Tag: Book Review

Emily Wilde #2: Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands – Heather Fawcett

“We are about to involve ourselves in a great deal of danger, much of it strange and unsettling.”

It’s time for Emily and Wendell to search for Wendell’s door and I, for one, am thrilled to have been invited to tag along for this quest. My enthusiasm may not be as contagious as that of Ariadne, Emily’s niece, but I have more field experience than her, having already accompanied Emily and Wendell to Ljosland, so my excitement is tempered by a tad of caution.

I also have some insider knowledge; Wendell’s stepmother is sending assassins to dispatch of him but my clothing is inside out so I’m confident I will be successful in evading any of the Folk’s attempts to enchant me.

“Oh, what a quest this is!”

The grumpy romance of the first book blindsided me in the best way possible. I wasn’t expecting it, thank goodness, or I probably wouldn’t have picked up the book in the first place. I actively avoid books that contain romance, which brings me to the second part of the blindsiding. I learned that I love grumpy romances, or at the very least, I love Emily and Wendell’s grumpy romance.

Their romance wasn’t quite as grumpy in this book, although they did have their moments. Their relationship has grown more comfortable since we first met them. That doesn’t mean we’re grumpless, though. Rose, who I absolutely adored, despite trying my hardest not to care a jot about him, does his very best to bring the grumpy with him wherever he goes.

I’m usually quite wary of sequels of my favourite books. They come with an almost impossibly high expectation of brilliance, having to compete with the joy of discovery you felt with the first book. This sequel didn’t disappoint.

In fact, I’m having trouble figuring out which book I loved more. There was the comfort in already knowing the main characters alongside the introduction of new characters, who managed to hold their own.

I love Emily. She’s lousy at small talk but is getting better at insults, her aim needs improvement and her journals contain footnotes. I adore the footnotes and need more of them!

Meanwhile, Wendell is a man after my own heart.

“There is nothing trivial about good coffee.”

If anything ever happens to Shadow, I will be bereft. I’d also like to put it out there that Poe can bake for me anytime.

I’d appreciate someone sharing Knight College’s postal address with me so I can submit my application to study dryadology.

If you have not already met Emily and Wendell, please make their acquaintance in preparation for this quest as there is prerequisite knowledge that will make this one more fulfilling.

Ensure you pack some carrots and maybe don’t look too closely at the faerie art. Be sure to bring enough pencils.

“Give me another pencil.”

“I only had the one on me!”

“One? Who are you?”

Handy hint: Do not allow Professor Eustacia Walters access to any of your books. If you ask me, she’s the true villain of this book.

If it is at all convenient, I would very much like to read the third book immediately.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Orbit, an imprint of Little, Brown Book, for the opportunity to be delighted by this book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore, and has catalogued many secrets of the Hidden Folk in her encyclopaedia with her infuriatingly charming fellow scholar, Wendell Bambleby, by her side.

But Bambleby is more than just a brilliant and unbearably handsome scholar. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother, in search of a door back to his realm. 

By lucky happenstance, Emily’s new project, a map of the realms of faerie, will take them on an adventure to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambleby’s realm, and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans. 

But with new friendships for the prickly Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, Emily must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors, and of her own heart.

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In Excess of Dark – Red Lagoe

Grief is a monster. A real-world monster that ravages the body and mind and spirit.

You know how you can never truly know what another person is thinking? It turns out that’s not entirely accurate. Karina’s deepest, darkest imaginings have the uncanny ability to come true.

She’s always had this ability, although it used to be much easier to put this down to correlation rather than causation. Recent events have changed that somewhat. It’s pretty safe to say you might want to stay on Karina’s good side now or you may no longer have a good side.

“Don’t pretend you didn’t want this to happen. I know … somehow … you did this.”

Grief can distort the way you see things but in Karina’s case, her desperate need to be with her loved ones will have her coming face to face with the darkness.

This book doesn’t shy away from the depths of despair that threaten to overwhelm you when you’re grieving. Looking straight into the rawness of the pain and the guilt that can accompany it, this is at times an uncomfortable read but that’s how you know it’s done its job.

