As a fan of guro anime and manga, my friend and I were both utterly surprised when we figured out I hadn't actually come across any of Junji Ito's worAs a fan of guro anime and manga, my friend and I were both utterly surprised when we figured out I hadn't actually come across any of Junji Ito's works before. She set me with links and as this was the shortest one, I decided to start here for my Ito binge for the night.
Mimi's Ghost Stories is a one volume, six chapter manga book that revolves around Mimi, a young (slightly annoying) girl who somehow always ends up surrounded by ghosts or in a situation with them, or at least the paranormal. From ghosts to strange creatures, and a creepy short story at the start, this psychological horror manga is probably one of the better places to start with Ito.
I will admit, I did enjoy this, but not as much as I thought I was going to. In fact, I was a little bit let down - having looked into his more gore artwork, and this being psychological, it was a bit deflating to read through. If you're here for Ito being a gore author/artist, definitely do not hold this up to the standard for it. If you want a more psychological read - this is definitely better for the genre.
With well-rounded art and solid storylines, this is definitely some of the best guro mangas I have read - probably the best despite my issues with the character and the let down that it was less gore than I originally expected. I believe if I hadn't been expecting what I had with this, it would definitely be a 4 or 5-star rating from me. Hopefully, if I reread this in the future and I'm more expectant of it and more in the mood for psychological horror, then my rating will go up. It feels almost taboo to give Ito a lowish rating, but the world always surprises you.
If you like psychological horror, this is more than likely one of the shorter mangas you should check out. It's gripping, and some did give me chills. This was an awesome introduction to Ito for me, and I'm about to go read as much as I can from him in one night. A definite recommendation....more
Free copy provided by Netgalley in return for an honest review
Rating: 4 / 5
Publication Date: 25th April 2017 Review Date: 01st April 2017
This was absolFree copy provided by Netgalley in return for an honest review
Rating: 4 / 5
Publication Date: 25th April 2017 Review Date: 01st April 2017
This was absolutely amazing. I was so taken aback. This was my first taste of the Evil Ernie franchise and I am definitely hooked in to it. This was absolutely stunning and I can’t wait to read more about him.
Evil Ernie is an undead being using his powers of necromancy to defeat evil, being accompanied by his talking smiley patch. In this issue, Godeater is released onto the world and Ernie and his companions from Heaven and Hell must join forces to bring it down.
I’ve never seen a comic like this before; the closest thing I can think of is Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse #1. I loved the artwork, the story line, the characters that have been created. I can see Ernie as being real, showing how much depth his character has in this short read. It’s brilliant, truly. I have no qualms whatsoever with this first part of the comic book, and it’s a definite 5/5 on this one.
Last Ditch Bitch, the second section in this comic book, was quite confusing. I didn’t understand the plot all that well and it got pretty boring pretty quickly. Also, why are the women in such scanty, revealing clothing? If you’re going to fight then… don’t you need protection? The action in it, however, was really good and I enjoyed it. The fighting and tricks pulled during the fight were brilliant and that’s why I added a star onto my original 3 star rating and I’m giving Last Ditch Bitch 4 stars.
[(5 + 4) / 2 = 4]
Overall, I’m giving this a four star rating. I wish that Last Ditch Bitch hadn’t been in this because I feel like it took away from the comic overall, and it would have done better in it’s own comic. I’m definitely recommending this though, even if you only read Godeater. It was brilliant and I am definitely an Evil Ernie fan after reading this!...more
A stunning little Kindle freebie! Free at the time I bought it.
Where can I begin to describe Before You Sleep?
I decided to pick this book from the AmazA stunning little Kindle freebie! Free at the time I bought it.
Where can I begin to describe Before You Sleep?
I decided to pick this book from the Amazon Kindle Store because it had a pretty cool cover, it was free, and it was horror. A good mix for me – I love a book with a promising cover, makes me feel a lot of anticipation for a book, and Before You Sleep definitely has the right vibe to it to make me really want to grab it.
I’ve never read a book by Adam Nevill before, but I find that’s the beauty of free eBooks’ you tend to find out about new authors that you love that you never really knew about before and, sometimes, these new authors get to renew your love for a certain genre
Now, as I’ve said, I’ve never read a book by Nevill before, so I didn’t know what to expect from this small anthology of horror stories. All I had to go on was the cover, a few reviews I had read and a 3.66 average review of this specific eBook on Good Reads.
