Edward Lorn's Blog, page 41

Now on Netgalley!

This is not a review. This book has just been added to NetGalley.

Life After Dane is my favorite book out of my entire catalogue. It is the one book I’ve written in which, given a chance, I wouldn’t change anything. I have yet to write a better book, at least in my opinion. Of course, Stephen King once said, “Isn’t it funny how our own farts smell the best.” So I leave the final opinion to you.

Thanks to the publisher, Red Adept Publishing, this novel is up on NetGalley until January 29th.

 

Here’s the link. 

 

Thank you for your support.

 

E.

Original post:

edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1319964/now-on-netgalley

Storm Front Review

Review:

Storm Front is a good first book in a series. It gives just enough information about its characters to keep you engaged, and these characters are both unique and well-drawn. My favorite of the bunch (so far, anyway) is the talking skull, Bob. Now I know where Kadrey got the idea for Kasabian in his Sandman Slim series.

The elevator scene rocked. Probably my favorite section of the book. I also appreciated the first crime scene. Mainly because I’m a gorehound. Love a good aftermath scene.

Probably my only complaint is something that a lot of people will more than likely appreciate: The derivative P.I. storyline. I don’t care how much magic you tack onto that trope, it’s still the same old shit. P.I. does a job the cops won’t touch (or don’t believe in) and ends up saving the day by the skin o’ his teeth while making enemies of friends before eventually clearing his name. It’s fun, but the genre calls for certain elements that make the story predictable and cliched. Fact is, if you like this kind of read, you will like this book. If you feel there’s nothing new to be written about in the world of private investigation, you’ll likely feel very meh about this book.

In summation: The skull rules and Harry drools. The series supposedly reaches its stride come book three, so I will at least read until then. I’d recommend to anyone who likes to investigate privates.

Final Judgment: Same old meat seasoned differently.

Original post:

edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1318780/storm-front-review

MovieLikes?

Anybody know of a website like BookLikes that focuses on movies? 

Original post:

edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1318306/movielikes

3 Quick Horror Movie Recommendations

Clown is a movie I did not expect to enjoy as much as I did. The premise is terrific, but the execution of the story is rather flawed. Still, if you can get past the shitty storyline, you’re in for a treat in the creature FX department. The final stage of transformation is one of the coolest monster designs I’ve seen in some time. 

 

In summation: Go into Clown not expecting much and you will be pleasantly surprised. 

 

Last Shift is a dark horse for sure. This one came out of nowhere for me. I only looked it up based on a comment on Screambox’s Facebook page. Damn glad I did. The first thirty minutes are a tad slow, but once things crack off, holy shit do they get disturbing. 

 

In summation: Great fun for any fan of ghost stories. There are some improbable moments, but overall a great little horror movies. 

 

Bone Tomahawk is easily the best horror movie I watched in 2015. It’s stark. It’s gritty. It makes you feel like you are there. You will feel every ounce of pain these people go through. 

 

In summation: Damn near perfect horror experience.

 

I hope you guys enjoy these films as much as I did. 

 

E.

 

 

 

 

 

Original post:

edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1317361/3-quick-horror-movie-recommendations

Postmortem Review

Kay Scarpetta books, like Alex Cross books and anything V.C. Andrews wrote, are books I grew up seeing around the house but mostly stayed away from. They were/are names I associate with story-over-prose fiction, the type of popular books that are easily consumable but lack any writing prowess whatsoever. In the case of Patricia Cornwell, I was admittedly wrong. I have no problems with her writing, and her story is sound. No complaints there.

Mom always had Cornwell paperbacks strewn about the house. But, nowadays, she can’t remember a single storyline or why she even enjoyed the series. My mother has a tremendous memory, especially for books she’s read (the woman can tell me the entire Terry Brooks’s Shannara storyline in succinct detail, it’s one of the reasons I’ve never read that series), but she can’t wrap her head around why she used to love these books as much as she did. And I kinda understand that. While I did like the writing and the story, there’s nothing remarkable here. Just an engaging read that is likely to maintain your interest. But will I remember it in a week… a month… a year? Highly unlikely.

Postmortem is an easily-accessible piece of forensic-thriller fiction. Think CSI or any of the lab moments from NCIS and you’ll have seen this book coming from across the street. The only parts I stumbled on were some words that were not immediately familiar to me. Several times throughout the book, Cornwell dropped a seventeen-letter- or thirty-two-letter word I had to look up on Google. Your average dictionary does not have these words in it, and Cornwell is inconsistent when explaining what these procedures or pieces of equipment are used for. I cannot image what it was like to read this book back when it first came out. You know, what with the internet and Google not being around. Don’t get me wrong, there are more times when Cornwell describes well these processes and the machines that do them than there are times that she doesn’t, but a single time where I have to put down my book to research a word is one time too many. And yes, I’m aware that many people are able to gloss right over these words and move the fuck on, but I’m too damn obsessive-compulsive for that shit. However, it does piss me off when I look up a word and find there is an equally-adequate commonly-known word which the author could have used instead of the thesaurus-buckling word with which they chose to stuff their book. That’s not the case here, though. Most of the words I didn’t know, I didn’t know because I don’t work in forensic sciences. I can forgive that.