I would have liked some of the characters to be more fleshed out (maybe literally). I wish I could have met Karina’s father and spent more time exploring her relationship with her husband and son.

Things get fairly splatty, much to my delight. While I absolutely loved the body horror, I was hoping for a larger body count. That says more about me than the book, though. Unless we’re in a slasher where the blood is practically dripping off the pages, I’m going to be wanting more insides to become outsides.

I finished this read in one sitting. I wish it had been longer, not because it was lacking but because I wanted to spend more time in the darkness with Karina. I’m keen to read more books by this author.

Think positive thoughts.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and DarkLit Press for the opportunity to read this novella.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

What if every terrible thing imagined came true? Every fleeting, nightmarish thought a reality? For grief-stricken Karina, her newfound ability to turn her worst daydreams into palpable truths has sent her into a downward spiral of depression and guilt. Coupled with the appearance of an enigmatic shadow figure and visions of her dead family, she grapples to maintain her sanity while desperately attempting to harness her abilities and reunite with her loved ones.

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Asylum #0: Escape From Asylum – Madeleine Roux

To be Patient Zero meant losing himself, not to death, but to something much worse.

I was in a reading by slump so decided it was time for a comfort reread. I chose the Asylum series. Read into that what you will…

Before we go to summer school with Dan, Abby and Jordan, we need to visit Brookline when its rooms were cells, not dorm rooms.

This is Brookline the asylum. Trust me; you do not want to be here.

“This place … It’s not quite what it looks like. It’s not what it seems.”

It’s 1968 and Ricky is being dropped off by his mother and Butch at his third ‘retreat’. Sure, there was the incident with Butch. Ricky’s not denying that, even if Butch had it coming. This is about more than that, though. This is about Martin.

Homophobia is rife and we’re still decades away from people calling out conversion therapy for the horror show that it is. I remember that we all dreaded and feared the Warden but, after all of these years, the specifics were hazy in my mind. However, I never forgot that he’s an extraordinarily disturbed man with a god complex who should be a patient, not staff.

“Whatever else he is, he’s also a butcher. A monster.”

For Ricky, the only good thing about Brookline is Kay. She’s also there for ‘treatment’ and I spent the entire book wanting to protect her.

“You know you and I are just different. Different isn’t sick.”

I’d never seen a book that included found photos when I first read this series. I was absolutely fascinated turning the pages to discover new creepy images. I looked forward to rediscovering the photos this time around and was not disappointed.

Brookline. Photo credit: James W. Rosenthal, Library of Congress

I’d forgotten that we meet Dennis in this book and I’ve only just realised that Roger was first introduced here as well. The deeper you allow yourself to wander around in the underbelly of Brookline, the more rewarded you’ll be. And more disturbed, too, by the depravity of those in power.

I wish there’d been details of everything that took place between Chapter 47 and the Epilogue. I need to know what Kay’s life looked like post Brookline.

“If we can survive in here, we can do anything.”

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

The nightmare is just beginning.

Ricky Desmond has been through this all before. If he could just get through to his mother, he could convince her that he doesn’t belong at Brookline. From the man who thinks he can fly to the woman who killed her husband, the other patients are nothing like him; all he did was lose his temper just a little bit, just the once. But when Ricky is selected by the sinister Warden Crawford for a very special program — a program that the warden claims will not cure him but perfect him — Ricky realises that he may not be able to wait for his mom a second longer. With the help of a sympathetic nurse and a fellow patient, Ricky needs to escape now.

Set long before Dan, Abby, and Jordan ever walked the hallways of the Brookline asylum — back when it was still a functioning psych ward and not a dorm — Escape From Asylum is a mind-bending and scary installment in the Asylum series that can stand on its own for new readers or provide missing puzzle pieces for series fans.

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The Stranger Times #3: Love Will Tear Us Apart – C.K. McDonnell

‘I don’t want you to panic, but things are about to get a bit … weird.’

