Up to now I’ve been reviewing The Hollows series in chunks, because they’ve been so hard to put down, and have these multi book arcs that made made 3 or 4 book clusters make sense. But, book 9, Pale Demon, is such a game changer that I’m going to review it on it’s own, and Black Magic Sanction will have to go unreviewed. If you haven’t read the previous 8 books, don’t start here. Spoilers! When Pale Demon opens, Rachel has been shunned by the […]
King Kong meets Homer in a less than successful adventure
Although this is not their first “Gideon Crew” novel, it is the first I have read and while it was entertaining, it was also a “lightweight.” These authors’ “Pendergast” series has lots of fantastical plots, and yet the protagonist is such a weirdly compelling character with such a mysterious backstory, the villains so devious, the plots so complex, and the locations so atmospheric as to just pull you along for the whole ride. The Lost Island has a fun opening gambit, but a literary plotline […]
Never trust button eyes.
There’s no one like Neil Gaiman. He walks the line between faerie and frightening with incredible deftness, and he mines the wondrous/horrifying imagination of children in a way that cuts your heart as an adult. It’s remarkable and scary all at once. In other news: I finally read Coraline. I devoured it in a big gulp, but I also shivered in some parts. And the illustrations definitely enhance the book. Coraline Jones is a young girl whose family has moved to a big house. But […]
A bratty vampire more concerned with about her shoe collection than being undead
I like reading about vampires probably more than most, Twilight notwithstanding, but this series really tested my patience with its obnoxious protagonist Betsey. She is having the worst day at the start of this book. She loses her job, gets into a wreck and wakes up alive in the funeral home. The first thing she notices is that she’s wearing a tacky suit and bad shoes. Not at all like her closet of designer things. She doesn’t really freak out, but instead goes home as […]