Supernatural Serial Killers in Teen Fiction

By: Unknown on 10:06

Serial killers make for a creepy crawly read, but they don't feature very prominently in the teen fiction. These books have taken the horror stereotype and gone one step further, creating supernatural serial killers for an extra dose of chills. Enjoy these reads, but don't read them with the lights out.

For special doses of terror, try The Diviners by Libba Bray and The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray. They are guaranteed to satisfy.

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5 Reasons to Read The Diviners

By: Unknown on 19:12

I've loved everything I've ever read from Libba Bray. She knows just how to keep you interested, her characters and plot getting equal time. And let's not forget her range. From her Gemma Doyle series, set in the Victorian era she  made an effortless transition to post-modern parodies like Beauty Queens and Going Bovine. It's enough to make any writer jealous.

So, let me spread the good news, if you haven't already heard (-I really hadn't until a week ago-). Bray has a new book out: The Diviners. 

If her track record isn't enough to convince you to read this book, let me give you 5 reasons to read The Diviners.

1. The Diviners is set in the 20's. 

There aren't enough books set in the roaring 20's.To be honest, despite the amount that was going on in that era, I don't know a lot about the 20's. Ask me about the 50's, 60's, or 70's, I could write you books, but the 20's, not so much. But just think about it: prohibition, flappers, speakeasies, bootleggers, worker's rights movement, racial issues, immigration, and innovation. It's a goldmine of glamour and grit.

2. A creepy supernatural serial-killer villain. 

Supernatural serial killers are a more common trope than you think, but they haven't gotten old yet. Still, if Naughty John looked in a magic mirror and said "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the creepiest of them of them all?" the mirror would roll its eyes and say "Duh, you are." He does that creepy thing where he thinks his gruesome murder are the will of God, and he has his own nursery rhyme. It's the prerequisite. And he comes with his own haunted house real estate, always nice.

3. Evie is more hurricane than heroine. 

Evie loves her speakeasies and alcohol, she loves her dancing, and she wants to shine (let me tell you, she does). From the first moment you are introduced to Evie you can feel her frenetic energy radiating off the page. She pushes the other characters out of the comfort zones, she is not afraid to do crazy things, and has a zest for life that is impossible not to admire. She's not perfect either, not by a long shot. Like any good character her best qualities are also her worst. Her drive to succeed and be famous causes trouble and  her zest for life breaks a lot of rules. She is a good time girl, and you'll love every minute of her.

4. You get the glamour and you get the grit.

It wouldn't be a Bray book unless she took on the social issues of the era. In this series she doesn't take these issues head on like she does in her post-modern standalones, instead the issues are subtly woven in to create a create a genuine roaring 20's, full of optimism and change. Racism, classism, and Bray's favorite hot button topic, the American Dream are all tucked into The Diviners in a way that makes English majors pee their pants with excitement.

5. And the award for best supporting actor goes to...

...all of them. Just as much as you love Evie, the supporting characters are all well flushed out and their chemistry is a thing of beauty. Sam Lloyd and his charming ways, Jericho and his gradually endearing steady ways, Theta and her showgirl past, and Memphis trying to hold his world together. They're memorable, and they're only just getting started. Half of these characters don't interact with each other, but you're wiggling with anticipation for the moment that they do. You can feel the awesome just waiting to happen.

If that isn't enough to convince you to pick up The Diviners, I don't know what will.

The next book, Lair of Dreams, comes out August 5th (it got pushed back from MARCH)  and there is also talk of a movie. So be strong until you can get your next fix of this awesome series.

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Book Haul: The Mysterious Box D

By: Unknown on 16:05

Going through my collection of books in an interesting process. I get distracted by good memories, I get angry, I get self-reflective, I just get distacted. So I decided to do a book haul video to keep me on track. Here is the contents of one of many of the books in my basement.

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The Desolation of Smaug Review

By: Unknown on 14:50

Watching the Desolation of Smaug was like watching reading the Coles notes for a great classic. Yes, the basic information was there, but what was missing was all the substance and nuance that comes from reading the actual text.

All the smart, funny parts, like Bilbo taunting the spiders or the dwarves discomforts riding the barrels were dumped like a and replaced by Hollywood dialogue and cheap action scenes.

We are punched in the face with reminders that yes, there is a LOTR's movie because in case you haven't heard, SOMETHING BIG IS COMING.

And we're force fed an extra hour of footage we didn't need to see.

I appreciate the fact that they set up Bard's character. It was necessary. But then we have to listen to his family troubles as he avoids the guards put in jail. Why?

The whole stupid Kili/Tauriel romance subplot. Why? Anyone who has read the Hobbit knows this romance is doomed. I can't even feel for her. She was just a means of sticking Legolas in the movie appealing to the romance fangirls.

Where LOTR felt like Tolkien who happened to have a few Hollywood twists added in, this feels like Peter Jackson had one of his underlings summarize the book for him and then just started rolling the camera.

If you want to see my initial reaction, check out this video.

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First Impressions: Mira Grant's Parasite

By: Unknown on 20:22

It seems that Ms. Grant has been unable to leave zombies behind. Despite the differences that the title seems to promise, the novel still carries some of the DNA from the Newsflesh Trilogy.

