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Praying For Sleep
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On a savage, storm-lashed night, Michael Hrubek — a dangerously paranoid schizophrenic — escapes...
Awix (3310 KP) rated The Call Of The Wild (2020) in Movies
Feb 25, 2020
Rather too big-budget Jack London adaptation is long on CGI and short on grit, but remains engaging and dignified entertainment. Pampered house dog Buck is abducted from his California home and packed off to Alaska during the gold rush, slowly getting in touch with his wild side. Harrison Ford plays the main human part - there was something oddly familiar about seeing the star team up with a huge, hairy, almost totally non-verbal partner and then I remembered the Russian word for dog is sowbacca and it all made a bit more sense.
The harder edges of London's book have been sanded down considerably, and this does verge on the sentimental and cutesy in places - for one ghastly moment I thought the dogs were going to start talking to each other - and the fact it's made with a CGI dog (Terry Notary has been mo-capped) will probably put some people off. But it's solid, likeable stuff, lifted considerably by performances from Ford and Omar Sy. I still think it was madness to spend over $120 million on a film which will probably struggle to find an audience, but it has a definite charm to it.
The harder edges of London's book have been sanded down considerably, and this does verge on the sentimental and cutesy in places - for one ghastly moment I thought the dogs were going to start talking to each other - and the fact it's made with a CGI dog (Terry Notary has been mo-capped) will probably put some people off. But it's solid, likeable stuff, lifted considerably by performances from Ford and Omar Sy. I still think it was madness to spend over $120 million on a film which will probably struggle to find an audience, but it has a definite charm to it.
LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Get Out (2017) in Movies
Feb 18, 2020
Get Out is an incredibly strong directorial debut from Jordan Peele and is easily in the top tier of horror/thriller movies in the last few years.
He manages to craft a film that has an underlying sense of unease throughout, an aspect of the film that hardly lets up at any point.
The plot revolves around Rose (Allison Williams) taking her African-American boyfriend Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) away for the weekend to meet her very white family. Chris has reservations, understandably, due to the fact that casual racism is a thing that unfortunately exists. As the weekend draws on, Chris begins to realise that his worries perhaps aren't that unfounded. The only other black people around are house servants, and are acting strange, and it's doesn't take too long before a truly disturbing truth is discovered. To say any more would spoil the narrative, but it's a great plot, with a ridiculous twist.
Layered underneath the madness of the horror is a strong social commentary about race divides, and how a lot of white people perceive others. It's executed brilliantly, and is absorbing as much as it is uncomfortable.
The cast are terrific, especially Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Betty Gabriel, and LaKeith Stanfield.
Catherine Keener is another highlight - I'm so used to seeing her play good people, that the sinister nature of her character in Get Out is so unnerving, and adds even more the experience.
With both Get Out, and last year's Us, Jordan Peele has started his career in horror on a hot streak, and I can't wait to see what he brings to the table next.
He manages to craft a film that has an underlying sense of unease throughout, an aspect of the film that hardly lets up at any point.
The plot revolves around Rose (Allison Williams) taking her African-American boyfriend Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) away for the weekend to meet her very white family. Chris has reservations, understandably, due to the fact that casual racism is a thing that unfortunately exists. As the weekend draws on, Chris begins to realise that his worries perhaps aren't that unfounded. The only other black people around are house servants, and are acting strange, and it's doesn't take too long before a truly disturbing truth is discovered. To say any more would spoil the narrative, but it's a great plot, with a ridiculous twist.
Layered underneath the madness of the horror is a strong social commentary about race divides, and how a lot of white people perceive others. It's executed brilliantly, and is absorbing as much as it is uncomfortable.
The cast are terrific, especially Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Betty Gabriel, and LaKeith Stanfield.
Catherine Keener is another highlight - I'm so used to seeing her play good people, that the sinister nature of her character in Get Out is so unnerving, and adds even more the experience.
