Now, this rating may be subject to change (for worse), but as it stands … 3.5 (rounded up)
To be more clear, it’s due (in full) to the ending. I was leftNow, this rating may be subject to change (for worse), but as it stands … 3.5 (rounded up)
To be more clear, it’s due (in full) to the ending. I was left wanting more. I don’t usually say that. I don’t enjoy feeling “want.” But it’s there, and it needs to be acknowledged.
For the most part, this book really hit close to home. Insomnia, for one. You don’t know that level of deep, mind-shattering fear until you can’t catch sleep. Sleeplessness is frightening, folks. You cannot trust your own mind, and I’ve lost it more times than I can count. Thankfully, I have a somewhat shaky remedy that nets me a few hours. (But 3 is better than none, so…)
Moving on! Another similarity to this 30-something bozo’s life: cigarettes. I mean, a group of disparate smokers gather in a graveyard at midnight. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: smoking is this niche, social unifier. I’ve been a longtime smoker (going on 18 years now), and the amount of people I would have never met if I hadn’t been puffing those cancer sticks… It astounds me; The way it brings people together. And from all walks of life! Each of these individual characters were great! I saw myself in all of them, oddly enough. Like Edie, I studied journalism. Like Tamar, I work(ed) the circulation desk at a library. Like Hannah, I get weird when people start liking me. Like Tuck, I am lonely and have a hard time asking for help. And like Theo, I’m a habitual womanizer…lol, just kidding! The only thing habitual about me is putting my retainer in at night for the last 20 years.
Either way, and for so few pages to work with, M.L. Rio managed to develop these characters pretty well. I liked each and every one of them, flaws and all.
The atmosphere was done well. I like a moody setting, and a graveyard at night, with some mysterious going-on’s, was right up my dark, leaf-strewn alley. Every character had a part to play in decoding the central mystery, and I thought that was groovy. It made the story flow really nicely.
My sister and I attended an author talk the other night in NYC, where Ms. Rio discussed this novella (among other things). And, honestly, listening to her chat made me applaud her even more than when IWWV debuted. I stand by my statements that she remains an insta-buy author for me. Her work just fucking gets me, ya know? I’m a Millennial, but I’ll still say this: it’s my vibe. She’s my vibe. That playlist at the end was *chef’s kiss* (Interpol, Sonic Youth, Pixies, Garbage… like, curate the soundtrack to my fucking life, please!). Friends, I could’ve listened to her for hours… I hope there aren’t several more years before her next published piece. I’ll try and be patient, but I’m already 36, and I could be dead by then. So, like, no rush or anything, but, please, I NEED MORE, ML!
I’m going to end it here, because it’s 3AM, and my dog keeps waking up, looking over his shoulder at me in bed, his eyes saying, “You’re still up, Dad?” I should probably attempt to lie down and let him spoon me to sleep…...more
To get it out of the way: This really fell apart for me in the last 30-or-so pages. I AM UPSET! I AM FRUSTRATED! But the I’m… So… FucKING CONFUSED!!?!??!!
To get it out of the way: This really fell apart for me in the last 30-or-so pages. I AM UPSET! I AM FRUSTRATED! But the rest was everything I had hoped for. (I want that screenplay turned into a movie/horror series RIGHT FUCKING NOW!) The way unease built and held and constricted me throughout was remarkable. I haven’t felt those levels of atmospheric unsettling, what-the-fuckery, creeping dread, and mindfuck unreality warping reality since Iain Reid’s I'm Thinking of Ending Things, so, bravo for that. I was tearing through the pages well into the wee hours of the morning. I do enjoy books that don’t explain everything, and leave things ambiguous, sure. But I am still so torn on that ending… I really didn’t know what to expect, but it wasn’t that.
