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Category Archives: Mythology
Prophet by Peretti
“…You will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.” – John 8:32
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Prophet
by Frank E. Peretti
Crossway
1st Printing 1992
John Barrett, Jr.- anchorman for “NewsSix at Five “- has a problem. His world is slowly unwinding – it is being jarred to the breaking point. He has an outstanding story but the station will not let him air it. John Barrett Sr. – the prophet – recently had a fatal accident. John had always been a little ashamed of his God-fearing, Bible thumping father, and did not want anyone to know they were father and son. To make matters even worse, John’ s estranged son Carl has returned and is living with John’s mother. Carl is challenging John’s integrity. He wants to paint the face of his real father – not the one the public sees on the daily news. John is hearing strange voices – is he going mad?
Governor Hiram Slater is campaigning for re-election. Slater believes reproductive freedom is a fundamental right of every woman. In other words – legal abortion. with no question asked or with parents knowing. There is something fishy about Martin Devin – the Governor’s Chief of Staff. Governor Slater’s daughter Hillary died suddenly and John believes the real reason has been covered up by Slater. Shannon – Hillary’s best friend – received a first every Hillary Slater Scholarship and is sent to a far away university. This seems rather odd to John.
To make a long story short – John gets to air his story, but it has lost its punch. In a Press Conference Slater announced the real cause of Hillary’s death ,but denies he knew the real reason at the time.
The story brings home the things politicians and their hired guns will do to win an election.
An excellent read.
Highly recommended.
Mary Asher, the Golden Reviewer, is an 80 year old avid reader reviews the newest in Christian fiction and non-fiction with a sprinkle of the secular on top..
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.
Much Ado About Magic by Swendson
Much Ado About Magic is the fifth book of a series about Katie Chandler, a woman who is immune to magic but works for a company that specializes in serving the magical users and creatures of the world (all unknown to the general populace of course). Katie’s ability gives her the unique privilege of dealing with some of the most dangerous magic around, and now that a magical crime wave has hit New York, it’s her job to get to the bottom of it.
Much Ado About Magic
By Shanna Swendson
NLA Digital Liaison Platform LLC
September 17, 2012
I should start by saying that while this is the fifth book in a series, I haven’t read any of the other four novels. And while the book does a somewhat decent job of standing alone, there are a number of call backs to earlier events that someone who hasn’t read the previous novels may find confusing and annoying.
Moving on, the story takes the view of magic and spells as just another commodity that can be manufactured and sold. There are two competing companies: Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc. (or MSI) and Spellworks. These two companies are constantly at each others throats and there is no shortage of corporate espionage, back room deals, and false advertising.
Unfortunately that’s about all there is. This entire premise of the story could be shifted to involve two regular companies competing against each other using mundane means and very little would change. The entire setup seems determined to take the magic out of magic. In fact, magic is apparently so commonplace to the characters that the author doesn’t bother to describe it half the time. The result is that when there is magic, it’s rather bland and boring.
As for the story itself, it has absolutely no buildup. The novel almost seems to follow a loosely connected series of short stories that have their own self-contained problems and resolutions that are bought up and resolved before moving on to the next. If the characters say they are going to do something, they will immediately do it. Any mystery is immediately solved. A character’s first guess is always correct, and there are literally no surprises. In fact every character seems to have some kind of magical foresight about the story itself.
In the end, the book as a whole was rather boring and dull, and I honestly can’t imagine what the four former books could have been like to have reached this point in the story.
My advice: Skip the series altogether and look for something with a little more meat on its bones.
Matthew Scott is the Dark Fantasy & Horror Editor of BookGateway.com who describes himself as just another average reader who enjoys sharing his opinion on various books, authors, and whatever else may cross his path.
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.
The Road to Woodbury by Kirkman and Bonansinga
The second book in the Walking Dead universe doesn’t start off where we finished the first book, The Ruse of the Governor, instead focusing on a completely different and new group of survivors who have banded together in a huge tent city. If you’re thinking that tents are a terrible way to hold off zombies you’d be correct.
