Dark Books - Page 23

Snow White, Blood Red

Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

not for the faint hearted 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I am dissapointed but not surprised at the bad reviews for this book and for the all the fairy tale collections compiled by Ellen Datlow. These are not fairy tales with "fairies". If you're expecting a dirty version of Cinderella look elsewhere. Many of these stories are about present times, real people, and current situations. Child abuse, molestation, rape, obesity, murder, slavery. These are the things the Ellen Datlow collections are comprised of. Most of these stories are not "light fare". They are deep and sometimes bloody, even when there is no blood to be seen. They are indeed fairytales though because the exist in the half-light time where horror exist simultaneously with beauty. The part of the car crash that is like a flower in bloom. If you like "The Bloody Chamber" you'll like these. If your looking for fairies, rent Disney.

Editorial Review:

Once upon a time, fairy tales
were for children . . . But no longer.

You hold in your hands a volume of wonders -- magical tales of trolls and ogres, of bewitched princesses and kingdoms accursed, penned by some of the most acclaimed fantasists of our day. But these are not bedtime stories designed to usher an innocent child gently into a realm of dreams. These are stories that bite -- lush and erotic, often dark and disturbing mystical journeys through a phantasmagoric landscape of distinctly adult sensibilities . . . where there is no such thing as "happily ever after."

Wolf's Brother

Megan Lindholm

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Beats Jean Auel Hands Down 4 out of 5 stars.
23 of 24 people found this review helpful.

Wolf's Brother is the second in a two-part series - the first is titled "Reindeer People" - and both books need to be read together. The two are really one continuous story, and neither stands on its own. I was fortunate to find both in a single paperback volume.

Having said that, I found the book(s) very well done and extremely enjoyable. Before reading it, I had just finished the latest in Jean Auel's series on paleolithic society. Megan Lindholm deals with a somewhat later paleolithic society, one in the far north of Europe that was still in the stone age, though it is clear from the tale that some of the characters are at least aware that other, distant lands have entered the copper and bronze age.

Unlike Ms. Auel's utopian vision of prehistoric life, Lindholm paints a much grittier and, in my opinion, more realistic view of prehistoric life. Life was a constant battle against starvation, disease, and one's fellows, and the heroes struggle to survive in this environment. An interesting twist is Lindholm's characterization of an autistic boy as having special links to the spirit world - he eventually emerges as a powerful shaman for the tribe in the conclusion.

The one thing I find fascinating with so many authors writing about ancient human society, whether Jean Auel, Marion Zimmer Bradley, or Megan Lindholm, is their common tendency to give full credence to ancient religion and magic as real. Undoubtedly, it is one of the things which makes such literature appealing as "escapist" - it yearns for a time when magic really was loose in the world.

At any rate, I highly recommend the Reindeer People/Wolf's Brother series and I hope other's soon discover Megan Lindholm.

The Haunting of Cambria

Richard Taylor

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great book for a cold, blustery, winter's night! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I couldn't put this down! I'm kidding with my title. You need to read this in the daytime, with bright sunshine! You need to be able to look out and realize it's a work of fiction. This story will stay with you well into next week and next month. I found myself thinking about it weeks later, enjoying the sudden realization of another nuance and little hidden treasure. This novel is very well crafted, and despite the comparisons to Steven King, is unique unto itself. I seriously started it and went right through it, reading for about 19 hours straight over Christmas. Highly recommended!!

Editorial Review:

A novel of love, redemption, and second chances. "Lily died the day we signed the escrow papers," Theo Parker writes of his bride and of Monroe House, the bed-and-breakfast they'd just bought in the picturesque coastal town of Cambria. Theo soon learns he can no more bring his beautiful wife back than he can kill the thing that haunts his new home. Riddled with guilt but making the best of his recuperation from the car accident that killed Lily, Theo and his property manager, dowdy Eleanor Gacy, begin to investigate strange occurrences in Monroe House. And as they do, both Theo and Eleanor begin to see a bit of hope for a second chance at love and redemption.

