamson, Crandall...etc. combined with the stellar writing talents of Goodwin, Orlando, Engelhart how can you go wrong? Artistically the varied styles are a treasure... no "house style" here. The packaging is excellent as well, the reproduction quality matches the talent. This really makes you look forward to the future volumes (as well as the EERIE collections) Darkhorse has a real winner here. If you enjoy the classic art here check out the Tony Robertson's Jim Steranko site (I designed it)

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Nebula/8650/

I vividly remember the first Creepy magazine I bought at the the ripe age of 12. Having graduated from adolecent comics like Donald Duck and Bugs Bunny, Creepy was the first "adult" comic I had ever seen. I collected them for several years, but always regretted having missed the #1 issue - my collection started at #2.

As time passed, and Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella went extinct, I left my childhood behind and my mother eventually threw my collection away. But I've never forgotten the thrill of curling up in a blanket on a rainy, thunderstorming afternoon, or on a spooky October evening, or even on a lazy summer day, with the latest Creepy magazine to scare the jeepers out of me.

And now, I'm reliving my youth all over again. The days of The Munsters, The Addams Family, and Creepy comics are all back. The book is absolutely perfect in reproduction. And surprisingly, the stories are just as hauntingly "creepy" as I remember them.

Kudos to you Dark Horse! I can hardly wait for the next edition! And the next, and the next... As Tonto would say, "You print-em, Me buy-em"

p.s. The companion book "The Mammoth Book of Best Horror Comics" is a excellent deal as well. I'd never read any of the original publications, but the stories and artwork are brilliant.

This is one of my current favorite books. It is absolutely fabulous; beyond fabulous as the title indicates. I love the characters. I love the story. I love the style of writing the author uses. I love the twists and turns and I'm very antsy to hear the rest of the story when the next book comes out in a month or so.

I'm not sure what every one's problem is. I thought the book was great, with a lot of action and suspense. There's even a tease at the end to get readers wanting more.
***SPOILER ALERT****
Okay all you goobers out there that don't read and comprehend at the same time. Don't you get it? They are not brother and sister! The novel is chock full of hints...Jace does not look anything like Clary, her mother, or Valentine. Valentine tells Clary his blood travels through her, but tells Jace he has the blood of angels. The fae queen tells them she knows a secret about them, then tells Jace to ask his father about his parentage. The Inquisitor looses her son and his wife (who is seven months pregnant)yet their bodies are missing. Hmmm...I wonder what happened to that unborn child? Gee, I don't know? Perhaps if I wasn't a moron I could figure it out. Then the Inquisitor dies saving Jace's life.
***end of spoiler****
Okay, sorry for my tyrant...uncomprehending complainers seem to be a pet peeve of mine.

This book seemed like much less of a mush of other books than the first one in the series did, which was a relief. It picks up shortly after the first book left off, with all the main characters just recovering from the wounds they sustained in the big fight against Valentine's Forsaken. Which brings me to my only major problem with this book: the timeline. Although we're told that it was August during the events of City of Bones, in this book it seems to be late fall (there's always a chill in the air). Clary wakes up and eats a doughnut on her way to meet Simon, and then suddenly it's late afternoon. And a few more occasions of missing time...

If you can ignore those inconsistencies, though, this is a good read. Plenty of twists and turns, and unexpected action. A few characters wind up not being dead a few too many times (an author can only pull that trick so many times before all the tension leaks away). And, although the book dragged in a few scenes (ok, Inquisitor, we get your point), I'll be waiting with a fair degree of anticipation of the (hopefully, since I don't think this story-line can last for more than one more book) last book in the trilogy.

When I first picked up City of Bones, I wasn't sure what to make of it. As I was reading, I fell in love. No, it's definitely not heavy reading, and yes, there is better quality prose, but the book was just so fun and made me laugh out loud (which is rare), and the writing, while not amazingly spectacular, works perfectly for the story and is far from bad.

City of Ashes was even better. The characters are the kind of people you wish you knew, but don't; yet they're also just the kids next door. They bridge the gap between the ordinary and extraordinary, and you love them all for their weaknesses and strengths.

If you love fantasy, if you love sarcastic, witty conversations, if you love star-crossed lovers...READ THIS BOOK!

Alright. So let me point this out to everyone: Yes, there is incest in this book. No, I don't mind it. Yes, there is homosexuality in this book. Again, I don't mind it.

