It by Stephen King My rating: 3 of 5 stars ***********Warning: Contains Spoilers************** I feel like I have accomplished a rite of passage by finishing Stephen King’s It. I did it! It took me over a year to do so, with long breaks in between reading it, but I can honestly say that I have read it from beginning to end. I must apologize for this unusual review, which will contain spoilers. Normally, I refrain from discussing a book and strictly stick to only providing an opinion on it, but I pretty much spent a year of my life reading it, so much happens in it and it is so…
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The Castle of Otranto
The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole My rating: 4 of 5 stars This was my first assigned reading for my Zombie/Vampire in literature graduate seminar and half the time I was chuckling and the other half I could feel goosebumps rising up my arms.The prince reminded me of the Queen of Hearts from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, constantly shouting “off with their heads”, while the other characters only took him half seriously and dealt with the conflicts in the story.The story in itself was rather spooky with perfectly placed eerie details, including the general feel of knights and chivalry and the Gothic atmosphere.Overall, widely considered the first English Gothic…
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Carmilla
Carmilla: A Vampyre Tale by J. Sheridan Le Fanu My rating: 5 of 5 stars I signed up for a graduate seminar course starting in the fall, perfect timing, called The Walking Undead: Zombies and Vampires in Transatlantic Cultural History, a literature course studying works other than the obvious Frankenstein and Dracula, and thank goodness for that. In anticipation of starting the new semester I asked my prof to provide me with the reading list, unfortunately he only gave me the list of authors, whose selected works we will be studying. I am pretty sure, though, that Carmilla is on the list, considering it is the story that inspired Bram…
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Wither
Wither by Amy MilesMy rating: 5 of 5 stars I received this ARC from Red Coat Publishing and the author in exchange for an honest review.Wow! And where can I get the second installment, if one exists? A post-apocalyptic, horror, creepy, sci-fi story that captures the reader’s attention and includes such depth is a rare find among books.The characters are complex, and the author keeps most of them shrouded in mystery, which adds to the eerie atmosphere surrounding this story. The main character is not the typical hero/anti-hero and shows a good range of strengths and weaknesses that make her believable and likeable in her own way.The plot is straight…