Key to Conflict (Gillian Key, ParaDoc, Book 1)

Talia Gryphon

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 40 Average rating: 2.0 of 5

Yuuuuuukkkkk 1 out of 5 stars.
6 of 7 people found this review helpful.

This is what I get for just picking up a book that "looked good" before I read the reviews on Amazon which were right on. This book sucked, and Laurell Hamilton commented on it! Her books have sucked lately so that didn't help sell this dead elephant!The main character in this book is a clinical psychologist and a special forces marine captain. She is in the Carpathian Mountains to counsel the local vampire on his loss love,who he admits, was a gold digger but he has grieved for her for 400 years. The counts brother shows up and is old fashioned in his ideas and being the cool therapist she is, blows smoke in his face from her cigarette. She also calls him a sh%t head. Yeah, your believing the therapist part right? I tossed it into the trash and wrote this review. I see she has written two more in this series. Obviously she doesn't read her reviews. Try Jennifer Liu instead, she is great.

Editorial Review:

Meet Gillian Key-a paramortal psychologist who can treat the mental distress of nonhumans. And she's a Marine Special Forces operative who can get physical with them when the situation calls for it.

Gillian's two worlds collide when she travels to the Carpathian Mountains in Romania to counsel a dangerously attractive local master vampire-and becomes embroiled in a brewing turf war with the legendary Dracula.

Belladonna: A Novel of Revenge

Karen Moline

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 42 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Delicious Novel 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Isabella Ariel Nickerson is kidnapped and auctioned for 1 million pounds in 1930s England. She finds herself the unwilling play thing of a club of men who get their kicks out of forcing sexual tortures on women. Isabella is actually purchased by a man she knows only as "His Lordship", a man she will dedicate the rest of her life to finding and destroying once she escapes her hell.

The story is narrated by a man named Tomasino, one of the few men that Belladonna truly trusts (along with his twin Matteo). They were castrated in the war, and therefore, Belladonna doesn't see them as a threat. Belladonna finds herself the heir of a large fortune, and she dedicates her money and time to Club Belladonna, a popular club, where she hopes to lure one of the members into her club. One member is all it will take to find the rest.

I went into this expecting that I wouldn't like it, and honestly, the very beginning, the chapter before the actual story of Belladonna begins, was quite dull. It had that same rambling, verbose, tedious style as Middlesex did in the beginning, which sort of throws me off for a second because I like to get immediately sucked into a book. After that first chapter though, I was thorougly engrossed with Belladonna's story.

Tomasino is a witty narrator. He loves to talk. He loves to gloat. He loves to be right. Honestly, I'm glad he was the one telling the story. It gives it a flair that I think would be missing if Belladonna, or even his brother Matteo, told the story. Belladonna's diary is also scattered throughout the book; the diary she kept while she was imprisoned. The diary format was an interesting one as well, as it was written in third person rather than first.

I think the concept of revenge appealed to me, as it would many people. How many people get the chance to get their revenge against someone who wrongs them? Many of us have wanted to, but we've never had the satisfaction of doing so. Sure, Belladonna's methods seem a little out there, but wouldn't we all go to great lengths, if we could, to get payback? You can't help but root for Belladonna.

So, while this book seems a little extreme, it is a good novel. I wasn't too satisfied with the ending. It seemed a little rushed, a real let down to the climatic events that were taking place before it. Still well worth the read.

Editorial Review:

Filled with the mesmerizing eroticism of an Anne Rice novel, this new work by the author of "Lunch" presents the tale of a mysterious woman whose tortured past transforms her into the most exquisite instrument of revenge.

Witchery: A Ghosts of Albion Novel

Christopher Golden, Amber Benson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

“A fabulously entertaining combination of Victorian conventions, sensuous undertones, and some seriously evil magic.”
–Charlaine Harris, author of Dead to the World, on Ghosts of Albion: Accursed

Before you can save Albion, you must destroy the poison in its black heart.