For all of those people who are like: 'Omg! it's terrible because of what's going on with the characters!'Please, keep in mind that the author started out writing fanfiction. Incest and Homosexuality are seen in Fanfictions.Honestly though, I really like this book because it's so different then other books that I've read because the characters ARE so different. Really, I have never really read a book with a homosexual character, or have the main hero and heroine be in love yet are siblings. It's unique, in a mildly creepy way. I am a huge fan of the books, not only because the characters are often times witty and sarcastic, but because many of the aspects are unique.

I don't know how many times when I've read about 'orphan tries to find place in world, and saves the world!' books, or 'girl wants to break mold and runs off to join the army!', or 'destiny has chosen [characternamehere] to save the world!' type of books. The plot lines are over used, dull, and really repetitive. This book though totally broke the mold for me. And when I mean 'break the mold' I mean, seriously, breaking the mold.

I went onto about a two year reading hiatus (because no books really interested me) and I just picked up the first book in the series and could not put it down. It's not about a little orphan, or a princess running away from an arranged marriage. It is truly, truly an amazing book that I really do adore. I can't wait to see how the series ends honestly. The books, as far as I'm concerned, are very consistent so far.
It's not like the Twilight series, where the first one was just amazing, then drops off in quality after that, or really the Harry Potter series where it gets better and better. These books are amazing, and I really don't know how else she could improve them, so they're consistent in the whole 'amazing' factor.

There was only one thing that had a tendnecy of bugging me in the series. That was the author had a tendency of repeating about certain physical qualities in a character (simon's long eyelashes, Jace's hair, etc), that or else she sometimes goes out on tangents describing things that aren't really relevant to the plot. However, the book is filled with the same banter, same characters, and same character's personalities as the previous book. It's nice to see that the characters don't magically change with little, or no, background information as to why they changed between the two books (Granted, it helps that there's not long time gap between the books since the two of them take place only in a few days each).
-De

After being disappointed by the first Dark Tower book, "The Gunslinger", I was hopeful that the second installment would entertain me to a much higher tree. Jackpot!

Whereas "Gunslinger" had a little too much storytelling and a little too little explanation, "The Drawing of the Three" takes a bit of a step back to help explain exactly what type of world Roland is living in.

For a quick summary of the text (without spoiling anything!), Roland finds out that doors exist between his world and other worlds...doors that he can enter. By entering those doors (as prophesized by the Man in Black in "Gunslinger"), Roland draws some of the companions that will help him on his quest to find the Dark Tower itself. First, Roland meets Eddie Dean, a heroin junkie, who has trouble trusting this gunslinger from another world (imagine that!). Roland also becomes acquainted with Odetta Holmes/Detta Walker, a multiple-personality woman whom Roland must make whole again if she is to help him on his quest. Finally, Roland again comes face to face with another incarnation of the Man in Black, which he must destroy if one world will ever be stable again.

The real entertaining portion of these books, however, is seeing how each character interacts with each other. Roland is completely lost (yet remarkably savvy) in Eddie and Odetta/Detta's world, while they have a difficult time coming to grips over where he is from. Of course, this being Stephen King, there is plenty of action to keep the story moving along, and the reader begins to get a better understanding of what exactly is going on in this series (something completely lacking in "Gunslinger!).

So, if you read "The Gunslinger" and were disappointed or confused, PLEASE don't abandon your quest for the Dark Tower yet. Instead, give this book a try. I can almost guarantee you that you won't be disappointed!

This is a great book. It's one of my favorite series, because it is epic fantasy told by a master of supernatural horror whose strongest talent as a writer is his ability to depict realism, particularly realistic people and human interaction -- that's a good combination. Stephen King's books feel real, which is why his monsters and things are so very creepy, because they seem like they're actually happening -- and his other great talent is in picking monsters and evil events that, if they were to actually happen, it would be the worst thing imaginable: we'd have to confront some really nasty things about ourselves and our world. Take Storm of the Century, for instance. The worst thing about that isn't Legion (Though he's extremely cool in his badness -- another King talent is how well he understands cool), the worst thing about that is that, if it happened, that is exactly what people would do. The audience would make the same choice that the characters do. And we know it. Most of us would be paralyzed with fear by It, most of us would either join Flagg or fail to live up to the requirements of being a hero in The Stand. Most of us would be completely sucked in by Needful Things -- hell, if you take it as an analogy for Wal*Mart, most of us have been completely sucked in by Needful Things.