With both Get Out, and last year's Us, Jordan Peele has started his career in horror on a hot streak, and I can't wait to see what he brings to the table next.
Housewife of Horror (12 KP) rated The Canal (2014) in Movies
Aug 25, 2018
Contains spoilers, click to show
The Canal (2014)
Platform: Shudder
Genre: Horror
Country: Ireland (IFB)
Running Time: 92 minutes
Written and Directed by: Ivan Kavanagh
Release Date: April 18th 2014 (Tribeca Film Festival)
Cast: Rupert Evans; Steve Oram; Antonia Campbell-Hughes; Hannah Hoekstra
After found footage, psychological horror films are a favorite of mine. I love how they pull you into the story, how up is down, left is right, I love to be enveloped by the plot. That tingly feeling I get on the back of my neck, the hairs standing up, I know then it has me in it’s clutches. I had that feeling with The Canal.
David (Rupert Evans) works as a film archivist, he is given a reel of footage from the police archives to watch and subsequently archive by his work colleague and close friend Claire (Antonia Campbell-Hughes), which turns out to be old crime scene footage of he and his wife’s current home. It was the scene of a shocking crime in 1902, the brutal murder of a cheating wife, their children and the nanny by the enraged father.
David suspects his wife Alice (Hannah Hoekstra) of having an affair, so he decides to follow her one night, only to unfortunately confirm his suspicions. He watches Alice while she is with her lover, and then picking up a hammer, he appears to mull over the idea of using it, only to quickly come to his senses. Walking away, he throws the hammer in to the canal on the way back to their marital home, where he has left their young son asleep in bed, alone in the house.
David, feeling sick from what he witnessed, as well as what he had considered doing about it, runs into the (quite dirty) canal-side public toilets. He hears something or someone coming in after him, and then see’s them, their feet, under the stall door, followed by fingers appearing to creep over the top of the door. He then proceeds to suffer from quite nightmarish visions that include the man, the husband, from the 1902 crime scene footage. He seems to be taunting David, whispering things to him. David, in a state of distress, manages to crawl outside, where he then witnesses what appears to be his wife being thrown into the canal; he just can’t see it very clearly or coherently. He later comes round on the floor of the bathroom, unnerved and disheveled, and makes his way home. The next morning, when he realises that Alice has not come home that night, David goes to the local police station to report her missing. Obviously, the police suspect David, “It’s always the husband” says the (inept) detective on the case.
The plot twists and turns, is it David? Is it the entity? Some great revelations about the grim history of the house come up throughout. It’s an interesting watch that comes to a disturbing conclusion.
A great little scene, that made me believe David was the killer, was during one of his viewings of the old footage. He stood up, in front of the projector, silhouetting him in front of the screen, making him appear to be a dark shadow. To me, this was the directors’ nod to David’s darkness within.
The Canal is a great psychological horror; it does very well to dig itself under your skin as you watch, and drag you in to this nightmare that David’s life has turned into. I was really impressed with the performance of Rupert Evans, tormented and devastated, he made David’s pain almost tangible. Watching him seemingly fall further into madness as the story progressed was quite frightening. I really felt for the nanny, she is a totally innocent girl who just wants to protect David and Alice’s son Billy, and can’t leave even when she knows she should. She gets dragged deeper and deeper in to the madness; everyone close to David is brought into this waking nightmare.
The ending is well, quite creepy and rather disturbing as I have said earlier. The story feels to me to have come full circle, and you can envision that it is a tormenting nightmare that will repeat itself over and over with future residents of the house for years to come.
4/5 – It’s rather worth a look if you like a good psychological horror
Lesley-Ann (Housewife of Horror)
Platform: Shudder
Genre: Horror
Country: Ireland (IFB)
Running Time: 92 minutes
Written and Directed by: Ivan Kavanagh
Release Date: April 18th 2014 (Tribeca Film Festival)
Cast: Rupert Evans; Steve Oram; Antonia Campbell-Hughes; Hannah Hoekstra
After found footage, psychological horror films are a favorite of mine. I love how they pull you into the story, how up is down, left is right, I love to be enveloped by the plot. That tingly feeling I get on the back of my neck, the hairs standing up, I know then it has me in it’s clutches. I had that feeling with The Canal.