William and Tamara Swift’s newfound sorcerous powers as Protectors of Albion pale before the demonic forces threatening Britannia. But William and Tamara have formidable allies in Lord Byron, Queen Bodicea, and Lord Admiral Nelson–England’s noble, notorious Ghosts of Albion.

Responding to a plea from Cornwall, Tamara discovers that the rumors of young women, both human and fairy, vanishing without a trace are horribly true. Instead of hard clues, she uncovers only whispers of witches, infernal abductions, and a pyre of innocents planned for the solstice. Indeed, Tamara has never faced a more dangerous task–for the legendary land of King Arthur’s Camelot also harbors dark, bloody deeds and a waking evil. Soon nothing, not even mighty Albion, will be safe from the deadly peril.


Amber Benson, who immortalized Tara in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Christopher Golden, Bram Stoker Award—winning author of the Shadow Saga, have created a voluptuous, twisted thriller. Based on the BBC Web series that became a smash hit in England, Ghosts of Albion: Witchery brings to life a sizzling, ninteenth century world of fiends, phantoms, and spine-tingling terror.


Praise for Ghosts of Albion: Accursed

“Demons, bodice-ripping passion, and some good old murky London gloom; all one can ask for in a dark night’s reading.”
–Kirkus Reviews

“Equal doses of dark humor and genuine horror.”
–Library Journal

Skunk: A Love Story

Justin Courter

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Must read- Scented Scenes 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Grab this book while it is still available. It is a quirky love story that will leave you in tears. Daiman negotiates life's troubles with a steadfast determination to overcome obstacles that keep popping up. Courter writes with breathtaking audacity and clarity.

A great novel that takes the grotesque tradition in a new direction 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

(this review originally appeared in a slightly varying form at ThirdEyeMag[DOT]com)

Skunk: A Love Story feels familiar. I've read this before. I can smell, if you will, a trace of recognition. Our antisocial yet romantic protagonist falls in love, suffers betrayal, adopts a "simpler life equates greater happiness" mentality, and learns a few lessons along the way, all while dealing with substance addition. These broad events, I've tasted them before, but Skunk does offer something distinctive. The story of Damien Youngquist, an intelligent and socially crippled middle-aged office worker, explores themes common with addiction literature--substance abuse, relationship deterioration, relationship rebuilding--with one unique angle: Damien Youngquist is addicted to skunk musk.

Though this may initially seem like a forced concept the absurdity of Damien's addiction allows the reader to approach the situation with a near-zero level of personal baggage. Damien's story is one we can relate to but at the same time is one we can distance ourselves from judgmentally due simply to our ignorance of the specific vice. Unless of course you are a musk addict yourself, in which case you may have found your kindred with our protagonist.

Underlying every one of Damien's motives, and driving the story, is an Oedipal connection to the skunk musk:

"My mother drank quite a lot of beer when I was growing up. She always drank McDougal's--and imported brand that comes in a green bottle and has a slightly skunky aroma. This was the first scent to greet my nostrils in the morning and the last whiff I sniffed before falling asleep at night. I awoke each morning to the clinking of beer bottles as my mother opened and shut the door of the refrigerator to get out her first McDougal's before starting my breakfast" [pg. 24].

Though our narrator denies these connections ("While my mother was slow and languid, [Pearl] was quick and energetic. So I could dispense with the nagging notion that I was committing an Oedipal offense" [pg. 46]) the simple acknowledgement is enough to encourage the reader's close examination of Damien's every decision. His attraction to a specific type of woman, for example ("...gray hair, linked-chain horn rims, and floral print sundress..." [pg. 221]) oozes obsession with the motherly character. Pearl, the constant referent for all of Damien's Oedipal urges, has her own unique addiction, that being to fish--the smell, the taste, and at times, the lifestyle (in one early scene Pearl convinces Damien to swim with her in a giant aquarium in her garage). This shared love of generally off-putting smells instigates their relationship, but Damien's attraction to her motherly characteristics is the impetus to their long lasting bond. Deny it all you want Damien, but you really are just a lost little boy in need of guidance.