It’s been almost two years since I wandered into The Stranger Times office, which is an absurd amount of time between visits. To be completely honest, I hadn’t read this book earlier because of the potential for all things lovey dovey. Hannah reconciling with her no good, dirty rotten scoundrel ex and Banecroft reconciling with his deceased wife made the deepest recesses of my brain shout “Ptooey!”, a word I’ve never uttered in my life and likely still don’t know how to pronounce.

You have to help me. I’m in so much trouble.

My triumphant return has taught me a valuable lesson: if I enjoy a series as much as this one, I need to trust the author. I actively avoided this book because the ‘love’ in the title appeared to be referencing the romantic kind and I don’t do romance. If I’d given two seconds of thought to the content of the previous books in the series I would have devoured this one sooner. This is love Stranger Times style, which even a romantiphobe can get on board with.

‘Trust the process.’

My time away also renewed my appreciation for the series. It seems that no matter how much time has passed, I will feel like I never left before I finish the first chapter. Which brings me to the staff of The Stranger Times. These are my people!

And you know what? Curmudgeon Banecroft has a heart after all. It turns out it was mangled and squished under the weight of his grief. I won’t tell you that at one point he made me a little teary eyed because that would imply I also am in possession of a heart.

Be on the lookout for an unidentified frying object, cherubs up to no good and a suitcase that gives Mary Poppins’ carpet bag a run for its money. Make sure to join us for Loon Day, a spot of grave robbing and the hope that we get to spend much more time with Stella in the next book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Love can be a truly terrible thing.

Marriages are tricky at the best of times, especially when one of you is dead.

Vincent Banecroft, the irascible editor of The Stranger Times, has never believed his wife died despite emphatic evidence to the contrary. Now, against all odds, it seems he may actually be proved right; but what lengths will he go to in an attempt to rescue her?

With Banecroft distracted, the shock resignation of assistant editor, Hannah Willis, couldn’t have come at a worse time. It speaks volumes that her decision to reconcile with her philandering ex-husband is only marginally less surprising than Banecroft and his wife getting back together. In this time of crisis, is her decision to swan off to a fancy new-age retreat run by a celebrity cult really the best thing for anyone?

As if that wasn’t enough, one of the paper’s ex-columnists has disappeared, a particularly impressive trick seeing as he never existed in the first place.

Floating statues, hijacked ghosts, homicidal cherubs, irate starlings, Reliant Robins and quite possibly several deeply sinister conspiracies; all-in-all, a typical week for the staff of The Stranger Times.

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Bird Life – Anna Smaill

Dinah’s twin brother, Michael, was a musical prodigy. She still sees him, even though she moved across the world after he died.

‘He built the world, and we both lived inside it. He made it up, and I believed him.’

Animals have spoken to Yasuko since she was 13. Her son has recently left home.

‘I am scared that it is happening again.’

When Dinah and Yasuko meet, they form a friendship, connected by their grief.

I was keen to explore the lives of these two women impacted by mental illness. Given the blurb and some early reviews, I was expecting magical realism and lines blurring reality and inner lives in turmoil.

I couldn’t wait to see how their friendship unfolded so became frustrated waiting for them to meet. The first part introduces you to each woman separately and their lives don’t intersect until the second part.

I didn’t connect with or particularly like either of the main characters. It’s weird, though, because I feel like I know them better than they know themselves and at the same time don’t really know them at all.

This book delves into grief and anger, and the frustration and pain that accompany them. One of the passages that has stayed with me speaks to how tiring grief is.

‘I think because when you lose someone, you have to relearn everything. You have to learn the whole world all over again. But the world without that person in it. That takes a lot of energy, and a very long time.’

It’s possible I stayed too close to this story’s surface and that if I’d dived deeper I would have gotten more out of it. What I was most looking forward to once Yasuko was able to hear animals speaking again was learning what the dog she and her son used to see every night was saying. I acknowledge this misses the point of the entire book but that’s the type of reader that I am.

I didn’t spend time trying to figure out what was real and what was a symptom of mental illness. As far as I was concerned, it was all real to the main characters and so I took the position of going there with them to try to better understand them.

Favourite no context quote:

‘You need to stop beating yourself up. The world is doing a great job of that without your help.’

