Reviews and Comments

As a self-confessed vampire prude (I developed most of my beliefs about vampires from the old Ravenloft sourcebooks), I'm always nervous to read a different take on the creatures of the night. I'm afraid that if something is too different to the canon I have in my head, I'll get upset. And to be honest, that's happened in the past.

But this... this book was GOOD! It's familiar enough that it doesn't feel like a betrayal of everything I hold dear about vampires, but at the same time it's a different take. Some things are different to what you may have grown up believing, but that doesn't offend you because it's all internally consistent, and it makes perfect sense why they're are different.

It's a good story too, set in late 1800s England, Italy, and France (although it was published in 1982).

I don't know if I'd call this the BEST vampire story I've ever read, but it's up there. If you're a fan of the genre, I highly recommend it.

This is another one of those stories I've had on my TBR list for a long time. Since the movie came out, actually -- although I've not seen the movie.

It was okay. A good story, and pretty absurd (which was the point), but I feel like it could've been better. Maybe if we'd heard a bit more about Benjamin's mom, for example... Although maybe she died in childbirth; we're not told. For that matter, what must it have been like to give birth to a fully grown man?

Sure, in the time in which this story was set, we don't really worry too much about what women think, and we certainly don't talk about things like childbirth in great detail, but still. There are other women in this story who got quite important roles. Why not Benjamin's mother?

This story raises more questions than it answers... but again, that's probably the point.

Also the ebook I read wasn't very well edited. I kept seeing line breaks in the middle of sentences, and weird punctuation. Maybe it was OCRed from the print version, and that's why.

I should point out, however, that this is the very first work I've ever read by this author. I've never read The Great Gatsby either.

This is a nice continuation to the story in Blood Mark. It's the same characters, but a brand new adventure, and the titular marks have evolved.

I like that the author reminds us of all the thing we need to know, so it's not as if you have to read this one immediately after the last one or you'll forget. I don't think you'll be able to enjoy this book if you HAVEN'T read the first one, but if it's been a while, don't worry. You'll be reminded of everything you need to know.

I can't put my finger on it, though... but this one just wasn't as good as the first one. It didn't keep me quite as enraptured, I found myself putting it down for days and days at a time and not missing it. It was just a little more predictable, I think.

I'll still read the next one, because there are only three books and I want to finish the story. If I'd just finished Book Two of a twenty-book-deep series, I might feel differently, but since there are only three, I may as well.

It was okay. It reminded me quite a bit of Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind, only with all the truly violent bits taken out to make it safe for children to read.

And it clearly is a children's book. Not my cup of tea anymore, but it definitely has the feel of those old adventure stories I would've read when I was 10 or 11 years old. So if you've got kids in that age group, I'm sure they'll enjoy it.

The writing is a bit simplistic (read: modern) for the genre, but again, that makes sense because it's a children's story. There's quite a bit of "thinking of himself" and "nodded his head", which are unfortunately two of my redundancy bugbears. It also contains the dreaded "alright" (I hate that word)...

But I'm being overly pedantic. For a preteen or young teen who likes fantasy, I think it'd be perfect!

That was really good!

The pacing is perfect, the twists are good enough that I almost saw them coming, and the story is riveting.

It's about a woman with strange birthmarks and stranger dreams, and I kept reading to find out what would happen next.

Everything that happens makes perfect sense, and I totally identify with the main character. Everything she does in response to what happens to her is exactly what I can imagine myself doing.

No spoilers, but aother thing I enjoyed about it is that one of the main characters (not the MC) is a prostitute, and the author writes her as a normal human being. So many times in books and TV shows, sex workers are either vilified, or they're portrayed as women desperately trying to feed their children or eke out a living, or they're drug addicts.

This woman is none of those things. She's not crazy about doing what she does, and she wouldn't mind getting out of the business, but she also treats it as a fairly normal, respectable job. Not that we see too much detail of her "gigs", and it's not as if the book is erotica (far from it), but I appreciated the fact that she's just a regular person who happens to occasionally sleep with men for money, and while it's not her favourite part of her life, she doesn't hate herself for it either. It's refreshing.

This is one of those books that grabs you from the first line, and doesn't let you go until the end.

Unfortunately, I don't have as much time to read as I once did, so I found myself frequently having to put this book down, sometimes not picking it up again until days later. But as is the mark of a fantastic book, I can tell you that every time I picked it up again, no matter how long it had been, I was right back into it!

It's got an epic feel to it. A real coming-of-age story. When we first meet Margo, she's in her mid-teens and living with her mother, and by the end, she's in her early twenties at least. She's not the most stable person, but every decision she makes, everything she does, makes perfect sense in the context of the story. Everything just... fits.

There are a couple of lose ends, but they also somehow make sense to be there. You're left to make up your own mind about what happens.