Damien's love of skunk musk epitomizes his role as the counterpoint to the accepted norm, a position explored consistently throughout Skunk's entire 347 pages. Where most characters are repulsed by the skunk smell and embrace the traditional goals of a culture--a nice home, a steady job, friends--Damien embraces the stench and dismisses the traditional comforts. Ultimately, after meeting Pearl's supposed fiancé (a relationship Damien never knew about) he embarks on a Thoreauean escape attempt to rural Highbridge in effort to not so much find himself but to find himself completely alone and self-sustaining because, as he says, "freedom is not to have to smell other people" [pg. 176].

The story gains momentum in the small town of Highbridge. Though Damien as a character experiences and becomes representative of many country bumpkin stereotypes during his journey into uncivilization (one Highbridge resident, Jud, Owner of the laughably named Jud's Country Store is described as sitting with "thumbs hooked in the straps of this overalls" [pg.117]) author Justin Courter is able to craft believable enough relationships with these residents which helps to drive the remaining story. Robby Krauthammer, for example, an anti-consumerism, late-breed hippy who freely expresses his dissatisfaction with the "establishment"--a term he uses liberally but doesn't quite grasp--is ultimately the keystone to the novel's courtroom climax. Robby and Damien's relationship is an interesting one of constant tension.

Unfortunately, the Damien Youngquist we know at the beginning of the novel--the stubborn, antisocial, know-it-all Damien with Oedipal issues--is the same Damien we know at the end of the novel. His attempts to be truly alone and self-sustaining are continually interrupted, and the reader is left believing that if Damien were ever to succeed in living a life of solidarity then he would be truly happy. But we never know.

Here is a Damien at his happiest. This is the Damien we want to love, but this is not the Damien we're left with:

"The night I got to the site of my future farm, I was so happy I leapt out of the car and ran to the middle of the field. The cabin, the clearing, and the surrounding woods were all mine. And best of all, there was nothing in sight that suggested the presence of human beings--nothing but the cabin, which was acceptable, since it only suggested my own presence, which though unpleasant was as close as I could hope to come to nothing. Nothing is a form of completion, I believe. And infinity can be found in a black hole" [pg. 114].

This lack of character change, however, doesn't belie the fact that Skunk: A Love Story is a worthy read. While I would not call Skunk a high-concept novel it is the concept that pulls us through. A strange addiction guarantees a strange man with a strange story.

Editorial Review:

Employing a wild mix of tall tale, rich metaphor, and contemporary science fiction, this darkly hilarious novel explores a young man's attraction and ultimate addiction to skunk musk and the social difficulties he encounters as a result. He longs to find an isolated utopia where he can indulge his addiction in peace but is continually thwarted, even by a young woman with a unique understanding of his fetish because of her own fetid fetish for fish. Exaggerating the traits that attract and repel lovers, this extremely unlikely love story is comical but insightful into the mysteries of fetishes and sexual chemistry.

Loup Garou

Mandy M Roth

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Guilty Pleasure! 5 out of 5 stars.
10 of 11 people found this review helpful.

If you asked to specify exactly what about this book had me saying "WOW" and placing it on the keeper shelf, I couldn't tell you. Certainly it was predictable and some of the plot twists were obvious. I agree that the female lead not making the connection between her childhood friend and Exavier sooner is stretching it. But SOMETHING about this book had me so entertained and so engrossed I practically read it in one sitting. Would have, but, unfortunately, employers tend to frown on reading when you're supposed to be working.

Simply put, it was a guilty pleasure, escapism at its best. True, the writing isn't the best but it doesn't always have to be. Sometimes the characters just speak to you. Sometimes I don't need or want 150 extra pages of back story or constant character ruminating. I know what authors I like who write that way and when I am in the mood for it, I grab one of theirs. This story moves right along, with an engaging cast of characters and lots of paranormal fun.

