Only Human - Sylvain Neuvel. The conclusion to The Themis Files trilogy. It was a good book, though not nearly as good or interesting as the first book in the series (Sleeping Giants) and definitely a political statement on the state of the world today.
This was a lot of fun! I've been wanting to read it for years and was very pleased with it, start to finish. Carpenter and Lancaster did a wonderful job of retelling the story and it was so easy to follow with the original character names--as opposed to Nolan's treatment.
Convicting Avery: The Bizarre Laws and Broken System behind Making a Murderer - Michael D. Cicchini. Any questions about Steven Avery's innocence left by Making a Murderer were dispelled for me after reading just how terrible Wisconsin's justice system is, and how much Avery was railroaded by the cops and legal system. Guarantee I'll never even visit Wisconsin at this point.
The Good Daughter - Karin Slaughter. Unlike the previous novels I read by Slaughter, I had a really hard time getting into this one, coming close at one point to just giving up. The story really never begins to click until about mid-way through. From there it becomes much more compelling, although the ending was pretty abrupt and not that satisfying.
@Mayday i read the short story lead in, last breath, and am looking forward to reading the good daughter. i'm working my through her stuff chronologically at the moment, so it will be a minute.
malice of crows, book three in lila bowen's shadow series. it may be my favorite thus far, which is really saying something because wake of vultures and conspiracy of ravens are utterly amazing. once again, we join world weary cowboy and supernatural avenger, rhett walker, who used to be nettie lonesome, and his traveling band of motley survivors, monsters, and societal outcasts (women, people of color, shapeshifters, folks with pleasantly flexible concepts of gender) as they seek a dangerous necromancer who has possessed the body of a child. bowen writes with a delightfully wicked edge, and our heroes encounter a steady stream of enchanted spiders, scorpions, gila monsters, and other critters that would do them harm. but what really makes malice an exceptional book, is the way bowen deftly confronts gender expectations and norms, as well as racism and class disparity, within the confines of this engaging and gripping story. it made me angry, it made me laugh out loud, it made me sad, but most of all it made me smile. eagerly anticipating the fourth installment.
fallen by karin slaughter. the will trent series continues, as he and his partner faith mitchell must find faith's kidnapped mother. of course they discover a treasure trove of secrets, and will starts to really push his boss, amanda wagner, who seems to know--constantly--more than she's letting on. sara linton from the grant county series returns as she and will get a little bit closer. i just love karin slaughter. she puts together an engaging mystery, fills it with really well-conceived characters, makes them behave like human beings, and hurls and endless barrage of mind XXXXs at them. all the while, she paints a vivid picture of the society around her characters, it's triumphs, and, most especially, its' deepest flaws. i love her.
The Nightmare Room - Chris Sorensen - 6/10 The Space Vampires - Colin Wilson - 7/10 The Broken Girls - Simone St. James - 9/10 The Supernaturals - David L. Golemon - 6.5/10
Lighthouses: An Anthology of Dark Tales - edited by Cameron Trost. I looked forward to a whole book of horror stories all featuring lighthouses, but sadly the majority of these were mediocre efforts by nobody authors.
Foundryside - Robert Jackson Bennett. I actually won an advance copy of this book on Goodreads. I'm a fan of Bennett's earlier work which is mostly horror/sci-fi/weird fiction. Had I realized this was solely fantasy with none of those other elements present I wouldn't have been quite as interested. It was fairly enjoyable for about the first 2/3, but the last third of the book just dragged on and on needlessly with too much conversation and extended explanations of everything.
Wylding Hall - Elizabeth Hand. An interesting take on a haunted house tale, told in documentary style. Although with all the hype I've seen about this book, I'm surprised it was so short and ultimately didn't have that much depth.
No Doors, No Windows - Harlan Ellison. I always knew of Ellison to be a sci-fi/horror writer. However, as he makes abundantly clear in his extensive prologue for this book, he writes across a number of genres, and this collection had pretty much no sci-fi or horror. The tales were very dated and not all that entertaining.
criminal by karin slaughter. will trent's dad gets released from prison, and he's a very, very bad person. what makes criminal super awesome, however, is the flashbacks to the seventies with a young amanda wgner and evelyn mitchell, later to be big wigs in law enforcement, struggling for basic acceptance in the very male-oriented field of being a police officer in atlanta in the mid-seventies. slaughter really writes these woman beautifully, and creates a network of women throughout the apd that are helping each other out. i would really encourage slaughter to take a deeper dive into these two characters; i want more!
unseen by karin slaughter. lena adams is up to it again, getting people close to her seriously injured. or is she? is something else going on? while the crime in this one was kind of underwhelming, slaughter's characterizations are strong as ever, and it's nice to see lena get some space. also, will and sara's relationship continues to grow satisfyingly. a perfectly entertaining and solid read. i have enjoyed the absence of extreme sexual violence over the last three books. i'm sure she'll get back to it, but it's nice to catch one's breath.
The Cellar - RIchard Laymon. Laymon's first book and the first in his "Beast House" series. Arguably one of the forerunners of Splatterpunk. I'm not the biggest fan of Laymon, but this was one of his better books. While it takes a lot in a horror book/movie to really bother me, I did take issue with the amount of more-than-implied child molestation in the book.