Anyway, this book might just be my favorite in the series, though I need to do my second reading of the last three books, all of which I've only read once. I know I think Eddie's a good character, and I really love Roland in this one; I absolutely can't stand Detta, which is as it should be. I realized this reading that I really don't care for Odetta, either; she's way too prissy and privileged, way too soft. People should have that softness, but it shouldn't be all they have; they should have the strength, too. Like the fact that she had to stay in jail after their civil rights protest until she peed herself; she should have either peed on the floor, just to irritate the guards, or she should have recognized it as something totally beyond her control and been angered, not shamed. Detta would have peed on the guard, of course.

The lobstrosities are an incredible monster, and Jack Mort is a great bad guy; the chapter where Roland travels into Mort's mind is one of my all-time favorites. This is a great action book with some wonderful characterization, and I loved it. Again.

I read this directly after The Gunslinger. This book was very imaginative and actually not what I was expecting but I did really enjoy it. I kept wanting more because I couldn't predict what was going to happen next, which was really refreshing since that hasn't happened to me in a while. A lot of this book is set up for character development and sort of drawn out in places. The new characters are very interesting and should be fun to watch progress through the series. I was caught off guard, but also liked the way Roland actually draws the other players into the quest. Very different which is what I thought made it enjoyable.Good action with some cool creatures. The gunfights are very fun to read and King really sets a great tone for the next coming books.

The Drawing of the Three is the second novel in Stephen King's Dark Tower series. It picks up right where The Gunslinger ended, and chronicles Roland's efforts to "draw" three people from Earth, from various times in the twentieth century: a drug addict, a legless schizophrenic, and a serial killer. The reader is not told nor do any of the characters know why exactly any of this is taking place.

King is back to his usual style here: well-developed characters, a focus on minute details of personality, and his distinctive foul-mouthed dialogue, all of which make for engaging reading. The Drawing of the Three has plenty of action, including a couple of very well-done gun fights.

The Drawing of the Three is primarily setup for following volumes. There are some new characters, and we spend most of the book getting to know them, and we don't get the background on Roland that The Gunslinger had (this is an observation, not a criticism). And in the end, Roland isn't too far from where he started. Ultimately, this is an entertaining, necessary part of the series.

Dad-a-Cham? Did-a-Chick?

There goes King's imagination again, thinking up the most bizarre events known to the literary world. What an awesome, amazing thought process this guy has, totally outer limits!

Roland wakes up on the beach he found in the first book, The Gunslinger. Some very wierd lobster-like creatures come tumbling out of the surf, clacking to each other in some bizarre language known only to them. Roland is sick, exhausted and doesn't really pay them enough respect. He pays the price for it, and then has to walk the length of the beach to continue his pursuit of his goal. What he finds there can only come from a mind like King's.

I was blown away by the description of Roland drawing his three companions to him. They would become integral components in his search for the Dark Tower, especially Eddie Dean. Dean would save their bacon in the next book, but back to the tale at hand.

When I write, or when I talk to students about writing, the first thing I always talk about is writing freely, with abandon. King is a master of this talent, and it shows in this book. Nothing is held back as Roland and his band of reluctant compatriots venture forward in search of the tower. It's a great read, and it leaves you hungry for more books.

It certainly did with me, and I waited impatiently for more novels. Alas, they came at greater intervals, and I eventually lost interest in the series. I recommend it highly, though.

Kevin Gerard
Conor and the Crossworlds: Breaking the Barrier
Conor and the Crossworlds, Book Two: Peril in the Corridors

This is my favorite Agent Pendegrast novel.
The plot was very similar to an old NightStaker episode that feature a feidn who stalked Seattle in search of spinal fluid to gant him eternal life.
I'm happy that Preston has made the cross-over to thrillers, but in truth the novels like Relic are horror novels with a heavy dose of mystery and splash of police procedural added to make them more board in their market demographics I guess.
It's solid thrills all the way, even if a little over the top at times.

The Fury and the Power (Fury and the Terror) If you want to read the novel that was the mother of all terror thrillers with spies and conspiracies check out John Farris's work.

