book reviews
Book reviews for horror fans; weather a sleepless night with literary accounts of hauntings, possessions, zombies, vampires and beyond.
"Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley
I read “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley primarily because it was on the syllabus for GCSE Literature whilst I was at school. I found it on a reading list online and thought I would spend the summer trying to understand the angles of it, even if we didn’t study it - I thought it was a good exercise in my ability to read and understand an older text. I was thirteen years’ old and it would prove one of the most intense experiences of my life. It took me only one day to read the entire book. I just could not drag myself away from these extensive narratives. Over ten years’ later when I would be in the midst of teaching this book, I found I had the same passion and the same vigour for the novel I had felt in my teen years. It made me feel almost so young again. This book would become to a thirteen year old what a best friend that accepts a freak becomes to the freak. It became a statement of power. It became to me what I had never really had too much of before - it would become my friend. Especially the Monster. The Monster would be my very best friend.
By Annie Kapur6 years ago in Horror
There's Someone Inside Your House
This book is every person’s nightmare turned into a reality. Whether you believe in intuition or not, everyone has those moments in life when you feel as though you are being watched, as if there is someone just out of your line of sight that is keeping tabs on your every move. Some people feel this more strongly than others, and for those of us, myself included, who feel this so strongly that the hairs stand up on the back of our necks, I would offer a word of caution before reading this book; this book takes the illusion of your home representing safety and security and smashes it to pieces. A lifetime of horror movies have taught me to trust my intuition and that you never investigate mysterious sights/sounds, especially if it’s coming from your dark, musty basement.
By Kurt Mason6 years ago in Horror
Odriel's Heirs by Hayley Reese Chow
Rating: 5/5 Synopsis: The brave, burning with fire, harnessed the Dragon's Rage.... As the Dragon Heir, seventeen-year-old Kaia inherited the power of flame to protect her homeland from a Tell necromancer’s undead army. But after centuries of peace, the necromancer has faded to myth, and the Dragon Heir is feared by the people. Persecuted and cast out, Kaia struggles to embrace and control her seemingly useless gift while confined to her family’s farm.
By Ashley Nestler, MSW6 years ago in Horror
Washington Irving and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Washington Ivring and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow part one: setting and time period Ivring was a writer who wanted to bring folklore and fairy tales to the real world. He wanted to us to feel as if this was a legend that had truly happened in some forgotten little town full of sleepwalking people. Its is in this tiny town that a ghost lurks at night, riding down dirt roads and past new churches into the unknown wilderness that lie before the residents of Sleepy Hollow.
By Liv Atterson6 years ago in Horror
The Beating Heart of a Dead Man
Unreliable Narrator Analysis The Tell-Tale Heart (Poe, 1843) The Beating Heart of a Dead Man Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most famous horror writers of all time. Even after his untimely death in 1849 his work gained even more popularity and is widely read, almost 200 years later. One of Poe's most famous short horror stories, and his shortest is "The Tell-Tale Heart" published in 1843. It tells the story of a man who lives with an old man and becomes obsessed with the old man's eye that he plots to kill him in his sleep. "The Tell-Tale Heart" opens with this line: "True!--nervous--very, very dreadfully nervous I have been, and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses--not destroyed--not dulled them. Above all was my sense of hearing acute. (Poe, 1186)" Throughout this reading, I wondered if the narrator is truly unreliable because he is insane or perhaps mentally ill and it is the sickness doing this to him?
By Liv Atterson6 years ago in Horror
Hunted
I’m really not sure where to start with this one because I absolutely loved every minute of it! I have been a fan of Darcy Coates ever since I read her book “Craven Manor” last summer. There is just something about the way that she writes that can beautifully and so vividly pull you into the universe that she creates on the page. With Coates’ amazing ability to craft a story that sucks you in, I found myself unable to put this book down.
By Kurt Mason6 years ago in Horror
Is Junji Ito just "gross" horror?
I happened to purusing through YouTube to find some Junji Ito stories to read, and I found this video about how overrated Junji Ito was, I was fair and I watched the video on his stance. The main point was that his work was just "gross". I could understand the fact because of most of Junji Ito's work does involve some uncomfortable moments of what happens to someone, a terrifying transformation, or an unfathomable demise to a character. As a fan of Junji Ito's I immediately was on the fence about this argumentative fact, but I am a neutral person, I see this from both sides.
By Samantha Parrish6 years ago in Horror
A Review about The Fall, The Night Eternal, The Strain by Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan
The Fall began when the young Abraham heard her tell the legend of the evil that lurks and waits in the dark. Decades later, a plane landed at JFK airport in New York, but, something was wrong. The plane has been 'muted'. No lights, no noises from pilots or passengers. Everyone died and mysteriously drained their blood. The total solar eclipse coinciding with the death sentence on the plane was also the time when the demons' breath came to the surface. No more light, dark night dominates, vampires invaded the whole world like a giant pandemic that is constantly spreading and destroying. From here begins the war of the living to protect humanity and defeat the conspiracy of the devil.
By Thao Thao Tran6 years ago in Horror
The Philosophy of The Invisible Man
I have a rule about always reading a book before seeing the movie or TV show that it’s based on. If I read it after, I feel like my imagining of the characters is skewed. Also, in my opinion, it’s just more fun to see something come to life after reading it than it is to read something you’ve already seen.
By Chelsea Swiggett6 years ago in Horror
The Strange Case of Robert Lewis Stevenson & the Left Winged Radical
Upon Robert Lewis Stevenson’s publishing of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1886, the social classes in the "civilized world" were facing the threat of destruction by the hands of left-winged rouges and radicals. The political philosophies of Karl Marx, the Paris Commune, and the Anarchist riot in Haymarket Square made the message clear that social reform would be inevitable; be it in a year or in an entire generation’s lifetime. The elements of 19th century society and politics inspired Stevenson’s characterization of Edward Hyde as a left winged radical, fueled by the desires of chaos and anarchy.
By Jacob Herr6 years ago in Horror
Army Of One: The story that safety isn't in numbers
This was a story I strayed away from just from the tiny image I saw, it alarmed me from the image of two people stitched together. Any sinister story Junji Ito crafts into a cultivating tale of terror. We never know what to expect. This one took many different turns to the ending that was sewn into our psyche.
By Samantha Parrish6 years ago in Horror
