Wow. It’s been a long time since I read something that scared the ever-livin’ you know what out of me as I read it. The anxiety, the butterflies in my stomach, finding myself literally-sitting-on-the-edge-of-my-seat as I read, the pure hatred that I can’t speed read 1,000 words a minute because I have to know what happens next, and the creepy goosebumps because the story is scary and – like while watching any horror movie – the feeling in the pit of your stomach that you just know that things aren’t going to end well…. well The Spirit Chaser by Kat Mayor had it all in spades. OMG. It was Awe.Some! And I so hope there is a sequel of some sort! I haven’t had a book run me through this particular gamut of emotions since Michael Scott’s Image (and sequel, Reflection). Creepy! I would say Anna Dressed in Blood did this too, but Anna was YA (aka PG-rated) and this one had the added bonus of being adult (between all the blood-draining-from-my-face scary as crap scenes there were some rushing-blood-to-my-face steamy as crap scenes between Austin and Casey), so if you are looking for something totally scary but a little steamy too, this is where it lives!
Austin Cole is the star of a TV show called SCI – Spirit Chaser Investigations – where he and his team investigate homes and other places, looking for ghosts. When an investigation goes wrong at a warehouse and his best psychic (and best friend) ends up injured and refuses to be part of the team anymore, Austin needs to find a replacement. Enter Casey, a tough psychic who steps into place and becomes part of the team. But, the warehouse was just the beginning of a terrifying story. Two more super creepy places are tainted by so much evil that Austin, Casey and the rest of the SCI team have a huge battle to face. There are ghosts, demons, and terrifying exorcisms between the pages. Need to be convinced as to how creepy this book is? All you need to do is look at the cover picture as it sets the perfect tone.
I got goosebumps more than once while reading this. And shivered from the chills plenty of times. The temperature in the rooms with the ghosts was not the only chilling going on while reading this. The settings were downright disturbing and the action while trying to chase the ghosts and/or demons away was excellent. The character building was great, and the scenes with Austin and Casey’s families made their characters so much more real and likeable. Austin, for the most part, is a dream. Ok, maybe he’s a little over the top in a few areas, but really he’s pretty innocent and looking to to make sure Casey is happy. Casey and all the other characters were easy to like and despite the ghostly elements, it was also pretty easy to feel like this was grounded in enough reality to make the story that much scarier. I loved that I was able to picture it all in my mind so easily while reading. This would make a phenomenal scary movie!
Only criticism, in the very first chapter, the first few pages, referring to Austin as “the Spirit Chaser” instead of simply identifying him in that way and then using his name, was a little confusing and lead me to re-reading the first 5 or 6 pages twice. That could have been avoided with a slightly more discerning editor/editing job to those few pages. But, once I caught on to who was who, it was smooth, albeit spooky, sailing.
**spoiler alert** One of the most tragic yet brilliant parts of the story? The heartbreak at the end. This was also part of how I knew I found a book that I loved. The fact that I felt so attached to the characters that the last 10 (or so) chapters were so hard to read as they were so heartbreaking, drove home the fact that I had become invested in the story and the characters. To be honest, I don’t mind sad endings, but the “closure” here, I could have done without as it took things from sad and a little unknown to downright cruel. I think I would have preferred the loose end of not knowing what happened to Austin than the heartbreak when I read the last chapter. It felt like a sucker punch to the gut. Conversely, it again was a win for the overall book because I was able to feel that strongly about the characters and story.