This small collections starts with the story, “Where Angels Come In”. When I first started reading this, it didn’t grab my attention. I wasn’t really interested in this white house on the hill where kids supposedly go missing. However, what did grab my attention about the book, was the fact that whatever had happened within the house, had turned our main character half dead – his body old and rustic, never to be used correctly again. This made me swipe to the next page, an eyebrow raised as he began to tell us what had happened within the white house on the hill.
I didn’t think too much of this story at first. The descriptions of the statues that were meant to scare us and make us feel uneasy didn’t do that for me – I thought the description at this point was quite poor. It didn’t make me feel chilled, or give me goosebumps, and the descriptions didn’t stick with me like they do in most horror books. I found it quite boring, actually, I didn’t think the house was as scary as Nevill wanted us to think it was. It wasn’t until the main horror aspect of “Where Angels Come In” came in to play that I felt fear. It wasn’t being chilled, I felt scared. It made me think about old nightmares from my childhood, nightmares that we’ve all experienced at some point, and it made my hairs stand on end. I glanced around a few times, looking nervously at windows as I passed them on the street, waiting for these creatures to be there, looking directly at me. The tone of the book changed very quickly. It went from being quite boring and slow to being fast paced and scary. My adrenaline gland was working over time, and “Where Angels Come In” quickly became a favourite short story for myself.
“Where Angels Come In” was an extremely good start to this collection, slow at first, but easing you into the horror. I was eager to see if this held up within the collection, or if the tone would change throughout – after all, the anthology was made of stories that had been written between 1995 and 2011.
“The Ancestors” is the next short story within this anthology of horror. I started it with reverence, reeling from “Where Angels Came In”, looking forward to another burst of horror to keep my adrenaline going. My first thought as I began to read this was ‘oh god, she’s every Asian ghost horror trope in one embodiment’. My second thought? ‘Shit this is unnerving.’ Maho will be haunting my dreams just from the small description of her over the first few pages. Toys and dolls that move around on their own and smile at you? I’m terrified.
This whole story is so well written. It’s haunting me the moment I finish it. The descriptions, from a child’s eyes, make it all the more haunting, a child not understanding what’s going on – and yet, Nevill still manages to get enough description in his words to allow the reader to know what’s happening. It’s unsettling, very unsettling to see this twisted ‘game’ unfolding from a child’s point of view. The innocence of a young girl, the malevolence of ghosts and ghouls, the danger of strangers. I don’t have much to say on this one, it’s honestly scared me down to the core of my stomach and I can’t think enough to write a coherent review other than: this was terrifying, and if this was a short horror story published in it’s own book, I would have recommended it to everyone on my friend’s list.
The third story in this collection is called “Florrie”. Now, just the title of this gave me a small shudder, trying to decipher what this one could have been about, and the only things coming to my mind were things such as little ghost girls, that one weird kid that ends up killing everyone – already, the title has me shaking. I find small girls in horror the most horrifying – they’re often the cause of everything, but seem so innocent you don’t know until the worst is unfolding before your eyes, and this title manages to bring out every scared reaction I have when it comes to small girls in horror.
Already, a few pages in, Nevill’s descriptions have me lost for words. The language he uses is amazing, and has me imagining everything happening right in front of me, and if I close my eyes, I can see the house he’s describing.
I don’t quite know how to explain “Florrie” or even to review it. It goes on well, has a good pace. It gives the read a good mystery, trying to figure out what is happening to the main character, but then seems to suddenly stop. The ending is very abrupt and left me very confused, wondering if Kindle had deleted some of the book in the process of me downloading it, but upon checking, that was the ending. I was quite upset with that. Such a good story, getting more and more mysterious by the page with such an abrupt ending? It’s a shame, really, Nevill could have extended “Florrie” into so much more.
Overall, Before You Sleep is absolutely amazing. Never have I been so rooted to the spot as I flick through and read a horror story, and for it to be three horrors that seem to continue on from one another in the form of keeping your fright levels and adrenaline levels high, it’s rare. This was an absolute gem I found by chance and I fully recommend this small collection to any horror fan. Three stories, all a different sub genre of horror. A true beauty; I can’t wait to read more from Nevill!...more
First Read: April 2017 Second Read: April 2017 Third Read: May 2017 Fourth Read: November 2017
I might have a really bad obsession with this book.
Update aFirst Read: April 2017 Second Read: April 2017 Third Read: May 2017 Fourth Read: November 2017
I might have a really bad obsession with this book.
Update after reread: I just finished reading this for the second time and everything I said in my original review stands, goodbye, I love this book more than life itself.
This beautiful books gets five solid stars from my eating disordered ass.
Where can I even start with this book?