The Road to Woodbury
The Walking Dead
By Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga
Read by Fred Berman
Thomas Dunne Books / Macmillan Audio
October 2012
The story this time focuses on Lily Caul, a young strawberry blonde, freckled girl overcome with grief over losing her father and with certainty that the tent city won’t last. (It doesn’t; but you knew that.) As she moves on from place to place with her small group of survivors she finds herself at the gates of Woodbury, home of the infamous Governor, Philip Blake.
She and her friends find that civilization isn’t all that civilized and when some of her companions end up dead she crosses over from victim to aggressor and decided to facilitate a regime change in Woodbury.
This, the second book in the planned trilogy, doesn’t add as much to the world as the Rise of the Governor did and doesn’t flesh out the characters in this story arch as well either. Not as much happens in this book and not as much character development takes place. And some things don’t make a lot of sense. Why did Lily decide to attack the Governor when he wasn’t directly tied (from her perspective) to her friend’s deaths? I can’t go into more details on this trail without giving away spoilers. But this isn’t the only plot point that seemed to be forced on the reader, instead of naturally developing.
Also, after reading both books back to back it is painfully clear that the authors have only a few ways to describe things (or everyone wears the same lumberjack coats, chambray shirts and everyone hides behind cyclone fences, for a few examples.) I’d like to see some more diversity in description. And character! (Lily is almost the same character as Brian Blake was in the first book).
An interesting addition that doesn’t move the story forward much. I enjoyed it, though, and am looking forward to the conclusion.
Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he turns real life into stupid cartoons, writes on Christianity, Zombies, and whatever else he wants and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.
Infected by Schannep
It’s been years since I last read a Choose Your Own Adventure novel, but man did I used to love them! I remember opening up the white bordered covers, flipping through the possible answers (to cheat, so I lived, of course!) and I remember hours of fun with a book at a time when reading books straight through wasn’t a hobby. Now that I’ve “grown up” and moved on to “real” books I haven’t thought of them for years. Until now.
Infected
Click Your Poison
By James Schannep
Amazon Digital Services
September 2012
You start the book reading about Gilgazyme a miracle medication that stops the aging process by mutating human genes. You can now stay “young and beautiful forever!” Your first choice: “Stay young and beautiful forever… sign me up”, or “Does anyone else think this is a bad idea?” And you’re off. It’s tough to review a story when the story is really what you make of it. But let me say this: I “played” this book from start to finish for hours and hours and for days on end trying to find the best resolutions and I do know the story and it’s a good one. But I’m not going to ruin it for you. You can assume that you will either try to enjoy the gene therapy or try to stop it. Either way, it is clear from the book title that the therapy produces Zombies. The next question is whether or not you’ll survive.
And I didn’t. In fact, I died maybe five times before I finally found a method of survival. By the end, I was able to reach the highest completion scenario (how do I know? Each of the “Congratulations” endings gets more and more excitable and the final one has an F-bomb in the middle of the word exclaiming my awesomeness.) Trying to survive is only part of the fun, though. Because if you don’t survive and you get infected you get a special treat by way of a point of view change. A storyline ensues that is really unique in this genre.
When I picked this up I expected to move through it for maybe an hour and move on. But I ended up that first day playing for several hours and then the next day as well. And a couple weeks later I’m still playing it trying to get all the possible endings. It is genius! How adult themed Choose Your Own Adventures have not been blowing up – especially in this current Zombie-loving time – is beyond me. I fully expect that books like this one will only get bigger.
This is a great book, a fun story, and a heck of a game. Highly recommended.
Note: If you are concerned about language or sexual situations in books then be advised that this book is very easily R rated and possibly NC-17. There are a ton of cuss words, drug use, sexual situations, and (obviously) graphic violence. Kinda what you would expect in a Zombie story.
Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he turns real life into stupid cartoons, writes on Christianity, Zombies, and whatever else he wants and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.
Rise of the Governor by Kirkman and Bonansinga
The dead are walking – and eating – the living. No one knows how or why. The only concern is survival. This first novel in the cultural phenomenon that is The Walking Dead takes the reader back to the beginning and those first frantic days in the late Georgian summer focusing on a small group of survivors trying to get to Atlanta’s rumored safe zone.