One final note before we wrap this up. Although I cannot remember the kid’s name, I really dug the niece character. I’m a sucker for precocious kids in fiction, and this intelligent little girl fit the bill perfectly. I hope she’s featured in future installments. That being said, Pete Marino stole the show. He was equal parts asshole, good guy, red herring, and comic relief. Truly my favorite part of the book. I have no comments on Kay Scarpetta. For me, she was faceless and unremarkable.

In summation: The occasional big technical word aside, this is an easy read. Not sure I’ll read every book in the series, but I will continue on. I will probably end up synopsis hopping until I find a storyline that piques my interest. I already have a hardcover of Body Farm I scored for a quarter, so I think I’ll read that one next. Any reason why I shouldn’t skip books? Lemme know in the comments below.

Final Judgment: Not bad, but one good drunk will erase it from your memory.

Original post:

edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1317130/postmortem-review

Life is a waterfall We drink from the river Then we tur...

Life is a waterfall

We drink from the river

Then we turn around and put up our walls

~ System of a Down

Original post:

edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1315866/post

WINNER: BEST BOOK OF 2015!

Happy New Year, everyone! 

 

This pick was easy for me. Yes, the book isn’t out yet, but I was lucky enough to grab an ARC from NetGalley earlier in the year. After reading Caroline Kepnes’s sophomore effort, no other book really stood a chance. 

 

I cannot wait to get my hands on this hardcover. 

 

Read my original review to find out why.

Original post:

edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1315668/winner-best-book-of-2015

WINNER: BEST BARGAIN FIND OF 2015

Sorry about the double posts today. I thought I scheduled The Fold post for yesterday, but that obviously went wrong. Oh well. Life goes on.

 

I do a lot of bargain-bin and thrift-store shopping. When I come across a good book that I spent very little on it just makes that book seem that much better. While Palisades Park wasn’t one of my quarter finds, a brand new hardcover of this book was only $3 marked down from $5.95 which was even further marked down from the original price of $25.99. I don’t math good, but that’s one helluva discount for a book I would have gladly paid $26 for, had I known how good it was.

 

Because I found this one for such a low price, I went out and purchased both of the author’s previous books for full price. 

 

Original review.

Original post:

edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1314836/winner-best-bargain-find-of-2015

WINNER: GUILTY PLEASURE OF 2015!

I fully admit I probably shouldn’t love this book as much as I do. But I cannot deny that it’s the only book this year that I couldn’t put down until it was over. I had several books that I didn’t want to put down but ended up putting down anyway. This one I read in one sitting. It consumed me. I was able to escape for the span of six hours. 

 

Then I see all my friends thought it was just “all right” or plain “ridiculous” and I started questioning my preferences, my place in life, where my heart was leading me…

 

Just kidding. This book fucking rocks. 

 

Original review here.

Original post:

edwardlorn.booklikes.com/post/1314821/winner-guilty-pleasure-of-2015

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Review

Review:

Having now finished the series, I can say this is my favorite book out of the seven. It is mostly devoid of the superfluous bullshit that I fucking hated in the previous novel. I felt like the story actually went somewhere. Rowling gets major points for actually progressing the storyline. Good on her.

Moreover, having now finished the series, I hate The Order of the Phoenix even more than I did before. There was no fucking reason for that book to be that long and uneventful. No reason. Fucking none. That book can toss my salad with a side of Go Fuck Yourself dressing.

Where was I? Oh yeah…

While I’ve seen the movies, I completely forgot about the significant death scene at the end of this one. I think that’s because I slept through the important parts of the final three films. I had a serious what the fuck moment at the end of this one, thinking to myself, “He can’t die. He’s in the next book.” While I was both wrong and right, I cannot believe I missed him dying in this one. That being said, his death was my favorite part of this book. Not that I didn’t like the character, but because Rowling took a big chance killing him.

Dan 2.0 mentioned that he was interested in how I, being a horror fan, would feel about the cave scene, so this paragraph is for him. I think being a horror fan actually detracted from my enjoyment of that section. Dead people just below the surface of the water goes as far back as Lord of the Rings. It has been used countless times throughout the genre. Most recently, The Woman in Black used this tactic. That’s funny because Daniel Radcliffe is in both film adaptations. Anyway, the cave scene felt dated, but at the same time well written. Of course this goes back to Rowling’s overuse use of the borrow button. But there’s nothing new under the sun, right? Not every book can be The Fold. ;)

To those of you expecting a rage review, my apologies. I think those days are behind us, at least where this series is concerned. Spoiler alert, I actually liked the next book too.

In summation: Everyone told me these books got better, but I did not believe them. Took me longer to get invested than most, but it finally happened. While I still don’t care about these characters nearly enough to fan flail over their deaths and successes, I understand why some do. The lore is rich, even if it is borrowed from every other fantasy book in existence.

Final Judgment: The least suckiest.
 
 


 

 

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