When Rose Wakes - Book Review

When Rose Wakes
by Christopher Golden

What is it about:
Her terrifying dreams are nothing compared to the all-too-real nightmare that awaits...

Ever since sixteen-year-old Rose DuBois woke up from months in a coma with absolutely no memories, she’s had to start from scratch. She knows she loves her two aunts who take care of her, and that they all used to live in France, but everything else from her life before is a blank.

Rose tries to push through the memory gaps and start her new life, attending high school and living in Boston with her aunts, who have seriously old world ideas. Especially when it comes to boys. But despite their seemingly irrational fears and odd superstitions, they insist Rose not worry about the eerie dreams she’s having, vivid nightmares that she comes to realize are strangely like the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. The evil witch, the friendly fairies, a curse that puts an entire town to sleep—Rose relives the frightening story every night.

And when a mysterious raven-haired woman starts following her, Rose begins to wonder if she is the dormant princess. And now that she’s awake, she’s in terrible, terrible danger...

What did I think of it:
I have read several books by Christopher Golden that I really liked, so when I saw this retelling of Sleeping Beauty I had to read it.

And Golden delivers.

This is a really enjoyable book. Although not as creepy as I had expected after reading the blurb, there's still lots of suspense and mystery.

Golden's take on the Sleeping Beauty tale makes use of some familiar elements, but he adds his own spin on the original story as well, in a way that feel natural. I very much enjoyed puzzling Rose's background together.

Rose is very likable, although unthinking and rash at times. She also is a bit gullible, but that can probably be expected from someone who suffers from such extreme memory loss.

All in all this is a very entertaining story and you can bet I will read more books by Christopher Golden, as he hasn't disappointed me yet.

Why should you read it:
It's an enjoyable YA retelling of Sleeping Beauty

Snowblind - Book Review

Snowblind
by Christopher Golden

What is it about:
The small New England town of Coventry had weathered a thousand blizzards...but never one like this. Icy figures danced in the wind and gazed through children's windows with soul-chilling eyes. People wandered into the whiteout and were never seen again. Families were torn apart, and the town would never be the same.

Now, as a new storm approaches twelve years later, the folks of Coventry are haunted by the memories of that dreadful blizzard and those who were lost in the snow. Photographer Jake Schapiro mourns his little brother, Isaac, even as---tonight---another little boy is missing. Mechanic and part-time thief Doug Manning's life has been forever scarred by the mysterious death of his wife, Cherie, and now he’s starting over with another woman and more ambitious crimes. Police detective Joe Keenan has never been the same since that night, when he failed to save the life of a young boy . . . and the boy’s father vanished in the storm only feet away. And all the way on the other side of the country, Miri Ristani receives a phone call . . . from a man who died twelve years ago.

As old ghosts trickle back, this new storm will prove to be even more terrifying than the last.

What did I think of it:
I love Golden's Young Adult zombie book Soulless, so when I heard he had written another horror novel, I had to read it.

And this is a very cool read.

I will confess it wasn't as scary and creepy as I had expected. The book started out with lots of tension and a feeling of doom. Then after the first major event the story jumps to twelve years later and the story calms down. Things slowly start building up again, and you get to know the major players of the story and what happened to them in the twelve years since the first storm.

I liked getting to know the people of Coventry, and to read about their day to day troubles. Everyone who lost someone in the storm twelve years earlier is still feeling the effects of that storm. I think Golden did a great job in showing how much impact an event like that can have on a small community.

Then when the next storm looms, tension begins to build again. Strange things start happening. It never got to the point where it felt scary or creepy though. It's a cool story, but it didn't get under my skin. It reminded me in mood of some of the stories by Koontz: intriguing and filled with interesting characters, but missing the real punch to make it a horror in my opinion.

All in all I very much enjoyed the book, but would label it more of a ghostly thriller than horror. It did earn its place on my keeper shelf no matter the lack of creepiness though.

Why should you read it:
It's a well written Ghostly Thriller.

Mind the Gap - Book Review

Mind the Gap by Tim Lebbon and Christopher Golden

What is it about:
Always assume there's someone after you. That was the paranoid wisdom her mother had hardwired into Jasmine Towne ever since she was a little girl. Now, suddenly on her own, Jazz is going to need every skill she has ever been taught to survive enemies both seen and unseen. For her mother had given Jazz one last invaluable piece of advice, written in her own blood.

Jazz Hide Forever

All her life Jazz has known them only as the "Uncles," and her mother seemed to fear them as much as depend on them. Now these enigmatic, black-clad strangers are after Jazz for reasons she can't fathom, and her only escape is to slip into the forgotten tunnels of London's vast underground. Here she will meet a tribe of survivors calling themselves the United Kingdom and begin an adventure that links her to the ghosts of a city long past, a father she never knew, and a destiny she fears only slightly less than the relentless killers who'd commit any crime under heaven or earth to prevent her from fulfilling it.

What did I think about it:
I got very mixed feelings about this book. The story starts out really suspenseful and exciting, but then suddenly turns into some kind of Oliver Twist in the Underground as Jazz meets some people who're not as much persons as rather grotesk caricatures. I was really waiting for the moment Jazz would (like Oliver Twist) run into her benefactor and swoon in his arms and was getting a bit disappointed by the story I must confess. Just when I was about to totally lose my patience however a new character turns up and steers the story away from the all too Dickensian plot and towards something more promising. From there on the story does indeed get full of action and suspense once more and leads to a cool conclusion. So.... In the end I did enjoy the story although I could have done without the Oliver Twist caricatures.

