Book Reviews

The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker

 in Adult / Book Reviews / Books / Holiday by
the hellbound heart, clive barker, hellraiser

From wikimedia.org

[amazon template=add to cart&asin=0061452882]

Summary

“Frank Cotton’s insatiable appetite for the dark pleasures of pain led him to the puzzle of Lemarchand’s box, and from there, to a death only a sick-minded soul could invent. But his brother’s love-crazed wife, Julia, has discovered a way to bring Frank back;though the price will be bloody and terrible . . . and there will certainly be hell to pay.”

Review

Well….damn. Literally. This was quite a read. So let’s just say it to start off with, this is the book that the Hellraiser movie is based off of. And I’ve wanted to see the movie, or at least bits of it, but I wanted to read the short story first when I found out it was a short story. It’s classified as a novella as it is only about 48 pages long but it was a wild ride within those 48 pages.

Clive Barker has a very unique and interesting writing style. He researches what he is writing and clearly knows his stuff. And he is not afraid to be gruesome. This book was extremely violent and creepy as hell. Like it made my skin crawl in a few places. Why did I read it during the Christmas season you may ask? Because I needed a break from Finals, it was a quick read, and it would give me something to give you lovelies. So this is 100% a Halloween season book. Like perfect for Halloween!

Besides being quite graphic with the violence, due to the creatures and the nature of what the point of the story was, it was quite graphic sexually. I’m not talking about like people really having sex, but just images that it put forward and it was crude. However this only happened within the first few pages. This all makes this an ADULT book. Not young adult at all but definitely for adults. I mean technically if you have ‘teen’ in your name you are classified as young adult though, so I’m saying 18+ at least. This was quite explicit and violent material.

However the story was amazing. The idea behind it was incredible and how he was able to get so much into 48 pages was incredible. In a way it felt like a mixture between Stephen King and Dan Brown due to the scary sense from King and the historical and research portion from Brown. However if those two came together, you would need to multiply it by 10 and then you’d get Barker. Stephen King was listed on the back of The Book of Blood by Clive Barker (which I will be reading soon) as saying, “I have seen the future of horror, his name is Clive Barker.” And I love that quote. Clive Barker, I feel, isn’t read much. Many people have heard of the Hellraiser film, even though it isn’t terribly popular now, but not of his stories. But man I am glad I came across him. It was a good little adrenaline boost and the writing was good and it kept you guessing. I honestly had no idea how the book would end. And it felt like a movie when I was reading it. But not a Hollywood film. Those low-budget horror movies that are scarier than anything Hollywood could make.

Do I recommend reading it? Oh yes. I found a PDF of it online which is great but I’d suggest to get it just because it’s a book and I’m sure you’ll read it again. I know I will.

The story was fantastic, it wasn’t a long read and it made you question everything. What’s better?

Just remember, don’t open a box that you don’t know what’s in it.

Happy Reading!

Archangel’s Heart by Nalini Singh

 in Book Reviews / Books / Series by

Archangel's Heart by Nalini Singh

[amazon template=add to cart&asin=0451488008]

Summary

“One of the most vicious archangels in the world has disappeared. No one knows if Lijuan is dead or has chosen to Sleep the long sleep of an immortal. But with her lands falling into chaos under a rising tide of vampiric bloodlust, a mysterious and ancient order of angels known as the Luminata calls the entire Cadre together to discuss the fate of her territory.

Accompanying her archangelic lover Raphael to the Luminata compound, guild hunter-turned-angel Elena senses that all is not as it seems. Secrets echo from within the stone walls of the compound, and the deeper Elena goes, the uglier the darkness. But neither Raphael nor Elena is ready for the brutal truths hidden within—truths that will change everything Elena thinks she knows about who she is…

Nothing will ever be the same again.”

Review

Once again I am not disappointed in Nalini Singh’s books! I have been waiting since the last book, Archangel’s Enigma, came out. That was a side book with side characters however. This was with the main characters and it was following Lijuan again and her issues, however, she wasn’t actually in it. It followed a new group, called the Luminata. And yes, I did pre-order it so I got it the day it came out on November 1st. Which was SOOO exciting. Haven’t done that for a while.

Essentially they are Angels who search for enlightenment. But then shit hits and the fan and these secret people seem to be keeping a really  big secret that is bad. As it always happens to be with secret societies.

Now I’m not going to talk about the story exactly as you need to read it for yourself. And the fact that this is book 9 I believe means that you either love this series so far or hate it, so if you’ve been reading it, I just need to tell you that it has Raphael and Elena in it and you’ll buy it.

But if you’re expecting lots of steamy romance in this book, be prepared for a surprise. Out of all of the books, this one is in my top few that has the least amount of romance in it. This was about the story and the entanglement of characters and how they relate to Elena. Which, by the way, everything does. I’m waiting for Ms. Singh to just write that Elena has some prophecy about her or something because one way or another she is somehow intertwined into the lives of all of these Archangels and she has no clue how. Just one day she woke up and BAM, she found out her lover was an Archangel and people knew her ancestors, people who she herself doesn’t even know, and she’s somehow intricately entangled into their lives. I mean how cool is that? I wish my life was that exiting!

