Category: Horror
Suckers by Z. Rider
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
“What we have here is a very high-quality junkie novel that happens to be about a unique case of vampirism.” —Evan Clark, author of Movers
WHEN WORN-OUT MUSICIAN DAN FERRY decides to take a shortcut back to the band’s hotel, he picks the wrong dark alley to go down. Within days of being attacked by a bat-like creature, he becomes consumed with the need to drink human blood. Terrified of what will happen if he doesn’t get his fix–and terrified of what he’ll do to get it–he turns to his best friend and bandmate, Ray Ford, for help. But what the two don’t know as they try to keep Dan’s situation quiet is that the parasite driving Dan’s addiction has the potential to wipe out humankind.
Poignant and terrifying, heartfelt and ingenious, Suckers is a story of sacrifice and friendship in the face of an alien contagion that threatens to destroy humanity.
[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
When I picked up this book I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the blurb. Would it be a bunch of musicians caught in the middle of a vampire outbreak while on tour? That’s what it seemed like until things got going. I was really glad about that because it was a sign of the unpredictable plot that would be the hallmark of this book for me.
I’ve read a lot of vampire books and a lot of general outbreak books but I’ve never read anything like Suckers. The bat-like creatures that are Z. Rider’s vampires are so unique, so interesting that in a way I wish we could have learned more about them. However, going into the science of the vampires would have been very unrealistic considering that the main character Dan is just a musician, not a scientist. He doesn’t know any scientists, he doesn’t have a desire to learn more about his vampire situation other than how to survive it so if Rider had gone in depth into the science it would have ruined the mysterious atmosphere surrounding the creatures. In that way, the world-building is fantastic. We’re given enough information to understand things and enough information about the world outside Dan’s little bubble that we know things are bad but it never devolves into an info-dump scenario. Again, considering the main character’s background, this is far more realistic.
The plot as a result of the aforementioned unique world-building was quite unpredictable. The world doesn’t immediately go all doomsday, post-apocalyptic everyone out for themselves sort of way. No, it’s more of a slow decay as the suckers start to infect more and more people before they reach a point where hospitals and emergency services can’t handle the influx of new patients. It’s not your typical doomsday scenario and as such is actually pretty unpredictable in terms of plot. In retrospect many of the plot twists make sense because of how the characters were slowly changing throughout the story. I can honestly say that I didn’t see the end coming but it makes sense when you consider the characters Dan and Ray.
Speaking of characters, I was really impressed with them. Dan is the main character and is sort of the leader of the band but Ray is sort of the person who keeps it all together. He takes care of Jamie when Jamie goes back on his drugs, takes care of Dan when his cravings for human blood become insatiable and stays true to himself throughout the novel. Ray could have become cynical and bitter about having to take care of a lot of people but he never did and even in the face of death he stayed true to his principles. Dan himself was of course a fascinating narrator as he slowly discovered (to his horror) that he craved blood but I have to say that Ray was definitely my favourite. All of the characters, both major and minor were well developed so I really can’t complain there.
So here we have a very suspenseful horror story with an interesting new type of vampire, lots of plot twists and really believable characters that you’ll love by the end. You really can’t ask for anything more and I’m definitely excited to see what Rider decides to do with her talent in the future.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Anthology: At Hell’s Gates by Various Authors
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
When evil overflows from the deepest, fiery pits, the battle will be At Hell’s Gates…Whether you are a zombie aficionado, or you feed on horror, there is something for everyone. We’ve summoned some of the top Zompoc authors, masters in horror, and even some new talent to strike fear into even the most jaded soul. Dare you look, let alone approach, the dreaded gates?
Each skillfully crafted vignette showcases previously created worlds in the individual author’s works. If you’ve ever yearned for more back story or ached to learn what happened to a peripheral character; your wait is over. But, as they say, “Be careful what you wish for”. Once it has been seen, you cannot go back. And once infected; there is no cure.
This collaboration is in honor of the brave men and women in our Armed Services who willingly lay down their lives for our freedom. Words could not possibly express our undying gratitude, so we have banded together, doing what we do best, to show our appreciation. All proceeds from the sale of this anthology will go to The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, a non-profit organization whose sole purpose is to serve wounded soldiers and their families. This is for you, those who have truly been…At Hell’s Gates.
[Full disclosure: I was contacted by one of the authors and received a free ebook from them in exchange for an honest review.]
I don’t normally post anything on Remembrance Day out of respect, but I thought this was the perfect book to review as all proceeds go to The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. You can’t pick out a more worthy cause than that.
