book review | Fear the Light by William Massa | Fear 1 | Dracula lit.

Author: William Massa
Title: Fear the Light
Series: Fear 1
Genre: Dracula, Vampires
Pages: 210
Rate: 2/5 | Goodreads

Other than those few historical classics I got recommended way back when, my attempt to read one Dracula book a month became this game of hit or miss. For instance, I truly did miss greatly with Fear the Light by William Massa.

About the Book: Someone is slaying clan vampires, starting with their master, their Creator, the oldest and most powerful vampire alive, formerly, Dracula. Now his clan cowers trapped in their master’s manor in the middle of the day. It was supposed to be a peaceful paying of respects to their late Father in Darkness and someone’s ascension to power, the clan leader position. Instead an invisible force is picking them off one by one. And everyone got a motive.

My Opinion: A poor imitation of Agatha Christi mysteries, where a group of people gets trapped somewhere, and someone’s killing them all. Shallow characters whose tragic stories did help, but otherwise didn’t make them any more interesting or missed. And that godawful trope one often sees in Dracula books, but usually he’s the one getting that stick of: the best of the best can’t beat you, but here comes a rando with a butter knife and you’re done. The End.

Mmno. 2 out of 5.

book review | The Mark by Lee Mountford | horror lit.

Author: Lee Mountford
Title: The Mark
Series: –
Genre: Horror Literature; Thriller
Pages: 290
Rate: 2/5 | Goodreads

It’s hard to find good horror genre books. The Mark by Lee Mountford isn’t one of them either.

About the Book: One night a stranger breaks into Kirsty’s home, drugs her, and brands her back with strange occult symbols. Ever since she had no peace. At first she thought of the visions of nightmarish creatures as delusions or PTSD symptoms. But when her friend is attacked by the same demons, she knows she only has one option now: find the man who did this, and make him take it away.

My Opinion: This is some poor writing. Weird, unnatural feeling dialogues. Very precise, predictable sequence of actions and events. Everyone around Kirsty seem to be delusional and incompetent by some degree. For instance, the detective on the case waves the main lead off as irrelevant. While Kirsty somehow finds the man by his eyes that she saw once, many years ago. Her moral compass was firm, but lacked any logic behind it. It was there to make you feel for this woman who otherwise was bland, and lacked personality. The best thing in this whole book was the demon, because it turned out to be something akin to djinn Bartimaeus: seemingly the big bad, but is it, really?

Pass, 2 out of 5 from me.

book review | The Third Wave: Eidolon by John O’Brien

Author: John O’Brien
Title: The Third Wave: Eidolon
Series: –
Genre: Horror Literature; Fiction
Pages: 356
Rate: 3-5 | Goodreads

The Third Wave: Eidolon by John O’Brien began very strong and very good. It was scary, eerie, and made perfect sense. But a good start doesn’t yet make for a good book.

About the Book: First wave was the largest Solar Flare ever witnessed colliding with Earth. It killed all electronics, all backups, anything even remotely functioning on electricity, thus killing millions who depended on it. Among the broken machines was the Hadron Collider in the process of two particles colliding. The second wave, caused by those two particles ripping the very fabric of time and space killed billions by ripping their very souls out of their bodies. Some, lucky ones, died. Others, soulless, were doomed to repeat the few seconds of their life until their bodies expired. Third kind became the third wave. Their souls were torn, but remained tethered, agony indescribable. The only way to remotely lessen it, and maybe detach the soul from the body is to take another soul. So the hunt for what remained left of humanity’s taters began.

My Opinion: The book began with painful but vivid and welcome details of what was happening, how, and what were the consequences of it. It was horrifying, and at times I paused my reading, just to give myself some breathing space. Truly magnificent work, I thought. But as the tale progressed it soon sort of pushed itself too far in time. Next thing we know it’s one of those tales: a handful of soldiers in a submarine, considering life on a tropical island that they could clean of vermin prying on their souls. With added bonus of that one chosen young woman, for apparently no one else ever woke up from a coma, saving the poor souls.

The first half was amazing, and to it go all the 3 out of 5 points. The rest was mediocre. Good writing, pretty well made characters, but it could’ve been… More.

book review | The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer by Jennifer Lynch

Author: Jennifer Lynch
Title: The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer
Series: –
Genre: Horror literature; Mystery
Pages: 184
Rate: 3/5 | Goodreads

Have you ever watched the cult series Twin Peaks? I can still hear the intro tune in my head. And recently I discovered there’s a diary of Laura Palmer, the main blonde beauty in the series, whose murder brought the detectives to the town. Book “The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer” is written by Jennifer Lynch, daughter of the Twin Peaks series creator. But, to be honest, as well as it was written, it was disgusting.

About the Book: Laura Palmer from Twin Peaks has two diaries. One is the light and bright one, by a teenage girl with future ahead. It’s meant for prying eyes, to those who can’t help themselves but snoop. The other one holds her darkness. Darkness that is spreading, choking, drowning her. Ever since she was twelve, and maybe even before that, she kept dreaming of darkness, of woods, owls, strange old men abusing her, using her. These dreams seeped through into her daydreams and fantasies as the girl entered teenage years. But it seems these fantasies were feeding a demon. A demon she learns to be called Bob. He hunts and tortures her in her dreams, and, apparently, intends to take her to hell.

