Book Review: Dead Things - Stephen Blackmoore

Author: Stephen BlackMoore
Book: Dead Thing
Year: 213 
Pages: 295
Part of Series: 1st of 8 (so far)
Reading Time: July 2022 (7 days)
Rating: 8 Stars

Well, this read was unexpected to me since It was not on my reading plans which already were a bit big. But due to my reading sprint of July I read this one as well since it was short and I saw a lot of people enjoying back on discord.

It was a good urban grimdark story. In this tale we follow Eric which can speak with the dead and he does works for other people; sometimes dealing with a ghost, sometimes dealing with a live one.

When his sister dies he goes to his homeplace to try to figure it out. Some clues hinted from one side to the other and he must deal with all. AT the same time he is being help by people he knew 15 years ago.

Well, what I can say is that there is room to improvement on the Eric character. He is very nihilist and always do stuff with no regard on other people - even when he says that he is thinking of them. I will run away so I don't hurt you (while hurting).

Either way, I really enjoy it. Very fast paced, some interesting grasp on the world and santa muerta stuff. I do believe, since this is the first of 8 novels (so far) he will go great lenghts to see if he can find who killer his sister and a way to free himself from Santa Muerta.

f you enjoy this, please try Simon R Green - Nightside series. It's pretty cool as well, 12 book series and it's finish. I only read the first two but I can safely say it's not that gritty. Here we've got more gore and violence

Book Review: Morreram pela Patria - Mikhail Sholokhov

Author: Mikhail Sholokhov
Book: Morreram pela Patria
Year: 1969
Pages: 244
Part of Series: Solo
Reading Time: June 2022 (6 days)
Rating: 3 Stars

This book is a Russian propaganda. Germans are mere monsters and Russians perfect people that behave accordingly with the communist agenda. There is a funny part where some Russians are getting attack by the German panzers that one of them start praying and he feels ashamed because of it.

This proves the big theory that exist, all ideologies are cool and self sufficient until someone throws some adversity unto you. In this case panzers and explosions, then the communist manifesto is not that important and we throw ourselves to the gods. IT's very funny this part because 230 pages of propaganda and that page alone destroy all the credo.

Unless you want to read some war novel but focus on the how good communists are then go right ahead. Overall it's skippable.

Book Review: Red Station - Kenzie Jennings

Author: Kenzie Jennings
Book: Red Station
Year: 2020
Pages: 135
Part of Series:  Splatter Western
Reading Time: June 2022 (3 days)
Rating: 9 Stars

Suffice to say I enjoy it. Probably one of the best so far from this series. Fast Pace, Characterization for half a book then carnage. Just like we love it.

This tale is probably the best of all I've read from the series of splatter western. In these tale we've follow a 4 of people as they are travelling in a carriage. They stop at a inn and we get some interesting interaction between inhabitants and travellers. This is half the book and I enjoy it. We learn a great deal about them and it was cool. Each was different and we got that. Then half the novel is carnage. Unfortunately for some reason, the author decided to kill all (view spoiler). This felt like the first novel of Wrong Turn. My problem with it , was the quick hack and slash and we lost both in one page.

Oh well... Apart from that I thought that the main character was too overpowered and since the author actions since the beginning we already knew nothing would happen to (view spoiler).

Apart from that I think it was interesting, didn't felt like that only had 120 or so. I will probably in the future buy another of her novels.

Sequel? Well, there some space in it. I would love to see like a final book with all the surviving characters in a final battle.

Book Review: Uma Aventura na Amazónia - Ana Maria Magalhaes

Author: Ana Maria Magalhães & Isabel Alçada
Book: Uma Aventura na Amazonia
Year: 2009
Pages: 240
Part of Series: Uma Aventura 
Reading Time: May 2022 (8 days)
Rating: 7 Stars

What an interesting read for my favorite children's read "Uma Aventura". Read when I as 12 , still reading when I am 41.

This time our friends go to Brazil for a small vacations and there of course they have a new adventure where they try to deal with problems that deal in Amazonia like destroying of rain forest, animals being stolen from their habitats and sold to the highest bidder and we also learn more about hidden indians that still to this day remain hidden and what to be left alone.

This adventure was a bit different than the others I've read because it had political stuff involved where usually are merely adventures. Quite different stuff.

Book Review: The Dirge of Reason - Graeme Davis

Author:  Graeme Davis
Book: The Dirge of Reason
Year: 2017
Pages: 112
Part of Series: Arkham Horror (novella)
Reading Time: July 2022 (2 days)
Rating: 3 Stars

This is the second novella of a series of 7 or 8 created years ago (back in 2017 I believe). I am reading this in the novel printed by Aconyte (Dark Origins). But I Am reading only one novella per month.