It's sad, it's twisted, it's a little sick (but not too bad), and it's deeply psychological. If you like that sort of thing, I definitely think you should give this book a read.

I found myself being reminded of Jeff Linday's Dexter. Maybe you will too.

Emerson’s story is, hands down, the best in the whole series, and it makes me sad that I’ve now only got one more book to read, and I’m done with the series. I was quite surprised how much I ended up enjoying it. You wouldn’t think it’d be my cup of tea, but Rachel Morgan is just masterful in her ability to tell stories and include a little something for everyone.

It’s understandable, but one thing I will say is that as we get closer to the end, the books are becoming more “cliffhangery”. It used to be that you could pick up any book and jump right in from that point, without having any prior knowledge. Not so much anymore, but as I say, that’s understandable.

If you’re a fan of magic, or faeries, or romance, or swashbuckling, or stories that meld the real world and the magical world, I think this series will hit the nail on the head for you.

Click here to find out where you can get your hands on a copy: books2read.com/u/mvyWzz

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I’ve been seeking these books for a long time. As a teenager, I remember we used to travel down to Amanzimtoti once a year, and on the street where we always used to stay, there was a pharmacy that sold the Nick Carter books. Every year I would buy one to read while we were on holiday.

This was before I understood the concept of a Book Series, and I do not know which ones I’ve read and in what order, so it’s a real pleasure to find them in ebook format.

Lots of memories came flooding back. I think the series has stood the test of time for me. This first one came out in the 1960s, and in my 2022 mind, one thing that stands out is the treatment of women. As it typical of the genre, the protagonist has a female counterpart. One whom the author takes great pains to describe in intimate physical detail. She’s an amazing spy in her own right, but she’s still portrayed as only really being worth anything because she’s beautiful and good in bed.

I think in that respect, it’s a product of its time. And I think it reflects that time well, in that respect.

But it’s a great story, and I’m glad I found it. I hope I can find the next one in ebook format too, because sadly, my eyesight has become too bad to read anything off paper anymore.

This was amazing! I learnt so much from this book, and it’s so my style. I love the word association, where one definition leads into the next. It reminds me of one of my favourite South African comedians, Alan Committie, who, during his performances, does this thing where he writes a random word on a flip chart, then associates that word with another, then associates THAT word with another, and so on, and so on, until twenty or thirty words later, he comes back to the first word. I’m definitely going to recommend it to him; I think he would get a kick out of it.

There really isn’t anything more to say about this book. It’s right up my street, my cup of tea, whatever other metaphors you want to use. If you’re a logophile like me (a word I learnt from this book), you’ll love it.

Click here to find out where you can get your hands on a copy: books2read.com/u/mK62j9

* Note: That's an affiliate link, so if you click through to a store and end up buying anything, I might earn a commission from your purchase.

This was amazing! I learnt so much from this book, and it’s so my style. I love the word association, where one definition leads into the next. It reminds me of one of my favourite South African comedians, Alan Committie, who, during his performances, does this thing where he writes a random word on a flip chart, then associates that word with another, then associates THAT word with another, and so on, and so on, until twenty or thirty words later, he comes back to the first word. I’m definitely going to recommend it to him; I think he would get a kick out of it.

There really isn’t anything more to say about this book. It’s right up my street, my cup of tea, whatever other metaphors you want to use. If you’re a logophile like me (a word I learnt from this book), you’ll love it.

Click here to find out where you can get your hands on a copy: books2read.com/u/mK62j9

* Note: That's an affiliate link, so if you click through to a store and end up buying anything, I might earn a commission from your purchase.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen an ARKANE book, and this one was worth the wait. It was shorter that normal, but I think the reason is that the author wrote it during lockdown, when she couldn’t travel much. And as she said in her Afterword, travelling is her muse.

You know what I like most about these books? They’re just so respectful. The author isn’t religious (as far as I can tell), but she has a theology degree. And all these books deal with religion. Mostly Christian, but some of them are about Norse and Indian mythology too. And although the author herself isn’t religious, and neither are her main characters, they always talk about the characters’ beliefs with such reverence. It’s truly refreshing.

Unlike the other books, which you can read as standalones in any order, this one seems to end on a small cliffhanger, implying that you probably wouldn’t be able to enjoy the next one if you haven’t read this one. But of course, she hasn’t written that one yet, so time will tell.

I think if you enjoy Dan Brown (I don’t), and you enjoy Indiana Jones or Lara Croft (I do), you’ll enjoy this series. I also get some Warehouse 13 vibes (if you’re old enough to remember that TV show), only a lot more serious.

Click here to find out where you can get your hands on a copy: books2read.com/u/3GrDkd

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This is a great mystery story with some paranormal elements.

