To his credit, Keene does explore those last couple of questions in his story of a small town where suddenly darkness reigns and it appears that its twelve thousand or so residents are the only people remaining in existence. What lurks in the darkness? What if the darkness were a real thing? A force, evil and unconquerable? To imagine a world where a thick wall of darkness has surrounded it, cutting off rain, wind, electricity, and other humanity beyond the confines of our one small town is some genuinely creepy fodder for spine-tingling horror. The dark is one of our greatest human fears, with us from as far back as most of us can remember. The simple synopsis above, taken from the book’s Amazon detail page, is chilling – and it pretty much encapsulates the whole novel – and that’s too bad, because the premise offers so much more potential. I wish I could say the same for Keene’s work. Like Darkness on the Edge of Town, those books both had apocalyptic breakdown of civilization premises and both of them worked, more or less. Review: The premise above sounds intriguing, doesn’t it? Especially for fans of books like Stephen King’s Under the Dome or even Michael Grant’s Gone. Synopsis: One morning the residents of Walden, Virginia, woke to find themselves cut off from the rest of the world by an impenetrable wall of darkness.
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I will say that you should read them, whether you’re a fan of horror, sci-fi, fantasy, or something else – they’re incredible. It’s hard to categorize these books by genre, so I won’t. I can’t fully express what it means to me, but I am damn sure going to try for the sake of this review! Every Heart a Doorway is the first book in the Wayward Children series, which currently consists of 5 books (but has recently announced a 6th!). If there is any book recommendation you take from knowing me or from reading my blog, please let it be this book & this series as a whole. You’re nobody’s doorway but your own, and the only one who gets to tell you how your story ends is you.” There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.īut Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. The things she’s experienced… they change a person. Children have always disappeared under the right conditions slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere… else.īut magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children. She invites him to visit the Ancient House, notable for being the only opaque building in One State, except for windows. I-330 smokes cigarettes, drinks alcohol, and shamelessly flirts with D-503 instead of applying for an impersonal sex visit all of these are highly illegal according to the laws of One State.īoth repelled and fascinated, D-503 struggles to overcome his attraction to I-330. While on an assigned walk with O-90, D-503 meets a woman named I-330. O-90's other lover and D-503's best friend is R-13, a State poet who reads his verse at public executions. She is considered too short to bear children and is deeply grieved by her state in life. D-503's lover, O-90, has been assigned by One State to visit him on certain nights. Like all other citizens of One State, D-503 lives in a glass apartment building and is carefully watched by the secret police, or Bureau of Guardians. Meanwhile, the project's chief engineer, D-503, begins a journal that he intends to be carried upon the completed spaceship. A few hundred years after the One State's conquest of the entire world, the spaceship Integral is being built in order to invade and conquer extraterrestrial planets. All of this culminates in Angel and Ford having to ski to the next research station, hundreds of miles away, while dragging the cores on a sled and dealing with hurricane-force winds and deadly cold.Īs much as the shadowy virus-hunting bad guys are the villain of this story, so is the environment. They believe the ice cores contain a virus that would wreak havoc if released as a bio-weapon. Some very bad people are after ice cores that Ford has been studying. Just as most of the crew (Angel included) is scheduled to leave for the off-season, the base is attacked. Angel is attracted to Ford, but put off by his cold and brusque demeanor. Both of them have chosen their remote work site partly to distance themselves from their pasts. The book opens in Antarctica where Ford Cooper is working as a glaciologist and Angel Smith is a chef. Despite this book being the first full book in a series, readers may want to read the prequel novella in Turn the Tide to be fully introduced to the secondary characters. The tropes are 100% Elyse-bait and the author’s ability to sell me on two people falling in love during some really dire circumstances was impressive. Whiteout by Adriana Anders is a romantic suspense novel with elements of survival and espionage. Theme: Forced Proximity (stranded, safehouse, etc) He craves blessed solitude-a loyal dog, a silent house, and his own company are all he requires. Surely that won't take long.īrooding widower Val Bancroft, the Duke of Aragon, has shut himself off from the world. But she just needs to stay warm, keep her belly full, and distract herself until her relatives realize their mistake and turn back to collect her. When her boisterous family vacates their London townhouse for the country, Myrtle finds she's been left behind. Lady Myrtle McQuoid has always felt a little forgotten, and this season is no exception. Genres: Fiction / Romance / Historical / Regency, Fiction / Romance / Historical / Victorian Published by Amazon Publishing on October 18, 2022 Many of the books I read as a teenager were love poems. In my father's garage I started finding books on poetry which were awesome because they were short. Why do you write verse novels? What do you think is the power of poetry? Nobody said, give him a book he'll love so I was much like Nick in booked. So at aged 12 I hated books! I did not like books anymore