Hiển thị các bài đăng có nhãn Dark. Hiển thị tất cả bài đăng
Hiển thị các bài đăng có nhãn Dark. Hiển thị tất cả bài đăng

Inland

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Inland by Kat Rosenfield

Callie Morgan has long lived choked by the failure of her own lungs, the result of an elusive pulmonary illness that has plagued her since childhood. A childhood marked early by the drowning death of her mother—a death to which Callie was the sole witness. Her father has moved them inland, away from the memories of the California coast her mother loved so much and toward promises of recovery—and the escape of denial—in arid, landlocked air.

But after years of running away, the promise of a life-changing job for her father brings Callie and him back to the coast, to Florida, where Callie’s symptoms miraculously disappear. For once, life seems delightfully normal. But the ocean’s edge offers more than healing air … it holds a magnetic pull, drawing Callie closer and closer to the chilly, watery embrace that claimed her mother. Returned to the ocean, Callie comes of age and comes into a family destiny that holds generations of secrets and very few happy endings. -Plot summary borrowed from Goodreads

 I was completely drawn in to Rosenfield's Amelia Anne Is Dead and Gone, and had high hopes for the creeping horror in this novel, many of which were met. The prose was gorgeous. Callie's family mysteries were intriguing. The romance was mostly sweet and believable while not overwhelming the plot. I loved the ambiguity of Callie's condition- is she really ill, or is she some depth-dwelling horor-beast with gills?? 

Unfortunately, that's exactly where this book lost me. I really can't blame Rosenfield. It's not her fault that I'm so much more likely to believe, and be interested in, a fantasy plotline than a mental illness one. A book can drop all the hints it wants that the narrator is unreliable and likely disturbed- I'll still root for them being a mermaid or visited by fairies.

(One exception to this rule is Caitlin R. Kiernan, but I think that's because she writes about people encountering supernatural occurrences while also battling depression or schizophrenia, all with a deft hand and distressingly evocative language)

So, while there were plenty of things I liked about this book (and gave it 5 stars on Goodreads), I think it's one that will work better for its target teen audience, especially those who haven't binged on similar titles. If you're looking for something more adult on related marine themes, check out Caitlin R. Kiernan's The Drowning Girl or Sarah Monette's Somewhere Beneath Those Waves, and there's always the Mermaid tag on this very blog! 

If you need me, I'll be rereading "The Shadow over Innsmouth."

Another Little Piece

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Another Little Piece by Kate Karyus Quinn

On a cool autumn night, Annaliese Rose Gordon stumbled out of the woods and into a high school party. She was screaming. Drenched in blood. Then she vanished.

A year later, Annaliese is found wandering down a road hundreds of miles away. She doesn't know who she is. She doesn't know how she got there. She only knows one thing: She is not the real Annaliese Rose Gordon.

Now Annaliese is haunted by strange visions and broken memories. Memories of a reckless, desperate wish . . . a bloody razor . . . and the faces of other girls who disappeared. Piece by piece, Annaliese's fractured memories come together to reveal a violent, endless cycle that she will never escape—unless she can unlock the twisted secrets of her past. -Plot summary borrowed from Goodreads

This one is not for the faint of heart. It's dark and scary, and slightly confusing in a way that ends up being more disorienting and creepy than seeming like a flaw. The horror is given weight by family trauma, and the guilt Annaliese feels. Secondary characters are well-developed and complex, and the plot will keep you guessing until the bloody end. Quinn doesn't back down from grotesque horror or realistic high school issues. If you're a fan of intense horror and psychological drama, check this one out. If you can't handle something like Hannibal you might want to give this a pass.

Highly recommended for some last minute Halloween scares.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

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The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown’s gates, you can never leave.

One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself. -Plot summary borrowed from Goodreads

If you know me, or have seen my somewhat alarming Goodreads account, you know that I read a lot. Really rather a lot. Kind of unhealthy a lot. So when I say that I stayed awake one night to finish this book, and that that hasn't happened for years, I want you to get my full meaning. 

This book will sink its fangs into you and not let go, giving your neck a bit of a shake when you start to coast. It's suspenseful and absorbing and dark. It reminds you that vampires are horrifying and dangerous, while still agreeing that, ok yeah, they are, but of course people are still drawn to them. It deals with vampires in some of the same ways True Blood does at the top of its game- by exploring how people would react to vampires now. In this book, that means strict quarantines. It means reality shows. It means tacky merchandise. It means disenfranchised kids glorifying the undead, identifying with them, and naively running away from home to join them. It means, in my new favorite example of an author actually understanding youth culture, tumblr GIFs. 

Tana is fierce, reckless and self-destructive, but protective and intelligent all the same. Her ex Aidan is even more flawed, and a train wreck in slow motion, but hardly a villain. Black does a good job with her sympathetic vampire character, but it is slightly well-worn territory. Much more interesting is the world-building, and the secondary characters. This book has something for every YA reader. Vampires, ballgowns, dystopian cities, disaffected youth, a handful of really steamy romance scenes- Black has you covered.

