Category Archives: Paranormal

March 18, 2013 · 3:00 am

A Sci-Fi Book Meme

I saw this at SF Signal and thought it looked fun. Hopefully they don’t mind me borrowing it, as it was posted all the way back in 2005 :-)

Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror?

Science Fiction and Fantasy. Horror ain’t really my jam.

Hardback or Trade Paperback or Mass Market Paperback?

ALL OF THEM. But preferably paperbacks, unless it’s a favorite and I want a hardcover copy to keep forever and ever.

Heinlein or Asimov?

I’ve only read Asimov (I, Robot) and that was good, so I’ll go with him. I want to try Heinlein though, I have Stranger in a Strange Land at home.

Amazon or Brick and Mortar?

Brick and mortar whenever possible.

Barnes & Noble or Borders?

Borders! This isn’t really a relevant question anymore, but I miss Borders so much.

Hitchhiker or Discworld?

I’ve only read the first Hitchhiker book, so that.

Bookmark or Dogear?

Bookmark. Or just try to remember the page number.

Magazine: Asimov’s Science Fiction or Fantasy & Science Fiction?

No clue.

Alphabetize by author, alphabetize by title, or random?

Alphabetize by author’s last name. Duh. Although I don’t alphabetize my books at all because I don’t have the room for that, but it’s not random. I have a system.

Keep, Throw Away or Sell?

Keep, or donate / giveaway.

Year’s Best Science Fiction series (edited by Gardner Dozois) or Years Best SF series (edited by David G. Hartwell)?

No idea!

Keep dustjacket or toss it?

Keep.

Read with dustjacket or remove it?

Remove it.

Short story or novel?

NOVELS. It’s hard to do short stories well, and unless they’re all interconnected somehow I really lose interest fast.

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?

I haven’t read Lemony Snicket yet, so Harry Potter! Although I’m sure I’ll love Lemony Snicket, but in a different way than how I love HP.

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?

Chapter breaks. Unless I fall asleep while reading, which is always a possibility…

“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”?

“Once upon a time.”

Buy or Borrow?

Buy. Because I’m ridiculous like that.

Buying choice: Book Reviews, Recommendation or Browse?

ALL OF THEM! I find out about books all of those ways.

Lewis or Tolkien?

Haven’t read enough of either to really have an opinion yet…

Hard SF or Space Opera?

Ummmmm no idea.

Collection (short stories by the same author) or Anthology (short stories by different authors)?

Collection I suppose.

Hugo or Nebula?

No clue, I don’t really pay attention.

Golden Age SF or New Wave SF?

No idea.

Tidy ending or Cliffhanger?

Tidy ending! Unless it’s a series, and the cliffhanger is really well done.

Morning reading, Afternoon reading or Nighttime reading?

ALL THE TIME. But I think I read best in the morning or at night. When I try to read in the afternoon I tend to end up taking a nap.

Standalone or Series?

Both have their merits, but sometimes I get really sick of everything being a series or trilogy.

Urban fantasy or high fantasy?

Both.

New or used?

Both.

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?

Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding, which is book 1 of the Ketty Jay series, WHICH IS AWESOME AND YOU SHOULD READ IT.

Top X favorite genre books read last year? (Where X is 5 or less)

(I’m guessing my “genre books” this means sci-fi, fantasy, and/or horror… right? Sure, that.)

  1. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
  2. Feed by Mira Grant
  3. Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer
  4. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
  5. Something From the Nightside by Simon R. Green

Top X favorite genre books of all time? (Where X is 5 or less)

  1. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
  2. The Postmortal by Drew Magary
  3. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
  4. Eragon by Christopher Paolini (shut up it was a good series)
  5. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

X favorite genre series? (Where X is 5 or less)

  1. The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss
  2. Tales of the Ketty Jay by Chris Wooding
  3. Nightside series by Simon R. Green
  4. Newsflesh trilogy by Mira Grant
  5. Tales of the 500 Kingdoms by Mercedes Lackey

Top X favorite genre short stories? (Where X is 5 or less)

  1. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
  2. any Diana Gabaldon short stories (and yeah I’m counting them, they usually have a time travel type of aspect to them).
  3. …

 

So that was interesting! And a little confusing here and there. And I really want to know how to classify stuff into certain categories… like zombies for instance. They could be considered sci-fi, paranormal, fantasy, or horror. I really just prefer lumping all of those categories together, as we can see here… it just makes things a bit easier, because so many books could fall into more than one sub-genre.