As you guys have probably picked up on by now, I’m not a big anthology fan. Usually there’s one or two stories by authors I know and like and the rest aren’t very interesting or are pretty poorly written. There have been a few exceptions, but I generally try to avoid reading anthologies for just those reasons. I was a little skeptical reading this anthology because I’d never even heard of any of the authors, but the blurb intrigued me enough that I decided to give it a go. This isn’t just zombie fiction, after all; it also includes stories with other horror elements like vampires and ghosts.
I have to say that I was just blown away by this anthology. There were so many amazing stories in it that I find it hard to name all of my favourites. And in all honesty, I don’t think I could name a story that I actively disliked. There were some that I felt were ‘meh’ but none that I thought were bad and shouldn’t have been included. All of the stories were well written and well-edited, so much so that I have added several new authors and books to my enormous to-read list. Sharon Stevenson’s story Welcome to Hell and Seth by Jacqueline Druga in particular stood out to me.
At Hell’s Gates is a very well-edited anthology. I think I caught maybe one typo in the whole thing, but it’s more than that. The stories were very well put together so as to make the anthology flow. There was a large variety of stories and the order was rotated so that you didn’t have two intelligent zombie stories one after another or a run of three quasi-military survival group stories. Seeing as I read the whole anthology in one sitting, I particularly appreciated this attention to little details like making sure there was a wide variety of stories and that similar themes were spaced out well.
In this anthology there are intelligent zombies, traditional Voodoo zombies and modern Walking Dead-esque zombies. There’s really something for everyone and even if you don’t like zombies, there are plenty of stories that focus on other horrifying creatures like vampires and ghosts. And you certainly can’t deny that the anthology goes to a good cause.
So go out this Remembrance Day and get some excellent new reading material while supporting our troops.
I give this anthology 5/5 stars.
Zombies: More Recent Dead by Paula Guran
(Cover picture courtesy of Prime Books.)
The living dead are more alive than ever! Zombies have become more than an iconic monster for the twenty-first century: they are now a phenomenon constantly revealing as much about ourselves – and our fascination with death, resurrection, and survival – as our love for the supernatural or post-apocalyptic speculation. Our most imaginative literary minds have been devoured by these incredible creatures and produced exciting, insightful, and unflinching new works of zombie fiction. We’ve again dug up the best stories published in the last few years and compiled them into an anthology to feed your insatiable hunger…
[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
I’ve been suffering from a severe case of Walking Dead withdrawal for a few months, so I figured that I might as well get back into that zombie kind of mood with a new anthology from some well-known authors. Jonathon Maberry, Neil Gaiman and so many more authors that I actually like were included in this anthology. Where could it go wrong?
Apparently, almost everywhere. This is a non-traditional zombie anthology, which I knew when I requested it. All of these zombies are either thinking zombies or just kind of dead shells of their former selves come back to life. I don’t mind reading about these types of zombies. It’s a newer (more terrifying in some ways) take on a creature that is a little over-hyped by pop culture. Of course, being that people are people, sometimes they would do disgusting things with these zombies: have sex with them, make them servants, etc. It’s sad to see that my faith in the worst impulses of humanity is still justified.
Except, by the end of the anthology, I was really, truly struggling to finish it. This is not a long book, by the way. It’s only 480 pages and it should not have taken me so long to finish, but I really had to force myself to keep reading about 2/3s of the way through. Why? Because, for the most part, it was boring. Most of the stories, even by authors that I really liked, were quite boring. Yes, they showcased the new type of zombie very well but some of them didn’t seem to have a point (or a plot) and still others were so boring that you forgot how the story began by the time you got to the end. It’s not like I have a short attention span, either.
None of the characters really stood out for me here and even though it’s only been a week since I read this, I couldn’t really name more than two or three of them. This anthology just did not pack the punch I’ve come to expect from authors like this. In the end, I was more disappointed than entertained, which is not something you want when you’ve just read through almost 500 pages.
I give this anthology 3/5 stars.
Fairy by Shane McKenzie
(Cover picture courtesy of NetGalley.)
Cecilia will do anything to have a baby. Anything.
Cecilia has tried everything to have the one thing she wants most—a baby. She’s been through every procedure, taken every medication. Nothing seems to work. Her body simply refuses to grow the life she so desperately yearns for. Her jealousy is making her lash out at the pregnant women around her. She’s starting to worry about her sanity.
But all is not lost. There is still one way. And Cecilia will do whatever it takes.
Even if it means inviting an ancient creature into her bedroom.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
I know the blurb sounds like it belongs to a crappy erotic novel, but I swear to you that this is straight up horror. It’s actually quite terrifying.