Anywhoooo, there were a lot of characters in this book as you had the new characters from the Luminata and then the entire Cadre was there as well. My only disappointment with this book was that the Legion was not in it. Yeah, remember those flying things from the end of the last book which were all cool and mysterious? I really thought they may have been in this book. But they were only mentioned once when Elena was talking about the new marking on Raphael’s head. So they were not talked about whatsoever which was kind of sad. But it was okay as we had this new group of characters which was interesting.

The story was not predictable as the ending I never saw coming and it ends with you wanting more and wanting some questions to be answered. So of course, I am going to have to wait another year for the next book to come out. Which really sucks. But it’s alright, I’ll have to read other good books in the mean time.

Also I love the cover. Just look at it and you’ll know why. I don’t really need to explain it. I mean those wings! That dress….ugh! Love it!

Which, BY THE WAY, I have not been doing. Schoolwork shoves wonderful literature in my face but it’s literature which is either in another language or is non-fiction and no one would ever read. Sadly. So finding time to read for fun is difficult. Except in the case of this book, I MADE time. Which I will be doing more and more now as I miss reading and boy is it a way to de-stress.

So anyhow, I really loved this book and it is another one in the series which you MUSTTTTT read. If you’ve read it, what was your opinion on it? If you haven’t read it, will you? And if you haven’t started the series….you’d better!

Happy Reading!

 

Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin

 in Book Reviews / Books / Fantasy / Older Readers / Young Adult / Younger Readers by
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From Amazon.com

Summary

“The only thing Avery Hood can remember about the night her parents died is that she saw silver-deadly silver, moving inhumanly fast. As much as she wants to remember who killed them, she can’t, and there’s nothing left to do but try to piece her life back together. Then Avery meets the new boy in school-Ben, mysterious and beautiful, with whom she feels a connection like nothing she’s ever experienced. When Ben reveals he’s a werewolf, Avery still trusts him-at first. Then she sees that sometimes his eyes flash inhuman silver. And she learns that she’s not the only one who can’t remember the night her parents died.Part murder mystery, part grief narrative, and part heart-stopping, headlong romance, Low Red Moon is a must-read for teen paranormal fans. As breathless as Twilight and as spooky as Shiver, this is a book to be devoured in one sitting-by an acclaimed YA author making her paranormal debut under the pseudonym Ivy Devlin.”

-From Amazon.com

Review

So I received this book as a gift from someone so naturally I just had to read it, quickly. Getting a book from someone is the best thing ever because I love to read, so who needs jewelry. Give me a good book and I’m set.

In all honesty, I read this book in about 2-3 hours as it’s not a difficult read at all. I would classify it as younger YA as the story is much more simplistic, the writing is simple, and there are not tons of words on the page. Meaning it’s not written like Shōgun where the font is really small and so is the spacing – it is larger font and more space between the words.

One thing which I thought was really cool about this book was every time the word ‘moon’ showed up, it was written in red. I haven’t seen that before really, or not that I remember, so it was quite a nice touch and added an effect to the story.

As for the actual story itself, it was quite simple and there was some character development but it wasn’t terribly deep. This is, of course, because it was a younger YA book so the stories are not as complex as books for older readers but it still had a good story. Werewolves are always kind of interesting to read about. The ending took a turn I was not expecting and that was nice as well. I had this horrible feeling that the ending would be a little bit predictable but it definitely wasn’t.

The story, as a whole, was a good story and for a YA book it was good. As I am an older reader, I would really have liked to see a little bit more going on with the story such as some more explanations, maybe some more detailed interactions, less of the whole ‘I just met this cute boy, I’m 15 years old, and I’m hinting at sleeping with him but I’m not going to…or am I…”. It sometimes bugs me when that happens. I mean the character is not always clearly 15 or 16 or so because of things that happen so you could see them as being older, except during these moments of passion when she would think to herself how young she is and I’m here like “NO…STOP THE TRAIN!!!!!!! 15 YEAR OLDS SHOULD BE PLAYING OUTSIDE…NOT WANTING TO SLEEP WITH A BOY THEY MET 5 DAYS PREVIOUSLY!!!”

I mean, I know it isn’t such a big deal, but it feeds into the constant culture that it doesn’t matter how long you know someone, sleeping with them is okay if you feel like you truly love them. Like come on, 24 hours ago Avery didn’t even think Ben would kiss her and then he did and then suddenly she’s ready to sleep with him. I did want to smack the character over that. That’s the only kind of aspect that made it maybe a little bit more older YA. They didn’t sleep together, but they kept hinting at it. And no 15 year old should be getting these ideas into their heads.

Overall, it was a decent werewolf YA book and I would recommend it. Would I have liked more from the story? Yes. But for a younger reader this would suit them perfectly. I haven’t been reading many YA books recently so it took me a while to adjust back to that writing style with the simpler story lines, but for the book it was good.

It had a beautiful red cover and caught my attention as soon as it was given to me.

Do check this one out (purchase it here) and let me know what you think.

Until next time, happy reading!