The Rise of the Governor
The Walking Dead
By Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga
Read by Fred Berman
Thomas Dunne Books / Macmillan Audio
October 2011
As the novel starts we find Philip Blake, his daughter Penny, his brother Brian, and his two friends Bobby and Nick clearing a house in an outlying suburb of Atlanta killing “biters”. The goal is Atlanta, but first a safe haven to rest. Unlike the television series that starts an indeterminate time after the outbreak or turn, this book takes the reader through those first horrible days as news reports start coming in detailing the rise of the undead through the terrifying losses of first some then all television, radio and news outlets and finally to the end of all infrastructure and utilities.
As the small group struggles through the masses of undead we find out what kind of people theses are and the darkness that lurks in each of them. Philip, the leader, is focused on the protection of his daughter to the exclusion of all others. His brother, Brian, a coward, loves his brother and is blind to the encroaching madness. Penny, a seven year old who has already seen her mother die years ago, struggles to cope with this new horror and retreats inside herself. While Bobby and Nick play roles but this story is ultimately about Blake family. (Which is a shame since Nick develops into one of the more interesting characters in the series – a religious man who holds on to his faith even through the outbreak and who isn’t a caricature of the faithful – but isn’t developed enough.)
As fans of the show, and movies in the genre, Atlanta’s safe zone doesn’t exist. Instead, the group finds thousands or even hundreds of thousands of zombies and no where to run. The story really hits its stride when the small group is saved by the Chalmers, a father and his two daughters hold up in an apartment complex. The group dynamic, and individual sanity, is changed forever when Philip makes a terrible choice forcing their exodus from Atlanta with nothing but the clothes on their back.
Ultimately, this story is about how the Governor rises to power in a small enclave of survivors in Woodbury. It is a complex and terrifying character study of a man’s descent into madness. For fans of books with great character development and for fans of this genre this book will definitely impress. It is filed with bloody, gory action; last second escapes (and not); and all the survival horror you can eat.
A note about the audio book: Berman does an excellent job channeling the anger and evil intentions of the characters. His voice modulation worked very well moving from marathon to character. The characters did sound almost the same at times and I had a hard time following who was speaking during intense conversations with a lot of back and forth. Overall this did not distract and I found myself easily lost in the story and rarely jolted out of it.
Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he turns real life into stupid cartoons, writes on Christianity, Zombies, and whatever else he wants and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.
Heaven is for Real by Burpo
Little Colton Burpo, aged four at the time of his vision, went to Heaven and when he came back told his parents about what he saw there. Then seven years later, Todd Burpo, his father, wrote everything down, it gets published by one of the biggest Christian publishers and becomes a best seller.
Heaven is for Real
by Todd Burpo
Thomas Nelson
November 2010
At the time of this review, nearly two years after its publication, Heaven is For Real is #4 in the best sellers list on Amazon. For Theology! And number 7 for Christian Living, number 27 for Religion and Spirituality. While it could be that Christians just don’t publish enough good books to knock older and/ or inferior books off of top seller lists, the real issue here is that Christians don’t know how to tell if something is good theology or not. Bereans we modern day Christians are certainly not.
That Colton has a dream or vision I accept. That he dreamt about Jesus I accept. The rest I – charitably, at best – suspect may have either been hopefulness, misremembering or creative thinking. Consider what Colton says about Heaven: it has a gate made of big pearls, gold streets, everyone (even humans) have wings of various sizes, everyone has halos around their heads, everyone wears white robes with colored sashes, Jesus has glowing green/gold eyes for just a short list. What do all these things have in common? American cultural bias. Especially, small town flannel Jesus on a wall in the nursery bias. Colton is a pastor’s kid, who understands Heaven in an amazingly literalistic way (the use of valuable stones and metals in describing Heaven is a way of conveying what Heaven is like, not what Heaven looks like.) Wings and halos? Colton’s Heaven truly is a wonderful life. [groan]
There were times in the book that I was emotionally moved by the story. When Colton talks about his little sister (lost to a miscarriage) I felt the pain and recognized the beauty in the promise of restoration to family. But emotionalism can’t override theology and truth.
