Review: Coraline

Reviewer: Kelsey
Author: Neil Gaiman
Format: eBook
Pages: 162
Rating: 6 out of 10

This review, upon review, may contain some spoilery info and is mostly a rant about it's creepiness.

Summary (Thanks Goodreads): Coraline's often wondered what's behind the locked door in the drawing room. It reveals only a brick wall when she finally opens it, but when she tries again later, a passageway mysteriously appears. Coraline is surprised to find a flat decorated exactly like her own, but strangely different. And when she finds her "other" parents in this alternate world, they are much more interesting despite their creepy black button eyes. When they make it clear, however, that they want to make her theirs forever, Coraline begins a nightmarish game to rescue her real parents and three children imprisoned in a mirror. With only a bored-through stone and an aloof cat to help, Coraline confronts this harrowing task of escaping these monstrous creatures.

Gaiman has delivered a wonderfully chilling novel, subtle yet intense on many levels. The line between pleasant and horrible is often blurred until what's what becomes suddenly clear, and like Coraline, we resist leaving this strange world until we're hooked. Unnerving drawings also cast a dark shadow over the book's eerie atmosphere, which is only heightened by simple, hair-raising text. Coraline is otherworldly storytelling at its best.

What I Think: This book is the creepiest thing ever. The movie? Just as creepy! Button eyes? This is a children's book? Coraline, why did you go through the door? Look what happens when you don't listen to your parents! This is what you get! Chased by a hand off a lady with button eyes! See. I bet you wish you didn't steal that key, don't you?

A lot of weird stuff happens in this novel that is kind of fantastic (Fan-tas-tic: /fan'tastik/: adj. 1.imaginative or fanciful; remote from reality). It was hard to follow at some points but I loath to admit that since it's a children's novel. Whatever. 

I think that the writing and vocabulary was great. It's a simple read and it's becoming one of those novels that people just read to be up on what's happening in the world. It won't take you too long should you choose to endure the super scary story.

Review: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Reviewer: Kelsey
Author: Seth Grahame-Smith
Format: Paperback
Pages: 433
Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Summary (hunted down on Goodreads): Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness."

"My baby boy..." she whispers before dying.

Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire.

When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, "henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose..." Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.

What I Think: I picked this book up because it had a cool cover and a movie to match it. I didn't expect what it would turn out to be. I didn't have high expectations for it either. I went into it with an open mind. Perhaps, my mind was too open. The novel starts out by stating the "facts". Yes, I realize that this novel is fiction and nothing more but constantly during my time spent reading this novel, I caught myself questioning reality. The author did a wonderful job of making it seem real. It was unbelievable. 

I love that the novel goes back and forth between diary passages and the author's comments. The author puts himself in the story as the narrator. He's almost like a lawyer arguing his case. It's like he's trying to prove that it's real and the passages are his proof. It's fascinating. I've never read anything that presents the story in this manner. I enjoyed it a great deal. It does however make the pages seem longer or...something. The novel isn't as long as it seems because of this back and forth and formatting changes. It's not distracting however.

There is enough fact woven into the fiction to make you pay attention. It also makes you feel bad for Lincoln. He had a lot of heart break and pain in his life according to this novel. It's really amazing that the character of Lincoln (not the real one, this review is confusing me) survived all that he did. The sudden dreams really through you off so watch out for those; the author is sneaky. 

There were some annoyingly large time gaps. I understand that I don't really want to read about 50 years of a life, I just wish that the time gaps would have been stated clearly and more often than they were. There were also a lot of characters that the reader has to keep straight. I eventually gave up trying and just started hoping for the best but between the number of characters and the amount of death in this novel, it's not an easy feat.

This was a fairly easy and fast read for me. I'll go with it not being a waste of time. It's not exactly a young adult work though. It's definitely a real grown up novel. I still love my young adult fiction to have thrown myself fully into this story. I wish I could. Maybe when I'm older, it'll get a reread just to see if the rating goes up.

Basically: I enjoyed this novel and it was really good at trying to trick you into thinking this is really how history went down. I love the novel for that. I thought this was interesting. If you like vampire stuff (Twilight excepted) or action novels then I recommend you at least give this book a quick scan as you walk past it in the book store. I liked it.

Movie: I have yet to watch it though I have it here at my house. I'll get back to you on it. I have to credit with the movie for spiking my interest in this novel in the first place. Without the movie, I would never have heard anything about this novel nor would it have had the cool movie cover that made me pick it up (I do judge books by the cover). I hope the movie is good.

The Troop

Reviewer: Kristen
Author: Nick Cutter
Pages: 368
Format: Paperback (ARC- sent by Simon and Schuster Canada)
My Rating: 9 out of 10 stars

Summary (thanks GR): Lord of the Flies meets The Ruins in this frightening novel written in the bestselling traditions of Stephen King and Scott Smith. 

Boy Scouts live by the motto “Be Prepared.” However, nothing can prepare this group of young boys and their scoutmaster for what they encounter on a small, deserted island, as they settle down for a weekend of campfires, merit badges, and survival lessons.

Everything changes when a haggard stranger in tattered clothing appears out of nowhere and collapses on the campers’ doorstep. Before the night is through, this stranger will end up infecting one of the troop’s own with a bioengineered horror that’s straight out of their worst nightmares. Now stranded on the island with no communication to the outside world, the troop learns to battle much more than the elements, as they are pitted against something nature never intended…and eventually each other.

“Lean and crisp and over-the-top....Disquieting, disturbing,” says Scott Smith, author of The Ruins and A Simple Plan, The Troop is a visceral burn of a read that combines boldly drawn characters with a fantastically rendered narrative—a terrifying story you’ll never forget.

