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<u>Arcanum 101</u>
Even though this came out decades after the first Diana Tregarde novel, it's a prequel so I read this first. Having just finished [b:Children of the Night|14012|Children of the Night (Diana Tregarde, #1)|Mercedes Lackey|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1385445746s/14012.jpg|16102], I see a big difference in both Lackey's writing (it's definitely better) and in some continuity holes. Mostly minor, but for one thing, in this she calls her grandmother "Memaw" and in CotN, "Granny." She goes to college in Boston, at Harvard no less, in the short story and Connecticut is the only place mentioned in CotN. With the exception for a minor mention of Itzaak in the full-length book, none of the others featured in Arcanum 101 are in it, so apparently they were just created for the short story, which is a major bummer because I liked them better than the ones in CotN.

Okay onto an actual review...

While there's a bit of a slower start, introducing Diana and the others, I quite liked the pace. It felt natural and didn't bore me, which is a surprise in itself. Diana is much more likable here and has a strength of character and practical nature that appeals to me. The characters and plot kept the momentum going and if this wasn't a series that had already been written, I would have liked to see the universe expanded upon. Some of the characters didn't get fully fleshed out but just enough to make they feel like they were needed in some way. The plot was interesting, though the ending hasty but serviceable. A good story and introduction that also works fine as a standalone.
<i>3.5 stars</i>

<u>Drums</u>
A decent short story with some interesting ideas, especially the American Indian beliefs and mythology. I doubt I'll remember it much in a week, but it was overall enjoyable.
<i>3 stars</i>

<u>Ghost in the Machine</u>
I loved the idea of this story and it was very well-paced and plotted. While this could be dated with computers and gaming, I believe most of it stands up well. In a way Ellen seems to be Diana Tregarde 2.0, she's more believeable and interesting; she doesn't seem perfect. this would be a very cool series, too bad it probably won't happen.
<i>4.25 stars</i>
  
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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Don't You Cry in Books

Feb 13, 2018  
Don&#039;t You Cry
Don't You Cry
Mary Kubica | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
6
7.0 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Quinn and Esther are roommates trying to get by in Chicago. When Esther disappears without a trace, Quinn is confused and worried. It's not like her friend to just vanish. As Quinn starts looking into things more, she finds some disturbing papers and items among Esther's things. Quinn begins to wonder: how much did she really know her roommate? Was she really the sweet, kind person she thought her to be? Meanwhile, in a Michigan town on the outskirts of Chicago, Alex is working his life away while his high school friends live theirs miles away. Saddled by caring for his alcoholic father, Alex feels trapped by his job washing dishes in this small town. However, his life becomes more interesting when a lovely young woman appears in town and catches his attention. Alex watches her and names her Pearl, due to the bracelet she wears on her wrist. As Quinn becomes increasingly worried about Esther, Alex simultaneously gets drawn more into Pearl's web.

Kubica's novel catches your attention right away, but for me, it really picks up about halfway through. The second half is a thrilling roller coaster ride full of suspense and plot twists. It keeps you guessing and surprised. The beginning dragged a bit; I found Quinn frustrating and was irritated by her lack of initiative in finding Esther. Why doesn't she call Esther's cell phone immediately? Or look at the whiteboard the roommates share that details their comings and goings? Combined with some of that, her jump to conclusions about Esther's personality seem a bit implausible.

However, the second half really does make up for a lot. Alex and Pearl's story is pretty mesmerizing, as it weaves in a ghost story from his small town, passed on through the townsfolk. By alternating between Alex and Quinn's point of view, Kubica does an excellent job of constructing her story, while still drawing out the twists and turns. I kept thinking I'd figured out parts of the plot, only to be surprised or proved wrong. The last half of the book will keep you up reading, desperately wanting to find out what happened to Esther. Overall, 3.5 stars.

I received an ARC of this book from Edelweiss (thank you!); it is available everywhere on 5/17.
  
Winchester: The House That Ghosts Built (2018)
Winchester: The House That Ghosts Built (2018)
2018 | Fantasy, Horror
Helen Mirren (0 more)
The effects could have been better. (0 more)
Dame Helen Mirren locks you to the screen.
I don't go see movies in theaters often. If you haven't noticed tickets have got insanely pricey. I don't know what prices are everywhere else, but here in Boston, it's almost 19 bucks a ticket. The last movie I watched in Theaters was Jurassic World a few years back. I figured what the hell, I brought my mom along, and we went and saw Winchester. My experience is probably going to be a bit different than yours who might be viewing it at home in a few months when it comes out on VOD of DVD/Blu-ray obviously. So I might have hyped up this review a bit.

I knew nothing of the Winchester house or it's story. Sure I heard the name before, and that it was some type of firearm. I also went into this movie almost blind. Just seeing a few second clip, not even a trailer. I knew Helen Mirren was in it. As a huge fan of Mirren, I was sold at just that. The movie follows Sarah Winchester the grieving widow of the co-owner of the Winchester gun company. (Helen Mirren) Troubled about her mental state, people close to her and affairs ask a doctor to come and examine her mental state. Dr Price ( Jason Clarke) soon finds something else lurks in the walls other than her hallucinations.