We Christians have a responsibility to test all these kinds of stories in light of Scripture and to hold fast to what is true and toss out what is not. This book has a lot of what is not and very little that we can verify from the Word. As such, I cannot recommend it to you. Instead, I recommend a good book on how to read, interpret and understand the Bible, like Gordon Fee’s [[ASIN:0310246040 How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth]] or Hank Hanegraaff’s [[ASIN:0849919703 Has God Spoken?: Proof of the Bibles Divine Inspiration]].
A note to Thomas Nelson: Zondervan broke with Rob Bell over his theologically “interesting” possibly heretical take on Hell, but you had no issue publishing theologically “interesting” possibly heretical takes on Heaven. Use the same standard that the Bereans used when deciding to believe Paul: test manuscripts in light of Scripture. If they don’t match then pass on them – no matter how much money you can make on it. Your publication mark is like a stamp of approval for Christians who trust you.
Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he turns real life into stupid cartoons, writes on Christianity, Zombies, and whatever else he wants and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.
The Unbidden Magic Series by Marilee Brothers
Compelling, heart warming and just plain funny. A wonderful book of Moon Magic – supernatural – a page turner.
The Unbidden Magic Series
Compendium featuring:
Moonstone, Moon Rise, Moon Spun, Shadow Moon
by Marilee Brothers
Bell Bridge Books
2008 – 2010
The main character is Carlotta Emerson, known as Allie. She is a 15 year old girl living with her mother in a travel trailer parked by Blaster’s – a prize bull – pen in Peacock Flats, Washington. Allie has supernatural powers that she has yet to learn how to control. She has been given a Moonstone pendent by her good friend Krizzy who is a Romany gypsy. Allie has a weed smoking guardian angel Trilby who is trapped in SEATAC Airport Concorde A. She goes to Peacock Flats High School and has two friends that are part human and part demon. Allie boyfriend is a television star on Mexican television.
Strange things are happening to Allie. People are trying to kill her and the Children’s Service is plotting ways to remove her from her mother’s care. Allie takes a journey to the land where her grandmother is Queen of the Fairies. The encounters that Allie has while in the distant land will amaze you. What happens to Allie as she tries to save the world is a story of courage, trial and error. just plain luck, and a lot of magic.
The Moonstone Series is a set of four stories combined into one book. They are a delight to read. The book is packed with magic, unbelievable courage, supernatural powers and suspense. This book is truly a page turner that will keep you glued to your chair and just a little bit afraid.
Highly recommended for readers of all age.
Mary Asher, the Golden Reviewer, is an 80 year old avid reader reviews the newest in Christian fiction and non-fiction with a sprinkle of the secular on top..
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.
Ninja Versus Pirate Featuring Zombies by Marshall
I knew something was a bit off with this book when I first started reading it. For the first several pages, I honestly thought I was reading some kind of forward or author’s commentary that had nothing at all to do with the story. I wasn’t.
Ninja Versus Pirate Featuring Zombies
(How To End Human Suffering #1)
by James Marshall
ChiZine Publications
April 2012
The book is told in first person by our protagonist, Guy Boy Man. The introduction to the story is one long run on sentence that actually covers a couple of pages and details how Guy lives in his parents’ basement. However he realizes that what everyone thinks is real is actually an illusion and that the world is being controlled by zombies.
Somewhere in the first few pages (and still in the first sentence), Guy explains how he escapes his parents’ basement, realizes his parents are zombies, and brutally murders them with an ax. From there he somehow acquires vast sums of money, and starts his own religion.
The book actually goes down hill from there. Or at least I assume it does since I didn’t finish it. I got about as far as Guy attending high school where he openly drinks whiskey, wears a hat reminiscent of the pope, and meets a girl named Babydoll15 who is followed everywhere by a unicorn.
Now I will say that the opening of the book did initially lead me to believe that the rather ludicrous nature and style of the story were just a cover for social commentary about modern people being zombies because we mindlessly shuffle through life. There were even a few hints that the internet and television were to blame.
But ultimately, the story devolves into something akin to a junior high school boy’s fantasy involving being rich, powerful, and surrounded by adoring fans, many of them attractive women.
To be honest, I normally hate walking away from a book before finishing it, but try as I might I couldn’t keep going. Save yourself some time and don’t bother picking this book up. There’s really nothing in it worth reading.