Thank you so much to Scribe Publications for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

In Ueno Park, Tokyo, as workers and tourists gather for lunch, the pollen blows, a fountain erupts, pigeons scatter, and two women meet, changing the course of one another’s lives.

Dinah has come to Japan from New Zealand to teach English and grieve the death of her brother, Michael, a troubled genius who was able to channel his problems into music as a classical pianist — until he wasn’t. In the seemingly empty, eerie apartment block where Dinah has been housed, she sees Michael everywhere, even as she feels his absence sharply.

Yasuko is polished, precise, and keenly observant — of her students and colleagues at the language school, and of the natural world. When she was thirteen, animals began to speak to her, to tell her things she did not always want to hear. She has suppressed these powers for many years, but sometimes she allows them to resurface, to the dismay of her adult son, Jun. One day, she returns home, and Jun has gone. Even her special gifts cannot bring him back.

As these two women deal with their individual trauma, they form an unlikely friendship in which each will help the other to see a different possible world, as Smaill teases out the tension between our internal and external lives and asks what we lose by having to choose between them.

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Miss Mary-Kate Martin’s Guide to Monsters #3: The Bother with the Bonkillyknock Beast – Karen Foxlee

Illustrations – Freda Chiu

Mary-Kate’s first two adventures were with her mother, the Prof, and both included very close encounters with the monstrous kind. Granny, who she’s travelling with to Scotland, is into romance novels and the shopping channel so Mary-Kate is confident nothing scary will happen.

Just in case, though, she makes sure to pack a selection of lucky items. You can’t be too careful, after all.

It’s a good thing she does because it isn’t long before Granny tells her the reason they’re travelling to Bonkillyknock Castle. They’re attending the 93rd annual World Society of Monster Hunters’ Conference. This can only mean that small talk is in Mary-Kate’s near future. Maybe she should have packed more lucky items.

Mary-Kate isn’t the only novice monster hunter at the castle. There’s Simon, who we first became suspicious of in the second book, and Millicent, who I loved as soon as I heard she wasn’t on time because she was up late reading the night before.

A Mary-Kate Martin book isn’t complete without a good ol’ monster hunt.

‘There’s been some kind of attack and I need your help.’

This monster has luminous green fur and if that’s not fun enough, allow me to assure you that the castle does have a library.

Mary-Kate is adorable. She’s one of the bravest characters I know; she has anxiety, yet she continues to do things that scare her. I wish kid me would have had the chance to meet her. We would have bonded over glitter pen colour choices and which lucky item was the right one for each circumstance.

I’ve been wanting to spend more time with Granny and she didn’t disappoint. I loved her even more when I heard her say, ‘Yoo-hoo!’

Freda Chiu’s illustrations continue to complement the story, bringing the humans and monsters to life in a way that capture the heart of both.

I can’t wait for the next book. I hope at some point we get to go on an investigation with all three generations of monster hunters – Granny, the Prof and Mary-Kate. I’m looking forward to finding out more about Mary-Kate’s father.

‘I’m definitely not doing anything dangerous ever again.’

Thank you so much to Allen & Unwin for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Mary-Kate and her granny are going to stay at a very quiet castle near a very quiet Loch in the Scottish village of Bonkillyknock. The perfect destination for reading beside fireplaces, going for long walks in galoshes and drinking cups of tea with Granny’s old friends. At least, that’s what Mary-Kate thinks.

However, this is no ordinary reunion – it’s a World Society of Monster Hunters’ conference. So, when an ear-shattering howl interrupts the convention, Mary-Kate isn’t too anxious. After all, the experts are on hand to investigate. 

But when the castle kitchen is turned upside-down and the experts suspect the usually secretive Loch Morgavie monster, Mary-Kate isn’t sure the clues add up. Could there be some other kind of beastly problem bothering Bonkillyknock Castle? 

Miss Mary-Kate Martin might only be a beginner, but she’s determined to get to the end of this monstrous mystery in the third exciting instalment in the Miss Mary-Kate Martin’s Guide to Monsters series.

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Bite Risk – S.J. Wills

One night a month, kids rule Tremorglade. They can stay up all night and do whatever they want. Once their parents have been securely locked in their cages, that is.