My Opinion: So here’s what’s what. This child has very clear dreams of older men abusing her. Her father’s co-worker gifts her a pony for her birthday. A demon chases her in her dreams, calls her dirty, nasty. Before age sixteen she was selling her body to fund coke addiction. This is a broken girl, whose mind suffered such great trauma by those she loved and trusted, that it created a demon that ruled over them all to justify the human monsters. And that is why this book was so very disgusting to read.

I won’t recommend this to anyone, and wish it had a trigger warning, for I’m not into reading about such abuse. The girl didn’t live to be an adult, for gods sake. Because why help her, when you can use her, right? 3 out of 5 is the best I can give it. It’s well written ravings of a broken person.

book review | Dead Jack and the Pandemonium Device by James Aquilone | Dead Jack 1

Author: James Aquilone
Title: Dead Jack and the Pandemonium Device
Series: Dead Jack 1
Genre: Horror Literature, Humor
Pages: 211
Rate: 5/5 | Goodreads

When I saw Dead Jack and the Pandemonium Device by James Aquilone book cover, I knew I’m going to like it. For the same reason I liked Skulduggery Pleasant books: noir vibe with a dead-man for a detective. Dark but simple humor with dirty streaks to it.

About the Book: Jack is a detective in Pandemonium, a realm between life, death, heaven, and hell. He’s pretty good at what he does, even though his partner, a homunculus who one day just moved into the empty cavern of Jack’s skull, would highly disagree: his plans are reckless, poorly thought out, and even deadly. Jack is also a zombie with a fairy dust addiction. According to him, that’s the only thing that keeps the flesh craving at bay. His partner doesn’t necessarily believe that either, but here Jack is. Out of dust, approaching a leprechaun for more. Except instead of dust he gets his ass roasted. And, let’s just say… Leprechaun meat is delicious.

My Opinion: The book consists out of small little mysteries, and one big one that drives the plot, gives back-story, world building, and background to people in Pandemonium, including Jack and his origins of being. There’s plenty of real fun and great things, like mermaids who want to eat you, and pixies who are a bit too big to be pixies, because their mothers were indeed pixies, but their father’s were human men, and nobody wants to ask HOW, nobody. And due to Jack not taking himself too seriously too, we get this great fast paced book full of dark and sometimes a bit vulgar humor, daring plans that somehow work, and heroes in the most unlikely places.

That was a great fun of a book, I can’t wait to put my hands on the second one. This one gets a 5 out of 5.

book review | Midnight in a Perfect World by Ambrose Ibsen

Author: Ambrose Ibsen
Title: Midnight in a Perfect World
Series: –
Genre: Horror Literature, Paranormal
Pages: 288
Rate: 3-5 | Goodreads

October began, and so did the horror TBR season. The first book this month is Midnight in a Perfect World by Ambrose Ibsen. A lovecraftian tale that’d be a Tzimisce’s wet dream what with gruesome molding sights.

About the Book: A world beside ours, separated from ours by a thin veil, hides darkness, blood, torment, and a black sun towards which a titan-like creature with three mouths, and enormous bulk, is striving to climb. It climbs on a structure made out of bodies, living, eternally serving one’s god, and another’s nightmarish devil. But only a certain kind of altered mind, disorder, can peer beyond the veil, so building took what seemed an eternity. Up until It found a perfect vessel for Its thoughts, one who’ll synthesize the altered state of mind, and bring everyone about into paranoia, anxiety, panic… Visions. Now it won’t be so long anymore. Not long at all until Godhead rules over his dominion as its rightful god once again.

My Opinion: The horror in this book comes from a state of helplessness. You can’t fight the being, you can’t resist it. You can only submit into becoming its stepladder. Some view the creature as their god, so they submit with bliss felt by people who serve their highest purpose. Others are too aware of this beast being of nightmares. But is it? For according to this book, it guided us through our whole existence, as if God was made by Lovecraft. Another interesting point, of which there were many in a book I couldn’t call interesting, was the idea of mental and personality disorders being a step in evolution. Though while in movie Split that step led towards a heightened state, of people who could feel more, be more, here it quite literally was a step towards hell, nightmares.

I can’t recommend this book to anyone, nor do I want to. It’s not per say very good in itself. And the ideas here aren’t for everyone. Hefty stuff. 3 out of 5 from me.

book review | Dracula: Rise of the Beast by Collective of Authors

Author: David Thomas Moore; Adrian Tchaikovsky; Milena Benini; Bogi Takacs; Emil Minchev; Caren Gussoff Sumpton
Title: Dracula: Rise of the Beast
Series: –
Genre: Dracula; Horror Literature
Pages: 304
Rate: 3/5 | Goodreads

I was eyeing “Dracula: Rise of the Beast” anthology for a while now. My break point was Adrian Tchaikovsky. Sadly, it was far from what I expected with the presented idea.