Feel free to join in, and check out the original post on SF Signal. And if you feel like answering some or any of the questions, you can answer them in the comments or do your own post :-)

Happy Monday everyone! Hope it’s not sucking.

~Sarah

4 Comments

Filed under Fantasy, Paranormal, Sci-Fi

Tagged as , , , , ,

January 28, 2013 · 8:00 am

The Stand by Stephen King

The Stand by Stephen King

 

I just finished my first Stephen King novel! I thought that I had read one of his books before, but it seems I did not (I may have been thinking of a different author, like R.L. Stine). Apparently I’ve been living under a rock for years, because everyone and their mama seems to recommend The Stand. The honeyman saw the long-ass mini-series and loved it. I Instagrammed a picture of the book and turns out my aunt really liked it. My friend who has never mentioned it before was all “Oh yeah, it’s good, you could’ve borrowed my copy if you wanted” when I said I was reading it. Several bloggers have said great things about it, including Katie.

I think I’m still processing how I feel about the book overall. So this may be a bad time to write a review, but I also know I might not have laptop access this week so best to do it now. Let’s start off with what in the world this 1439-page book is about, shall we? Basically, a superflu gets let out of a biological testing facility place and then goes on to wipe out over 99% of the people in the U.S. (and probably the world, but that can’t really be confirmed). The few survivors who are immune to it feel a calling, to either band together under the “Dark Man” Randall Flagg, or a sweet 108-year-old woman named Abigail Freeman.

That’s really all that the back of the book tells you. I suppose much more would be a spoiler. So let’s do this review bullet-style, what do you think? Here are the things I liked:

  • A few interesting characters/survivors emerge. My favorite was Stu.
  • I liked seeing how exactly the flu spread, and how completely devastating it was. It was interesting, and I enjoy seeing how these post-apocalyptic worlds come into being.
  • I enjoyed the discussions among survivors about the flu, what it means for the rest of humanity, how society might re-emerge, etc. Glen was an awesome character for this.
  • I like that this book kind of stands out in that a bunch of people die, but there’s no destruction – no massive bombs, or regime changes, or things like that. There’s not even an immediate threat to the survivors, like there would be in a zombie apocalypse. And it means that for the survivors, everything is still in tact and there are so few people left that supplies, food, and transportation are plentiful.
  • The conversations I ended up having with the honeyman as I read. I would tell him what part I was at and how I was feeling about certain characters, and it was fun. I like books that lead to good discussion with people in real life.
  • I got really bummed when something happened to one of the characters that I liked, so that’s good. I like to feel the emotions some time.

Some things I didn’t really like:

  • Likable characters were scarce. I had so-so feelings about a lot of them.
  • The one female main character, Frannie, got really irritating. She wouldn’t stand up for herself when a male character was making her really uncomfortable, and then she actually thought to herself that she was just having “woman vapors”. Are you kidding me? Stand up for yourself, woman!
  • This book was loooooonng. I read the “complete and uncut edition”, and honestly I think the story would have been more effective with some cutting.
  • I never quite understood the rules of the paranormal parts of the story, although I liked some of the aspects of it.

So that may be as coherent as I can be right now! I did like it, overall. It gave me a lot of food for thought and discussion. If it wasn’t so gigantic, it would make a fun readalong book. And now I have my first King novel under my belt! I may try another one later this year, although it can’t be one of his scary ones because I don’t do so well with horror. Any recommendations?

Sarah Says: 4 stars

10 Comments

Filed under 4-star, Fiction, Paranormal

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

October 26, 2012 · 9:18 am

The Diviners by Libba Bray

The Diviners, Libba Bray

Holy crap ya’ll – this book was so much more awesome than I was expecting. I finished it 2 days – it was really hard to put down. I literally have NO complaints about it.