Set up, lock in, watch out.

Every full moon, the adults of Tremorglade transform into Rippers; they’re hirsute and they have fangs and claws. Raw meat becomes much more appetising to them and if you’re not careful, you’ll also be on the menu.

Here in Tremorglade, because we’re so isolated, we don’t have to put up with many of the horrors that the rest of the world does – deadly weather, plagues, violent crime and marauding pirates.

In fact, it’s so scary out there that hardly anyone ever leaves Tremorglade.

Thirteen year old Sel is approaching the age where they too will Turn but for now, their Confinement night is spent outside of a cage.

This was a really entertaining read. I guessed some plot points before Sel experienced them but it didn’t bother me as I was having too much fun.

Although I liked Sel, the standout character for me was Ingrid, Sel’s archnemesis. Taekwondo champion Ingrid hates everyone but her hatred for Sel is next level. Dora, who Ingrid is responsible for on Confinement night, was the person I most wanted to spend more time with.

This book has horror, action and humour, with an overarching mystery that kept me engaged. I loved learning how this insular community worked, especially its technology, and trying to figure out who I could trust.

I flew through this book and can’t wait for the sequel.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Australia for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

When everyone’s a vicious beast, it’s hard to spot the monsters …

The first book in S. J. Wills’ blockbuster teen horror series, perfect for fans of Stranger Things, Fear Street and Skulduggery Pleasant.

Sel Archer lives in a normal town with normal residents, except for one night a month …. When the full moon comes out, almost all of the adults turn into werewolves, and it’s up to the young people to protect themselves from danger.

But, as this quiet life begins to unravel, and the Turned start to escape, can Sel and his friends uncover exactly who – or what – is watching their every move, before it’s too late?

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The Watchers – A.M. Shine

‘All paths lead somewhere’ 

Mina had planned on making some easy money when she agreed to deliver a parrot to a collector in Connemara. Mina’s car breaking down in the middle of nowhere was not part of the plan. Neither was winding up in a “prison of concrete and glass” in the depths of the forest.

There Mina meets Madeline, Daniel and Ciara. But they’re not alone. They’re being watched. 

Nothing should have to live in captivity 

At various times, A Quiet Place and Peadar Ó Guilín’s The Call popped into my mind as I was reading but I don’t think it’s fair to make comparisons as this story is its own monster. Or should I say, it contains its own monsters.

The watchers were an ever present threat, made all the more creepy by the fact that I got to know them by their shrieks. The fear of the unknown is almost always scarier than fears you can identify. Not knowing what the watchers were or even what they looked like for much of the story added to my unease.

I wondered if this story would have packed more of a punch if it was a novella, but it was a quick, compulsive read. I had some trouble for the longest time trying to figure out why it was so difficult for the characters to escape the forest when they were able to make their way into its depths in the first place, but ultimately decided that I didn’t care. I was having too much fun flip flopping between hoping for a bloodbath and wanting everyone to survive. I’m keen to see what horrors the author will introduce me to next. 

Stay in the light 

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Aries, an imprint of Head of Zeus, for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

You can’t see them. But they can see you.This forest isn’t charted on any map. Every car breaks down at its treeline. Mina’s is no different. Left stranded, she is forced into the dark woodland only to find a woman shouting, urging Mina to run to a concrete bunker. As the door slams behind her, the building is besieged by screams.

Mina finds herself in a room with a wall of glass, and an electric light that activates at nightfall, when the Watchers come above ground. These creatures emerge to observe their captive humans and terrible things happen to anyone who doesn’t reach the bunker in time.

Afraid and trapped among strangers, Mina is desperate for answers. Who are the Watchers and why are these creatures keeping them imprisoned, keen to watch their every move?

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Become the Force: 9 Lessons on Living as a Master Jedi – Daniel M. Jones

Remember when tens of thousands of people had census takers scratching their heads in 2001 by listing their religion as ‘Jedi’ or ‘Jedi Knight’? Well, in 2007, Daniel M. Jones from Wales (who was 21 at the time) founded the Church of Jediism.