It’s told in two time periods (1982 and 2017), and in that respect, it reminds me a little of [b:The Girl on the Train|22557272|The Girl on the Train|Paula Hawkins|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1574805682l/22557272.SX50.jpg|41107568]. I like that style of story-telling, but to be honest, I was more interested in the 1982 timeline than the 2017 one. Maybe that’s just because I’m such a nostalgic guy.

There are ghosts in the hotel in both timelines, but I don’t think that qualifies this book to be called a “horror” because (unlike some other reviewers) I didn’t find that aspect scary. It was a little creepy in the beginning, but you learn to accept them as part of the story world fairly early on, and they become just a vehicle to drive the mystery forward. It’s very well done.

The editing is pristine. I don’t remember finding a single typo or missing/incorrectly used word or punctuation mark. Which is very rare, believe you me. There was a continuity issue at one point, where the main character gets let into someone’s house and sits in their kitchen, and then a few paragraphs down, we read that she gets led into the kitchen (“Erm, she’s already IN the kitchen!” was my reaction).

Also, like most thriller/horror style books, human beings can withstand injuries WAY worse than they should be able to. Like the man who carries on a long-winded conversation after having a knife plunged into his chest. Or the woman who falls into an empty swimming pool and reports immense pain, and a grating sound, when she tries to rotate her shoulder, only to be walking around an hour later as if nothing happened, and refusing medical attention.

The twist was... absolutely amazing. I didn’t see it coming in the slightest, and truthfully, it’s the reason I gave this book four stars instead of three.

All-in-all, I thought this book was well worth the hype.

Click here to find out where you can get your hands on a copy: books2read.com/u/4jAEL2

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This is another one of those books that, being a Stephen King fan, I can’t believe I’d never read. Second book written, first one published, if I remember correctly (for what it’s worth, I don’t think Carrie was as good as [b:'Salem's Lot|11590|'Salem's Lot|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327891565l/11590.SY75.jpg|3048937]).

I saw the movie a really long time ago, in the 80s or maybe the early 90s. I can’t remember very much of it at all, but I’m almost certain it wasn’t as detailed, or as gruesome or heart-wrenching, as the book.

Carrie is the ultimate story of bullying gone wrong. My book, [b:Stingers|49404106|Stingers|Graham Downs|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1576660938l/49404106.SY75.jpg|40865726], doesn’t even come close (prove me wrong: read both of them and tell me what you think!). The horrors that girl’s peers put her through... not to mention the isolation her mother put her through. To be a seventeen-year-old girl and not know what a period is, the mind boggles. It’s almost unbelievable, but then it’s just believable enough, because I can absolutely imagine some really cloistered, fundamental Christian parents being like that.

Stephen King always knew how to incite emotion with his writing, and this book is good, but it still feels like a debut novel. It’s better than millions of other debut novels, to be sure, but it’s still a debut novel. The writing’s not as tight, the voice’s not as refined; the editing’s not as good.

Again, I feel like Salem’s Lot was better in those respects. But that might be down to better editing (being the second book to be published, the publisher could’ve been prepared to devote more budget to getting it edited), and anyway it’s unfair to compare them because they’re such different stories.

Anyway, I’m glad I finally read this book. It’s a piece of history. It’s required reading for any Stephen King fan, and it’s given me massive insights into where it all began for the man.

Click here to find out where you can get your hands on a copy: books2read.com/u/4DRP1r

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That was disappointing.

The concept is really cool: Get a group of authors together and have them write stories in a consistent, central world with an established setting and established rules for magic, religion, etc. Each author would write a different story with original characters, only those characters might incidentally run into characters from other authors’ stories, and they would all centre around that same internally consistent setting.

The thing is, the stories themselves just... aren’t very good. The first four or five of them dragged terribly. Then they started getting interesting, and I thought there was some hope, but after those two or three, they got bad again. I couldn’t even tell you what the last story is even about!

This book is also in need of some serious copy-editing, at least the ebook edition. I think it was originally published long before ebooks, and clearly when they converted it, they ran it through OCR software to convert it to a digital file, because you see things like “other” instead of “of her”, “lie” instead of “the”, and other things that OCR software often gets wrong, including commas in the weirdest of places and missing quotation marks.

Unfortunately, these errors are many, and it’s difficult to overlook them. And there’s really no excuse: Optical Character Recognition is wonderful technology, but is no substitute for a human being. All someone had to do was READ the ebook through after scanning it, but it’s obvious nobody did. It seems like they ran it through a scanner, uploading the file, and hit publish.

The reason I’m giving this book two stars instead of one is because, like I said above, I like the concept (it’s an interesting experiment), and because at least a few of the stories actually held my attention.

Mostly, though, the execution fell flat.

Click here to find out where you can get your hands on a copy: books2read.com/u/bMRQj7

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