Evie is a 17-year old flapper girl who is being sent to live with her Uncle Will in Manhattan, where she plans to live it up- dancing the night away in speakeasies, shopping, and seeing pictures with her friend Mabel. But when her uncle (the curator at the so-called Museum of the Creepy Crawlies) becomes a consultant to help solve a rash of new mysterious and gruesome murders, Evie is right there ready to help however she can. Evie has a mysterious gift no one knows about, and it may just be the key to catching the madman behind the murders.

SO MUCH TO LOVE ABOUT THIS BOOK. First off, if you’re looking for something to read in the next week to put you in the Halloween spirit, look no further. The spooky factor was definitely there – a terrifying serial killer, horrible ritual murders happening in the dark streets of Manhattan in the 1920′s, special powers, awesome scenery – anything you could want.

Evie is a fun character – at first I thought she was a bit of a brat, but she definitely matures throughout the book. I loved her flapper ways, even the pos-i-tute-ly silly flapper lingo. Her gift is pretty cool, and I like that she doesn’t shy away from it. She has a much more reserved friend, Mabel, who already lives in NYC. She also makes some new friends instantly – a pickpocket, her uncle’s quiet assistant, and a Ziegfield girl. We’re also introduced to a couple more really interesting characters, including the handsome young poet named Memphis. Overall, it was a FANTASTIC group of characters who I ended up loving and can’t wait to see again. Everyone was brimming with personality, even the secondary characters who only turned up once or twice.

I wasn’t sure I’d like the 1920′s setting, but it was a lot of fun and felt very real. You could practically feel the hustle and bustle of the city, the daring nature of the flapper girls, the racial tension, the excitement for industry… I did have to look up some of the slang used, and it was a little distracting at first, but I got used to it. And there was just so much happening – dances, parties, chases, visions, tricks, flirtations, interrogations… never a dull moment, really.

The mystery of the murders was really engrossing, and for real, it creeped me out a bit. Like when it was dark out I got just a little bit paranoid that the serial killer was out there somewhere coming to get me, before I reminded myself that duh – it’s fiction. And even though I’m not sure what the plot of the next book will be (this is supposed to be a 4-book series, I believe), there is plenty that has me already eagerly awaiting it. I can’t wait to see where the characters’ storylines go, and what the whole mystery is behind the “gifts” that some of these characters possess, and… yeah. It’s hard to talk about without me giving away any spoilers, so just trust me on this.

The Diviners is only the second Libba Bray book I’ve read – I knew I really liked her just from reading Beauty Queens, but I hadn’t tried anything else by her yet, so I was slightly hesitant going into this. But it totally wow-ed me, and while I’m waiting for the next book in this series, I think I may have to try out her Gemma Doyle series.

If you’re thinking of waiting for the paperback to come out, I don’t recommend it. The hardcover (underneath the dust jacket) is decorative and pretty, AND there’s a bonus little “newspaper” included in the back. It’s definitely worth the money, and once you read this, you’ll want to buy the next book as soon as it comes out. If you’re picky like me, you like all of your books in a series to be in the same format, so you should just plan on getting them all in hardcover now*…

image

Seriously, you guys need to read this so I have someone I can talk to about it!

Sarah Says: 5 stars

 

* I just realized this makes me sound a little pushy and I promise, I read this book because I wanted to and am recommending it so highly because I loved it. I bought my own copy, and I don’t receive any sort of compensation for this review.

10 Comments

Filed under 5-star, Fiction, Paranormal, YA

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

October 11, 2012 · 9:35 am

Something From the Nightside by Simon R. Green

Simon R Green

I saw Something From the Nightside in the bookstore and kept thinking about trying it, but never got around to it. My friend Doni did decide to try it and has read a couple of them and seemed to be enjoying them, so I finally decided to give it a go. I got this one out of the library, but I went to the bookstore and bought my own copy AND the next one before I even finished reading it.