Well, first of all, let me start this review with saying THIS is the book about eating disorders you want to read. In a world with a lot of books like Sad Perfect, horribly triggering, non researched, and disgustingly dangerous to the eating disorder community, we have Wintergirls. This book is well researched, so well written, and Laurie Halse Anderson has created a beautiful piece that is so respectful to those with eating disorders. I was really reluctant to start this, as a lot of books about eating disorders in the young adult genre are terribly written and have absolutely no concern for those with eating disorders that will read them, but I am so glad that I decided to sit and read this.
Lia is an 18 year old girl with an eating disorder. She wants to be skinny, wants to be the perfect 85 pounds and to look fragile and delicate; bones are her drug of choice, they’re her addiction. She needs them.
I cannot talk about this book enough. This is THE book to read about eating disorders, and it was published all the way back in 2009; why is it all the old fiction books about eating disorders are the best ones to read<?. Anderson has done so much research and has portrayed such a beautiful character that I could connect with so easily. Lia broke my heart, and mended it, so many times throughout this book. She’s a wonderful character, and as weird as this sound, I’m kind of honoured she’s a character that represents eating disorders.
Anderson has such a way with writing that took me away. The writing style in this is unique for sure, and I’ve seen a few low star reviews that didn’t like the writing style – I think this is a Marmite situation, you either love it, or you hate it. I loved the chapter styling, how each chapter number was written up as though it were a weight on a scale. I think that was a really sweet touch, and I loved it so, so much. Everything was all connected, and it made me feel a lot more at ease reading this book with my ED. It made me feel like everything made perfect sense.
I think there are a few issues with the book and the writing, I will admit that. Number one (which isn’t really the book and more of a content warning) is that this is HEAVILY triggering dor those with an eating disorder. I’m not gonna lie, this triggered me more times than I can count, and that number is definitely in the double figures. It’s so beautifully seductive, if you are at risk of an eating disorder – do not read this. This is portrayed from the point of view with someone of an eating disorder, so, of course, it’s quite glorified in certain ways and this should be taken into account before you read this. If there is even the slightest risk you could develop, or be triggered, or dragged out of recovery by this, please do not read it. The one thing that did annoy me about the writing was the constant crossing out of lines as Lia spoke to herself in her head. I mean, I understand it, I do the exact same thing with my daily thoughts throughout the day, but it’s really hard to read. I mean, I’ve done it a lot in my own writing, but not to the degree Anderson has done in this. There’s nothing wrong with using lines through sentences and words, but with the amount it happens in this book, it is rather frustrating, and you have to keep trying to reconnect to the story.
The plot was wonderful, even I couldn’t figure out where it was heading. I think Anderson did such an amazing job creating this book, a much better job than what I could do. I salute her. This is a hard story to write, and Anderson has even said that this was inspired by the readers that wrote to her about their eating disorders – this must have been hard to write as well for that connection. I applaud her, truly.
I can’t sell this book enough. I am so happy with this book and the way that it portrays eating disorders. I think this is a brilliant representation, and that it has really helped shape how people see people with eating disorders – how we really are, and not what society thinks we are....more
This volume of Ayakashi Hisen kept me on the edge of my seat at every turn of the page. Although the first chapter started off quiAre you kidding me?!
This volume of Ayakashi Hisen kept me on the edge of my seat at every turn of the page. Although the first chapter started off quite slow, and I had to really sit myself down to read it, it took my breath away. The artwork in this volume is absolutely stunning and I am left in awe of it. Kyoko Kumagai has done wonders with this manga.
It was hard to tell how this issue was going to go; each chapter had me thinking of different things, and it was impossible to guess where the story line might go after this. Even the ending has me guessing four hundred different things, even though it seems so definite.
The characters are getting more and more developed with every chapter and I am so glad to be able to discover more about them.
I love this manga series so much and I'm really hoping it won't let me down in later volumes, because this is just perfect.
5/5, full recommendation from me, and I can't wait to read more of it!...more
Everyone knows the story of A Christmas Carol. Be nice to those around you, and the people close to you. Good will and merriment among all men. It's aEveryone knows the story of A Christmas Carol. Be nice to those around you, and the people close to you. Good will and merriment among all men. It's a timeless story that we've all heard of, studied in school, seen one of the many, many movies on the story.
But what about the original story?
Not many people know the very original, not the book. We know watered down versions and we know adaptations. We know the gist of the story, but we don't know what Dickens wanted us to know and to feel.
When I read this the first time, I was in year eight, in a shitty little school, in a mobile classroom. We were in a rickety little hut in the playground because we were being moved to another site. My English teacher, Mr. Dooley, hated Christmas. He didn't let us celebrate when December came around. Instead, we began to read A Christmas Carol. It was as Christmasy as he would ever let us be.