Matthew Scott is just another average reader who enjoys sharing his opinion on various books, authors, and whatever else may cross his path.
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.
Transcendence by Omololu
Cole is a child prodigy. From the first time she picked up a cello she has instinctively known how to play. But when she and her sister visit the Tower of London during vacation, Cole is overwhelmed with visions of a past life. But the past can be dangerous, and the more she remembers, the more she realizes that someone is out to hurt her. It seems someone else remembers her past life as well, and that same person wants revenge.
Transcendence
By C.J. Omololu
Walker Childrens
June 2012
Cole’s journey of self-discovery is initially very captivating. One moment she is in the present, the next she is reliving snippets from her previous lives. There’s also some very interesting dynamics between her and the rest of her family.
Where the story loses me is with the introduction of Griffon. Griffon is an Akhet, a person who is able to recall the details of all his past lives with perfect clarity. And although Cole is slowly learning to do the same, she is still very much grounded in the present.
Griffon, however, is essentially a very old man in the body of a teenager, and his attitude of “I know better than you about everything” comes off as smug rather than insightful. Added to the mix is the fact that he and Cole begin developing a relationship, which verges on being creepy.
And if that was all there were, I could probably forgive the awkward idea of a man who has lived through dozens of lifetimes and a girl who isn’t yet eighteen having a relationship. But the story actually zooms in and focuses on this very fact, and the reader is forced to endure several pages of angst-filled teen romance that gets old very fast.
Without spoiling the ending, the afterward on the book features a chapter from the sequel, which apparently involves the return of a man Cole loved in a previous life. The hint of an ensuing love triangle reminds me a little too strongly of the Twilight novels. And from that connection, the similarities between the two novels suddenly comes rushing forward, casting Transcendence in a rather negative light as just another Twilight clone looking to cash in on the idea of young love that remains immortal.
So while the base ideas behind the novel are interesting, they never really pan out. There’s just something about the whole story that becomes wildly impractical when you really sit down to look at it.
Overall, it’s a good book, but it really has too many flaws in its structure to warrant a sequel, much less a series.
Matthew Scott is just another average reader who enjoys sharing his opinion on various books, authors, and whatever else may cross his path.
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.
Angel Eyes by Dittemore
Never did Brielle imagine she would be heading back to her hometown. But as tragedy hits in Portland, she finds herself on a bus headed back to the small town she left behind not even two years ago.
Angel Eyes
by Shannon Dittemore
Thomas Nelson
May 2012
Upon her arrival, she has a run in with a very strange guy, one who’s touch is fire hot. Despite her first impressions of him, she finds she is inexplicably drawn to him. On a very stormy night, after an unwise walk through the fields, they find their selves thrown together in an obscure barn. And then when it happens, she witnesses something she has never seen before. Without full comprehension, she knows this guy, Jake, is definitely different.
As things heat up, she winds up right in the middle of something much larger than she could have ever prepared for. Coming from a home that believed nothing of God, let alone the super natural, she is forced to open her eyes to a world of angels and demons and decide for herself whether they are real or not.
After time, it becomes clear that there are certain things she simply cannot deny. Especially after putting on the ‘bracelet’. When her eyes are finally opened to a realm she never dream existed, she and Jake discover the battle they are fighting, is one of good and evil. Light verses dark.
I really liked this book. I read it in two days. I always enjoy reading a new perspective. I was especially excited to find that it will have two more in the series. I will be anxious for the next installment!
I think this was really well done, especially considering it was this author’s first novel!
Heather Ring says that books are her plane ticket into another world, “I’d feel lost with out them. Reading is a part of me. However I am also an avid lover of the outdoors and pouring into my creative outlets. But I think my biggest passion, is spending time with my family and friends.”
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.
Looking for Jake by China Miéville
I think I’m officially in love with China. Every time I read another work I am more astonished by the unfettered creativity brough to it. This is not your normal short story collection – it is deeper and wider and more entertaining than most of the books I’ve read in the last couple years.