John Taylor has a special gift for finding things, something he was born with as a child of the Nightside. He left the Nightside 5 years ago and swore never to go back, and is struggling to make his way in the real world as a detective. When the rich and beautiful Joanna Barrett walks in and asks for his help to find her runaway daughter, he agrees… and then finds out that this case will lead him back to the place he’s been avoiding. The Nightside is a hidden inner city of London, where it’s always 3 AM, and creatures and humans come from all planes of existence to mingle, seek out perverse pleasures they can’t find anywhere else, and anything is possible. It’s terrifying and dangerous… and for John Taylor, it’s home.

This book was weird and crazy and SO MUCH fun. I liked the pulp fiction, P.I. feel of it, combined with fantasy/paranormal/sci-fi/horror. There are some truly scary monsters in the Nightside, including The Harrowing – faceless bodies in suits who feel no pain and always leave a gory trail behind them. And I like that there are SO many kinds of beings in the Nightside - humans, demons, aliens, gods, ghosts, damned souls, etc. John Taylor is a good main character – he’s noble and always tries to help someone in need, but he also knows how to get stuff done and not waste time looking back. And his “gift” is crazy powerful – but it also comes with questions, because he has no idea why he’s so powerful, or why people have been trying to kill him since he was a kid. This book set up a lot of back story to be explored about him later in the series, without it completely overpowering the plot. I’m looking forward to finding out more about him.

There were also two other really fun characters – Razor Eddie, who’s a bit heart-breakingly sad but awesome, and…

“… Suzie Shooter. Also known as Shotgun Suzie, also known as Oh God, it’s her, run! The only woman ever thrown out of the SAS for unacceptable brutality. Works as a bounty hunter, in and around the Nightside.”

I love Shotgun Suzie :)

Overall, this was fun to read. I read about half of it while I was at the gym, and I would end up walking on the treadmill longer than I meant to because I didn’t want to stop reading. The ending, the mystery of where the girl had gone, was NUTS. I’ve never read anything quite like it.

Normally, this review would have been a lot shorter and I would have said that it’s more fun to discover all this on your own, and you should just read it. But these things made the book so unique that hopefully it hooked your interest, and I’m fairly certain that if you give it a try you’ll end up enjoying it and wanting to read the rest. I’m going to start the second book (Agents of Light and Darkness) this weekend, but I don’t know if I’m going to review any more of the series except this first one. There are 11 more, and that’s a lot of reviews to write without trying to give away major spoilers. Maybe after I read them all I’ll do a mega-review of the whole series.

So anyways, READ IT! Something From the Nightside might end up on my “Favorites of 2012″ list.

 

Sarah Says: 4.5 stars

 

P.S. – For you Dr. Who fans, he makes a reference to the Tardis. So yay for that.

4 Comments

Filed under 5-star, Fantasy, Fiction, Paranormal, Sci-Fi

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

October 1, 2012 · 8:43 am

Devil Said Bang by Richard Kadrey

 

If you don’t know already, this is the fourth book in the Sandman Slim series and if you haven’t read the first 3 books yet (Sandman Slim, Kill the Dead, and Aloha From Hell) you really should and you should also be warned that there will be spoilers for those books here.

It seems that I’m following a pattern with these books. I loved the first one, thought the second one could have been a lot better, the third book was awesome, and this fourth book was alright, but something was lacking.

At the start of the book, Stark has been stuck in Hell playing Lucifer for over 3 months. He’s trying to help rebuild it, and he’s constantly at risk of being assassinated. He’s trying to find a way out of Hell, since his good half ran off with the Key. Snooping around Hell looking for answers takes a lot longer when you’re essentially a politican and always looking over your shoulder.

Sooo… basically, this book is about Stark trying to escape Hell and not be Lucifer anymore. Him being stuck in Hell sucked, because there were a bunch of different Hellions plotting stuff and it got a little confusing here and there, plus I missed Candy and all the other regular characters. He does get his hands on a scary new one-of-a-kind weapon, which is always fun. Sadly, Stark gets caught up in a couple “Oh I’m such a monster, I do such terrible things” crisis for a while, which was annoying cause his badassness and general “fuck-it” attitude are what makes these books so much fun. Much like the second book, it dragged a bit but then so much happened at the end that I’m really excited to see what the fifth book will be about. Unfortunately, I can’t really mention what happens near the end without mega spoilers, but this new plot twist definitely made the whole book worth reading. It totally appealed to my inner nerd.