Bottom line, The Spirit Chaser is filled with all the frights, spookiness, sexiness, and wonder of an excellent ghost story. I’m just glad I wasn’t sitting around a campfire having this read to me right before bed, or I might never have gotten to sleep. I loved it!!!...more
For my regular followers, you know that I am a huge fan of vampire stories. Most of them, aOriginally published on http://seriestracker.wordpress.com/
For my regular followers, you know that I am a huge fan of vampire stories. Most of them, admittedly, are of the sexy PNR or definitely non-terrifying YA type. In the Last American Vampire, by Seth Grahame-Smith, we are certainly not in either of those types. I found myself squarely in the blood and gore of the horror genre with this one. That's ok as I used to be a very big fan of that genre and still venture into the waters from time to time. But these days, that's a toe at a time once in a blue moon - I am not usually running at light speed to dive in head first. Instead I read things like Twilight with the sparkly vampires, Accidentally Dead with your potty-mouth vampire and steamy scenes, or A Taste of the Nightlife with your vampire chefs. Not the dark and scary vampire stories that are going to make it hard for me to sleep at night.
Here's why we don't fit into my favorite two genres. I don't think Henry and I know for sure Abe and don't fit the sexy PNR vampire mold. Abe is, well… Abraham Lincoln. And can you think of any description of Abraham Lincoln that involve the word sexy? I know I sure can't. As for Henry, I'm just not sure I had enough information about what he really looked like to qualify him as sexy. And given how frightening and terrifying he was as a vampire, I don't think I could do it even with a better mental picture what he looked like. That's not to say scary can't be sexy. Eric Northman of the True Blood origins certainly was terrifying and sexy. Image result for true blood ericAlthough I know my favorite Borders (Oh, how I miss you Borders!!!) put Sookie and pals in the Sci/Fi section but there was enough blood and gore in those to make me question what genre they should sit in (and for sure the HBO version is horror...).
I will note that since I read in this genre so rarely these days, I was happy to realize that really just some dumb luck meant that reading Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter first wasn't really necessary. While it might have been entertaining background I think I had all I needed from what I read here. And I didn't want to have to go back and read that. At least not at the moment - I really need to read at least one or two things in between each installment of horror these days. Don't know why, just do.
Another thing that seemed to be stacked against LAV was the fact that I also don't often read revisionist history novels. The first one I read was Ring and the Crown by Melissa de la Cruz. I wasn't really convinced after reading that one that I was going to become a big fan of this particular type of sub genre. And I'm still not sure. I won't say there was anything in either book to make me steer clear, but neither one of them made a believer out of me either. As for this particular book, it was an interesting take on "history" and some of the more important events of the 20th century. It was set up so that it felt like the reading of a memoir, and it was littered with actual facts and even a real photo or two sprinkled throughout. I think the real photos (although I have absolutely no idea if any of them are Photoshoped) were some of the more enjoyable highlights of this book.
I take issue with the author's desire to make almost every single important event in American history revolve around the main vampire, Henry, and his compatriots including the resurrected Abraham Lincoln. However, I loved the first part of the book, the story centered around Jack the Ripper. And thinking of Henry and Abe as spies was cool. It was a neat way to think of the former 16th President. As the book moved towards its culmination, a lot of the intervening events that Henry and Abe participated in didn't add much to the plot. But the end was exciting. And there were throats ripped open, impalings, explosions, murders, and all the typical horrors one would expect from a vampire epic in this genre. And, most of the time, it wasn't gratuitous. Sounds like an oxy-moron doesn't it? A vampire horror story with only mostly non-gratuitous violence? But that made me like it all the more.
The book was well written. The story was clever. The characters, for the most part, were interesting and fun. It was pretty neat to impose the world the author built on the likes of Mark Twain, Nikolai Tesla, Teddy Roosevelt and others. For the most part it was thoroughly enjoyable. Despite the fact that it was a little bit lacking in humor – a quality I believe necessary as a counterbalance to the violence (even as non-gratuitous as it was) that the author didn't shy away from (and I guess that's fitting given that this is probably classified as horror) it's also not as dark as I expected. While I hadn't read Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter I had seen the movie and it seemed a fairly dark movie. I know movies can be vastly different than the books they are based on, but it influenced my expectations nonetheless. As a result, I expected much darker out of this book. There was darkness but there were pleasant surprises and moments of levity even if they fell short of being classified as humor.