My Thoughts: So, Stephen King read this book (and loved it, and seriously, it's basically impossible not to) and said ""THE TROOP scared the hell out of me, and I couldn't put it down. This is old-school horror at its best. Not for the faint-hearted, but for the rest of us sick puppies, it's a perfect gift for a winter night.". I couldn't sum this novel up better myself. This book scared the bejesus out of me. The reason for that is probably because it just seems so real. The entire time, I had this super annoying and creepy mantra playing in my head that went something like: "This could happen, this could totally happen." All the characters were incredibly, for lack of a better word, real. The children were total shit heads, which made it seem like it was an actual scout group out camping in the wilderness. I really didn't know what to expect with this novel, especially in regards to "The Hungry Man". I knew it was going to be a horror, but I didn't know what kind of horror to expect. And let me just tell you how I did not, at all, expect this. I didn't know if I should be scared of "The Hungry Man" or the fact that there was something so blatantly wrong with him (cough cough tape worms). I didn't know if I should trust Tim (the scoutmaster). I didn't know what kid to trust, I didn't know what adult to trust (which turns out, neither do the children). But I think the scariest thing about this story was that more often then not, just because you don't trust someone, doesn't mean they become the boogy monster inside your closet. Not the case at all with this book. They all scared me. The bioengineered "this could only happen in ghost stories" illness, the messed up children, and the lack of response from the adults that were supposed to be their saviours. The only bone I really have to pick with this novel is the fact that little bitty animals were hurt. It wasn't gratuitous, but it was enough to make me frown. On the same hand, I understand why they're necessary to the story. My favourite part of this story is probably what separated each chapter. In between each chapter, the readers got little glimpses of what happened after the manufactured horror of the events that took place in P.E.I. The reader got to see glimpses of court readings, and reports from the scientist who "created" the monster worm, diaries from the kids who made it out of there but needed some intense therapy sessions. For any other novel, I think this could be a risky road to take, as it could easily give away too much information. However, the author weaved this together perfectly, and gave away the perfect amount of information to keep me reading till it got dark enough for the boogey man to get me. 

There were many a times when I had to just put this book down and walk away. I couldn't read it before bed, and I couldn't read it while I was eating. (Shoutout to Simon and Schuster for actually warning me of that fact, at first I thought you were kidding.... lesson learned!) This book is not at all for the faint of heart. It's graphic in all the right places. It explains everything without killing me in details. And it is so horrifyingly scary that it will keep you up nights after you have finished thinking of all kinds of "what if's". The writing was perfect and the story gave me my fair share of goose bumps. Probably more than my fair share! 

Final Thoughts: This novel is perfectly executed, and it's a story I haven't - and won't - be able to get out of my head for a long, long time. 

Frankenstein

Reviewer: Kelsey
Author: Mary Shelley
Format: Paperback
Pages: 215 (mine was a different edition then that of the cover shown)
Rating: 6 out of 10

Summary (Thanks Goodreads): Mary Shelley began writing Frankenstein when she was only eighteen. At once a Gothic thriller, a passionate romance, and a cautionary tale about the dangers of science, Frankenstein tells the story of committed science student Victor Frankenstein. Obsessed with discovering the cause of generation and life and bestowing animation upon lifeless matter, Frankenstein assembles a human being from stolen body parts but; upon bringing it to life, he recoils in horror at the creature's hideousness. Tormented by isolation and loneliness, the once-innocent creature turns to evil and unleashes a campaign of murderous revenge against his creator, Frankenstein.

Frankenstein, an instant bestseller and an important ancestor of both the horror and science fiction genres, not only tells a terrifying story, but also raises profound, disturbing questions about the very nature of life and the place of humankind within the cosmos: What does it mean to be human? What responsibilities do we have to each other? How far can we go in tampering with Nature? In our age, filled with news of organ donation genetic engineering, and bio-terrorism, these questions are more relevant than ever.

My Thoughts: Poor Frankenstein. I really feel bad for the guy. Talk about one mistake ruining the rest of your life. That said, maybe he should have spent a little bit more time thinking about what he was planning to do. Did it really seem like that good of an idea? I mean, if you really sat down with it, did it? Probably not. People are stupid, I guess.

I didn't really understand the connection between the letters and the story. I think that part could have been done in many different ways but the author gets final say, she must have liked it just the way it was. It seems really important, how it begins, but it's not really. I focused too much on it at the time. It's not the real meat of the story. It's more foreshadowing what happens to Frankenstein than anything else. The beginning of this novel really didn't lend itself to a good climax though. The reader already knows whats going to happen to the poor guy. I feel that this points to a different kind of reader. Mary Shelley wrote this for the people of her time and I think between the lack of really high point and vocabulary (did I mention I love classics for the vocabulary? I love learning big words) we can learn what that reader must have liked. 

Speaking of Mary Shelley, I read A Vindication for the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft which was a major bore-fest in an English class. Imagine my surprise upon finding out that these Marys were in fact the same Mary. After knowing this, I really didn't want to read Frankenstein. Thank god the two works were nothing a like.

There are many different TV versions of the same story. Of course, there is the movie and its subsequent remakes and spoofs as well as the Once Upon a Time version which is nothing like the real story. All of these confused versions made it so that I had no idea what the real story was about. I'm glad that I took the time to find out what the real story actually is. With so many versions and references about it out in the world, how could you not take a couple hours and read this novel over?

To End:  Luckily, this wasn't a very long novel. You can take your time reading it and still not take too long to get through it. Classics fans will enjoy this addition to their collection. You should really check out the real story behind all the remakes and allusions. 

Favourite Movie Version:

So it's not really right from this book but I really enjoy Young Frankenstein. It's a spoof of the novel but really entertaining. If you aren't looking for a carbon copy you should check out this movie. It's old and in black and white (it's not that old, it's just for fun) but it's worth a watch. Enjoy it. It's all for fun.