I’m totally looking forward to the fifth book… there’s no title or date or anything like that yet on Kadrey’s website, but the book ended in a way that you know the series isn’t over.

 

Sarah Says: 3 stars

 

Leave a Comment

Filed under 3-star, Angels, Fantasy, Fiction, Paranormal

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

August 31, 2012 · 6:38 am

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

Shadow of Night, Deborah Harkness

 

Shadow of Night is the second book in the All Souls Trilogy, the first of which was A Discovery of Witches and was pretty awesome. (Obviously, don’t read this if you haven’t read ADoW yet, cause SPOILERS FOR THAT FIRST BOOK.) Shadow of Night suffers a little bit from second-book syndrome, but it was still pretty good.

This picks up right where the first book left off – with Diana and Matthew arriving to the year 1590 in England. The basic idea is that they’ll find a powerful witch to teach Diana about her magic, try to get a look at Ashmole 782, then head back to the present to face the Congregation. Of course it doesn’t happen quite like that, as Matthew’s past wraps them up in courtly intrigue, family ties, and the people around them.

Matthew and Diana are in the past for pretty much the whole book, which disappointed me a little. I got a little attached to some of the secondary characters in the first book, so I missed them in this one. The past was interesting, and it was fun to see Diana get all excited to meet or run into all these historically famous people. She also gets to meet a lot more of Matthew’s family, which was sometimes a good thing and sometimes kind of sucked. There are little glimpses of the present-day, mostly via newspapers, but that was nice. A lot more good things happen, but I don’t want to spoil anything.

Like I sad, definite second-book syndrome here. Even though I still flew through this book in a short amount of time, it dragged in large sections. Some stuff goes on and is discovered that will play a big role in the third book, but mostly this book was a lot of filler. Like Diana spending weeks trying to learn how to fit in during this time period, and Diana spending tons of time playing around with alchemy, etc. I kind of wanted to shake her, because she definitely didn’t make learning about her magic and finding the book a priority. I was also a little sad that Matthew was always busy doing Matthew-stuff, cause it didn’t leave much time for their still-new romance to develop a little more.

On the plus side, more great characters emerged (Gallowglass!!) and a couple new bad guys. The slowness of this book at least pretty much ensures that the last book will be epic and action-packed. I wish there was a title or release date for the next book, but there isn’t yet. Can’t wait to read it!

Anyone else read it and agree with the second-book syndrome thing?

 

Sarah Says: 3 stars

 

 

8 Comments

Filed under 3-star, Contemp. Lit, Fiction, Paranormal

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

August 20, 2012 · 3:58 pm

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

A Discovery of Witches

 

Wow, the things to say about this book. I avoided A Discovery of Witches for a long time, cause it was really popular and that usually ends with me thinking it’s so overrated. I tentatively put it on my to-read list when I heard the two main characters, Diana and Matthew, compared to Jamie and Claire from Outlander. And I FINALLY got around to reading it last week for the Bout of Books readathon. I started it on audio and got sucked into the story, but I have to say that I didn’t really like the narrator, so I switched to the paperback copy a few chapters in.

Well, it would help if I told you what the book was about, right? Diana Bishop is a scholar and comes from a long line of witches, though she rejects her magic. While doing research in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, she comes across a magical alchemical manuscript but returns it to the stacks in an attempt to keep magic out of her life. But by finding the manuscript, she’s suddenly drew the attention of daemons, witches, and vampires who all want it and will go to drastic lengths to get it. Among them is the handsome vampire Matthew Clairmont, who has an interest in the book but also starts to show an interest in Diana.

BUT IT’S ABOUT SO MUCH MORE. There’s a lot to like in this book – it starts off with the mystery surrounding the manuscript and evolves into a complex plot with a wide range of characters. I’m trying to avoid saying “It’s so good and you should just read it” so how about I list the stuff I liked about the book, mmmkay?