None of us really wanted to read this. We wanted to play games, we wanted to play Christmas hangman, or watch a movie of a book adaptation, but we had to read this. Never in my life did I ever see that class as quiet as it was when we were doing our guided reading of A Christmas Carol. Loud, pre-pubescent teenage boys not screaming and hollering, teenage girls not worried about their make up, or their chipping nail varnish. Sports kids not complaining about being cooped up in a classroom. Fashion lovers not concerned with how the uniform looked speckled with snow and rain, and not straightening out the wrinkles in their skirts for the first time in all the time I had known them so far.
This book is a wonder, truly. Dickens wrote this in order to be able to support his family, his income weak and small, and not enough for his family or his home; rather like Bob Cratchit, after all. Upon reading this, you feel the slight desperation behind the words that Dickens penned, begging silently for just a few meagre people to buy this book, even if it were only for kindling.
The characters that Dickens creates within this are absolutely wonderful. We have the miser, Ebeneezer Scrooge who hates everyone and everything except himself and money. He has no care for anyone in the world, as shown when he cares not for the people he throws out of their properties for not being able to keep up their payments. He cares naught for little Tim Cratchit, walking with a stick, and Bob Cratchit unable to support his son and family. Scrooge cares unbelievably little, and even tries to have Bob work on Christmas Day, showing great contempt when he eventually gives Bob the day off.
It's Christmas Eve night when things start getting strange. Scrooge is alone in his chambers, trying to enjoy his evening meal, when the ghost of his old partner, Jacob Marley.
Three ghosts will visit you, Ebeneezer Scrooge. Follow their advice before it's too late.
We all know this. We all know that the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future come to visit Ebeneezer during the night and spook him. The things he finds terrify him and he begs them to let him know what he must do to change the future bestowed onto him. They leave without an answer. Scrooge eventually finds love in his heart and it's a big hurrah from the audience as he begins to celebrate Christmas in the 'proper' fashion for the time of year.
The world that Dickens created is amazing. I love the setting of A Christmas Carol. He focuses on characters, other than Scrooge, that are down on luck and are struggling to get by in the world. It's a cold, cold Christmas, and everyone is struggling to make ends meet. The characters are wonderfully three dimensional. It's hard to believe that they're mere book characters when you've finished reading it. I feel like I could walk out of my house and bump into Scrooge on the street. I feel like I could see Bob and Tim Cratchit, and spend some time helping Tim when he falls over and needs his stick. I feel like the ghosts themselves could appear in my room at any given second, and forewarn me of the horrible future ahead of me. It's so hard to create a book full of three dimensional characters, and Dickens has done this wonderfully.
The moral of this story truly is a beautiful one. Everyone knows what comes from A Christmas Carol, everyone knows Scrooge's story. It's something that has been handed down through generations, amongst friends, and through the many, many retellings of this classic.
Care for all those close to you.
This is my interpretation of the moral, myself, but there are many. "Don't be a Scrooge." "Be positive." "Don't do that which is considered a sin." There are countless.
My personal one is that, everyone is going through something, and kindness may be all they need. It takes nothing to be kind, it really doesn't, and this book taught me that from an young age. The Muppets Christmas Carol taught me it from the age of a toddler.
This is a story that has stayed with me throughout my childhood, into my teenage years, and I cannot wait for it to follow on into my adult years. Dickens has created a story that I can disappear into at any given point in my life, and I thank the man for it. This is a book that deserves many, many things more than it has.
A true classic, that has shaped literature and slang as we know it. A solid five out of five and a solid recommendation from me....more
This is an adult horror book from talented and renowned young adult horror writer, Darren Shan.
When I found this in the library by pure chance, I immeThis is an adult horror book from talented and renowned young adult horror writer, Darren Shan.
When I found this in the library by pure chance, I immediately got it out and dived right into it.
Lady of the Shades is a lot different to what I would normally expect from Shan. I have no doubts this is because Shan is a young adult author more than anything, and to read him writing in a more adult style was a little distracting. I found that it all flowed really well, but I wasn't enjoying it as much as I usually would, or what I would expect from a Shan book. I think the characters were well fleshed out, and the world created was well done, but I wanted more. I personally don't feel like it was done absolutely wonderfully, and that there could have been more to it. The plot itself was really well thought out, it had me thinking a lot, and I was in constant shock when the plot twists came out of nowhere.
This is a neat little story, but it's not my favourite from Shan. I was a little disappointed, but I would still read this over numerous times and I am still recommending it!...more
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