Looking For Jake
by China Miéville
read by Jonathan Cowley, Enn Reitel, Gildart Jackson, Peter Altschuler, Robin Sachs, Bruce Mann, Dominic Burgess, Steve West Del Rey & Random House Audio
September 2011
There are 14 short stories here with topics ranging from ghost stories to horror to straight up interdiminensional science fiction and each of them shines in their own way. Some were stronger than others though and stay with you longer. Consider The Tain, a story that turns on its head any ideas about what we really see when we see a reflection in a mirror and asks the haunting question: what if those reflections don’t want to mimic us? The Ball Room is a modern horror story that takes place in an department store children’s play room where something goes horribly wrong.
Others are less profound but enjoyable never the less. The most humorous story in the bunch is
Tis the Season, a story that wonders what would happen in a world where everything related to Christmas(TM) could be copyrighted. Details is a story about a young boy who spends his days sitting outside the door of an elderly woman who cannot leave her home because when she looks on anything with a pattern she seed It coming for her.
Reading this book made me feel like I was a kid in a candy store except I’m not a kid and the store that I’m in just appeared around me unexepectedly and the candy isn’t actually candy but is something I couldn’t ever have imagined but at the same time realized as I partook that I had always wanted it. A gem.
A note about the audio book version: Each story is narrated by a different reader who brings their own charms to the work. None of the readers suffered from over zealously affecting the work and all brought just enough of their own personality to make each story that much more independant. With this many stories it would be easy to have them run together with the same reader. This version, though, suffers from none of those concerns. Well read from top to bottom.
Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he cartoons and writes on Christianity, Zombies, and anything else he wants to.
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.
Chuggie and the Desecration of Stagwater by Brent Michael Kelley
The story stars our titular character, Chuggie, who is the walking incarnation of Drought. His ability to rapidly pull in moisture from his surroundings, which includes people, causes him to be shunned the world over. Immortal and homeless, he wanders the earth until he comes across the troubled city of Stagwater. Here, it seems fate has decided he has a purpose.
Chuggie and the Desecration of Stagwater
by Brent Michael Kelley
Omnium Gatherum
November 2011
We’re introduced to Chuggie as he stands just outside the city of Stagwater. From the very beginning you know something is a little strange here since Chuggie has horns and a length of chain with an anchor attached to one end and the other fused to his rib cage. Things actually gets stranger still as we’re introduced to a world of magic fueled by torture, demons, and inter-dimensional monsters.
Unfortunately, the story never really takes off from there. Chuggie is only ever interested in drinking, smoking, and telling stories so outlandish that we’re never quite sure if they’re supposed to be true or just pure fabrication. We’re also introduced to a host of secondary characters, but despite being given brief glimpses into their lives, none of them are ever really fleshed out and ultimately come across as flat cardboard cut-outs that float in and out of the background
The main villains of the story aren’t much better. Kale is the only other character besides Chuggie that is given much focus, and while the inner workings of his mind are initially interesting to behold, his whole “I want to kill everyone” thought process becomes a bit repetitive after a while and makes his role of “bad guy” feel a bit forced.
Instead the story focuses heavily on Chuggie and his lover Shola, a witch whose actions and emotions are so non-sequitur I was hard pressed to see what Chuggie even saw in her (other than that she was female and apparently interested in him).
As for Chuggie, he’s hardly a sympathetic character, but given what all he’s put through, it actually works for him. However, Chuggie’s biggest problem involves staying on track. He seems to be constantly distracted by anything and everything, and his musings go on for pages at a time without actually adding anything to the story or suddenly adding too much as we’re ripped from the action and treated to paragraphs of exposition.
In truth, the work’s biggest flaws come down to pacing and length. The framework is there, but halfway through the story, all the characters seem to be in a rush to collide with one another as if they know there’s only so much screen time left. Crucial plot details feel tacked on last minute while others are glossed over or simply thrust into the story with no explanation, deus-ex-machina style.
The gore and horror are well-written, and certain scenes and descriptions shine with obvious polish and care. But as any movie critic will tell you, good special effects can’t make up for bad acting. And no amount of setting can make up for shaky character development.
That said, I’m honestly interested in seeing what this author comes out with next. There’s obviously some raw talent in this work. It just needs a little more focus and direction to really shine.
Matthew Scott is just another average reader who enjoys sharing his opinion on various books, authors, and whatever else may cross his path.
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.