David (Rupert Evans) works as a film archivist, he is given a reel of footage from the police archives to watch and subsequently archive by his work colleague and close friend Claire (Antonia Campbell-Hughes), which turns out to be old crime scene footage of he and his wife’s current home. It was the scene of a shocking crime in 1902, the brutal murder of a cheating wife, their children and the nanny by the enraged father.
David suspects his wife Alice (Hannah Hoekstra) of having an affair, so he decides to follow her one night, only to unfortunately confirm his suspicions. He watches Alice while she is with her lover, and then picking up a hammer, he appears to mull over the idea of using it, only to quickly come to his senses. Walking away, he throws the hammer in to the canal on the way back to their marital home, where he has left their young son asleep in bed, alone in the house.
David, feeling sick from what he witnessed, as well as what he had considered doing about it, runs into the (quite dirty) canal-side public toilets. He hears something or someone coming in after him, and then see’s them, their feet, under the stall door, followed by fingers appearing to creep over the top of the door. He then proceeds to suffer from quite nightmarish visions that include the man, the husband, from the 1902 crime scene footage. He seems to be taunting David, whispering things to him. David, in a state of distress, manages to crawl outside, where he then witnesses what appears to be his wife being thrown into the canal; he just can’t see it very clearly or coherently. He later comes round on the floor of the bathroom, unnerved and disheveled, and makes his way home. The next morning, when he realises that Alice has not come home that night, David goes to the local police station to report her missing. Obviously, the police suspect David, “It’s always the husband” says the (inept) detective on the case.
The plot twists and turns, is it David? Is it the entity? Some great revelations about the grim history of the house come up throughout. It’s an interesting watch that comes to a disturbing conclusion.
A great little scene, that made me believe David was the killer, was during one of his viewings of the old footage. He stood up, in front of the projector, silhouetting him in front of the screen, making him appear to be a dark shadow. To me, this was the directors’ nod to David’s darkness within.
The Canal is a great psychological horror; it does very well to dig itself under your skin as you watch, and drag you in to this nightmare that David’s life has turned into. I was really impressed with the performance of Rupert Evans, tormented and devastated, he made David’s pain almost tangible. Watching him seemingly fall further into madness as the story progressed was quite frightening. I really felt for the nanny, she is a totally innocent girl who just wants to protect David and Alice’s son Billy, and can’t leave even when she knows she should. She gets dragged deeper and deeper in to the madness; everyone close to David is brought into this waking nightmare.
The ending is well, quite creepy and rather disturbing as I have said earlier. The story feels to me to have come full circle, and you can envision that it is a tormenting nightmare that will repeat itself over and over with future residents of the house for years to come.
4/5 – It’s rather worth a look if you like a good psychological horror
Lesley-Ann (Housewife of Horror)
Ice with Everything: In Climbing Mountains or Sailing the Seas One Often Has to Settle for Less Than One Hoped
H.W. Tilman, Trevor Robertson and Alex Ramsay
Book
'For most men, as Epicurus has remarked, rest is stagnation and activity madness. Mad or not, the...
Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated Kiss Me First in TV
Aug 1, 2019
Kiss me first is six part T.V. series form 2018 that is (loosely) based on a book of the same title by Lottie Moggach. Set in the near future the series follows Leila, a young woman living alone in the house she shared with her mother, who had recently died. Leila spends most of her time in the Virtual Reality world of Azana where she goes by the name Shadowfax. Whilst in Azana, Shadowfax meets another play known as Mania who introduces her to a group known as ‘Red Pill’. As Shadowfax begins to spend more time with red pill she starts to realise that events in the game are being mirrored in real life.