This book was well on the way to becoming a 5-star read; A new personal favorite was on the horizon. And then… and then…
92% of this book is what flying feels like. The final 8% is the commercial Flight 890’s jet engine you didn’t know was trailing you, until you’re sucked right in and puréed right out. Fuck. I don’t know what else to say. Y’all are probably gonna hate this. I kind of loved it, though, and for those moments I was enraptured, I actually contemplated marrying this sonofabitch book… but that last chunk infuriated me, and I tossed the Tiffany’s box I carried in my back pocket straight into Long Island Sound, and told Horror Movie “It’s not me, it’s you. Goodbye.”...more
Is this the same Riley Sager that wrote Final Girls?? I don’t believe it. Whereas that book is predictable trash, this one is twisty and engaging in aIs this the same Riley Sager that wrote Final Girls?? I don’t believe it. Whereas that book is predictable trash, this one is twisty and engaging in all the right places. I’m glad I gave Sager another chance, because this one was worth the read....more
I liked the gore and some of the unique concepts (the octopus, mostly), but the rest was rushed and incoherent. The aActual rating: 2.5 (rounded down)
I liked the gore and some of the unique concepts (the octopus, mostly), but the rest was rushed and incoherent. The art style was okay, but too frenetic at times, making it muddled and left me cross-eyed. Picked up the next three volumes from my library, but I don’t think I’m going to continue with this series....more
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for access to this eARC sampler, in exchange for an honest review.
UPDATE 9/6/21: I’ve stewed in my thoMany thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for access to this eARC sampler, in exchange for an honest review.
UPDATE 9/6/21: I’ve stewed in my thoughts for a while now, and I’ve decided to lower my rating completely.
Note: this is a review of the 400-page sampler I was provided, NOT the full book (which is around 800 pages).
This book is: The Witcher meets Interview with the Vampire meets Game of Thrones meets the movie Underworld
It’s also: •Violent as fuck •Bloody as fuck •Profane as fuck •And some would say (myself not being one of them) Sexy as fuck
This is NOT: •A book for kids •A read to be taken lightly •The best vampire story I’ve ever seen…
I’m not one to shy away from crass language—I, personally, can have an admittedly foul mouth—but here in Empire of the Vampire the vulgarity is severe overkill. I can understand the necessity for worldbuilding and characterization, but it’s SO fucking frequent to the point of absurdity. It took me out of the story often. Every sentence or spoken dialogue had some form of “fuck” “shit” and/or other four-letter words. The insults were always bullysome playground-styled nonsense. It was unfortunate that for a fantasy novel, the author chose to resort to high school-level profanity, which in turn made the adult content seem less intelligent, and more immature. Show me a character is hardened and butch some other way. Seriously. All the macho male posturing was FUCKING ANNOYING and BULLSHIT!
Kristoff promised us gay shit, and while I won’t go into specifics, it was just more f/f fetishization. When a (and I am making an assumption here!!!) “straight” male author frequently writes queer women and queer f/f sex scenes (i.e. The Nevernight Chronicles), I find it disgustingly male gaze-y. I shouldn’t even say “women,” because every gay female he writes is a teenager!!!!!!!! What we have here in Empire of the Vampire is gratuitous hetero male fantasy posturing in the guise of fantasy literature. NEARLY ALL** of the male characters are so offensively… STRAIGHT! The effeminate vampire is painted in a borderline homophobic way, all the jokes in the book are straight boy macho bullshit, and the author also makes it a point to mention in his world building how “sodomy is a sin.” There are slurs galore within this book, but Kristoff also uses a few gay jabs, as well. I thought that once—JUST ONE FUCKING TIME—Jay Kristoff would give us a queer male MC.