Fall Preview

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I had pumpkin flavoring in my coffee today, which means something very, very important- fall is almost here! To celebrate this, the best of all seasons, here is a sneak peek at some of the books I will be reading and reviewing over the coming months.

Another Little Piece by Kate Karyus Quinn

Since this paranormal thriller is being billed as a cross between the writings of Stephen King and Pretty Little Liars, it promises a hefty dose of chills, drama and intrigue. I, a fan of CW dramas, particularly of a supernatural nature, am so there.







The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo

"One evening, my father asked me if I would like to become a ghost bride..."

"Though ruled by British overlords, the Chinese of colonial Malaya still cling to ancient customs. And in the sleepy port town of Malacca, ghosts and superstitions abound. Li Lan, the daughter of a genteel but bankrupt family, has few prospects. But fate intervenes when she receives an unusual proposal from the wealthy and powerful Lim family. They want her to become a ghost bride for the family's only son, who recently died under mysterious circumstances. Rarely practiced, a traditional ghost marriage is used to placate a restless spirit. Such a union would guarantee Li Lan a home for the rest of her days, but at a terrible price." Plot summary borrowed from Goodreads

Paranormal historical fiction with a gorgeous cover? Why is this not already on my shelf? 



Untold, The Lynburn Legacy Book Two by Sarah Rees Brennan

You can read my gushing glowing review of Book One here. I love this series, with its mysterious small town setting, gothic trappings, quirky family dynamics, and well-rounded characters. The romance is a bit over the top, but, given the aforementioned fondness for the CW, I can hardly pretend to be above bad boy (or are they?!) love interests with leather jackets, motorcycles, and weird abilities, especially when their female counterpart is interesting, capable, and intelligent. 





The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Holly Black has traded in fae-flavored urban fantasy for a vampire dystopia, and I am so on board. I'm hoping for some well-thought out and compelling vampire worldbuilding similar to what I read in Team Human (which is FANTASTIC, close this tab and read it immediately), rather than the slightly Mary Sueish genre lumbering from Julie Kagawa's The Immortal Rules, but we shall see.




Kinslayer by Jay Kristoff

The first book, Stormdancer, was a bit love or hate for most readers, and I loved it. Sure, Kristoff borrows a lot from Japanese culture, and it doesn't always work, but I give him major points for even approaching Steampunk from a different cultural perspective than "white upper middle class Englishman." Also, I have a mighty need for more Buruu in my life. Plus, when do I ever turn down a demon-hunting protagonist? Ok, sometimes, but a demon-hunting protagonist with her very own talking griffin? Not bloody often, mate, that's when.




The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

Guys. GUYS. More Raven Boys. More Blue Sargent and all her clairvoyant family. More ghosts and romance and Ronan. And his baby raven. AAAAHHHH.









The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two by Catherynne M. Valente

I can't even tell you how much I want to be back in Fairyland with September, A-L, and the other characters from this series. I tend to get a little carried away when talking about this series, so you might just want to read the first two blog posts I've done, before I get carried away again. 





There are more, of course, many of which are on the scarier side (Halloween being not far off, after all), but I don't want to give everything away at once. Stay tuned, folks.

Somewhere Beneath Those Waves

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Somewhere Beneath Those Waves by Sarah Monette

The first non-themed collection of critically acclaimed author Sarah Monette''s best short fiction. To paraphrase Hugo-award winner Elizabeth Bear's introduction: '"onette's prose is lapidary, her ideas are fantastical and chilling. She has studied the craft of fantastic fiction from the pens of masters and mistresses of the genre. She is a poet of the awkward and the uncertain, exalter of the outcast, the outre, and the downright weird. There is nothing else quite like Sarah Monette's fiction." -Plot summary borrowed from Goodreads

Ok, so this isn't YA. I was getting desperate for another post, and I know there are people who may read this blog occasionally who would love this one. Before this one I had read The Bone Key, her collection of short stories about Kyle Murchison Booth, a sort of supernatural detective. She really captured the feel of Lovecraft's horror in some of those stories, without getting bogged down in the prose or offering faceless narrators. She also has the detective story thing down, and I'd love to see a Mystery! production of Booth's stories, in the same vein as Miss Marple or Poirot. 

Both these points, while true, don't do any justice to Monette's own voice as an author, which is distinct, memorable, and masterful. These stories will creep up on you- the language is evocative and conjures up images that will stick with you. The other thing that sets Monette apart, and that many other reviewers have commented on, is the feeling of Otherness embodied by most of her narrators. Her protagonists are, for the most part, outsiders, people who find themselves treading boundaries. To call them quirky would be an insult- they aren't stock characters with a twist, or exploding with irritating eccentricities. They are three-dimensional people, drawn believably but with surprisingly few strokes. Some, like the cops in "A Night in Electric Squidland" and "Impostors," and the aforementioned Booth, are recurring characters. Others, like the courtesan/spy from "Amante Doree" or the heartbroken musician from "Katabasis: Seraphic Trains" (possibly my favorite story), you'll only see for a few brief pages but are unlikely to forget. 