I was really keen to read this book, thinking it would be the perfect Star Wars Day read. As this book claims to be the “first official book of scripture for the Church of Jediism” I was looking forward to learning how its tenets were based on specific Star Wars scenes and hopefully some Yoda wisdom. I wasn’t expecting a book of scripture to be so heavy handed in the creator’s memoir department.

Theresa Cheung has relied heavily on transcribed interviews with Daniel M. Jones. I was leery when the Theresa started telling me about her almost two decades as a bestselling author and then proceeded to include a reference from Wikipedia before the first chapter, but figured I’d keep going and hope for the best. Unfortunately this is definitely not the Star Wars Day book for me.

The nine Jediist Master lessons are:

1. The intelligence of a student

Jediism’s only prerequisite, but here ‘intelligence’ essentially means curiosity and a willingness to learn. The first sentence of the Jediist Prayer for Intelligence quotes Max Ehrmann’s Desiderata – “no less than the trees and the stars.” “The universe is as it should be” sounded suspiciously similar to this quote from Desiderata: “no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.” Then, further along, “With all its confusions, routine and broken dreams, the universe is a wondrous place.” sounds eerily like this from Desiderata: “With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.”

2. Personal thought control

In a nutshell, your thoughts create your reality. This chapter’s Jediist Prayer for Awareness steals from the serenity prayer. The Jediist version begins, “May the Force grant me the serenity to observe my thoughts. May the Force grant me the courage to understand my thoughts and the wisdom to know the difference”.

3. Matters of love, life and death

This chapter tells you that “when you die nobody remembers what you said or did but they will remember how you made them feel.” At what point do we call it ‘plagiarism’ and move on?! At least this chapter’s Jediist Prayer for Eternal Love acknowledges Mary Elizabeth Frye’s Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep.

4. The Force theory

“Jediism teaches us that we are spiritual beings having a human experience, not human beings having a spiritual experience.” Hey there, French philosopher, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. You’re in here too!

5. Emotional control and anger management

In which we learn of Daniel’s feelings of humiliation and victimisation at being told he had to remove his hood in a grocery store. I started skimming the book at this point because looking for quotes I already knew got boring.

6. Self-defence and martial arts

Or then again … “The sparrow never lands where the tiger roams.” This is said to be a quote by Daniel M. Jones. He may have said it but he wasn’t the first.

7. Counselling, stress management and control

This chapter has some interesting insights into Daniel’s experience with Asperger’s.

8. Healthy living and material well-being

Healthy food, moderation, balance, “Your body is a temple”, “Pray, eat, love”.

9. Peaceful communication and interaction with diplomacy

Humility, a sense of humour, inner peace, etc.

While I hope there are potential readers who’ll find a lot to love in this book, I think it’s pretty obvious at this point that I’m not one of them. My high hopes for insight dissolved into frustration with this strange blend of memoir and recycled bits and pieces from various religions and pop psychology.

Whenever I start a new book I go into it expecting to love it and look forward to telling anyone who will listen to me all of the reasons why they must stop whatever they’re doing and start reading it immediately. It breaks my heart when I can’t do that and because I was really looking forward to this one I hate this feeling even more.

Thank you to NetGalley and Watkins Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.

Once Upon a Blurb

Daniel M Jones founded the Church of Jediism in 2007. It now has over 500,000 members around the world. This is the book his fans have been waiting for. In it, Daniel outlines the Jedi perspective and provides practical tools for anyone interested in gaining a deeper understanding of how to use the force in everyday life.

The Force is a metaphor for the universal life energy that connects us all. It can be both light and dark, good and bad. Now more than ever it is our responsibility to overcome the dark side. This book does not aim to convert but to inspire its readers to live a life of meaning and purpose according to the universal spiritual teachings from ‘The Way of the Jedi.’ 

