Written by Rene Mitchell
An invitation into a harsh world… In the not too distant future, life is a cruel, bitterly cold place where you have to rely on your wits and your connections with the people of your past to get by. The world is in a state of “global cooling”. The Great Lakes have flooded out big cities like Chicago and Detroit and the refugees are eking out a meager existence in a place called The Zone. SNow brings The Zone, with its terrible realities, into sharp focus in this dystopian novel about a group of four unlikely allies who must join together in order to make it. Without going into too many details, which is difficult since the novel itself is a bit complex, we are introduced to Delores, someone who, being from New York, is completely out of her depth in The Zone. She goes to Danny to help her find her missing husband – a scoundrel who stole from her. Danny is old pals – so to speak – with Wally and Julie, both of whom just came off very difficult tours of duty. Danny, Wally and Julie were in the same orphanage together, and all joined the military when they were kids – something of a norm for orphans from The Zone. When Danny notices new tech tracking devices on Delores, Wally and Julie, the four embark on a mission of sorts to find out who is trying to find them, to find out what they want, and to come out on the other side none the worse for wear. While I found the concept intriguing and the world building was for the most part skillfully done, I found it difficult to grow attached to the four characters. Granted, if I lived in The Zone, perhaps I would be a hard person as well. So, this was believable, but as a reader I did crave more of a connection. I also found the language surrounding the futuristic technology was a bit complex and difficult to get a grip on for the uninitiated like myself. Sometimes I found myself confused with the descriptions of the military enhancements that some of the characters possessed. I was also turned off by some of the descriptions of war brutalities – I think the author was trying to show the terrible nature of his dystopian world – and perhaps I am too weak-stomached for it. All in all, I would say that this was an imaginative effort put forward by SNow, but perhaps he could have catered to his readers a bit more. Readers crave connection to the characters, and they want their immersion in the world of their book to be seamless. This book is lacking some of that and could be improved in some ways, but I think it is still worth a look.
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Utterly fantastic read!
This is a book about a quest, a quest to dispel evil through the means of a ring. Nine companions are joined together to dispose of the ring where it was once made in the fiery chasm of Mount Doom in the land of Mordor. This is the story of their quest. This book is definitely one of the great ones. Tolkien officially kicks off the Lord of the Rings series in wonderful style. Fantasy and mythology mix in this book as we are met with such characters as wizards, dwarves, elves, and of course, hobbits. The settings are beautifully laid out, the characters are wonderfully described. And though I am one of the ones who have seen the movies before I read the book I found that the book still held a lot of surprises for me. Though they are the same story they hold subtle differences which is a delight to any who experience either. This is indeed one of the great epic fantasies and I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. A bit anticlimactic...
Miranda is back for this final installment of the Dr. van Wolfe series. Will she ever find a cure for her werepirism? I'm so glad that the author decided to give Teddy a bigger role in this installment of the series. In the first book I found him to be a character that has monumental potential and I'm glad that Byrd decided to bring him back with a vengeance in this book. Without giving anything away, I found the ending very anti-climactic in the way that it was written. I found it completely devoid of emotion and it shouldn't be so for something that we've waited 3 books to see happen. I feel like the descriptions and the detail of the character emotions are lacking profusely in this area. It could definitely use a little bit of a revision in this area. I also found a couple of typos and grammatical errors in this book. It could definitely use a once-over by an editor. All in all it was okay. The series as a whole was enjoyable. Again, I would not recommend this as a standalone book but as a part of the series. I think I will forever be calling coffee "bean juice" after reading the series...
Miranda the werepire is back in the second installment to the Dr. van Wolfe series. With the addition of some new characters She searches for a cure for her werepirism before the human side of her disappears forever. Once again I I'm going to say that the dialogue between the three main characters inside Miranda's head is very disorienting and extremely hard to follow as it is all written in italics. I don't really know how the author would get around this but I would definitely suggest a revision to make this a little easier on the reader to understand what is being said and by whom. Byrd really kicks it up a notch with this second installment to the series. I was delighted to find a lot more goings-on and a lot more action in this book then in the first. Again the book seamlessly runs into the next book without any bumps along the way. I am looking forward to seeing what Byrd has in-store for Miranda in the third and final installment. I would recommend this book as a part of a series but not as a standalone. Very realistic...
This is the story of 14 year old Marjorie and her younger sister Merry. Merry tells us the story of her sister and her demonic possession, or descent into schizophrenia and madness... you decide. This book starts off with an author named Rachel who is going to write a book on the story of Meredith and Marjorie. She is interviewing Meredith (Merry) for the story of her book. the entire story is told through Merry's point of view. These types of books are always fascinating to me because it makes you wonder if what you are reading is one thing or the other. This book makes you ponder whether the poor 14 year old girl that is the center of the story is truly going through demonic possession or whether she is simply drowning in her own madness. And the end of the book is just as twisted up as the rest of the story. This book is well written and I did enjoy it but I have to say the one thing that really got under my skin and irritated me was reading the blog entries. They were just annoying to me. And unfortunately they held valuable information to the story line so I could not skim over them. All things considered, I enjoyed this read and I would recommend it to others who are interested on the subject or who just like a fascinating horror read. After having sat down and read this book PERSONALLY, MYSELF... I found it to be utter tripe. This book was excruciating to read. The author clearly wants to be Dan Brown in every way, shape and form. His book is modeled after Dan Brown's work right down to the chapter length. However this book completely lacks the panache and steady fluid motion of Dan Brown's work.