  • The magical world set-up. Basically there’s 4 types of beings – humans, witches, demons (daemons just looks so silly), and vampires. And they all kind of stick to themselves and all have their different quirks. Again, so much more to go into here, but it would spoil some of the discoveries made while reading so I won’t go into detail.
  • The history and scope of the book. The characters visit at least 4 different countries throughout the book, and there’s a good amount of history mentioned in the background of some of these characters.
  • Diana and Matthew – of course they’re a cool couple and I rooted for their romance. I would NOT compare it to Jamie & Claire – they’re not that good. In fact, in the beginning they’re a little bit Twilight-ish which turned me off, but the dynamics of their relationship changed as they story went on so that wasn’t an issue.
  • Awesome secondary characters, including Matthew’s friend Hamish and Diana’s over-protective aunts.
  • The fun whimsical stuff that accompanies paranormal and magical stuff in books – cool powers, ghosts, traits of the creatures, etc.
  • A whole lot happens in this book and kept me reading at a really fast pace, and even though this is very clearly the start of a trilogy it had a good solid ending too. I can’t wait to start the sequel, Shadow of Night. I already have it!

And for some balance, a couple of things that bugged me…

  • Diana’s personality throughout the book completely changes. It’s good, cause she was a bit narrow-minded and whiny in the beginning. I’m actually pleased with the way her character grew, but the growth was a bit abrupt, at least to me.
  • Vampire-lore. I get that vampires are fiction and therefore the rules can be played with, but really – vampires that can be in the sun AND can eat regular food on occasion? That’s a little convenient. But thank goodness there’s no sparkly vampires, so I guess no harm really done.

 

Sick of me rambling yet? A Discovery of Witches is a really good book. There’s a little something for everyone: magic, history, science, ethics, mystery, romance, action… you get the picture.

 

Sarah Says: 4.5 stars

 

 

3 Comments

Filed under 5-star, Contemp. Lit, Fiction, Paranormal

Tagged as , , , , , , , , ,

May 19, 2012 · 3:09 pm

Aloha From Hell by Richard Kadrey

Aloha From Hell by Richard Kadrey

 

Whaaaat, you haven’t started this bad-ass series by Richard Kadrey yet? Why the hell not? If you haven’t you should read the first two books first, Sandman Slim and Kill the Dead. At the very least you could click on those links and see my reviews. And this here is the third book, Aloha From Hell. Be warned, there will be some spoilers if you haven’t read the other books.

So, after the events of the second book, Stark is being a good boy but going a little stir-crazy. He hasn’t killed anything in weeks, and he’s been too lethargic about finding out what Mason is up in in Hell. He also knows that Aelita is somewhere out there trying to take over Heaven, but he hasn’t done much about that either. No biggie though, because eventually a weird case of possession drags him back into the hellish world he’s kind of been trying to avoid.

This book was SO MUCH BETTER than Kill the Dead. Kill the Dead was one of those ”ehhhh” second-in-a-series books, that kind of sucks but is necessary because it sets up major events for the third book. It paid off, because this was pretty action-packed and I flew through it within 24 hours, and I read over 3/4 of it in one sitting. The whole plot with the God and Lucifer and Mason and Aelita and the Kissi is just nuts, and I was so happy to see Stark back in his element. I love him and his friends. I really like the developing relationship he has with Candy, a Jade who is scarily kick-ass but also a cute tiny girl. Even the writing was awesome in this one – I wrote down a lot of quotes and lines, such as…

“Sometimes just seeing a woman smile is like a knife in the heart. It hurts and it rattles your whole system, but against all your instincts you swallow the pain and keep looking. After a while you realize it doesn’t hurt as much as you thought it would.”

and

“Moo, motherfucker.”

Some great deep thoughts, as well as some hilarious one-liners. Gotta love it.

Anyways, the ending was totally MESSED UP and I’m so happy that there’s going to be a fourth book. This one was pretty hectic and mega-great, so I can only imagine how epic the next book is going to be. It’s going to be called Devil Said Bang and according to Kadrey’s website, it comes out August 28th of this year. Yay!