The format took a little getting used to at first. The flipping between the narrator and Henry for a few chapters left me sometimes feeling like the rug had been pulled out from underneath me. But a reread of the sentence or paragraph was all it took to solve that, and eventually, that feeling faded away. Although I sort of wish there was a reminder telling me who the narrator was and how to tell what was Henry's actual words versus what the narrator filled in on the jacket so it would be an easy reference point. Although I guess that wasn't really critical to the plot and how things ended up and it didn't slow me down too much.
Bottom line: for someone who no longer reads as much horror as I used to I really enjoyed it. If I stumble across the first book I'll definitely read it. And I would absolutely recommend Last American Vampire to anyone who read Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Letting the quality of LAV speak for both books, I will say that I would recommend both to the fans of the horror genre, even without having read Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Twilight fans need not apply, as these are definitely not your sparkly vampires....more
I am baffled by all the excellent reviews. Are there 2 versions of this book out there and I have the version intended to bewilder and confuse? An angI am baffled by all the excellent reviews. Are there 2 versions of this book out there and I have the version intended to bewilder and confuse? An angel I am told was male, but later that he/she/it is pregnant? A fairie is an angel? Angela is the Archon but not? She houses Raziel's soul but doesn't? And I still don't know what the Ruin is...! It was a sign when I realized I was two weeks into this book and still only about 60% through it that I was not going to agree with all the positive reviews this book has been getting. I found myself re-reading entire chapters because I was so very totally confused. And unfortunately, there is no wiki page out there summarizing it in a coherent manner, with spoilers, so I can understand what I have read. I normally do that here on my blog, but i don't even know where to start... I am confounded. More of the review, and spoilers, to be found on seriestracker.wordpress.com, for those who are as lost and confused as I was on this one!...more
Review originally found on seriestracker.wordpress.com
Having just finished Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake, I find that I need to refresh my memorReview originally found on seriestracker.wordpress.com
Having just finished Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake, I find that I need to refresh my memory with what I thought of the first Anna installment because I found, the entire time I spent reading Girl of Nightmares, that I wasn't reading very scary stuff and I recalled Anna Dressed in Blood being pretty darn scary. So, here's how I started the Anna Dressed in Blood (AD in B) review: "Want to spend some time with a creepy scary ghost story? Then check out Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake. It’s not the creepiest or the scariest but it’s not for the faint of heart either."
So now, looking to spend time with another creepy ghost story, or at least the continuation of one, I find I won't be having nightmares of Anna the way Cas does, the way I expected to when I picked this book up. I am not saying the second is bad. But there were definitely places where I was a frustrated reader. And there was definitely a lack of any fear the entire read. Where I found myself feeling like I was watching a good scary movie - you know, hearing the creepy music, knowing something is coming but not knowing what, and then jumping a little in my seat when it finally happens - while reading AD in B, that feeling never happened this time around.
Maybe is was the fact that the author seems to have built such a believable character and yet that believability is stripped quickly and utterly when Cas gets to London. Maybe it's that the first was a pretty cool ghost story, with a little voodoo thrown in. Now, the turn to a secret society is unexpected and yet at the same time almost cliche in this genre. Maybe it was that while I expected Anna to be back (duh, it is the second in the "Anna" series), I expected a better plot. Or maybe it was that the story seemed to final, I was surprised that there really wasn't a better story.
Before thinking that I just said the same thing twice, I see a subtle difference between story and plot. I look at the story as the overall message, the summary of what happens to the protagonists. It is where they are at the beginning, and how they get to where they are at the end. In a general sense. I see the plot as the individual steps and actions taken within the story to get the characters from the beginning to the end. The plot is the details. The story is the path and the plot are the steps taken on the path.
So, here's where we are: Cas is hearing, seeing and dreaming of Anna. He believes he can bring her ghost back. And he sets out on a course to do so. That course takes him to London where he encounters the Order of the Black Dagger. The Order thinks his choices, his selectivity in choosing only to send dangerous ghosts over is straying from the path of the order. And it is the order who created the dagger in the first place. The order means to replace Cas with Jestine, someone they have trained and selected. Cas and Jestine cross over each with their own true purpose. And while on the other side, they fight the Obeahman (again for Cas) and Cas wants to/is trying to get Anna back.