The characters and situations are completely unbelievable even for a thriller novel. And the entire book could use some serious editing. With all that having been said, I urge my fellow reviewers to BEWARE THIS AUTHOR!!! After having given him an honest review on Amazon as a reflection of one of my reviewer's reviews of his book, he proceeded to report me to Amazon over the bad review. The fact of the matter is this: he asked for an honest review and we gave it to him. It's on him if he did not like it or take to heart the very beautiful, constructive critique that my reviewer wrote for him. This author fancies himself as a big shot lawyer who can bully reviewers around into giving him glowing 5 star reviews of his book as his friends and family have obviously done. I will NEVER work with this author again. PLEASE STEER CLEAR OF THIS AUTHOR! Creepy and informative...
This book takes you on a state-by-state tour of haunted places in America and Canada. Instead of just presenting fact after fact in a boring outline sort of fashion, this book gives a definitive narrative in each chapter and on each subject it covers. I think I like that the most about this book. It tells the ghost stories as exactly that, stories. And it tells them in a way that I feel they were meant to be told. This book really sheds a light on some of our most haunted places here in the United States and even has a bonus section of a few areas in Canada. It tells you the background information on why they are deemed to be haunted and true first witness accounts of people that have actually seen the hauntings in these places. Be forewarned, this book does not leave out many details and some of them are rather gruesome. Dates and records are included in this book but again they are not written about in a boring way. They are very cleverly interweaved into the narrative. Very well done. Suggestion: read this book along with a map of the United States so that you can pinpoint each location you would like to visit and see for yourself. 😉 I would definitely recommend this book to anybody who's looking for good haunts across America and Canada, or to anybody who would like to know a little more history about our country and the ghosts that remain here. 👻 Cute...
Psychos, murderers and even wendigos run rampant in this short story compilation! These are very well-thought-out little stories. Unfortunately the version that I am reading currently would be equivalent to a first draft. There is little to no detail and most of the main characters even lack first names. This could be easily remedied by a simple fleshing out of each story and a run through an editor. Adding some more detail definitely wouldn't hurt either. Without a little more detail and with the stories being so short, the reader is jumping from story to story without fully immersing themselves into one before they start the next. This doesn't pull the reader in very well. Each story should ideally be a little longer. I loved the first story however, My Wife Was Psychic for a Short While, the ending was a pleasant surprise. These stories really do have potential. They just need a little bit of work. After the book is rewritten into a final draft and run through an editor, I would be happy to recommend this book. Short and sweet...
This is a cute little paranormal romance. There is lots of action but it could use a bit more detail throughout the book. I do love the chemistry between the two main characters and the push and pull that the author gave them. I personally found the mix of the three paranormal creatures (vampires, werewolves, and witches) to be a little bit overwhelming but others may like it. The writing style is very short and blunt with not alot of world-building. Once again, there could be a lot more detail in this book to help the reader see through the character's eyes and move through their world with them. The happily-ever-after ending was sweet. Not what I prefer, but sweet none the less. The one thing I had a problem with was the title doesn't really fit the book. The title induces thoughts of a completely different premise. Perhaps a renaming is an order? All in all it was a quick easy read and I would recommend it as such. ***SPOILERS AHEAD***
It was okay... Jack's daughter Charlie is starting to act very strangeafter a car accident that was endured by the family. Strange things are also happening around the house that are scaring his other daughter and his wife. And he's starting to get a bit afraid as well. Okay the first part of this book was so slow moving! I feel like the beginning is all just the same information being repeated over and over again. the story doesn't finally start to pick up until over halfway through the book. And the book doesn't really start to get good until about five chapters till the end. When things finally do start to happen, it is all very typical and predictable for a demon possession story. I do like the flashbacks that Jack has though. They add depth to his character and are very well done and not disorienting to the reader in any way. The other characters really don't have the depth that Jack has but then again he's the main character so I can't complain. There are two things that I want to tip my hat to Ania Ahlborn for: One is the amount of detail in her books. For lack of a better way to put it, it is perfect. There is not too much and there is not too little and it leaves a lot to the imagination which makes it all the more horrifying. The second is that she never leaves a happy ending it seems. Anything and everything bad can and will happen in her books. As an aspiring writer myself, I write my short stories in this manner and I find it to be much more grabbing for the reader. This was not one of her best books but it was okay and a fun read. I would recommend it as one of her books. |
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