So was this good story? Nah. It's bad. Basically we follow Roland Banks which is a character in the Arkham Horror; Eldritch Horror and Mansion of Madness universe. It's one character that I really enjoy but unfortunately everything that made that character good in the game was absent here.

If you don't know he is a lawman that never bends the true and holds duty above all. I believe the author didn't knew that much about the character. We know that he changed since he came to Arkham but in the novella in the beginning he is reasonable and then go to a loony bin and becomes a complete different person.

The story is nothing too interesting BUT as the previous tale and the ones coming these tales, you know, if you play the games know basically how they will play out. Per example in the last tale you know that Jenny (I believe that was her name) was searching for her sister and not get find it. Here we know that he will change views/actions and so on... but it was too rapid. Oh and the plot was boring...

Book Review: Kothar and the Wizard Slayer - Gardner Francis Fox

Author: Gardner Francis Fox
Book: Kothar and the Wizard Slayer
Year: 1970
Pages: 109
Part of Series: 5th novel in Kothar Series (5/5)
Reading Time: July 2022 (2 days)
Rating: 4 Stars

This is the last novel on the series... So let me just say overall, I wouldn't advice it to anyone. This series try to be something that clearly it's not.

Just because you mention strange lands or strange powerful demons, wizards and give names to the swords it's just boring. Things have to have substance.

Imagine that I say - I am writing this review with Lapiseira on the paper taken from the Ruri Forest that is situated in the lands of Kiea that lie beyond the eldritch sea of Raganost... It's fluff-but also boring and gives nothing of history.. it's just names. That's how I felt through the five novels. Some names were explain BUT the vast majority not. Then it's the all timeframe.. It's 50,000 years ago, it's five millions years ago - damn nobody will remember anything that happen 5000 and I am not thinking about 50000 or 5000000. It makes no sense. Then the technology - yeah fighting with swords and bows but then they have machines from the old times? To me , it seems this tales are in the future where we turn primitives - like Robert E. Howard predicted.

This tale we got to see Red Lori again and she has great impact on this tale. It almost seem Red Lori and the Wizard Slayer instead of Kothar.

But not all is bad to be honest. I liked how it ended but overalll is a bad entry. Looking bad in terms of rating (10 stars) I gave 6 / 5 / 4 / 5 / 4.

Read this if you want short reads inbetween those mammoth epic fantasy series and if you enjoy sword and sorcery. But if you enjoy it I would advice going to DMR books and grab and handful of them. You got several anthologies, Byron Roberts two novels, D M Ritzlin -Necromancy in Nilztiria, Edmond Hamilton, J Christopher Tarpey and my favorite Schulyer Hernstrom.

Book Review: Uma Aventura em Conimbriga - Ana Maria Magalhaes & Isabel Alçada

Author: Ana Maria Magalhaes & Isabel Alçada
Book: Shadow of the vulture
Year: 2017
Pages: 203
Part of Series: Uma Aventura (59)
Reading Time: July 2022 (5 days)
Rating: 5 Stars

So another interesting children book about a group of children as they are representing in a roman ceremony. Portugal has some old towns, so there are parties, ceremonies where people act a people from that time would have done. Medieval fairs is the most common but there are some roman stuff... the latter more on cities with roman ruins. Our more famous ruin is without doubt Conimbriga where Coimbra's name comes from. Basically it was an old roman town that was discover long ago, hundreds of years ago but only in the end of 1800 there were excavation because the town was beneath earth. And it's big tourist attraction.

I am not going to spoil but this one deals with an ancient treasury supposedly hidden underneath, There is also a gang of criminals that want the same stuff. As per normal Uma aventura , the bad guys are really bad and the good guys really good. There is no room for grey areas as you probably would expect from a children novels.

I've been reading for 30 years and while they write I Will read - unfortunately due to the age of the two women who write I highly doubt there will be many more - I do hope I am wrong! 

Book Review: Beware - Richard Lamyon

Author: Richard Laymon
Book: Beware
Year: 1985
Pages: 279
Part of Series: Solo
Reading Time: July 2022 (4 days)

Rating: 5 Stars 

Beware... Another Richard Laymon book that I read. This is basically one per month if I can keep this up. This is like the fifth novel he wrote under his own name and the eight between him and his pseudonyms. Here in contrast with the previous one I've read Night Show or Out are the Lights his more dark, splatterpunk, sex stuff his here BUT to be honest still contain.

Woods are Dark IS another league compare with all other novels I've read from him. This is pretty skippable.

Basically, as you can see from the cover there is a invisibility man and he terrorizing a place and Lacey a hot chick. This is the premises and the first 150 pages are pretty good to be honest. the last part I my interest started dwindling... so I will explain with a bit of spoilers but go to the end for more information...