As we are introduced to the characters the first couple of episodes’ flip between the real world and the VR world of Azana but, as the series progresses the VR gives way to the real world, pulling you into the madness of the characters and making the games being played even more sinister.
Kiss me first is not a light hearted series and through the red pill members it tackles subjects like depression, suicide & euthanasia as well as the core theme of manipulation which also makes it quite a slow burn.
I said that Kiss Me First was based on a book of the same title and, after watching the series I went off and read the book and found it to be quite different but also the same, let me explain. The book has the main core characters but Red Pill is a chat room and there is no VR or other version of Azana. Shadowfax/Leila only meets/speaks to two of the group (Mania and Adrian) and one of those are dead for most of the novel. Most of the same subjects are still covered in the book but the book seems to have a bigger focus on suicide whereas the T.V. series spends more time on depression. The book also seems to be a search for purpose and the series a search for belonging and friendship and the changes made in the series seem to make the Leila/ Jonty relationship a bit forced and almost irrelevant. If you enjoyed the book the series is worth a shot but expect a lot of changes and a bit more of a techie element.
As we are introduced to the characters the first couple of episodes’ flip between the real world and the VR world of Azana but, as the series progresses the VR gives way to the real world, pulling you into the madness of the characters and making the games being played even more sinister.
Kiss me first is not a light hearted series and through the red pill members it tackles subjects like depression, suicide & euthanasia as well as the core theme of manipulation which also makes it quite a slow burn.
I said that Kiss Me First was based on a book of the same title and, after watching the series I went off and read the book and found it to be quite different but also the same, let me explain. The book has the main core characters but Red Pill is a chat room and there is no VR or other version of Azana. Shadowfax/Leila only meets/speaks to two of the group (Mania and Adrian) and one of those are dead for most of the novel. Most of the same subjects are still covered in the book but the book seems to have a bigger focus on suicide whereas the T.V. series spends more time on depression. The book also seems to be a search for purpose and the series a search for belonging and friendship and the changes made in the series seem to make the Leila/ Jonty relationship a bit forced and almost irrelevant. If you enjoyed the book the series is worth a shot but expect a lot of changes and a bit more of a techie element.
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated The Night House (2020) in Movies
Aug 23, 2021
Rebecca Hall - outstanding (1 more)
Nicely vague script: leaves a lot to interpret
This one really creeped me out
Positives:
- Of the different movie genres, comedy and horror are probably the ones that polarise opinion the most. One person's meat is another's fowl. But I have to say that this movie officially creeped me out. I was extremely tense for just about the whole 107 minute running time. Much of this is down to Rebecca Hall, who is just SUPERB in this. She brilliantly portrays a woman on the edge, her impassive character breaking every so often into an "everything's fine" sarcastic smile. I know that the Academy tend not to nominate actors for Oscars for 'frivolous' films, but this genuinely, to me, felt like an Oscar-nomination-worthy performance.
- I've talked before in my blog about the overuse of 'jump scares' in horror films and the law of diminishing returns. This film doles them out very sparingly indeed. There are two notable ones (one spoiled by the trailer!) but - man - the first of these had me levitating off the seat!
- The script is very vague indeed about where you end up in this movie. (I've tried to do a synopsis of what I *think* happened in a "Sp0iler section" in my blog). The script deliciously muddies the waters between dreams and reality; sanity and madness; sobriety and drunkenness; with the real-life Madelyn (Stacy Martin) bringing you up short at times with an "oh - so that bit must by reality then"!
Negatives:
- The ending. I'm not sure how I wanted it to end. But it felt wholly anti-climactic.
Summary Thoughts on "The Night House": London-born Rebecca Hall seems to have a "leisurely" output as an actress, but she really deserves more prominence in the industry. (If you've not seen it yet, watch her outstanding performance in "Christine" as another proof point). Here she magnificently holds the movie together.