I'm not a big fan of his at all. Too many of his books feel like they're written by some going-through-puberty adolescent chocked full of ridiculous gore and stupidly written sex scenes. I only read this one because it's sequel was pretty good and it's the monthly read for the horror group I'm in on Goodreads.
Comments
Love Tim Miller. Hasnt written a bad book yet.
Only Human - Sylvain Neuvel. The conclusion to The Themis Files trilogy. It was a good book, though not nearly as good or interesting as the first book in the series (Sleeping Giants) and definitely a political statement on the state of the world today.
Jury. Executioner. Judge.
Jury. Executioner. Judge.
Robogenesis - Daniel H. Wilson. The sequel to Robopocalypse, this book just wasn't any where near as good, and was much more depressing.
Jury. Executioner. Judge.
Just an up date for ya
Convicting Avery: The Bizarre Laws and Broken System behind Making a Murderer - Michael D. Cicchini. Any questions about Steven Avery's innocence left by Making a Murderer were dispelled for me after reading just how terrible Wisconsin's justice system is, and how much Avery was railroaded by the cops and legal system. Guarantee I'll never even visit Wisconsin at this point.
Jury. Executioner. Judge.
The Good Daughter - Karin Slaughter. Unlike the previous novels I read by Slaughter, I had a really hard time getting into this one, coming close at one point to just giving up. The story really never begins to click until about mid-way through. From there it becomes much more compelling, although the ending was pretty abrupt and not that satisfying.
Jury. Executioner. Judge.
malice of crows, book three in lila bowen's shadow series. it may be my favorite thus far, which is really saying something because wake of vultures and conspiracy of ravens are utterly amazing. once again, we join world weary cowboy and supernatural avenger, rhett walker, who used to be nettie lonesome, and his traveling band of motley survivors, monsters, and societal outcasts (women, people of color, shapeshifters, folks with pleasantly flexible concepts of gender) as they seek a dangerous necromancer who has possessed the body of a child. bowen writes with a delightfully wicked edge, and our heroes encounter a steady stream of enchanted spiders, scorpions, gila monsters, and other critters that would do them harm. but what really makes malice an exceptional book, is the way bowen deftly confronts gender expectations and norms, as well as racism and class disparity, within the confines of this engaging and gripping story. it made me angry, it made me laugh out loud, it made me sad, but most of all it made me smile. eagerly anticipating the fourth installment.
fallen by karin slaughter. the will trent series continues, as he and his partner faith mitchell must find faith's kidnapped mother. of course they discover a treasure trove of secrets, and will starts to really push his boss, amanda wagner, who seems to know--constantly--more than she's letting on. sara linton from the grant county series returns as she and will get a little bit closer. i just love karin slaughter. she puts together an engaging mystery, fills it with really well-conceived characters, makes them behave like human beings, and hurls and endless barrage of mind XXXXs at them. all the while, she paints a vivid picture of the society around her characters, it's triumphs, and, most especially, its' deepest flaws. i love her.
The Space Vampires - Colin Wilson - 7/10
The Broken Girls - Simone St. James - 9/10
The Supernaturals - David L. Golemon - 6.5/10
Jury. Executioner. Judge.
Lighthouses: An Anthology of Dark Tales - edited by Cameron Trost. I looked forward to a whole book of horror stories all featuring lighthouses, but sadly the majority of these were mediocre efforts by nobody authors.
Jury. Executioner. Judge.
Foundryside - Robert Jackson Bennett. I actually won an advance copy of this book on Goodreads. I'm a fan of Bennett's earlier work which is mostly horror/sci-fi/weird fiction. Had I realized this was solely fantasy with none of those other elements present I wouldn't have been quite as interested. It was fairly enjoyable for about the first 2/3, but the last third of the book just dragged on and on needlessly with too much conversation and extended explanations of everything.
Jury. Executioner. Judge.
Wylding Hall - Elizabeth Hand. An interesting take on a haunted house tale, told in documentary style. Although with all the hype I've seen about this book, I'm surprised it was so short and ultimately didn't have that much depth.
No Doors, No Windows - Harlan Ellison. I always knew of Ellison to be a sci-fi/horror writer. However, as he makes abundantly clear in his extensive prologue for this book, he writes across a number of genres, and this collection had pretty much no sci-fi or horror. The tales were very dated and not all that entertaining.
Jury. Executioner. Judge.
Dawn in Damnation by Clark Casey. It's a western set in the afterlife with a vampire and werewolves. It's a gory action-packed fun read!
unseen by karin slaughter. lena adams is up to it again, getting people close to her seriously injured. or is she? is something else going on? while the crime in this one was kind of underwhelming, slaughter's characterizations are strong as ever, and it's nice to see lena get some space. also, will and sara's relationship continues to grow satisfyingly. a perfectly entertaining and solid read. i have enjoyed the absence of extreme sexual violence over the last three books. i'm sure she'll get back to it, but it's nice to catch one's breath.
The Cellar - RIchard Laymon. Laymon's first book and the first in his "Beast House" series. Arguably one of the forerunners of Splatterpunk. I'm not the biggest fan of Laymon, but this was one of his better books. While it takes a lot in a horror book/movie to really bother me, I did take issue with the amount of more-than-implied child molestation in the book.
Jury. Executioner. Judge.
Jury. Executioner. Judge.