Home » Posts tagged "horror books" (Page 22)

Book Review: Gods of Kiranis (Kiranis #1) by Ronald A. Geobey

Gods of Kiranis (Kiranis #1) by Ronald A. Geobey 

Temple Dark Books, 2021

ISBN: 9781838259419

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy: Amazon.com

 

Gods of Kiranis isn’t just a sci-fi novel.  It’s an achievement, and a very notable one.  The book has an unbelievably dense and complex plot, on the level of the Game of Thrones novels, and it’s impressive with the scope and imagination of the science fiction elements used..    Most importantly, it provides entertainment and leaves you wanting more.  Readers looking for a truly unique novel in terms of universe building and scope won’t want to miss this one.  It’s probably a bit much for readers who just like straightforward sci-fi, a la Buck Rogers.  

 

The book begins with a large metal cage suddenly arriving from space and being placed around Earth, and ends with a large battle (among other things) near the planet Kiranis in another part of the galaxy. It all connects to a genetic cross-breed experiment performed centuries before on humans and Garrans, one of the alien races involved.  Between those two events is a multi-layered story of lies, backstabbing, and shifting alliances between mankind and various alien races, as each race tries to come out on top, or just survive.

 

The story format is unique, and gives the book its unusual flavor, but it also may make it off-putting to some readers.  The four sections of the book essentially cover the same events in the same time period, but each is done from the point of view of one of the four species: human, Jaevisk, Garran, and Kwaios.  During the first and second sections, many elements are inserted into the story with no background, so the reader doesn’t know how they relate to the story, or why they are present.  Context is provided later in the other sections, but it can be confusing at times.  There is a LOT going on in this book: it’s one of the most layered stories I’ve ever read.  Almost everything makes sense in the end, but the journey getting there can be difficult at times.  The book would have been helped by adding a simple “cast of characters” appendix to keep all of the names straight.    

 

Worth noting is the outstanding job the author did of world building, particularly with the Garran homelands.  It doesn’t go into every little detail, but it’s enough to make you feel like it’s an actual place, not just a figment of the author’s imagination.  All the science fiction elements (the cage, space vortexes, etc.) are used well, but the author avoids going the “hard science” route of Kim Stanley Robinson or Neal Stephenson.  The main focus is the characters, not the science or the devices.  Did I mention this book has dragons in it as well?  That’s not an element normally found in sci-fi!

 

Bottom line: it’s an amazing story, both in terms of interest level, creation, and complexity.  There are plenty of unanswered questions at the end, but considering this is the first of a planned seven books, there’s plenty of time for answers.  It will be interesting to see where it goes: we just might be looking at the science fiction equivalent of Jordan’s Wheel of Time series.

 

Recommended, highly so, for lovers of elaborate stories.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

Posted on September 15, 2023 by , Reply

Book Review: You Can’t Kill Snow White by Beatrice Alemagna, translated by Karin Snelson and Emilie Robert Wong

 

You Can’t Kill Snow White by Beatrice Alemagna, translated from French by Karin Snelson and Emilie Robert Wong

Unruly, 2022

ISBN: 978-159270381

Available: Hardcover

Buy: Bookshop.org

 

 

You Can’t Kill Snow White puts a spin on the traditional story of Snow White by telling it from the Queen’s point of view. Alemagna reminds us of the darkness of the original Grimms’ tales and attempts to recapture and extend it by exposing the Queen’s evil plans, demented intentions, and murderous mind. We see her relishing the liver and lungs of the boar killed in place of Snow White that she believes are her victim’s and celebrating how “alive” and “renewed” she feels after feasting on them.

 

Although the idea of focusing on the Queen as narrator has great potential for enhancing the terror of the story and forcing the reader to feel the fear that children are protected from by modern re-tellings, Alemagna’s version does not go far enough. The fact that the focus on the queen cannot be maintained because she is not present at key points, like when the huntsman decides not to murder Snow White, causes breaks in the build up of tension. These breaks become longer and more difficult to bridge when the dwarves enter the picture and we are told by the queen that her heart is filled with “unspeakable pain” and she is full of “dread.” Are we meant to sympathize with her or to see her as so damaged that she is dangerous? Either way, the lack of development of the character does not shed much more light on her than we have had in the past.

 

It seems that rather than creating a new take on the story of Snow White, Alemagna has used it as an opportunity to showcase her art. The illustrations are plentiful and create a dark moodiness in a palette primarily of murky browns, reds, blues and golds with jolts of reds and pinks. The dwarves are Eastern European folkloric type figures, mainly bearded. The human beings typically suggest nightmares with elongated bodies, impossibly long hair, gaping mouths, and giant hands. There is much frenetic movement: sweeping, gorging, and screaming that is a much stronger portrayal of emotion and much more effective at eliciting it from the reader than the writing is able to do.

 

You Can’t Kill Snow White is published by Enchanted Lion Books under their new picture book imprint, “Unruly,” intended for older readers and adults. These publishers are on the right track by engaging the many readers who have, even since childhood, loved the way in which illustrations add depth and beauty to storytelling. What better way to draw out our deepest fears than to experience on the page the horrible pictures  we can only imagine from descriptions?

 

Reviewed by Nova Hadley

Posted on September 3, 2023 by , Reply

Book Review: Midnight Masquerade by Greg Chapman

 

Midnight Masquerade by Greg Chapman

IFWG Publishing Australia 2023

ISBN: 978-1922856432

Available :  paperback, Kindle edition (pre-order, ships Oct. 31)

Buy: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

This is my first encounter with Greg Chapman (and I’m sure it won’t be the last).

 

The present collection, assembling both previously published material and brand new stories, has been, to me, an enticing reading experience. 

 

In her introduction to the book, Lisa Morton states that Chapman’s  spiritual father is Clive Barker, and this already explains many things. But Chapman has a voice of his own, a narrative voice able to scare and to delight, never ordinary and never boring (which nowadays is a rarity, at least for me).

 

Reviewing this collection is both an easy and a difficult task at the same time. You have to read it to understand what kind of writer Chapman is.

 

So I will simply mention the stories which, to me, really stand out. And I will avoid the use of adjectives such as “unusual”, “offbeat”, “bizarre”, “astonishing” etc., although they keep coming to my mind.

 

“The Last Night of October” is a tense and quite  terrifying novella, although it may be a bit overlong to fully maintain suspension of disbelief until the very end.

 

“Second Coming Circus” features a priest facing an abnormal situation which is totally beyond his understanding, while in “Octoberville”, a traveling agent has a car accident in the outskirts of a very peculiar town.

 

“Vaudeville” is a very imaginative tale, blending fantasy and reality, taking place in a forest populated by half-alive, half-dead monsters, hungry for young people’s flesh.

 

A new collection by Chapman is scheduled for 2024. I’m already eagerly looking forward to it.

 

Reviewed by Mario Guslandi

Posted on August 31, 2023 by , Reply
First « 2021222324 » Last