I'd recommend this, and The Bone Key, for fans of Neil Gaiman, Margo Lanagan, Charles DeLint, Catherynne M. Valente (the Seraphic Trains story really reminded me of Palimpsest), Lovecraft, Hellboy, Supernatural (not only are there paranormal cop buddies, there's a naive but tetchy angel), urban fantasy, horror, and magic realism. 

*A caveat: some of these stories are extremely dark, and not just in the sense that they deal with supernatural beings and gothic situations ("The Séance at Chisholm End" is a fantastic period piece about spirit mediums). No, some of these stories deal openly with some heavy stuff, like the loss of an older brother to Vietnam ("Letters from a Teddy Bear on Veterans Day"), surviving conquest ("A Light in Troy") and trauma ("After the Dragon"), and the horrors of war ("No Man's Land"). Serious trigger warnings for these, especially the last.   

In the Shadow of Blackbirds

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In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters

In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she’s forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love—a boy who died in battle—returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her?

Featuring haunting archival early-twentieth-century photographs, this is a tense, romantic story set in a past that is eerily like our own time. -Plot summary borrowed from Goodreads

There is a lot going on in this book (a flu outbreak, WWI, spiritualism, photography, true love), and it covers a lot of ground genre-wise (historical, mystery, romance, horror, a hint of Steampunk, meditations on war abroad and at home). Thankfully, Winters blends these elements into a pretty cohesive whole, and as in Libba Bray's excellent The Diviners, the historical setting and disparate but complementary elements come together to tell a compelling and atmospheric story.

I griped about the portrayal of a headstrong and scientifically minded heroine  in The Madman's Daughter (another period piece) because that character felt forced to me. Here we have Mary Shelley, who, despite having similar inclinations in a setting not too far in the future, seems believable. For one thing, her family clearly helped to foster her talents and interests (her mother was a physician and her father named her after the author of Frankenstein- obviously written by a talented woman with an interest in science). Sure some people look at her askance when she takes apart machines to figure out how they tick, but there is no tedious "a WOMAN doing science? Heaven forfend!" hand-wringing to drag the reader down. Oops, tangent. Anyway.....

I went into this book not quite knowing what to expect, other than being excited about the spirit photography elements, which I think was a good thing. I won't go into much more detail here, other than to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this read and would recommend it to fans of dark historical fiction and stories that will keep you guessing.

Warm Bodies

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Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

R is a young man with an existential crisis--he is a zombie. He shuffles through an America destroyed by war, social collapse, and the mindless hunger of his undead comrades, but he craves something more than blood and brains. He can speak just a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse. Just dreams.

After experiencing a teenage boy's memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and strangely sweet relationship with the victim's human girlfriend. Julie is a burst of vibrant color in the otherwise dreary and gray landscape that R lives in. His decision to protect her will transform not only R, but his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world.

Scary, funny, and surprisingly poignant, Warm Bodies is about being alive, being dead and the blurry line in between. -Plot summary borrowed from Goodreads


You know when you find a book at exactly the right time, and things just gel? I can't remember the last time I was so pulled into a book, not just for it's likable characters or snappy dialogue, but because I cared so deeply about what was happening in the world of the book, in our world, or when I felt like I completely agreed with and understood the author's point. I love how well Marion uses zombies as a metaphor without seeming pretentious or heavy-handed- partially that's because his zombies seem original while still being familiar and often terrifying. I loved the language in this book, too:
  
“I want to change my punctuation. I long for exclamation marks, but I'm drowning in ellipses.”  

“There is a chasm between me and the world outside of me. A gap so wide my feelings can't cross it. By the time my screams reach the other side, they have dwindled into groans.” 


“Of course, if I don't eat all of him, if I spare his brain, he'll rise up and follow me back to the airport, and that might make feel better. I'll introduce him to everyone, and maybe we'll stand around and groan for a while. It's hard to say what 'friends' are any more, but that might be close.” 

If you haven't already guessed, while there is plenty of humor, most of it is of the very dark variety. Don't be fooled though, this is no cynical snarkfest. There is genuine heart here, under the tasty brains that will make you relive that day you owned the discussion in English class because you "totally get what the author is saying, man."

Then again, I say all that but COMPLETELY missed the bones of a famous play that are shallowly buried here. (Hey guys, did you know The Lion King is "Hamlet"?!) I think I'm glad I did, actually, I loved it on its own and might have been distracted if I knew to look for more references.

I love R. I love Isaac Marion. I love that I get to use the phrase ZomRomCom again to describe the upcoming feature film adaptation. Who would have thought that phrase would be resurrected post-Shaun of the Dead? Speaking of the King of the Zombies, Simon Pegg contributed a blurb for this book which I think sums it up perfectly: “A mesmerizing evolution of a classic contemporary myth.”

Warm Bodies shuffles into theaters February 1st.

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