Rant aside, going back to the writing… I mean, when it’s good, it’s GOOD, but when it’s not, it’s cringe. “Ha Ha, you jerkface! I slept with your mother, and your sister, and your grandma” or “That’s not what your wife said last night, you meanie.” It was those kinds of jokes and remarks—nearly every other page—and with much more colorful language. The kind teenagers find funny, or people with a low maturity level. I was fine with it the first few times, but it got old real fast the more it went on and on and on and on. It wasn’t clever or funny, it was childish and annoying. Within the span of a few pages, there were two “jokes” about menstruating women, which is just… it’s just fucking tacky: “a she-devil on the rag” and “a dragon on her period.” Blah blah blah. Like, who finds that funny? (HAHA A PERIOD JOKE! GOOD ONE!) You can’t see it, but I’m rolling my eyes right now. People are finding this banter funny, but I find it underhanded misogyny. Also, a quip about a bishop and an altar boy that I found in terribly bad taste. However, there were many passages that engaged me thoroughly. Jay Kristoff has a deft hand at worldbuilding that doesn’t feel tacked on or info-dumping. It’s masterfully layered; not all of it spoon/fed to us. The kind of worldbuilding you need to pay attention to. Many references are made to past events and characters that we know absolutely nothing about, but it’s never frustrating not knowing the context, because the accompanying dialogue is usually enough to convey meaning and emotion. There’s a quote that I had to jot down immediately after reading it, because it was so good: “…a ball of nerves and restless energy, a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.” If that doesn’t perfectly capture my constant state of being, nothing else will.
Who was my favorite character in this vampiric slog? Ash. Hands down. That’s maybe saying something about how I perceived these characters on whole. I will say that they started growing on me, but not until close to the end of this sampler (about 350 pages in!). I know many are written to be unlikable and/or antiheroes, but that wasn’t the problem for me. You see, I LOVE antiheroes and always dig an unlikable character. It’s just the way Kristoff writes a few of them… almost like caricatures designed for specific fandoms. Dior, for example. And certainly Saoirse/Phoebe. Also, of course: Bellamy. Side note: There were far too many characters with facial scarring of some sort. Like, several. I dunno. I found it odd.
So, after all that, was there anything (else) I did like? Yes, yes there was: •The level of unflinching violence (gore galore!) •The uncompromising, darker than black atmosphere •A certain measure of surprise and intrigue •A slightly different taken on vampire lore •Thorough and engaging worldbuilding
I also liked the structure of this story. The interview style and the non-chronological storytelling was fun and kept me on my toes. Although, whenever Gabriel de Leon went to jump around in his telling, his back-and-forth with Jean-François was always the same argument. JF: “Blah blah you can’t do that.” GdL: “Fuck you, I do what I want.” It was like that every time.
(view spoiler)[The relationship between Dior and Saoirse was problematic: The age difference. That made me uncomfortable. A 14/16 year old hooking up with a 19 year old?!? WTF?!? And OF FUCKING COURSE it’s young QUEER FEMALES!!! Am I the only one noticing a trend here???? Mia/Ashlinn, Dior/Saoirse… two TEENAGED couplings that just happen to be sapphic romances… * (hide spoiler)] NOTE: Sexualizing minors of any gender makes me uncomfortable. Some have pointed out to me that this age difference isn’t wholly problematic, but I disagree. That’s just my opinion.
Bottom line: (EDIT #1) Yeah, I’ve changed my mind. Fuck this. If my copy was a physical one, I’d have thrown it across the room, but it was on my Kindle and I need that.
EDIT (view spoiler)[I forgot to take off a star for what happened to poor Phoebe and Justice. Y’all know me: I care more about the animals than the people, and I won’t apologize for it. (hide spoiler)]
**EDIT**9/18/21 These thoughts are my own. Some people will have read everything Jay Kristoff has written, and will disagree with me completely. I have my gripes with him… and his writing… but I know many who love the dude, and will most certainly love this book. I’ve simply had enough.**...more
I feel so blessed that I never encountered any spoilers for this book. Whether consciously or unconsciously, I avoided Actual rating: 3.5 (rounded up)
I feel so blessed that I never encountered any spoilers for this book. Whether consciously or unconsciously, I avoided any and all discussions, reviews, or even passing mentions of it (the same applies to the film adaptation). You see, I was told right before I started reading it, that this book works best if you go in completely blind. That is 100% accurate! When this book was first published, I remember reading the blurb, and then I guess I made a mental note to never read it again. Honestly, it was for the best! I love nothing more than when a book or movie manages to surprise me. It doesn’t happen often, and I don’t mean to sound like a braggart, but I’m pretty damn perceptive. Having read many books, seen & studied many movies, I can usually put the pieces together with very little information (often within the first few chapters of a novel). It’s a great upset, you see, because spoilers are my biggest pet peeve, and I frequently end up doing it to myself. This book, on the other hand, kept me guessing. (view spoiler)[One thing I will say is that Iain Reid made Dairy Queen unsettling. (hide spoiler)]