WITH SPIOILERS

Basically as I said he is invisibility and do some killing and such. He rapes the woman and after some confrontation he is captured... the second part of the novel basically is this group with the invisibility men running from some spooky government agency who wants to use him from some specials ops... I must say this part is stupid and made no sense due to plot direction. So a guy rapes a woman and afterwards with the help of two other guys she jut accepts that he is there? Oh by the way, in the second part there is a story within story THAT saved that part or else I would have rated lower. Basically for a couple of chapters the invisible guy tells his story which was the best part of the entiry novel.

END SPOILERS

Again, rating Woods are Dark is top of splatter. This one is not bad but better than out are the lights. This is the beginning I HOPE for splatterpunk

I hope next novels are more dark, violent,,

Book Review: Thinner - Stephen King

Author: Stephen King (Richard Bachman)

Book: Thinner
Year: 1984
Pages: 320
Part of Series: Solo 
Reading Time: July of 2022 (6 days)
Rating: 7

I enjoy reading this novel as I've enjoy almost all Richard Bachman novels. I do believe Stephen King stories are more straight to the point in his Bachman than his ow novels. He must write Bachman inbetween his own novels to have a break.

We've got Billy Halleck our main protagonist which is a overweight and after an incident which left a gypsy woman dead he is cursed. A single word changes his world forever. - THINNER.

From that moment on he starts to lose weight. In the beginning it's a good change of weight, even her wife is getting more sexual motivated - but every couple of days he loses of couple of kilos. Is it cancer? it is other kind of disease? We don't know... As the story progresses he tries to understand either medically and mentally.

What's interesting is that this is straightforward novel with a lot of introspect of our main character. The situation that led to the death of that woman is not completely as we presented in the beginning.

I am going into spoilers due to the ending left me wonder on why this one was one of my favourites of him. The ending is great. I read here people complaining about the ending but it's perfect. Like a Greek tragedy. Yes, his wife was doing a handjob and so his reflections were bad therefore he go over a woman (which to be honest was also not in the walkway). So, who is guilty?

He as the story progresses starts blaming the wife; the gypsy blame the man because he run over his daughter, and his wife is just not worry about it. So it was cool the all pie situation. Again spoilers ahead, basically the only way of him to no die is to give the pie the gypsy gave him and give to someone else. That person would die instead of him. Since he hates his wife he tries to give her pie BUT unfortunately his daughter also ate. Therefore in the end he just ends up eating the third slice. If this is not a greek tragedy I don't know what is.

Book Review: With Teeth - Brian Keene

Author: Brian Keene
Book: With Teeth
Year: 2021
Pages: 132
Part of Series: No - but within Keene's Mythos 
Reading Time: July 2022 (7 days)
Rating: 6 Stars

Living is hard is some parts of USA. Not all USA is rich as you see in the movies. Some are poor. When companies change people are fired and with no new companies coming in people stay out of work.

A group of friends then decide to make a Breaking Bad kind of situation and produce meth. The place to produce is a isolated farm that has been shunned by their forefathers.

That place has a surrounding by a ring of garlic which was odd but the oddest is the lack of life within that place.

There they fight a cave and all hell breaks loose. Vampires than remind me of beasts with bloodlust start hunting them. It's a great short novella (100 something pages) that have connections to other tales - per example the nod to the Russian mafia " Whitey" you can find in the tale kill whitey.

What unfolds is some splatterpunk situation with gore all around.

In terms of characters they are developed and you see differences between them. I enjoy the ending althought it may not be one you envision as the story progress..

There are also two interconnected tales - just brief mentions. One is like a man all alone in the world but he is not a normal man. The second is about a rescue mission gone wrong. Pretty good to be honest. Better than kill whitey

Book Review: Shadow of the Vulture - Regina L Garza Mitchell

Author: Regina L Garza Mitchell
Book: Shadow of the vulture
Year: 2021
Pages: 96
Part of Series: Splatter Western (9)
Reading Time: July 2022 (2 days)
Rating: 2 Stars

I couldn't enjoy this novel at all... I will say after my biggest problem but my problem was the purpose of this story. The back cover says something and really looked interesting and then the book suffers by too many named characters that serve no purpose and the story is just a guide to revenge*rage and so on... I hope more. Maybe it was the length maybe it needed more pages too fully develop everyone but alas...

My main problem is the abhorrent hate towards white people the everyone non-white portrays and it really feels that even the writer hates white people. Mexicans - which are most a mix of spaniards and indigenous people not counting the white mexicans. The problem here is that racism is a very recent term, early 19th century. There was always the thought that the winner takes the land they conquer; it was in usa, it was with mexico. Or do mexicans forget what they the war on yucatan between mayas and mexicans , the wars against indians while being the mexican empire. All countries have their history filled with blood and all peoples are racist. Alas this book made me think the deep hatred that must exist towards white people for what they did 150 years ago.