I will say this, the script was silly, and by silly it was not good. I think if the script was written a bit differently, the film would have been a 5 star. If you're looking for a gross horror movie, then this is not. However what the film is , is a beautifully made light paranormal movie with a couple messages. At least this is how I feel. Yes this movie used the jump scare tactic.
Which probably had more effect on me, sitting in a loud theater than it would at home. The acting was solid I thought especially from Mirren who is always a powerful performer. The effects were O.K. , There was maybe one part that the effects made a ghost look almost like something out of Lord of the Rings, and it looked quite silly.
  
Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pas
Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pas
Donnie Eichar | 2013 | Biography, History & Politics
8
7.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I’d been wanting to read this nonfiction for ages but never really felt in the mood for it. Just before Christmas I picked it up, and it did take me a couple of weeks to read, but it was worth it! An emotional and insightful look at the mysterious Dyatlov Pass Incident.

I’ve always been interested in mysterious happenings, at the ripe old age of 10 I was receiving books about poltergeists, spontaneous combustion, missing people cases and so on, so when I first heard about the Dyatlov Pass Incident, of course my interest was piqued! Then, when I found out there was actually a novel ‘solving’ the case, I was even more interested in it.

I haven’t read any other novels on the case, but I can imagine most of them get straight to the nitty-gritty of what they think happened to the unfortunate hikers, Eichar, however, builds his conclusions very slowly. At times, I felt a little bit annoyed about this – I really would just love to know what the hell you think happened! – but on the other hand I loved the way he made the hikers more than just an unfortunate accident. He breathes life back into them. Eichar takes diary entries, photographs, and interviews to build an intricate and honest look into each of the hikers days that lead up to their deaths.

As for Eichar’s theories on what really happened to the Dyatlov hikers, I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s a sad story, rather than a spooky serial-killer-ghost one. While I love mysteries of the unknown, when it comes to something as tragic as this incident, it’s nice to have an answer to “what happened?”… I think Eichar’s theories seem legitimate and well researched, so when the book claims to have the “true story” I can believe it.

I don’t want to say too much about this novel because it’s the sort of book that needs to be read to be appreciated, hence my almost mini review, but I think this was a very good and well written nonfiction novel. At times I found some of the goings-on a little tedious, but overall it was an interesting read.
  
The Lodge (2008)
The Lodge (2008)
2008 | Horror, Thriller
3
6.3 (4 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Good acting (2 more)
Creepy moments
The sadistic daughter
Shooting felt amateur (3 more)
85% of it was slow and boring
No shocks or twists
Didn't feel R rated
A cliche "horror" that lacks so much
First off I just want to say you can't spoil this movie. Whatever you think is going to happen, it will happen. There are no shocks or twists to the story.

They waste no time showing how creepy the caretaker is. Because of this you hoped that it was all a misdirection but sadly not. You even hoped it would possibly go into a ghost story instead but it just turned around and went right back into predictability.

The shooting of the movie felt very amateur. Every scene was out of focus and it's sad it's something you get used to.

The first half was extremely slow with drawn out scenes and about halfway through it did start to pick up some pace but sadly this ended up dragging on too long and felt too anticlimatic. It did feel like a homage to Texas chainsaw massacre which was nice but did nothing.

It was clear that this was very low budget with only 4 members of cast so there was no place to hide with the acting and I have to say it was good. They did a decent job with what was written and the characters often showed good logic which is rare in movies. For example they had reasons for alarms clocks going off randomly in the night, weird noises etc they were likable too which is a big thing for me.

The sadistic daughter was a great addition. She felt sinister but it is never explained why she is so dirty or why she is the way she is.

Sadly there is nothing new here. It felts like plenty of other movies you have already seen. For a R rated movie, it felt very tame. Like every movie they get caught but nothing terrible happens to them. You expect more violence or gore but this barely had anything and I found myself bored and excited for it to end.

I did go into this expected the worst movie ever so I was surprised that there were parts I liked but ultimately I wasn't impressed. It could have been so much more but lack too many things.
  
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Alice (12 KP) rated The Iron Ghost in Books

Jul 3, 2018  
The Iron Ghost
The Iron Ghost
Jen Williams | 2015 | Fiction & Poetry
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Iron Ghost was the second of three in The Copper Cat trilogy and it brings back characters from the first book The Copper Promise in full force. This story follows the Blackfeather Three as they travel to a place called Skaldshollow to assist the Skald people in getting back a stolen artefact. As soon as they arrive things start to go wrong and The Blackfeather Three come face to face with trials and tribulations to rival their exploits in the first book.

Ice people, wyverns, crazy mad mages with a thirst for blood and a familiar yet hated demon child all abound and cause all sorts of trouble for Wydrin, Frith and Sebastian.