Prior to reading it, I thanked the high Heavens I avoided ‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things’ like the plague, because I WAS indeed surprised by it (and that makes me giddy). The only reason I did not rate this book higher is because I felt like it lost some steam around the 80% mark. So, due to the fact that it’s best not knowing anything before reading, I will not write a full review, and say nothing further about it. Zip, nada, zilch. Just read it for yourself... you’ll see....more
Half a star for the cool concept (which I won’t spoil), but everything else just made me so damn uncomfortable. Too much nudity and Actual rating: 1.5
Half a star for the cool concept (which I won’t spoil), but everything else just made me so damn uncomfortable. Too much nudity and sexual activity involving CHILDREN!!! Seriously, amidst all this insanity: why are all the “kids” so sex-crazed??? Actual quote: “We’ll organize an orgy... Just the kids.” Absolutely appalling. The ending was expected, but there’s no resolution/explanation whatsoever. This graphic novel just sort of happens... and then it ends. Maybe I’m missing some subtle allusions to moral, metaphor, or allegory, but I don’t really care.
The black and white coloring and style was hard to look at, and many of the details were lost inside the panels.
Also, (view spoiler)[the dog dying was upsetting. Why do authors always feel the need the kill the animals? And don’t fucking come at me with “But people died, too” bullshit. (hide spoiler)]
I heard M. Night Shyamalan is adapting this as his next film. It sounds like his kind of thing, but I wonder how he’ll be able to capture the concept for live action......more
Many thanks to NetGalley & Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for providing me this eARC, in exchange for an honest review.
After a volcanic erMany thanks to NetGalley & Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for providing me this eARC, in exchange for an honest review.
After a volcanic eruption at Mt. Rainier unleashes a horde of Bigfoots (what’s the pluralization?— Sasquatches? Sasquatchi?) onto a biotech-green community, a fight for survival ensues with (wo)man vs. squatch.
I dig this sort of story: a sci-fi/horror journalistic piece investigating something supernatural. We have Max Brooks, the journalist (and author), again giving us the facts in between chapters of Kate’s “journal entries”. The gimmick (and that’s pretty much how I viewed it) of using a journal to tell a story was a hinderance to the plot overall, in this case. I just couldn’t picture Kate rushing to record her thoughts and actions, as well as the movements of the Greenloop community, every time something happened. It was unrealistic to think that she’d essentially go “Dear Journal” after a gruesome attack and/or event. Having the story in retrospect made the writing a bit too sloppy at times, with Kate frequently saying something along the lines of “I am writing this now...” or “I took a moment to jot down what just happened...”. It was like “found footage”, but way less interesting or effective.
Some of the interspersed “interviews” and sections were hit-or-miss; And a few were, to be frank, quite boring. It ruined the pacing of the novel, this continuous stop-and-go between Kate’s journal entries and the post-massacre sections. To add to that: a bulk of pages (especially in the latter part of the book) were heavily devoted to “crafting”—in this case: weapons! I’m not gonna lie, I think the text got bogged by each passage detailing how to properly make a spear, javelin, hatchet, etc. I mean, it was kind of interesting, sure. I’ll give it that. Then again, I don’t need a two-page rundown on the technicalities of Martha Stewart-ing bamboo stalks, electrical cords and kitchen knives into instruments of death... and then repeat that countless times over for this particular weapon, or that particular fighting style.
As far as characters go, Kate was... how shall I put this? A drip! In the earlier sections, I really wanted to slap her (more than once!). She’s so passive and judgmental, naively irrational, and altogether meek and annoying. The shift in her was unconvincing and seemingly came out of nowhere—she went from super skittish to bloodthirsty confidence too quickly for it to be believable. Every other character was painted surface-level, and I really didn’t connect with or care about any of them. The only character I really liked was Mostar, honestly (view spoiler)[she deserved better!!! (hide spoiler)]. The entire plot is predictable, too (and aside from spoilers, predictability is one of my biggest pet peeves). From the first few pages, you already know that everyone is dead (with the exception of Kate, whose body was never found). And that level of knowing took the surprise and the immediacy out of the story completely. When the—for lack of a better term—“battle” happened, I felt nothing. I actually think more time was spent on the weapons “How To” crafting than on the actual onslaught. Disappointing.