Couldn't enjoy the novel because every single chapter there was racism racism racism.... Don't know what to say more. Nothing against people who thrive on scream racism to anyone - but you know people kill other people because of well anything. It's not racism just because one white kills a mexican because of money or revenge or petty jelously or just because he is evil. Why can't people understand that.

Alas, I skip the 8 because it's a trilogy. I am going to leave it to the end...

Book Review: Hour of the Huntress by Dave Gross

Author: Dave Gross
Book: Hour of the Huntress
Year: 2017
Pages: 130
Part of Series: Akham Horror
Reading Time: June 2022 (2 days)
Rating: 8 Stars

This was the first tale on the Dark Origins omnibus edition. While the remaining aconyte novels we've got non game characters as the main characters here is the other way around. The main characters are  playful characters - at least for  Eldritch Horror or Arkham Horror 2 Edition. Can't really talk about Mansion of Madness or 3rd edition arkham horror.

Here we have Jenny Barnes. A hot elitist girl. You know that girl that makes every man look her way? She is that one. When I play the game, those characters all had their own stories and their stories were coherent with 1920/1930 stuff. Of course people nowadays think they must personalities and goals like nowadays people - WHICH IS DUMB.  This is how you know you are a good writer or not. Don't give characteristics to people set a century before.... Some parts were like that - a bit Woke.

The plot deals with Jenny coming from France to Arkham to discover what is happening to her sister. In Arkham she meets and with the help of a couple characters they try to uncover what happened to her. It was cool to see the history of Jenny and the pistols she has in the painting on the arkham horror card.  I believe the original book had some extra cards but since I didn't had arkham horror 3rd edition I didn't buy at that time.

Overall was invested and eager to read the next novellas...

Book Review: 14; The Fold; Dead Moon & Terminus (Threshold) Peter Clines

Author: Peter Clines
Book: 14 / The Fold / Dead Moon / Terminus
Year: 2012 / 2015 / 2019 /2020
Pages: 372 / 384 / 400 / 333

Part of Series: Threshold
Reading Time: February 2022,, June 2022 And July 2022
Rating: 7 / 8 / 4 / 6 Stars

I have to say that all of them I've heard via audiobook

Well well well

This took me a bit more time than previous novels even if it's better than the third... After finish all the novels , so far in the series I thought I made a review for all the novels at the same time...

This is going to have a lot of spoilers so ye've been warned...

Spoilers Ahead

Basically in the first we follow a guy going to live in a very cheap apartment. Strange things start to happen on that apartment, like different sizes rooms or strange green cockroaches and stuff. There he meets a Indian girl who is investigating stuff in the building. Other occupants within the building start to be interest as the two strange duo. So this is more mystery based , less horror. By the 3 quarters of the novel we get glimpses of lovecraftian monsters within the skies and we learn that the building is some dampening field that behaves like an anti-monster... We also see glimpses of other worlds.

The second novel "The Fold" is a bit different. It's less mystery and more thriller. We've got this professor who has perfect memory and he goes to investigate a scientific breakthrough about wormhole - but unfortunately not all things are not what they seem. After all, we all want to go from one place to another immediately. As I said, some stuff start to happen, small things like different coins go from one place to another, people start to change a bit - but all is due to stress right? It's very interesting and I really enjoy this one. Everything clicked. The main character is preferable to first one..

The third novel is not mystery or thriller BUT horror - zombie horror stuff. So people have colonize the moon and people are buried there... why (?) but after a crash of meteorite the dead start to walk. It's a very fast pace novel with some interesting characters... Unfortunately it didn't click for me, either the zombie stuff OR the big bad guy who to my understanding is an anciest monster adrift from space... the connections are very vague to none - although I would say that the "monsters" on the first and second could be the same as this one but only the brain?

The fourth novel, Terminus I thought it could be the last (Terminus - End?) but after reading some stuff a fifth novel is out or being released. This one connects with the second - just after the second. We've got a three guys who join in a island with trees and animals and a building like the one in LA. Why? Well let's investigate... The connections to Lovecraftian monsters are bigger since now there are cults of mutants beings that want those beings to be released, there are monster from a different complete tree of evolution from humanity. There are a lot connections including the return of the some old characters. There are some hidden eggs that connects to other novels. The monsters invaded everything and humanity is doom. We learn more about other... well thresholds, different earths and such.

The ending is the weakest part because it seems it just wanted to end the tale... HEAVY SPOILERS - so monsters invade world A - lets go to World B. OK cool we're safe. Bah... Disappointing...