Mad scientists, vacant - but still shambling - bodies, evil corporations, and identity issues caused by unexpected scientific phenomena all populate Grant’s new futuristic world.

Gone are the stark white halls of the zombie-controlling CDC, altered to the modern, sterile, perfumed offices of the newest evil corporation SymboGen. Gone are the cure-zombies, replaced with people who go brain dead and occasionally wander around with violent tendencies.

Anyone that feared that Grant would simply rewrite her old characters, where Sal is concerned, need not be worried. She is neither as disconcerting as Georgia, nor does she possess the happy-go-lucky insanity of Shaun.

Sal has woken up from a car accident with no memories of her previous life, and she has her Intestinal Bodyguard^TM (parasite) to thank. After six years of trying to relearn everything from walking to talking, she is now trying to live her life outside of SymboGen’s prying grasp.

Sal is afraid of cars, an animal enthusiast, and finds beauty in carnivorous plants, giving her the quirky personality I’m beginning to expect from Grant’s writing. But can the same be said of her other characters? Perhaps not. Her boyfriend Nathan comes off somewhat bland, though calmingly so, and Sal’s potentially interesting family doesn’t get too much face time.

All in all, Parasite seems like Newsflesh's quieter cousin. Yes, research has been done, but it seems far less based in reality than her other works have. And somehow parasite-zombies seem far less believable hybrid-cure-zombies, and exceedingly less imposing due to that same fact.

Where the reveals left us reeling in Deadline, wondering how the corruption goes, Parasite’s hidden conspiracies have been guessable from the first few pages, leaving you waiting impatiently for the characters to catch up.

The difference that I like is that this time is there is someone to hold accountable. Blackout ended with the staff of After the End Times trying to face the faceless ‘they’ or ‘the man’ with no possible way to confront them except to tell the world the truth. Parasite gives us a very public figure Dr. Stephen Banks to blame all of SymboGen’s misdeeds on. My bloodthirsty side is hoping (and I am only halfway through at this point) that we will get a satisfying conclusion in which the evil Dr. pays for everything he’s done.

It was something that truly disappointed me when I finished Newsflesh. And while it may seem like a stereotypical way to resolve a story as good as Newsflesh or Parasite, I have faith in Grant’s ability to avoid stereotypes.

I hope my faith will be rewarded.

The name Stephen Banks reminds me of Stephen Jobs so much. Anyone else?

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Del Torro's the Strain is Strained

By: Unknown on 19:32

I was promised horror, discomfort and a lingering sense of dread.

What I got was bludgeoned into boredom by pages upon pages of unnecessary details and irrelevant points of view that slowly sucked the life out of the tale like one of the vampires the book is so set on describing.

I had hope for del Torro’s The Strain. He’s a good storyteller in his movies, and Pan’s Labyrinth managed to make me shudder more than a few times. Instead, I had only one moment of being creeped out. Just one.

An initially infected man described a reoccurring nightmare that he had as a kid. Every night at midnight a moist, leech-skinned figure would stalk out from behind an armoire and smile at him. After many years of this, his family finally sold the armoire and he never had that nightmare again. He called this night terror “Mr. Leech”.

 Coincidentally I read this part right before I shut out the lights and went to bed.

Slightly disturbed, I picked the book up the next day only to be disappointed. It didn’t get more interesting from that point on, it was just more of the same. I appreciate to an immense degree del Torro’s unromanticized vampires with their black, leech-like skin, their stinger chameleon tongues, and white blood filled with wriggling maggoty parasites.

 I appreciate the vampires’ hive mentality, turning them into Legion-like zombies, over simple blood crazed killers. I appreciate his character: a holocaust survivor turned Professor Van Helsing. So, don’t get me wrong, there is the makings of a creepy and enthralling story in The Strain...

It’s just buried under the writing style.

Originally conceived as a TV series, del Torro couldn’t get anyone to run the series, so his agent suggested that it be turned into a book. Only the story never broke free of its origins: the descriptions so detailed, that it sucks out all mood and atmosphere;  room layouts, meant to convey the personality of its owner, are always heavily described described; actions scenes are extremely brief, or just happen “off-screen”.

On top of that, half the novel is dedicated to exactly what is happening to EVERYONE who has encountered this infection, in a way that doesn’t move the plot forward. First we find out about all four people who were initially infected, cut back to them five or six times, then we find out about their nannies, their children, their neighbours, their neighbours’ husbands, the random people on the street, on and on, when the reader knows that the most interesting things are happening right back with the main characters. 

Guillermo del Torro has done wonders with a movie screen, bringing us Pan’s Labyrinth and Pacific Rim, but The Strain is one story that should have waited for a camera. Lucky for us its time has come.

I look forward to being massively grossed out by the TV series where his meticulous details can be fed to us at a glance, rather than 400 pages that should have been left in his editor’s office.

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Thor 2 Review

By: Unknown on 11:57

Thor 2  Review

I loved  Thor 2. Was it deep? No. But it was hilarious, and Tom Hiddleston and Chris Hemsworth's chemistry lit up the screen. The end of the movie can be summed up in one picture.

If they do a third I would suggest less Natalie Portman and more Kat Dennings.

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