I think I would have enjoyed a story that was again creepy and ghosty. This was instead not really either. Since we were familiar with the Obeahman from the first book, he wasn't really creepy. And Anna was downright scary in AD in B - she certainly wasn't here. This installment felt more like an extended epilogue than something that deserved an entire book.
There are some small problems I have with some of the details though. For example, the references to the suicide forest. There is a place in Japan that has earned that reputation; Scotland though? I couldn't find anything similar. But the way the author sets that up, and has Cas comment on how famous it is, I expected to find some truth in that.
The dialogue is one of the best parts of both installments. The realism is wonderful and unusual (too often the YA authors have no idea what a teenager should sound like; they are too mature or too immature; the right balance is hard to find). There is just enough rawness to feel like we are really listening to teenagers. The "order of the blah blah blah" not only made me chuckle, but made me feel like I was listening to the conversation, not reading it. That to me, is the way to tell if it's good dialogue. But... (I did say I had a few problems, right?) once our trio gets to London that's where the dialogue starts to fall apart. It's not that the individual sentences aren't something I can still "hear" but it's the overall point of the dialogue. Let face it, without a little outrage that the Order wants to put Cas through this, it makes all the dialogue seem much less real.
And that brings us to the most annoying and frustrating part of this plot. Cas and friends show up in London and are told that Cas is going to be tested. Why the hell doesn't Cas say no? He just blindly, and without any resistance at all - none, nada, zilch, zippo, zero, null... - he goes alone with it. He once (maybe twice but clearly it's not with any force so as to make me remember) he suggests he won't cooperate, but he totally does. Without making any stink, trouble, waves or even a single "who are these people to think they can make me do this" thought. I was outraged. I was imagining myself Cas, and thinking that I would tell these people to take a flying leap. No person would just go along with it the way Cas does. He may want something from the Order, but he really doesn't question anything, he just take it. And that is the issue I have with this book. To make the character seem more plausible, he should argue, try to think of alternatives, be pissed at Gideon, hate Jestine, at first resist going on the treck to Scotland. Something. But Cas doesn't and it doesn't make him a better character. It makes the plot harder to take. Found this quote on the author's webpage: "Kendare Blake writes like an aerialist; each lyrical leap is expert and fearless, leaving the reader reeling with breathless anticipation. Her books are truly magical." Wish I could talk to the author of that quote - I would ask her to show me where these lyrical leaps are. There were good turns of phrase, and as I mentioned, the dialogue is generally good. But to call there are lyrical leaps that are expert and flawless... clearly we read two different books.
The nice change of pace is that there is little philosophy, theology or whatever you want to call the religious undertones that a lot of the YA genre is now pushing. I don't really need to worry about what makes Hell Hell or if there is Heaven and what the Obeahman wants from the world at large (we know he just feeds off others ghosts and their pain we don't need to know or understand why); there's no end-of-the-world scenario that hinges on the theology of ghosts, angels, God, etc. Instead, it seems its meant to just be a creepy scary book. I thought we might be going there with the introduction of the Order and their philosophy, but we really only scratch the surface of that. So while I think it falls a little flat on the creepy scary scale, it was still nice that I didn't need to keep track of right versus wrong, not really. Side note: I would have loved to have the author tell us which Queen of England the ghost in the Tower of London was supposed to be as I doubt not telling us was an important plot point to remember for later (especially since I can't seem to verify if there will even be a book 3).
Girl of Nightmares won't cause this reader nightmares, and I won't be staying up late wishing for a third in the series. And that's a shame because I would have taken a few nightmares in exchange for a better plot. But, overall, it's a least an interesting little epilogue to the first installment.
If you like this review, visit series tracker.wordpress.com for more!...more
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