The good: The author paints a vivid picture of the Washington wilderness. I saw clearly the trees, compound grounds, and Mount Rainier looming over it all. In a book like this, nature becomes its own character, and I feel like that was done somewhat well. Also, the first few deaths were (although expected) pretty effective in building some tension. It was the slow burn with a weak flame, but still something, I guess.
In the end, I don’t believe I wasted my time with this book. It has its moments, and I’m sure will interest genre fans, but I wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way to recommend it....more
Two 1-star reads in a row. 2020 is off to a pitiful start...
This is, I believe, my first foray into the “splatterpunk” sub genre of horror lit. I don’tTwo 1-star reads in a row. 2020 is off to a pitiful start...
This is, I believe, my first foray into the “splatterpunk” sub genre of horror lit. I don’t know how—or why— it has taken me this long to discover it... horror holds a special dark place in my heart in all things cinema, literature, and television. I’m a certified gorehound! But this book let me down. I hope this doesn’t set a precedent for the ones to follow, because this book is trashy, and not in a fun way.
Midnight’s Lair was published in the late 1980’s, and it shows—it really felt like I was reading the novel equivalent to a campy, retro slasher film, which was fun... at first. We get a host of the usual suspects you’d find in an 80’s horror, as well as lots of topless women (a good percent of this book is devoted to women being ogled terribly), pervy men/teens, cheeky banter, and all the ill-advised sex and unrelenting violence.
The novel starts off quickly, with no time to develop a real sense of the characters. I thought to myself, “They’re trapped already? That was fast!”. As it progresses, though, we get multiple shifting POV’s, and the characterizations were almost enough to satisfy me (with the exception of Kyle—who I regret sharing my namesake with—because I really, truly loathed him!). A slower build-up of tension would’ve benefitted this book greatly, but it just wasn’t there. And then, the actual “cave dwellers” don’t pop up until about 2/3rds of the way through. Instead, the author chose to focus more on sex, objectifying women, and creepy lechers. I had to skim a lot of this, because it made me feel icky—all the unnecessary sexual violence against the women—it was absolutely abhorrent! Almost every page, there are descriptions of women’s breasts, panties, thighs, “rumps”—and all through the heavy “male gaze”— as well as numerous incidents of slut shaming and someone making off-color comments. If blatant misogyny and shitty horror are your thing, Richard Laymon is for you!
I was hoping to read something campy and fun, but this just left me feeling gross. I’m against censorship, so I don’t mind ultra-violence, gore, and artistic expression in the horror genre when it’s done for a reason and makes sense in the story. But here, it’s just played for shock, titillation, and schlocky exploitation—and I love exploitation films and literature, too—but not when it’s pointlessly crude and mean-spirited.
Also, there were just too many characters for me to focus on or try/care to remember (I believe the initial number started at 40). And while we get many POV’s, I think it would have been better served with a smaller batch of characters.
In the end, I really have nothing good to say about Midnight’s Lair. The author should be ashamed of himself for writing such trash! This book is a waste of time, money, and paper....more
Campy YA 80’s queer slasher. That about sums it up.
In all honesty, I went into this with low expectations. I wasn’t exActual rating: 3.5 (rounded down)
Campy YA 80’s queer slasher. That about sums it up.
In all honesty, I went into this with low expectations. I wasn’t expecting much (at all), but was pleasantly surprised. It’s your better-than-average self-published book. The story itself is fairly unique in its slasher approach (and I do love me a good slasher), and the unpredictable nature it took on made me giddy. Because in this book, no one is safe! You like a certain character? Well, just like in Game of Thrones, they’re most likely gonna bite the dust. I both appreciated and hated this, because I really enjoyed quite a few of the characters, but applauded the decision to keep it surprising til the end by having no limits to who will die.