I have read all of the Pendergast novels and other various Preston/Child works and find myself always thinking of this one as my favorite. Although I like the "Diogenes Trilogy" (Brimstone, Dance of Death and Book of the Dead), this one seemed to really work my imagination better. It was more mentaly stimulating for lack of a better phrase.

One of the reasons I liked this book so much is because although the idea of Enoch Leng's "work" is a little far fetched, it isn't quite as out there as the Relic/Reliquary monsters. Things are more believable and therefore seem more realistic.

Without saying too much, I liked the way that they linked Pendergast to the story to add more substance to his family's "affliction." It also a better way for him to involve himself in a case than the way he takes special interest in odd cases like in "Still Life with Crows." This way, he has a personal interest in the case.

Lastly, this book goes to show Pendergast more human and less superhero than in others. In this book he goes through some rough spots and it's good to see him not getting through things unscathed but have to work hard.

Overall a great book and would recommend it to anyone that enjoys the Pendergast books or has enjoyed other Preston/Child works.

This was the first time I had read a Preston and Child book. I read a lot of reviews that highly praised this book. And I honestly expected it to be a lot better then what it was. To me personally, I found this book to be kind of "high schoolish," meaning it doesn't really fit my idea for an adult book? (Minus the language in certain areas of the book) But I can say that they did a good job building your suspense up, however they dropped it just as fast and moved on to another topic. So with that being said, I just found this book to be "OK" and I doubt I will read anymore books by Preston and Child.

You know how you can always tell "Ensign Fodder" by the red shirt he's wearing? Not so in this one. I was actually wrong about the fate of one of the characters! That hasn't happened in a long while, and any book creative enough to stump me gets high praise indeed. And while the ending wasn't exactly the way I would want it, it was still a great book and I'd recommend it to anyone who's read any of the other Child/Preston books and enjoyed them (this was my first exposure, and I don't think reading them out of order detracted much at all since each is a solid stand-alone story).

PLOT: In Manhattan a modern apartment tower is about to be build. When the excavators break into a basement, they uncover the remains of 36 people murdered and gruesomely mutilated over 130 years ago. FBI Special Agent Pendergast and museum archaeologist Nora Kelly start an investigation that reveals the doings of a mysterious doctor who once conducted medical experiments on living human beings. But just as Nora and Pendergast begin to unravel the clues to the century-old killings, a new spree of murder and surgical mutilation erupts in New York.

I am a fan of the writer duo Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. So far their former 6 books were entertaining, thrilling and also a bit scary. (Well, except for "The Ice Limit" which was a bit boring.) Overall always a great mixture between mystery and science. As a result their books are way above the average.

This book really starts well, the stetting is horrible and mysterious, the stage is set for the hunt after a cruel killer and the reader meets characters from previous Preston/Child books like the really cool FBI Agent Pentergast (The Relic, Reliquary) and Nora Kelly (Thunderhead).
Unfortunately the longer I read the less I enjoyed the book.

Pendergast knew too much too early and too easily plus he shared his knowledge with nobody. The other policemen were kept in the dark as well as the reader. Basically it might be a bit more thrilling for the reader not to know too much but in this case this was just too exaggerated and happened too often. After a while it seemed more than stupid to keep other law enforcement colleagues in the dark for so long. Therefore Pentergast's strange behavior started to annoy me.
The story development towards the ending is strange as well. The idea of Pentergast's sort of personal bond to the ancient and recent killings is kind of stupid and neither believable nor necessary at all. Pendergast travelling back in time through a memory crossing technique to discover places and incidences that he did not know anything about in real life, plus interacting with people in this dream? This idea is so absurd it hurts. On top of that the final solution to the whole scenario is just too far-fetched for my taste.

Having solutions based on science and mystery is ok but overall the story should be within certain boundaries. This time however Preston/Child went several steps too far and it was more than I could bear.

Bottom line:
The beginning plus book's initial story are ok and the writing style is good (as usual). Unfortunately the solution is really bad and therefore the book is disappointing in the end. I read all 6 of their previous novels before and I would rank "Cabinet of Curiosities" at the very bottom! (I especially recommend reading "The Relic" and "Riptide" because they kept me awake for long hours and chilled me to the bone.)
I will wait a while before I read another Preston/Child book and hopefully their next book I plan to read (Still life with Crows) is better.