Review: On the Day I Died: Stories from the Grave

On the Day I Died: Stories from the Grave

by Candace Fleming

 

Book Description:

Set in White Cemetery, an actual graveyard outside Chicago, each story takes place during a different time period from the 1860's to the present, and ends with the narrator's death. Some teens die heroically, others ironically, but all due to supernatural causes. Readers will meet walking corpses and witness demonic posession, all against the backdrop of Chicago's rich history—the Great Depression, the World's Fair, Al Capone and his fellow gangsters.

 

Review:

This book was interesting. I liked how it was one boy's story that interwove all the tales of the other teens' deaths. Some of the stories were far more interesting than others, but they were all fun and easy to read. I loved how each was supernatural and creepy, but not enough to induce nightmares.

 

Did you used to love Goosebumps, but don't quite want to jump into full scale horror? This would be a great book to check out.

Review: Girl of Nightmares

Girl of Nightmares

by Kendare Blake

sequel to Anna Dressed in Blood

 

Book Description:

It's been months since the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to Hell in her basement and disappeared into it, but ghost-hunter Cas Lowood can't move on.

His friends remind him that Anna sacrificed herself so that Cas could live—not walk around half dead. He knows they're right, but in Cas's eyes, no living girl he meets can compare to the dead girl he fell in love with.

Now he's seeing Anna everywhere: sometimes when he's asleep and sometimes in waking nightmares. But something is very wrong...these aren't just daydreams. Anna seems tortured, torn apart in new and ever more gruesome ways every time she appears.

Cas doesn't know what happened to Anna when she disappeared into Hell, but he knows she doesn't deserve whatever is happening to her now. Anna saved Cas more than once, and it's time for him to return the favor.

 

Review:

These books induce just the right amount of shivers. Blake has mastered the art of creating a world inhabited by all the things that go bump in the night, but not leaving you afraid to sleep after reading...

The hell that Anna was trapped in was creepy and there were moments when I was truly afraid for Cas...then knowing that what he might be returning to was not really any better? You know those moments when you have to keep reminding yourself that "It'll work out okay...it's so and so and they can't really die"... Yeah, I was doing that a lot.

As good as the first.


Review: The Fear

The Fear

by Charlie Higson

The Enemy, book three

 

Book Description:

The sickness struck everyone sixteen and over. Mothers and fathers, older brothers, sisters, and best friends. No one escaped its touch. And now children across London are being hunted by ferocious grown-ups who are hungry, bloodthirsty, and not giving up.

DogNut and the rest of his crew, in search of the friends they lost during the fire, set off on a deadly mission from the Tower of London to Buckingham Palace and beyond, as the sickos lie in wait. But who are their friends and who is the enemy in this changed world?

Review:

Sigh. I hated this book. I hate saying that, but it was all I could do to get through the almost five hundred pages. Normally, I LOVE zombie books, but this series just seems gross. It was well written, the storyline was good, but Higson does not at all shy away from a. killing characters off all over the place and b. vividly describing the affects of the disease on adults. Also, I couldn't stand the chapters that were from the perspective of the now cannibalistic adults.

So. If you like horror and dark, vivid descriptions of violence and death, I would suggest you check out this series. If you like zombie books, though, for the interactions between the surviving humans...you may want to skip this one.  Not everyone is guaranteed to make it and a lot of the story is focused on the the horrible zombie attacks...

If you *do* end up liking this book, let me know! Not every book is for me, but it just MIGHT the right book for you! 

Review: Anna Dressed in Blood

Anna Dressed in Blood

by Kendare Blake

Book Description:

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn't expect anything outside of the ordinary: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

But she, for whatever reason, spares Cas's life.

Review:

Suprisingly enough, though horror is not usually my thing, I really enjoyed this book. I'm a huge fan of the TV show, Supernatural, and this book really reminded me of that... creepy, cool ghost hunter vibe.

I loved the way that Cas and his mom and he would travel round, working together, taking care of the supernatural. I thought the athame, inherited from his dad was a really cool relic. The way it ties in later is pretty creepy, too. It was really interesting to then see how Anna differed from the ghosts that Cas usually dealt with...Cas is normally one cool cucumber, but he's met his match in Anna.

I will warn you that this book has some graphically gory scenes. There were spots that I read kind of quickly for fear of lingering and leaving images lodged in my brain that might induce nightmares...but it was really well written and compelling. I had to know what happened to Cas and Anna.

I am super excited to read book two, Girl of Nightmares, as soon as it comes out!

*This was my selection for the January Meeting of our book club, Flippin' Pages. We did horror books this month! Next meeting is Feb. 14th and we'll be talking about our favorite "break-up" books.*



Next Flippin' Pages Meeting!

Hey Guys!

Don't forget to join us here at the West Springfield Public Library for the first meeting our our brand-new book club, FLIPPIN' PAGES!!

If you're in grades 6-12, join us for a snack and tell us all about your favorite HORROR books!

TUESDAY, JANUARY 10th at 3:30 p.m.