Retribution Falls Goes YA

Chris Wooding's popular Tales of the Ketty Jay series is going Young Adult. With that in mind it receives a new cover to play on the cowboy theme. Sadly there is nothing to show it is also a steampunk genre novel. No flying airships or daring escapes featured on the cover. While I like its minimalism, I think the original covers are much better.

Retribution Falls will debut in the YA section the first week of 2012.

REVIEW: The American Book of the Dead by Henry Baum

The American Book of the Dead by Henry Baum
Publishing information: Paperback; 248 pages
Publisher: Backwards Books; 1 November 2009
ISBN 10: 9780578026930
ISBN 13: 978-0578026930
Standalone
Copy: Provided by author
Reviewer: Tyson

Back of the Book: "Eugene Myers is working on a novel about the end of the world. Meanwhile, he discovers his daughter doing porn online and his marriage is coming to an end. When he begins dreaming about people who turn out to be real, he wonders if his novel is real as well. Eugene Myers may just be the one to stop the apocalypse.

In the tradition of Philip K. Dick and Robert Anton Wilson, The American Book of the Dead explores the nature of reality and the human race's potential to either disintegrate or evolve."

The first thing I would like to say is that for some reason I really like the cover. Maybe it is because I just finished playing Portal 2. With that said, there is no shortage of books featuring the apocalypse; however, Baums The American Book of the Dead is a very different spin on the events that bring an end to humanity. We have a writer, Eugene Myers, has somehow channeled the future and knows the end of days is coming.

Eugene Myers is a typical male. He teaches at the local college and dreams of his female students, his wife barely has time for him and thinks he is inept. When his dreams become very specific he decides to track them down only to find that they too are having strange dreams. As things continue to spiral down to doomsday he and his new friends look for a way to survive. While Baum does his best to keep Myers grounded and humble he never really comes off as anyone I wanted to cheer for. The people that he surrounds himself with also have very few (if any) characteristics that make you want to get to know them.

Then there is the President of the United States of America, he has decided to bring about the biblical end of the world and proclaims himself the Anti-Christ. There was a lot of bible talk and a few verses. I have no problem with one here or there but they just made me annoyed. The babble that he spewed and how he twisted it to his own needs is nothing new and you can find it on many channels. But as a villain who we are told is highly intelligent, we are never shown that fact and the way in which he just does things off the cuff without much thought of his actions does not show me an intelligent person. His father was a much more interesting character and would have been a craftier antagonist.

While The American Book of the Dead started out strong it quickly started to show its weakness and once the cracks began to show they grew larger. There is a slight twist to the story but even with that looming on the horizon it did nothing to save the book. The ending was also a little too tidy for me to enjoy the novel. We are talking about an apocalypse and it seems far too happy and uplifting. We all like our books coming to a sunny conclusion but this was just too much to bear. While the book may be right up many people's alley it was not to my liking.

Plot 6
Characters 5
Style 7

Overall 5/10

Harper Voyager to Reissue A Song Of Ice And Fire in Hardback in the UK

After releasing A Dance with Dragons, one of the most anticipated books of recent years, Harper Voyager decided to reissue the first four books of the amazingly popular series A Song of Ice and Fire in hardback. Their cover art will follow and complement the theme of A Dance with Dragons' cover.

I Don't Get Book Trailers!

Call me old-fashioned or old-school but I don't get book trailers. I fail to see how a book trailer can do a better job than a well-written blurb to excite a potential reader. I'm not against using a different medium to promote a book however a trailer is so limiting with regards to the reader's imagination. It's just like a film that can rarely be anything other than a pale interpretation of a book.

I understand it is a marketing tool and it is important to reach a wider audience when promoting. But someone who picks trailer over blurb, forgive me if I sin here, is probably not a potential reader to start with. He/she would wait for the film to come out. All right. I'm probably being a little bit too unfair. All joking aside, is there science behind book trailers? Is there really potential readers who wouldn't be reached if we didn't have book trailers? Has there been a book trailer that makes justice to its book or that makes a better job than the blurb?

Do you care about book trailers? Have you ever bought a book thanks to its trailer?

REVIEW: The Ritual by Adam Nevill

The Ritual by Adam Nevill
Publishing Information: Trade Paperback; 368 pages
Publisher: Macmillan (6 May 2011)
ISBN 10: 0230754929
ISBN 13: 978-0230754928
Copy: Sent by the publisher
Reviewer: Yagiz

"And on the third day things did not get better. The rain fell hard and cold, the white sun never broke through the low grey cloud, and they were lost. But it was the dead thing they found hanging from a tree that changed the trip beyond recognition.

When four old University friends set off into the Scandinavian wilderness of the Arctic Circle, they aim to briefly escape the problems of their lives and reconnect with one another. But when Luke, the only man still single and living a precarious existence, finds he has little left in common with his well-heeled friends, tensions rise.

With limited fitness and experience between them, a shortcut meant to ease their hike turns into a nightmare scenario that could cost them their lives. Lost, hungry, and surrounded by forest untouched for millennia, Luke figures things couldn’t possibly get any worse.

But then they stumble across an old habitation. Ancient artefacts decorate the walls and there are bones scattered upon the dry floors. The residue of old rites and pagan sacrifice for something that still exists in the forest. Something responsible for the bestial presence that follows their every step. And as the four friends stagger in the direction of salvation, they learn that death doesn’t come easy among these ancient trees..."

Oh! How I love a good horror story. But in my humble opinion and limited experience, they are rare. When I reviewed Adam Nevill's Apartment 16 last year, I told that I was looking forward to the author's next book. Today I'm glad because he won't disappoint his readers with his last book. Nevill comes back with even a greater horror story in The Ritual.