(I must say I wonder if Lebbon and Golden meant this whole Dickensian stuff as some kind of tribute as at one point one of the characters is reading a novel by Dickens.)

Why should you read it:
It is well written and if you don't mind the Dickens stuff a good story.

Soulless by Christopher Golden - Book Review

Soulless by Christopher Golden

What is it about:
Times Square, New York City: The first ever mass séance is broadcasting live on the Sunrise morning show. If it works, the spirits of the departed on the other side will have a brief window -- just a few minutes -- to send a final message to their grieving loved ones.

Clasping hands in an impenetrable grip, three mediums call to their spirit guides as the audience looks on in breathless anticipation. The mediums slump over, slackjawed -- catatonic. And in cemeteries surrounding Manhattan, fragments of old corpses dig themselves out of the ground....
The spirits have returned. The dead are walking. They will seek out those who loved them in life, those they left behind...but they are savage and they are hungry. They are no longer your mother or father, your brother or sister, your best friend or lover.

The horror spreads quickly, droves of the ravenous dead seeking out the living -- shredding flesh from bone, feeding. But a disparate group of unlikely heroes -- two headstrong college rivals, a troubled gang member, a teenage pop star and her bodyguard -- is making its way to the center of the nightmare, fighting to protect their loved ones, fighting for their lives, and fighting to end the madness.

What did I think of it:
This is what a good zombie story should be! No teens falling in love with zombies, but zombies hungry for human flesh, a country in chaos and a hand full of unlikely heroes who try to save the day.

It's suspenseful, has plenty of zombie mayhem, likeable characters and also characters you'd gladly push in front of a herd of hungry zombies. Apart from the really cool zombie mayhem Golden put a lot of work in the way people react to everything that's happening and in doing so he gives a very believable insight in the workings of the human mind during a catastrophic happening like a zombie outbreak.

One big negative thing: The cover!
What's up with that? Does it say zombie in any way?
If I hadn't known this book was about zombies I'd never would have guessed just from looking at this cover and possibly could have missed out on a great book.

Why should you read it:
Zombie Mayhem!

Zombie, an Anthology of the Undead - Book Review part 1

Today I'll make a start in reviewing 'Zombie, an Anthology of the Undead'. As it has about 20 stories and I want to tell a bit about each one I'll tackle 10 of them today.

Zombie, an Anthology of the Undead edited by Christopher Golden

What is it about:
RESURRECTION! The hungry dead have risen. They shamble down the street. They hide in backyards, car parks, shopping centres. They devour our neighbours, dogs and policemen. And they are here to stay. The real question is: what are you going to do about it? How will you survive? How will the world change when the dead begin to rise? Bram Stoker-award-winning author Christopher Golden has assembled an original anthology of never-before-published zombie stories from an eclectic array of today's most popular horror, fantasy, thriller and literary writers.

What did I think of it:
Some of you may know by now I love zombies! So this book with lots of different zombie stories is right up my alley. I will list the first 10 and tell you my thoughts about each one.

'Lazarus' by John Connolly - A short, melancholic tale about the biblical Lazarus. Well written and beautiful in my opinion.

'What Maisie Knew' by David Liss - A suspenseful story set in a world where the dead have gotten a new function as brainless lackeys. But are all of them as brainless as it seems? I thought this one was very cool and original.

'Copper' by Stephen R. Bissette - I must confess this one didn't grab me, so I skipped it after the first few pages. (Yes, I know: I'm bad.)

'In the Dust' by Tim Lebbon - Three survivors of a viral outbreak that turns people into zombies try to stay alive and find their missing loved ones while dealing with the military who're investigating the outbreak. A well written and enjoyable story.

'Life Sentence' by Kelley Armstrong - A corporate bigshot uses his money and power to try to cheat death and doesn't mind if there are some casualties along the line. I really enjoyed this story, as I have all of Armstrong's stories sofar. I do wonder if people unfamiliar with Armstrong's other books won't miss out on some details.

'Delice' by Holly Newstein - A Mambo (priest of the Voudou) creates a zombie to let her have her revenge. As you might guess this story is about the original sort of zombies. It's a decent story, but I'm more for the brain eating kind of zombies myself.

'The Wind Cries Mary' by Brian Keene - Another beautiful, short, melancholic story. This one set in a post apocalyptic world.

'Family Business' by Jonathan Maberry - Ok, I got still 6 stories to read, but sofar this story is my favourite. It's the story of how a teenage boy (Benny) tries to find a job in a post apocalyptic world full of zombies, only to finally be accepted by his older brother (who is a bountyhunter who kills zombies) as an apprentice. It's beautiful, well written, the jobs Benny tries are bizarre, but original and I loved how the two brothers get to know each other while trying to work together. My one objection was that it was much too short, but luckily Maberry wrote a whole book about Benny that will be released in october this year called 'Rot and Ruin'. Something to look forward to.

'The Zombie Who Fell from the Sky' by M.B. Homler - As the title may give away: a town is surprised one day by a zombie falling out of the sky. Cool concept, not so cool story. It's chaotic in the way it's written and I didn't really care for it.

'My Dolly' by Derek Nikitas - Another story that didn't make much sense to me. A guy tries to revive a dead girl to ehm.... do something I'm sure, but this story lost me after the first couple of pages.

That's for the first 10 stories. All in all 6 stories I really liked if not loved, 1 that was ok and 3 I didn't care for. Not a bad score at all.

Part 2 of this review will come as soon as I've read the last 6 stories.