There’s a neat – if slightly unobvious – split between tenses in this book which was slightly off putting; for example it’d be one chapter in present day Skaldshollow and then the next would be set in the past usually with Sebastian at the Order Temple. It wasn’t bad only unclearly marked, but on the flip side the writing itself showed the tense changes really well.

As with the previous book everything that could go wrong went wrong but the plot line followed a set rhythm that deviated in the smallest of ways but also the biggest – by this I mean that the plot stayed on the same sort of course but then all of a sudden something that was unexpected was thrown in the works and it threw me for a loop.

Other than Bezcavar the new big bad in this book was a long dead mage by the name of Joah Lightbringer or Joah Demonsworn who is miraculously brought back to life by the help of BBezcavar(surprise surprise) so he can continue on in his great, albeit incredibly insane work.

There’s magic galore from Frith, Joah, the Skaldshollow, Bezcavar and even Sebastian! Something happened with Wydrin that I won’t spoil for any of you who haven’t read this book (I highly recommend it!) that completely threw me and made me keep reading until the early hours of the morning. I had a combined “What the hell JW” and “Oh thank you, thank you” moment.

I’m about 110 pages into the third and final installment. I had a heart crumbling moment when Jen told me that on Twitter but made up for it with a pre-order of her new book.
  
Patient Seven (2016)
Patient Seven (2016)
2016 | Horror
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Characters – Dr Daniel Marcus is the man trying to learn about six disturbed patients at a mental hospital, each story needs to be broken down in a different way, he is doing research for his book, but leaving us wondering what his motives are is the biggest mystery in this film. we do meet the different patients which all have different stories and we follow the events of their stories each different from the rest. We do meet the doctors, but as the film is an anthology we just don’t get enough time to look into their characters.

Performances – Michael Ironside is the star of this film with his calming presence while interviewing the patients that can turn on them in a heartbeat. We have a couple of known names in the supporting cast with Alfie Allen in the second story being the highlight of the rest of the performances, while no one is bad in their roles here, they just don’t get the time they deserve.

Story – The story here is told like an interview process to give us seven short horror stories, the fact each one goes in a different direction helps the audience find one they can enjoy even if the previous one isn’t for them. Vampires, ghost, spirits, serial killers and zombies are the main topics each one feels short enough to be entertaining, even if one did make me want to see a feature film about that character. For a horror anthology this does check the boxes well and is one that can be enjoyed.

Horror – The horror in the story comes from the different stories, while we don’t always get the best build up to the horror moments, we do follow the horror guidelines well.

Settings – Each story does take us to a new setting which helps make the film feel fresh, though I don’t quiet understand how the crimes from England, New Zealand and Iceland ended up in an American mental home.

Special Effects – The effects in the film across the different stories are great and make you feel like you are part of them.


Scene of the Movie – The second story.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Some of the stories are slightly too short though.

Final Thoughts – This is a good horror anthology even if the ending feel slightly flat, we get plenty going on and can enjoy the different ideals of horror.

 

Overall: Horror anthology does correctly.
  
Chernobyl Diaries (2012)
Chernobyl Diaries (2012)
2012 | Drama, Horror
The problem with the horror genre these days is its becoming far too predictable, you almost spend the majority of the film second guessing the writers as to what is going to happen next. This is exactly what happened to me when I watched Chernobyl Diaries.

The premise in itself sounded good, a group of tourists/friends travelling the globe decide upon a little bit of extreme tourism and take a venture out to the site of the Chernobyl disaster.

Finding a picnic spot wasn’t going to be a problem
In particular they head to the city of Pripyat which has become a desolate ghost town since its inhabitants had to drop everything and leave in a hurry, something about a nuclear disaster.

The location provides an eerie setting, empty desolate buildings are submerged by overgrown trees giving off a sinister mood. The group, after getting refused entry by the guards take a back road inside, and spend time wandering about. When the van they are travelling in fails to start they have to spend the night and try to locate a way back out.

Oren Peli wrote the screenplay, but still seems to be living off the success of his debut chiller Paranormal Activity as he reuses the same horror clichés that we have seen too often in the past. Children wandering about aimlessly and shadows in the dark are all present in this, as well as a group of humanoids who give off a similar feel to that in The Descent.

That isn’t too say the film doesn’t have its good points (although rare), and there are some brief moments of tension. But the resulting final act in which the remainder of the party run haplessly about being chased by some unwelcome guests is poor. Slamming doors here, screaming there does little to satisfy the imagination.

The ending falls flat but you could see it coming, if only more had been done to elaborate on the back story it might have given the overall plot a bit more credibility. This was Bradley Parker’s debut directorial role after cutting his teeth in visual effects through-out his career.

While he might have done a credible job with some aspects of this film visually, once again he becomes another director in a long line who fail to deliver on tension and suspense.
  
    Order &amp; Chaos Online

    Order & Chaos Online

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