Become the Force covers:

  • Daniel’s own fascinating spiritual journey and how overcoming personal struggles has awakened him to his purpose
  • How Jedi teachings can empower mind, body, heart and spirit
  • A comprehensive toolkit that will allow anyone to genuinely embrace ‘the way of the Jedi’
  • Compelling reasons why the spiritual teachings of Jediism are relevant today
  • A comprehensive explanation of Jediism as a spiritual movement (a universal desire for self-awareness, spiritual awakening, peace, love and harmony), rather than a religion.
  • Shows that it’s plausible that the Jedi minded among us today might usher in a new spirituality and shift in global consciousness towards peace and harmony that is more powerful than any we can possibly imagine.
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The Evil Trance – Mark Dysan

If you are not convinced of the absolute necessity of hiring a stellar editor and proofreader for your manuscript prior to unleashing your book baby into the world, I’d encourage you to read The Evil Trance. I don’t know if it was poorly translated into English or if it was written in English by someone who predominantly speaks a language other than English, but in its current form it should not have made it to publication yet.

Missing words, incorrect use of words, the correct word but incorrect spelling and sentences that only make sense once you figure out the intended meaning make up a considerable percentage of this novella. I usually don’t mention these pet peeves in my reviews because I’m often reading advance copies that will likely have most of the typos cleaned up prior to publication. However, this book was released in July 2017 so the pre-publication editing ship has sailed.

The book had potential, in a Koji Suzuki Ring series rip off sort of way where the videotape is a DVD and USB, where the well doesn’t exist but a graveyard does, and where Well Girl is actually a succubus (Yakshini) hanging out in an ‘adult’ film. Watch this porno and your fate could be explained like this:

“Apparently he masturbated himself to death.”

I wanted to really enjoy this quick read, which turned out to be painfully slow for me. While it’s listed as horror I found it really funny for the first half as I was getting used to the way the sentences were worded. I then felt guilty for finding it funny before comparing it to what would be the inevitable result of me learning a second language and then trying to write a book in, say, Japanese. I expect my sentences would be pretty hilarious as well. The second half of the book dragged on for so long as the novelty wore off and I thought about what I could have been reading instead.

The Inspector in this book is quite happy to threaten to arrest people based on, um, the law?

“Delete it or I will have to arrest you for violating my private space.”

“I could arrest you for demeaning a couple’s privacy.”

Favourite Euphemisms and Sexy Chats

his vital organ was being abused

“He asked me to take time and let him know if I needed any help, in case I needed to get off with a woman, sometimes.”

“My sensuality wished I could do her too.”

“Maybe with a few drinks, and if I had a woman like this the day would come to a blasting end, but before that, a little self-foreplay won’t do any harm.”

Sort of Almost Close to Being Correct

Mitra was in the middle of folding his shirt’s handcuffs

he was about to knock the door.

Inspector Feroz and Shukla exchanged their confusion at what the doctors were up to, it was Italian to their profession.

It did smoothen him.

Wiping the tears, he said, “Why are you crying?” She smiled through her tears. “These are not tears, dumbo!”

“I am making tea just so you kick in your brain again”

It pulled her strings of heart.

There are the times where jokes are made by people who are trying to get across that they are not gay. With a renowned psychiatrist, his assistant, a private detective and Inspector as characters I would’ve expected things to be more politically correct. However the women in the book call themselves stupid more than I’d like and who seem to be there mostly to cook for the hungry men, be available for sex and astral walk (okay, that one’s pretty cool). Women are also put in their place:

“You could have had better jobs, modelling or being a film actress. Or you could have been a rich man’s wife!”

This book needs to make its way into the hands of a publishing team who can make it more readable for an English as a first language audience, make the transitions between scenes less jumpy and give the characters more depth.

“There are so many things going on my mind right now”

like why they didn’t just call Ghostbusters to deal with everything.

Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the opportunity to read this book.

Once Upon a Blurb

A seemingly innocuous adult film grabs the attention of a young lad. But the store owner, who also finds himself drawn to it, pays the price for it, with his life.

Enter Dr Mitra, a man of science. He finds his very basic grounding in science threatened, as uncanny events around him propel him to question what he has learned and held onto so far.

Gopi, his junior, and Shukla, a private detective, hop onto the scene even as Feroz, an inspector, is busy chasing the many suspicious events from the purview of the law. Murky waters must be charted to understand the myriad ramifications of what they have stumbled upon.

And this is no mean adventure. It is, but an Evil Trance.

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