Effective horror films for me are those on the tense psychological side rather than the mindless slasher variety. This point was well made by Tom Shone in his review in "The Sunday Times", describing it as a "middle-aged kind of horror movie!". "The Night House" delivered those mental chills for me in spades. There is actually very little gore in this one. But it certainly had me thinking about it when I woke up in the middle of the night last night. Was that a noise downstairs??
If you like your scary films, then this one is highly recommended.
(For my full graphical review, please check out onemannsmovies on the web, Facebook and Tiktok. Thanks).
- Of the different movie genres, comedy and horror are probably the ones that polarise opinion the most. One person's meat is another's fowl. But I have to say that this movie officially creeped me out. I was extremely tense for just about the whole 107 minute running time. Much of this is down to Rebecca Hall, who is just SUPERB in this. She brilliantly portrays a woman on the edge, her impassive character breaking every so often into an "everything's fine" sarcastic smile. I know that the Academy tend not to nominate actors for Oscars for 'frivolous' films, but this genuinely, to me, felt like an Oscar-nomination-worthy performance.
- I've talked before in my blog about the overuse of 'jump scares' in horror films and the law of diminishing returns. This film doles them out very sparingly indeed. There are two notable ones (one spoiled by the trailer!) but - man - the first of these had me levitating off the seat!
- The script is very vague indeed about where you end up in this movie. (I've tried to do a synopsis of what I *think* happened in a "Sp0iler section" in my blog). The script deliciously muddies the waters between dreams and reality; sanity and madness; sobriety and drunkenness; with the real-life Madelyn (Stacy Martin) bringing you up short at times with an "oh - so that bit must by reality then"!
Negatives:
- The ending. I'm not sure how I wanted it to end. But it felt wholly anti-climactic.
Summary Thoughts on "The Night House": London-born Rebecca Hall seems to have a "leisurely" output as an actress, but she really deserves more prominence in the industry. (If you've not seen it yet, watch her outstanding performance in "Christine" as another proof point). Here she magnificently holds the movie together.
Effective horror films for me are those on the tense psychological side rather than the mindless slasher variety. This point was well made by Tom Shone in his review in "The Sunday Times", describing it as a "middle-aged kind of horror movie!". "The Night House" delivered those mental chills for me in spades. There is actually very little gore in this one. But it certainly had me thinking about it when I woke up in the middle of the night last night. Was that a noise downstairs??
If you like your scary films, then this one is highly recommended.
(For my full graphical review, please check out onemannsmovies on the web, Facebook and Tiktok. Thanks).
Zuky the BookBum (15 KP) rated The Demon in Books
Mar 15, 2018
Also read my review here: http://bookbum.weebly.com/book-reviews/the-demon-by-hubert-selby-jr
<i><b>Behind me theres a house, a beautiful house with a loving family, and my guy is filled with rats and maggots that are chewing me up alive.</b></i>
I feel like the aim of this book wasnt just to shock, but also as a reminder that wealth, sex, admiration and success dont necessarily lead to a happy life.
I found, to begin with, this was so great at flowing along with the story. There were no sections that seemed overly long and boring, it was just exactly what we needed to know about Harrys life. Then we came to after Harrys marriage, where the demons within him couldnt be kept down and he was frequently going out and sleeping with random women. Now, I was expecting this to happen in this book, Harrys known as Harry the Lover so its pretty obvious that hes going to be addicted to sex, but it went on for too long. It felt like half the novel was about Harry going out and shagging anything that moved, all the while, his lovely wife was at home looking after their son, and she had no idea what Harry was up to. The thought of my boyfriend / husband cheating on me one of the worst things I can imagine, so having to read so much of it had me seriously wanting to put the book down and move on.
Thank God Harry moves on to other things to fulfill his desires, because it definitely helped me get back into reading this. Once I was back into reading this, I was really hooked with the story. I kept wondering how far Harry was going to go to hold down his madness.
