"Different so far from the others, but still enjoying it!"
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I have a bone to pick with the protagonists of horror stories. Here's my problem:
If they're supposedly uncovering some sort of Great Big Evil Truth (tm) that they don't want anyone else to know about, why are they writing down all the information they have and just putting it under lock and key. Really. It makes no sense to me.
Like in The Call of Cthulhu...the narrator finds, in amongst his now-deceased uncle's things, a strange locked box which he then proceeds to open. In it, he finds a bunch of stuff his uncle has basically labeled "DO NOT READ." Of course, he reads it and this leads him to a now-deceased sailor's house whose widow gives him a manuscript that the sailor has also basically labeled "DO NOT READ," which the narrator also ignores and reads.
But what really gets me is that then the narrator writes out what is to become the short story, but keeps saying in it that he hopes no one reads it and comes across the horror that he has discovered...so, again with the whole "DO NOT READ" thing. If they don't want anyone to read the damn information, why write it down? It boggles my mind.
I realize it's a literary device meant to increase suspense, but it's on my list of Least Favourite Literary Devices.
Now that I've gotten that out of the way: I did enjoy reading this. I don't really do much in the way of horror, and when I do, it's usually Stephen King, so it was a nice change. Plus, now I get to join the club of People Who Have Read H.P. Lovecraft, and that's always a good place to be. ]]>
Hmm...what did I learn from this book?
1. Moving to a new school will immediately cause you to be irresistable to the opposite gender.
2. Romance novels are bad for my self esteem.
3. Humans with a flowery/floral scent are the most delicious to vampires.
Seriously, though, the book itself wasn't poorly written, but it wasn't the finest piece of literature I've ever read. There were a few situations that were hinted at, but then got resolved at the very end as though Meyer remembered "Oh, right! I started this subplot, and I guess I should wrap it up!" (see: Tyler and the prom; I mean, really).
I am curious, however, to see what happens next, so I'll continue with the series. Hopefully the rumours of its ridiculousness aren't entirely true. ]]>
I started out confused, then got unconfused, then was reconfused, then after that was cleared up, I was confused, then surprised.
But maybe that's just me.
I probably would not have picked up this book except the authour followed me on Twitter after I mentioned having a Kindle and the book cost only ninety-nine cents.
I initially thought it was going to be an Office Space-esque book about life in an office--however, I was wrong. There's mind control. There's government agents. There's a tricked out SUV.
I (promise this is the last paragraph I'll start with I) really enjoyed this book. It was fast paced and fun to read. My only complaint is that there seemed to be too many coincidences that were needed to drive the plot, but that's a complaint a lot of people have about Charles Dickens, too, so your milage may vary.
The story revolves around Joe Tompkins, who has smashed a particularily annoying coworker in the face with a computer keyboard and finds himself on the run as well as Ned Dyer, his exroommate who had removed himself from all his friends following a death threat. His contingency plan goes smoothly at first before falling apart, then coming back together before falling apart and being haphazardly thrown back together.
If you have a Kindle, I believe it's still only $0.99, so that's definitely worth the price. It's a fun bit of light reading with a flair of intrigue, so I'd even buy the paper version, especially if you read and liked Jennifer Government (by Max Barry). ]]>
I was looking for a fun, easy read and I found it with this book. I'm not well versed in the genre I like to call "vampire smut," but as far as that type of novel goes, I'd have to say this one wasn't half bad. I'm only giving it three stars, however, because I didn't really believe in the protagonist, Kismet Knight.
The story, such as it is, centers around Kismet, a psychologist who decides, after her first session with a nineteen-year-old who says she wants to be a vampire, that she is going to specialize in treating those delusional minds who think they’re vampires/want to be vampires/want to shag vampires, etc. Of course, it turns out that vampires are not only real, but the head of the Denver (Denver? Really?) vampire coven (who apparently has an Eastern European accent, but is Frenchly named Devereaux) is in love with her.
Like in every vampire novel ever, there’s an opposing faction of vampires and Kismet persists in her disbelief of vampires in general until almost the very last moment. Hilarity, as you can imagine, thus ensues.
The main problem I had was that it seemed like, in Kismet's eyes, every male character was gorgeous and existed for her to have sex with--even the not-even-characters of the emergency room doctor and Vaughan the Chiropractor (who popped up every once in a while, but never actually made an appearance). Even for a character in a book that was supposed to be sexy, she seemed overly obsessed with sex. My willing suspension of disbelief kept getting thrown off with a loud, "Oh come ON."
Devereaux was believable, in his own way, up until he showed up with chocolate, flowers, and confessed that in his eight hundred years as a vampire, he had never seen fuzzy slippers. Never? In eight hundred years? Again with the COME ON.
I did, however, enjoy the sex scenes themselves; they were absolutely believable in a vampire-and-human-sex kind of way. I was a little disappointed that there was such a focus on the sex lives of vampires from the very beginning--it didn't come to much of a surprise that, well, the vampires were all into orgies, etc. I would have appreciated a little more build up, a little more foreplay, if you will.
This one, I borrowed from the library, which is where I'd suggest you get this one from; I'm not sure it's worth the $15.95 the trade paperback would cost. ]]>
bookshelves: currently-reading
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