Aside from it taking a few chapters to hook me, as well as some flimsy plot holes and unanswered questions, I’d gladly read more from these authors....more
GODAMMIT, I was so ready to fall in love with this book. Really, I was! The retro cover, the 80’s, HORROR, the Satanic Panic... that shit speDNF @ 60%
GODAMMIT, I was so ready to fall in love with this book. Really, I was! The retro cover, the 80’s, HORROR, the Satanic Panic... that shit speaks to me on a deep, personal level. I am: 1. Obsessed with horror 2. Love that decade 3. Really into the ‘friends have an adventure’ or ‘friends take on the supernatural’ kind of stories (i.e. Stranger Things, The Goonies, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, etc).
But then, right from the start, the book started to get political, and ya know, it’s a big pet peeve of mine when an author brings up politics in a book that has nothing to do what-so-fucking-ever with politics. In this case, a YOUNG ADULT supernatural horror story. Like, of course he had to make the abusive, domineering, über-religious parents Republicans. Get over yourself and your misguided stereotypes. Strike one, Grady Hendrix.
And then—and this is the biggest gripe I have with the book—there was all the unnecessary violence against animals.
**Skip this next paragraph if you want to avoid spoilers**
There is a dog mentioned early on, so I immediately had to check this website I use called ‘Does the Dog Die?’ to, well, find out if the dog does indeed die in this particular book. Listen, it’s a big trigger for me. I don’t like seeing innocent, helpless animals suffer in any media format: not in films, not in television, not in literature. (Side note: a certain Goodreads user once called me a “psychopath” because I said I was upset when a dog was murdered in a book I reviewed. Yeah, if you’re reading this, fuck you! You know who you are) I don’t tolerate violence towards animals. With humans, I expect that, I can compartmentalize that. Anyways, ‘Does the Dog Die?.com said the dog is killed in a really fucked up way. This immediately put a damper on my reading experience, as I was only 20-something pages into the story. Like, was it REALLY necessary to do that, Mr. Hendrix? Seriously. That damn-near ruined the book for me. And if you think I’m overreacting, I don’t give a good goddamn. This kind of shit upsets me, and if you can’t comprehend that: Unfriend me, unfollow me, block me, whatever (but be brave enough to say it to my face). Dogs are better than people. There, I said it, and I’ll shout it loud and proud ‘til the day I die. Rant over.
**Spoilers have ceased**
Now, to continue with the rest of this review...
I hated all the characters. Truly. They are all lame stereotypes that employ every YA trope. Abby is just... she’s dumb! I don’t know how she was a scholarship student. Gretchen was the sheltered, rich, pretty best friend, Margaret the rich bitch, Glee the academic. Their friend group screamed unoriginality. I didn’t care for them, or what happened to them (aside from Max, the good dog).
There were countless instances of offensive and insensitive passages. Abby’s mother, a home health aide, calling people who hear voices “nutjobs”, really riled me. No mention on Abby’s part how that is uncalled for, the dialogue continues as if it’s okay to think that about people who suffer from mental illness. Having to send them to a “nuthouse” and make sure they don’t “chug-a-lug Drano.” Like, what the actual fuck, Grady Hendrix? Also, ageist comments about seniors and “depends,” Abby and Gretchen’s catchphrase “DBNQ (Dearly But Not Queerly)” just really aiming low here, as well as one scene making light of slavery.
Grady Hendrix out here demonizing the Catholic religion any chance he gets, too. Why is it that authors take the easy way out with their villains and antagonists, by making them hardcore religious zealots? To suspend my disbelief in a story about demonic possession, that every single adult was so “poisoned” by their religion, that they would in no way listen to or help those in need. That’s not how the world works. I have a little more faith in humanity than the author, it would seem.
In the end, I couldn’t muster the energy to finish this book in full. Yes, I hard-skimmed to the end, and I’m so glad I did. It was becoming a chore to read, and really very boring, to be honest. I expected more horror, and this DID NOT DELIVER. All this book managed to do was infuriate me, and regret ever purchasing it.
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