People get annoyed with the way Selby Jr writes his novels, but I think its cool. He doesnt use speech marks, paragraphs and sentences ramble for ages and he uses a forward slash instead of a apostrophe (its closer to type than the apostrophe), this way, he doesnt ruin his idea and writing flow. I like this raw style of writing, though it can sometimes get confusing to understand who is speaking. Selby Jr is also known for writing about some quite strange, manic and disturbed characters, so his rushed, and a little hectic, writing style does an amazing job as getting you inside the mind of the narrator.
This so could have been a 5 star read for me, but I read it during a reading slump (one that Im kind of still in), plus the topic of infidelity cropped up too much that everything just fell apart and I couldnt enjoy it as much as I had wanted to. This is definitely <i>not</i> an easy read but also not a read you should pass up if you get your hands on it.
<i>p.s. I didn't accidentally miss out the apostrophe in the quote, that's how it's written in the book.</i>
<i><b>Behind me theres a house, a beautiful house with a loving family, and my guy is filled with rats and maggots that are chewing me up alive.</b></i>
I feel like the aim of this book wasnt just to shock, but also as a reminder that wealth, sex, admiration and success dont necessarily lead to a happy life.
I found, to begin with, this was so great at flowing along with the story. There were no sections that seemed overly long and boring, it was just exactly what we needed to know about Harrys life. Then we came to after Harrys marriage, where the demons within him couldnt be kept down and he was frequently going out and sleeping with random women. Now, I was expecting this to happen in this book, Harrys known as Harry the Lover so its pretty obvious that hes going to be addicted to sex, but it went on for too long. It felt like half the novel was about Harry going out and shagging anything that moved, all the while, his lovely wife was at home looking after their son, and she had no idea what Harry was up to. The thought of my boyfriend / husband cheating on me one of the worst things I can imagine, so having to read so much of it had me seriously wanting to put the book down and move on.
Thank God Harry moves on to other things to fulfill his desires, because it definitely helped me get back into reading this. Once I was back into reading this, I was really hooked with the story. I kept wondering how far Harry was going to go to hold down his madness.
People get annoyed with the way Selby Jr writes his novels, but I think its cool. He doesnt use speech marks, paragraphs and sentences ramble for ages and he uses a forward slash instead of a apostrophe (its closer to type than the apostrophe), this way, he doesnt ruin his idea and writing flow. I like this raw style of writing, though it can sometimes get confusing to understand who is speaking. Selby Jr is also known for writing about some quite strange, manic and disturbed characters, so his rushed, and a little hectic, writing style does an amazing job as getting you inside the mind of the narrator.
This so could have been a 5 star read for me, but I read it during a reading slump (one that Im kind of still in), plus the topic of infidelity cropped up too much that everything just fell apart and I couldnt enjoy it as much as I had wanted to. This is definitely <i>not</i> an easy read but also not a read you should pass up if you get your hands on it.
<i>p.s. I didn't accidentally miss out the apostrophe in the quote, that's how it's written in the book.</i>
Rachel King (13 KP) rated Awakened (House of Night, #8) in Books
Feb 11, 2019
The book opens with Zoey, Stark, Aphrodite, and Darius still on the Isle of Skye. Several factors are adamant about keeping Zoey and Stark there, from their romance to Sgiach's sudden change of perspective about keeping the Isle a secret. All through the book I get the feeling that Sgiach is not as trustworthy or pure of intention as the reader is led to believe, but I imagine that will be a subject for a future book.
Fairly early in the book, a death occurs - I won't say who - but it feels a bit like an author's attempt to cull an entirely-too-long cast list. I have felt for awhile that there were too many characters in this series to keep track of all of them in a single book, but even with the random death occurring every so often, many of the characters are almost non-existent in this book.