The story starts with four old university friends going on a camping trip together. Having lived their lives their way since leaving the university, some see the trip as a bonding session, some see it as an escape from their day-to-day life. The crucial detail is that the trip is in Scandinavian wilderness. Life has treated them differently and being together once again doesn't go without its tension. But their story grows its real thorns when they decide to take a shortcut and they get lost.

At this point I can almost hear your thoughts. This or very similar stories have been told before. But believe me, never like this. Nevill's characters are so well developed that the reader finds herself in the midst of a quicksand of horror, slowly sinking deeper as the pages turn themselves. Hutch is the cement of the group. He is a level-headed, nice guy who is loved and respected by the other three. He assumes the leadership naturally. Luke is the wild spirit who hasn't had a career and a stable life since leaving college. And he doesn't get along well with Dom and Phil, who have a good career and a family life. Nevill develops their characters skillfully throughout the story.

One of the things I like about Nevill's stories is that the author doesn't rely on gore to scare his readers. I may be old-school but gore has never impressed me. I value horror when it shapes itself in the reader's mind, tickling primitive, evolutionary, well-hidden fear buds. Nevill's stories are like that. The reader is ensnarled in their slowly growing tentacles, holding her in place, while she is incapable of separating herself from the book.

"There was simply no preparation in life for the determined madness of others."

In The Ritual, the reader finds herself right in the middle of a distressing situation from the very beginning. The first pages clearly announce what is to come. The setting alone is disturbing. The author leaves the urban environment of his previous books to bring the reader in the untouched parts of the Scandinavian forests. With the author's fluent style and his masterful descriptions, the black forest becomes the perfect horror setting.

Adam Nevill raises the bar higher with The Ritual. When great setting, memorable characters and beautiful prose come together one can happily sit back and enjoy the incredible ride. I would buy Nevill's next book without even reading its blurb.

Plot: ............. 9
Characters: ... 9
Style: ............ 9

Overall: ....... 9/10

REVIEW: Skulls (Kindle Edition) by Tim Marquitz

Skulls by Tim Marquitz
Publishing information: Kindle
Publisher: Damnation Books
ISBN 10: 1615723544
ISBN 13: 978-1615723546
ASIN: B004U7FOA0
Standalone
Copy: Provided by Author
Reviewer: Tyson

Synopsis: "Life held little interest for Jacob…until he found death.

Abused and neglected, Jacob’s only solace comes when he is alone in the woods or in the arms of his new girlfriend. But when he stumbles across a hidden bunker filled with human skulls, he learns what true suffering is. Drawn to examine the skulls, he finds there is more than just empty blackness behind their lifeless stares. Through their eyes he watches them die.

With every glance, he witnesses another murder, the memories of the dead playing out inside his mind until reality becomes a blur. A primal cruelty awakening, Jacob returns to the morbid comfort of the skulls, over and over again. But when he happens upon a fresh skull, a victim tortured and slain for his amusement alone, he knows his time has come. Face to face with death, Jacob must choose whether to resist the darkness that dwells inside or condemn himself forever, murdering his innocence on the edge of an axe."

When Tim approached me to read Skulls he did not tell me much other than it is very different from his Armageddon Bound or Sepulchral Earth series. He was telling the truth as Skulls is a not what I was expecting and it was quite haunting at times.

Skulls is about a troubled teen named Jacob, his mother has left him to the care of an abusive and more often drunk father and an indifferent step-mother. He lives a dejected life where the only humanity he has found is his girlfriend, who ensures he is properly fed and has some happiness in his dispirited existence. Jacob is your typical crestfallen youth who could really go either way depending upon which way you push him. His girlfriend tries to bring out the best in him where his father does everything in his power to destroy what little hope he has in his life.

Jacob and his friends are out in the woods playing "Zombie" and drinking beer when Jacob uncovers a underground lair containing several human skulls. When Jacob looks into the empty eye sockets he is drawn into the very last moments of that person's life. Each life is brought to an untimely end by a masked man with an axe. The memories become more and more powerful and draw Jacob to return and learn more of the fates of those skulls and why more skulls are found each time he returns. As the need to return to the underground lair becomes addiction, he begins to change and this is noticed by his friends, girlfriend, and local law enforcement.

The memories he replays are interesting and horrifying, yet tastefully done. There is just enough gruesome details to give you the overall outcome of the victim, yet never over the top. Not to mention the fact that while this is a horror novel there is a bit of mystery as someone is watching Jacob enter and exit the lair and adding skulls to the collection. When everything is finally brought to a conclusion I found that I was completely wrong with who I thought the killer was which is something that I enjoyed. I like it when it comes from right field.

Skulls is a great choice for a Halloween read and if you have not had the opportunity to read anything by Tim Marquitz, this is the perfect time to start. While the story is short, it is one of his best to date. You will not be disappointed. Highly Recommended.

Style 9
Characters 10
Plot 9

Overall 9/10

Cover Art: Daniel Abraham's The King's Blood

Daniel Abraham's The Dragon's Path has been, without a doubt, one of my best reads this year (as of this writing, its review is still 'work in progress'). And I'm truly looking forward to reading the second book of The Dagger And The Coin series. So when I saw the cover art of The King's Blood, I had the great feeling to be closer to the publication date.

Even though this cover is following the same theme, I liked the cover of The Dragon's Path better. It had more life. But maybe that's the whole intention behind the cover of The King's Blood: Red, reminiscent of blood, and devoid of life, announcing deaths to come.