About the Book: This is a tale of how Vlad the Impaler became Count Dracula the Vampire, and from his homeland came onto the shores to meet Mina and Lucy. Well, or so one would hope. In truth this is a tale of Corvinus sitting in the background, plotting, angry at Vlad for not being his submissive spouse, and so hunting his Romani servants. Told in tales that either add nothing to the whole narrative, like the one of Bathory, or with mere mentions of Dracula’s name in relation to someone else.

My Opinion: The book is full of these singular good ideas that didn’t get to rise to fruition due to lack of logic in stories, messy, jumbled plots, and a great lack of consistency via the whole anthology. It’s told with these interludes that are supposed to make it one big tale of how an adopted transgender daughter of a Romani woman was destined to be taken by Corvinus, so instead she upped to kill him instead. I’m not sure where Dracula fits in it all, other than being presented as a former lover of said man. Nor do I know the reasons of why Corvinus was after those people, that particular woman. The best story in this whole was “A Stake Too Far” by Milena Benini, for that one was smooth, logical, and about Dracula (I stress that, because one or two others were good too, but were NOT about Dracula, no beast rose there).

Great ideas, poor execution. I can give it a mere 3 out of 5, and even then barely.

book review | The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa | Blood of Eden 1

Author: Julie Kagawa
Title: The Immortal Rules
Series: Blood of Eden 1
Genre: Paranormal, Vampires
Pages: 485
Rate: 4/5 | Goodreads

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa became an accidental chill-read to me. It wasn’t to my taste, but was written well enough, so not caring too much about the plot, I just went through it with ease of a light read.

About the Book: Allison Sekimoto was born and raised in a vampire city. As an unregistered she had to survive on the fringes of it, stealing, begging, raiding, and risking her life every single day just for a chance to do it all again tomorrow. People like her, those who chose this life of hardship, are considered subhumans and don’t matter. Nobody cares if some wicked vampire or their pet slays an entire gang. While registered folk get meal tickets and relatively greater safety in exchange for regular blood donations. But even life of an unwanted unregistered at risk of death is better inside the walls, than outside, where rabids rage. An infection that can equally affect both mortals and immortals. Death then is the least of your worries…

My Opinion: It’s one of those tales, where world succumbed to an epidemic. Vampires, threatened by human extinction, stepped in to help, but the virus mutated and started affecting everyone, them including. So now they all live huddled in vampire ruled cities, humans serving vampires, for vampires offer protection from rabids who are faster and stronger than any human out there. But all those who must draw breath dream of Eden, this mythical city ruled by humans, with no vampires in sight.

It’s not a bad book, just not for me. I’ve read such before, I just don’t like plot like this. But it’s well enough written, so if you do, it’s not bad, really. I can give it a 4 out of 5, taking a point for mind boggling predictability at times, coming from young vampires, who think they know better. It’s a very safe plot.

book review | The Vampire’s Club by X. Aratare | The Vampire’s Club 3

Author: X. Aratare
Title: The Vampire’s Club
Series: The Vampire’s Club 3
Genre: LGBT Literature; Paranormal Romance
Pages: 16
Rate: 3/5 | Goodread

Alright. I’ve read the third book, or third chapter, or third installment in The Vampire’s Club by X. Aratare. They’re neither good, nor bad. Someone recommend me vampire books? Extra points for diverse stuff.

About the Book: Vampires want witch magic. Witches want vampire immortality. Neither can have it, but both try their damnedest, which hadn’t improved the relationship between the two groups at all. And yet, it seems, they’ve finally found something. A chance in a form of blood. Konstantin’s sire’s blood. The most gruesome legendary vampire that still walks this earth.

My Opinion: From the description given of Konstantin’s Sire, I thought it’ll be Dracula. But it seems author leaned more towards the Devil, not the Dragon. It was still an interesting development of events, so there’s that plus. I don’t know, I think maybe if you’ve read it as one book it would be easier.

For the time being, I don’t mind it as a light read, so a 3 out of 5 from me.

book review | The Librarian Meets Dracula by Eda Mueller | The Librarian Series 1

Author: Eda Mueller
Title: The Librarian Meets Dracula
Series: The Librarian Series 1
Genre: Humor, Dracula
Pages: 17
Rate: 4/5 | Goodreads

Spotted “The Librarian Meets Dracula” by Eda Mueller, a random tiny little Dracula book. Decided to read it now, and it was the funniest 20 minutes ever. The book is so bad that it’s actually good.

About the Book: Penelope Shelton is a librarian passionate about her work. She loves books and so one stormy night finds herself alone in need to tidy up and lock up as lightening strikes and leaves her in darkness. Little did she know what adventure awaits her among her beloved books. This time in a form of Count Dracula himself, a vampire who appeared out of nowhere.

My Opinion: Too fast paced and therefore not good, since logic of actions fails. It felt like reading a comedic adult animation where technically there’s one goal only, and all roads lead towards it. And since it’s a series, that’s exactly what it is. But the concept is so amusing, that it’s worth those few minutes you’ll spend reading it. I mean, just imagine: a naughty librarian having a tumble with a different classic gothic character every other night. Tell me that didn’t crack a smile?

I can’t give it a 5, since it’s not good. But it was so amusing I will still give it a solid 4 out of 5.