because people were making me read books I didn't want to read. The papers he wrote at grad school to get his doctorate. I hated reading the encyclopedia! And then, get this, he made me read his dissertations. And then when I turned 11 my father started making me read the encyclopedia. Doctor Seuss, Fox in Socks, Eggs and Ham. And when I was little, I read books that were really fun. When I grew up I had parents who emersed me in books. Kwame Alexander, interviewed by Emily Drabbleīooked is about a boy that loves football and hates reading, were you anything like your main character Nick when you were growing up? Read an abbreviated version of the interview below: Check out his hilarious and insightful interview. We were so lucky to have Kwame Alexander, the amazing author of Booked, Rebound and The Crossover, in the office. “I’m sorry,” said Scarlet, her voice teetering with exhaustion. Wolf froze, hurt flickering across his face. When he was in arm’s reach, Scarlet almost collapsed into him, but at the last moment she had the presence of mind to step back. “Where did you get this?” So desperate, so determined, so him. He growled, ready to tear the princess apart. Her hand tightened around the knife handle as Wolf, ignoring how Winter was trying to pull away, grabbed her arm and smelled the filthy red sleeve of Scarlet’s hoodie, streaked with dirt and blood. Wanting to run toward him, but terrified it was a trick. She took a stumbling, uncertain step forward. The man stared at Winter with a mixture of confusion and disappointment and maybe even anger, all locked up in eyes so vividly green that Scarlet could see them glowing from here. Grabbing Winter’s elbow, he yanked back the red hood. Winter tensed half a second before he reached her. A man barrelled around the corner, heading straight for the princess. She reached for the knife Jacin had given her. Pounding footsteps, like someone was running at full speed toward them. Scarlet’s pace slowed, dread pulsing through her as she, too, heard the footsteps. “Winter’s head snapped around, away from Scarlet. Yet, as with the nun early on lecturing Alex about the dates and facts necessary for us (if not a scholar) to find out about the English invasions and Roman domination of Ireland's countercultural worship and somewhat suspect beliefs from the 5th c, it gets awkward to read a novel where characters must recite such information to each other for our necessary benefit. Terrell interprets Brigid as part-goddess by will, part-bishop, open to a blend of matriarchal and Marian devotions, who consecrated by a dying Patrick manages to bridge pagan with Celtic church practices- until Rome gets wind of "heresy" and sends Decius, a spy posing as scribe. Terrell, in the style of theological speculation in the form of historical fiction, shows how Alex Patterson, an appraiser of relics and reliquaries, learns about the altered tale via the apocryphal "rejected" gospels that come with refugees after the collapse of the Roman Empire into Ireland, bringing with them alternative views of Christianity. If Gerald of Wales in his 12c journey through Ireland saw a treasured book that was not the famed one already at Kells, but that of Brigid's Kildare monastery from the 5c, how might its reliquary, and its secrets, alter- if slightly- how Rome treats women, and how the Church interprets the cult of the Virgin Mary? It's an ingenious twist on a medieval glitch. One became so battered that it fell apart at the old lady whispering hush - split into two parts, invocation ("In the great green room") and benediction ("Goodnight stars, goodnight air, goodnight noises everywhere"). In my own nursery no less than four copies have passed through. Of the more than 100 published and unpublished books written by the intrepid and prolific Margaret Wise Brown, there is probably none more well-worn than Goodnight Moon. Weekend Edition books editor Barrie Hardymon talks with Lulu Garcia-Navarro about the thread of adventure that runs through Brown's life and work. And, it's been 75 years since The Runaway Bunny first left home. A new biography by Amy Gary, called The Great Green Room, has just been released, along with a previously unpublished picture book called North, South, East, West. She died suddenly at age 42, leaving behind a body of unpublished work.Ĭhildren's book doyenne Margaret Wise Brown is having a big week. Margaret Wise Brown is the author of beloved children's books such as Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny. I get the feeling I would like her even when she’s supposed to be evil, and maybe at some point I’ll look to going further down the story hole. I haven’t even gone down a long Wiki dive. I’ll also be the first to admit, outside of Anna Hathaway, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Joelle Jones’s current Catwoman run (okay and Tom King’s Batman run), I am fairly uneducated about the character. Nonetheless, I have a love hate relationship with Maas, and figured it was worth a shot. While I genuinely enjoyed the Wonder Woman book, I was so-so about the Batman one. I wasn’t sure what to expect of this book. After returning home from war in Afghanistan, he now Batwing and working with Bruce Wayne during the night. At least, by day she is Holly Vanderhees. Selina Kyle – street rat turned millionaire, with a new identity to boot. How did Catwoman become Catwoman? How did she get off the streets and become the sly cat burglar she is today? And is Batman the first superhero she fell for? Characters Genre: Comic books, anti-heroes, young adult Catwoman was definitely on my list alongside Wonder Woman (which I highly recommend.) And based on the cover, I did spend a good portion of the book thinking of Katie Cassidy. In fact, I am just one short – the Superman book. It’s inevitable that I’ll read all the DC Icon’s series. There’s never been a duo of ladies to take on Gotham City. |
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