What I do like about the books by Mandy M Roth that I have read is that her female leads have friends. Too often these romances have female leads that either have no close friends or if they do, the friend betrays them. I like that her leads have a circle of friends who are strong, supportive and actively part of the story line. I like that the males also have close friends who are equally as supportive and loyal. I also like flawed characters and just enough angst that not everything comes too easy. Oh and that paranormal stuff. Gotta love that too. I found Loup Garou to be that kind of story.

Literary masterpiece? Nope. But its staying on the keeper shelf, because I am sure I will read it again.

Editorial Review:

Lindsay Willows craves a simple life. One where she can make a difference without drawing too much attention to herself. As the daughter of both a vampire and a fay, the cards were already stacked against her. Finding out she's the supposed mate of a dark fay prince doesn't help matters. Especially when there are those who will stop at nothing to prevent her from mating with a prince she’s never even met.

When Exavier Kedmen, the incredibly sexy front man for a world-famous band, shows up wanting her to go back to a field she left three years ago, she can’t explain the strong feelings that surface for a man she barely knows.

Lindsay finds herself confronting demons from her past, coming to terms with the ones in the present and finally looking forward to a future with the man she was created for. And she discovers evil doesn't care who it hurts to obtain its goals but even the evilest of things fear something, or in the case of Exavier, someone.

The Priest of Blood (Vampyricon)

Douglas Clegg

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

From Douglas Clegg, award-winning author of The Machinery of Night and The Hour Before Dark, comes his first dark fantasy novel, dealing with the edge of a fantastic medieval world.

The Priest of Blood is the first novel of The Vampyricon, a saga of sword and sorcery -- and vampyres. Born the son of a woman thought to be a witch, Aleric does not know who fathered him. From his grandfather he learned the skill that will change his life. With that training -- and his own ability to communicate with the great predator birds of the forest -- Aleric is taken into service by the Baron and put in charge of his falcons. Now called Falconer, he rises fast and far. Still, to those at court, he remains the bastard son of a peasant whore. And when his forbidden love for the Baron's daughter is discovered, his punishment is swift and severe. Beaten and brutalized, he is forcibly conscripted as a soldier and banished to the Holy Land to fight the Saracen infidels. Amidst the horror and chaos of the ongoing struggle, he becomes a mighty warrior -- and a man without faith or conscience. Then, in an ancient ruined city, he finds a new love. She calls herself Pythia -- and in her passionate, bloody embrace, he also finds his destiny... Set in an alternate medieval world of ancient forests and buried kingdoms, of gods and monsters, of love that crosses centuries, and vengeance beyond lifetimes, The Priest of Blood is the tale of Aleric, Falconer, of his quest for his beloved, and for the legendary priest-king within whose tomb the secrets of the ancient, immortal race of vampyres reside.

Map of Dreams

M. Rickert

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Touching 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

The stories in Map of Dreams are simply touching. Which is to say that every single story ends with a combination of words that leaves you feeling some kind of emotion. For me, the emotions these stories induce were never easily labeled, but maybe that is just my limited vocabulary.

M. Rickert touches life though the genre of fantasy. In her stories you can find all of the things that make life so wonderful and so awful. She mixes both tragedy and hope, touching what it is to lose and to love. I don't mean to sound so cheesy, but she really does touch the very fabric of human existence.

And the best part is that she is only getting better with time. All of the new stories I have read from her have been nothing short of wonderful.

M. Rickert is indeed a "find".

Editorial Review:

Set in a reality where nightmares do not fade upon waking, this anthology skims along the surface of life and dips just beneath, revealing the hidden machinations that fuel dreams. These underlying myths and fantasies exist not as musty old stories but as ancient truths that have come to illuminate the modern human condition. The title story touches on themes of grief, redemption, and time travel; "Cold Fire" ventures into love and obsession; and "Peace on Suburbia" introduces readers to a Christmas with an entirely different kind of savior. These and 13 other tales are framed by four interludes—Dreams, Nightmares, Waking, and Rising—that guide readers through a world that is at once familiar and eerily off-kilter.