I really like the character Rephaim and what the authors are doing with his sub-plot. He has much potential for growth in personality and maturity, and he brings a more adult element to what often feels like a very immature series. I was thrilled with how Nyx helps him at the end, as it shows him that good has its own rewards. His presence has forced Stevie Rae to grow up and make decisions that have a great impact, too. Normally Stevie Rae can be quite annoying, but around Rephaim I like her.
Neferet is of course, beyond revolting. Everything she does makes me want to hurl the book across the room - from her posturing around Kalona and Rephaim, to her false guilt at the funeral, to her simpering over the white bull. Her character is actually my strongest clue that the authors are good at what they do. Only a well-written character can elicit the kind of strong emotion that Neferet brings out in me. They do a good job of showing how the soul-sucking darkness is driving her to madness, even to the point of always underestimating what Zoey and Nyx are capable of. I may be delusional, but I still think that Kalona can be saved from this darkness, even though it's obvious that Neferet can not. His actions seem to be driven by bitterness and a hunger for what is denied him, rather than evil for the sake of evil.
I do love that the authors found a way to continue using Heath in the plotline, as he was always so good for Zoey and probably the only "normal" person in the cast list of supernaturally-gifted beings. He likely will have a long way to go with the direction the authors are taking him, but I imagine I'll keep reading this series through to the end - whenever that is.
Many of the same problems that I had with the series early on still persist - such as sickly-sweet teenage lingo, the condensed time frame of each book, and too many characters with too little time. I find myself wondering which parts of the books are written by which author, as the writing style seems to change sporadically.
I was actually both relieved and saddened by the death at the end, first that it was not someone else dying, but also how it will affect Zoey. Beyond that, there are simply too many characters for me to be emotionally-attached to all of them. So on to the next book - Destined (House of Night Novels).
Fairly early in the book, a death occurs - I won't say who - but it feels a bit like an author's attempt to cull an entirely-too-long cast list. I have felt for awhile that there were too many characters in this series to keep track of all of them in a single book, but even with the random death occurring every so often, many of the characters are almost non-existent in this book.
I really like the character Rephaim and what the authors are doing with his sub-plot. He has much potential for growth in personality and maturity, and he brings a more adult element to what often feels like a very immature series. I was thrilled with how Nyx helps him at the end, as it shows him that good has its own rewards. His presence has forced Stevie Rae to grow up and make decisions that have a great impact, too. Normally Stevie Rae can be quite annoying, but around Rephaim I like her.
Neferet is of course, beyond revolting. Everything she does makes me want to hurl the book across the room - from her posturing around Kalona and Rephaim, to her false guilt at the funeral, to her simpering over the white bull. Her character is actually my strongest clue that the authors are good at what they do. Only a well-written character can elicit the kind of strong emotion that Neferet brings out in me. They do a good job of showing how the soul-sucking darkness is driving her to madness, even to the point of always underestimating what Zoey and Nyx are capable of. I may be delusional, but I still think that Kalona can be saved from this darkness, even though it's obvious that Neferet can not. His actions seem to be driven by bitterness and a hunger for what is denied him, rather than evil for the sake of evil.
I do love that the authors found a way to continue using Heath in the plotline, as he was always so good for Zoey and probably the only "normal" person in the cast list of supernaturally-gifted beings. He likely will have a long way to go with the direction the authors are taking him, but I imagine I'll keep reading this series through to the end - whenever that is.
Many of the same problems that I had with the series early on still persist - such as sickly-sweet teenage lingo, the condensed time frame of each book, and too many characters with too little time. I find myself wondering which parts of the books are written by which author, as the writing style seems to change sporadically.
I was actually both relieved and saddened by the death at the end, first that it was not someone else dying, but also how it will affect Zoey. Beyond that, there are simply too many characters for me to be emotionally-attached to all of them. So on to the next book - Destined (House of Night Novels).
Lying in Wait
6.5
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Sunday Times Top 10 Bestseller! Featured in the Richard and Judy Spring 2017 Book Club 'Gone Girl...