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Sarah (7800 KP) rated Black House in Books

Jan 4, 2020

Black House

Stephen King, Peter Straub | 2001 | Fiction & Poetry, Horror, Science Fiction/Fantasy

8.8

(12 Ratings)

Book Rating

Another of King's epic stories

Stephen King is my favourite author, so I'm always going to enjoy his stories although it varies as to how much. I have a particular fondness for his short stories or epic doorstop sized novels, and I'm pleased that Black House falls into the latter.

The Talisman is a great story, and this is a very welcome sequel with Jack now as a rather endearing and heroic adult, scarred by his past. This is a story that starts off as a standard crime story and as it goes on turns into a fantastical horror, filled with King's usual mix of well written secondary characters and a nice amount of gore. What I also loved about this is how it links into other King stories - not just The Talisman, but others that I won't spoil but are very much beloved.

That's not to say this book is perfect. It is VERY long and I feel like there are parts of this that get too rambling and long winded, and there are some parts that could quite easily have been cut out without impacting on the main plot. There are also a few characters in this with odd speech impediments or accents, and trying to read their manner of speech gets very irritating after a while.

But apart from this, this is a hugely enjoyable King epic novel. Although only one to read if you've read The Talisman - this is not a standalone sequel.

Kudos

Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) rated Sideways Stories from Wayside School (Wayside School #1) in Books

Mar 23, 2020

When I heard that another book in the Wayside School series was coming out, I had to reread the book that started it all. These books were my childhood! I found out that I still love this series even as an adult.

Each chapter tells a tale about each individual student, and there are three chapter dedicated to each teacher of the class on the thirtieth story of the school. Some of the time, the stories of each child/teacher don't make much sense, but that's the beauty of this book. It leaves you to ponder on what that chapter was about and come to your own conclusions. There are a couple of chapters that teach some good lessons too.

One thing I also loved were the illustrations of each character before their chapter started. They are drawn very well. It was a nice touch, and it made it easier to picture that person in the story. I think it's a great idea for kids who feel like they are too old for picture books, yet they still like some illustrations in their book.

This is such an easy and fun novel to read. It's not very long which is perfect for the intended age group. I believe kids ages 8 - 13 will definitely love these stories the most although it's a fun book for any age.

I would definitely recommend Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar!

Kudos

Chloe (778 KP) rated The Dream Defenders in Books

Apr 14, 2020

The Dream Defenders

Neal Denhartog | 2019 | Young Adult (YA)

7.0

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

Imaginative (3 more)

Clever

Interesting

Good concept

Further development (1 more)

Lacking characters

The title "Dream Defenders" explains the content of the book. Basically the Dream Institute works to protect dreamers through powers they have learned/been taught. Dreamers are recruited when they show a particular acumen for managing their dreams.

The concept is very clever because it is something that could happen in real life, that we are not aware of. It's a very imaginative story with some quite funny bits in places. Love the Sandman name, very clever little note.

The characters and bad guys are well thought out but could have further development e.g. Marshall seems to only like books and that's all I can really say about him. Aeryn is supposedly trained in dream weaving but shows very limited skill. The story felt rushed and I definitely think the concept could do with some embellishment.

I'm not sure whether this is young adult, I felt like it was for children perhaps a similar age to goosebumps. Ocassionally the humour felt forced and in the wrong place. There often seemed to be unnecessary words for example, one sentence states "Nolan's stomach twisted, this time not from the Wispe travel". The events of the previous sentence clearly states what caused the stomach twisting.

Just a note, I think on Page 254 the word dream stream is used when it should be death stream.

I obtained a free copy from Voracious Readers Only!