So you know, if you like demons and angels and humans who won’t die, you should totally read this series. Go pick up Sandman Slim now, and enjoy.

 

Sarah Says: 4 stars!

 

 

Leave a Comment

Filed under 4-star, Angels, Fantasy, Fiction, Paranormal

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

February 5, 2012 · 8:56 am

Review: Kill the Dead by Richard Kadrey

  • Title: Kill the Dead (Sandman Slim #2)
  • Author: Richard Kadrey
  • Publisher: Harper Voyager, 2010
  • Pages: 434
  • ISBN: 9780062017369

So, this is the sequel to Sandman Slim, which I read a couple of weeks ago. This book was… underwhelming.

So, after the events of the last book, Stark doesn’t really know what to do with himself. He’s doing work for both good and bad guys, mainly killing people who need killing. Then Lucifer comes into town and hires him to be his bodyguard, because he’s staying in L.A. to supervise a movie being made about himself. And then zombies start showing up all over the place. And Stark has to play detective to figure out what the hell is going on.

So, Lucifer in town AND zombie-action – must be exciting, right? Ehh. I felt like the book kind of dragged until I was more than halfway through it. Basically, I think Stark playing detective and trying to figure out who’s behind the zombie attacks was boring. I like seeing Stark in action, and I just didn’t really care who was releasing the zombies. And while I thought that Lucifer being in town would be the focus of the book, it wasn’t and that was disappointing.

However.  I still enjoy the witty, sarcastic asshole-ness that is Stark’s personality. And the book ended on a pretty good note. Action picked up near the end, Stark went back to his old killing-happy self, and I see now that the Lucifer plot set up the stage for the next novel really well. And even though this was lackluster, I have really high hopes for the third book, Aloha From Hell. I definitely think it’ll much more epic and action-packed.

Sarah Says: 2.5 stars

Leave a Comment

Filed under 3-star, Angels, Fantasy, Fiction, Paranormal, Zombies

Tagged as , , , , , ,

January 23, 2012 · 8:50 am

Review: Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey

  • Title: Sandman Slim
  • Author: Richard Kadrey
  • Publisher: HarperCollins, 2009
  • Pages: 388
  • ISBN:  9780061976261

 

Oh how I love a good revenge story. James Stark was dragged to Hell and spent 11 years there are a hitman, before finally escaping and coming back to L.A. Now that Stark’s back, he’s ready to take revenge on the bastards that sent him down below. But he’ll find it’s much harder to get your revenge when Heaven and Hell keep getting in the way.

OK so this was pretty badass. Stark spends over a decade surviving in Hell before finally getting back to Earth, with the help of some super-awesome demonic tools. Now that he’s back, he’s totally ready to hunt down the people responsible, and that makes for a fun, interesting, action-packed book. Stark is powerful, resourceful, and has a hilarious way with words. For example…

“I’m not bleeding anymore, but I’m a mess. Again. Besides getting my ass kicked, my main accomplishment on this trip has been to massacre an incredible number of completely innocent clothes. I’m the Joseph Stalin on laundry.”

 I really like Stark… he has no problem with killing, no conscience, but you can totally still sympathize with him because his story is kind of messed up. There’s also a great cast of other characters – his 200-year old friend Vidocq, the flirtatious Candy, a talking head, etc…

I think I’d have to qualify this book as more a “paranormal” book than a “fantasy” book… but it’s a little bit of both, and more. There’s all sorts of different creatures, there’s magic, and Heaven and Hell play major rolls in the book. I like stories about angels warring with humans, Heaven and Hell still fighting each other, etc… I don’t really know how to describe it. And I would ABSOLUTELY recommend this for male readers – Stark is hardcore, there’s fighting and cursing, no sexy-bit scenes, and a great plot.

Anyways, I don’t know if this is making any sense, but there was nothing about Sandman Slim and I DIDN’T like, and that’s a pretty big compliment right there. Already looking forward to reading the sequel, Kill the Dead.

 

Sarah Says: 5 stars

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 Comment

Filed under 5-star, Fiction, Paranormal

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,