I don’t find Cecilia incredibly sympathetic but she is interesting and held my attention. She’s so desperate for a baby that she’s willing to try anything and she’s especially tortured by seeing new life come into the world as a midwife. It’s hard for her, especially when she runs into her ex-husband with his new pregnant wife. You can kind of see where Cecilia would try something so ridiculous and so horrifying that it’s hard to even read about. I don’t want to spoil too much, but let’s say the ending was very much in character for her.
This is a novella which is good because I don’t think it would be possible to sustain this level of suspense over an entire novel. In the beginning things are only kind of sad, but then the mood gets darker and darker as Shane McKenzie takes the novella to its terrifying (but believable conclusion). The pace is quite fast but not at the expense of readers getting to know Cecilia and feel at least a little bit for her plight.
I like that Shane McKenzie stuck with the darker fairy mythology rather than making this into a shameless erotic novel that has a wonderfully happy ending where everyone goes about their merry way. No, this really is horror and although the ending was rather predictable to my mind, I think it will be a shock for some people who pick this up. If you’re big on horror I wouldn’t recommend it because you’ve probably read a novel just like this already but if you’re a newbie like I am this is a good sample of what the genre has to offer.
Basically, Fairy was everything a horror novella should be: short, dark and terrifying. What more can you ask for?
I give this novella 4.5/5 stars.
Zomburbia by Adam J. Gallardo
(Cover picture courtesy of 100 Industries.)
Lifeless. Slow-moving. Brain-dead.
Welcome To Zomburbia.My name is Courtney Hart, and I’m here to tell you about things that suck. Being born in a podunk town like Salem, Oregon, for one. Living in a world infested with zombies? That, too. And the meat heads I go to school with? I think I’d actually take the undead over them most days. But I have a plan to get out of here and move to New York. I just have to keep selling Vitamin Z along with your fries at The Bully Burger. The secret ingredient? Zombie brains.
I’ve noticed things are getting even worse lately, if that’s even possible. The zombies seem to be getting smarter and faster. If I can avoid being arrested, eaten by shufflers, or catching the eye of some stupid boy, I should be able to make it through finals week still breathing. . .
[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook copy of this novel through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
Sometimes you read a blurb and think a novel has a good premise. However when you read that book you learn that you have a huge, insurmountable problem with it: the narrator.
Courtney is snarky, constantly putting her friends down, arrogant, clueless, bratty, hot-tempered and thoughtless. So she’s pretty much your typical teenager except for the fact that throughout the novel I kept wishing for her to die because she was so awful. I can’t go into much detail because I don’t want to get into too many spoilers, but it’s hard to believe she went through so many traumatic, possibly life-changing events and came out exactly the same at the end of the novel. As I’ve said before, I don’t mind unsympathetic characters (like Jorg from Prince of Thorns) but Courtney is just intolerable. She’s your typical teenager with attitude magnified by 10 and given an added dose of blindness about the world around her.
Being stuck in the head of such a horrible human being for the whole novel was trying. I kept fruitlessly wishing she’d die so I could get in the head of someone who at least acted like a human, like Willie or even Brandon. But no such luck; Courtney lives while people around her die like flies. The only mildly interesting thing about her is that she thinks she has a plan to fix the zombie problem. She goes on and on about how much smarter she is than everyone and yet we never hear the details of this wonderful plan that hinges on the army clearing New York of all its zombies in the next year or so.
Okay, even with that wretched girl for a narrator, this book may have redeemed itself with a good premise. I’ll admit that it doesn’t have a bad premise, just not a great one. If everyone has moved out into the suburbs because the cities are infested with zombies, why don’t the zombies follow them into the suburbs? Predators like to go where the food is, especially when said food is wandering around near wooded areas where there’s lots of shelter.
As for the drug Vitamin Z, I’ve never underestimated the determination of people to get high. Yes, I believe that people would try to get high off zombie brains but I also think Gallardo needed to explain more of why the drug makes people act like they do when they’re on it. That could be in the next installment of the series, but I’m not so curious as to consider reading the sequel. Not unless Courtney gets a personality transplant.
This book doesn’t come out until August 26 but I can’t honestly recommend it to anyone. Courtney is a rather poor excuse for a human being and the plot isn’t even all that exciting. To top it all off, the zombies (while having some unique qualities like being able to lay ambushes it seems) are pretty boring. They show up when it’s convenient for the plot and that’s about it. We’re told that they seem to be evolving pack behaviour and see that actually happen during the novel but we’re told exactly 0 about it or its possible consequences. And that’s pretty much how the whole novel goes, in one big cycle where we end up back at square one in the end.
I give this book 1/5 stars.