Tag: horror book review

The Last Halloween || eARC Review

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Title: The Last Halloween
Author: Abby Howard
Series/Number: #1
Genre: Graphic Novel, Fantasy, Horror
Age: Young Adult
Page Count: 448
Publication Date: October 27, 2020 
Publisher: Iron Circus Comics
Themes: Horror, Monsters, Death, Halloween

Synopsis:

“It’s a lonely Halloween night for ten-year-old Mona. While everyone else is out having a ghoulishly good time, she’s stuck inside without so much as a scary movie to watch. Just when she figures this evening can’t get much worse, a giant monster appears in her living room, proving her very, very wrong. Running for her life, Mona quickly sees that she’s not alone; trick-or-treating’s been canceled due to monster invasion! A barrier keeping billions of monsters at bay has broken and the horrific hordes have descended upon humanity, wreaking bloody havoc everywhere they stomp, slither, or squish. She may not be equipped for it, but it’s up to Mona to save the world with a team of fellow weirdos by her side. Perhaps they will succeed. Or perhaps this will be . . . The Last Halloween.”

Thank you to NetGalley and Iron Circus Comics for an eARC of this title.

This book was defintely not what I was expecting. At first I thought it was going to be a cute story about a young girl on Halloween and then I realized that it was a horror story about monsters trying to take over the world. The story was weird and wild and I really liked how we are learning information as our main character, Mona is. I really enjoyed the way we learned information with Mona because it kept the story mysterious and exciting. I loved how different identities were handled. Mona’s parent was accepted with complete love and understanding and I highly enjoyed that aspect of the story. I also really liked how the art style enhanced the story by being equally creepy and beautiful.

This is definitely a horror, creepy story. It’s filled with interesting and wild concepts that are fascinating. I thought for a first volume it was incredibly good. It explained concepts and characters, as well as weaving in some of the larger plot. This is definitely a series that I would like to continue and see how it proceed.

Rating: 3.5/5

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Horror Haunts || Mary – eARC Review

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Title: Mary: The Adventures of Mary Shelley’s Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Granddaughter
Author: Brea Grant, Yishan Li
Series/Number: 
Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Graphic Novel
Age: Young Adult
Page Count: 144
Publication Date: October 6, 2020
Publisher: Six Foot Press
Themes: Magic, Monsters, Friendship, Paranormal

Mary is the Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Granddaughter of Mary Shelley. Her entire family is filled with women who became successful authors in the legacy of the great author. Mary is expected to become a successful author but she isn’t sure what she wants to do with her future. As she is trying to discover her calling she finds that she has some unconventional powers and unconventional friends. She has the ability to heal monsters, and those monsters aren’t going to let her ignore her calling.

~Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC copy of this book ~

To start I will say that this was super interesting. It started off with some real spooky season, Halloween vibes and they continued throughout the whole story. I loved how we followed the descendants of the first Mary Shelley and their lives.

For one thing I loved this art style. I loved the dark colour pallet and how each character had their own distinct look and style. I also loved all the characters. They were complex and interesting. I absolutely want to continue this series as it goes on. I am so excited to see what happens to Mary and her friends next!

Horror Haunts || Meddling Kids – Book Review

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Title: Meddling Kids
Author: Edgar Cantero
Series/Number: N/A
Genre: Gothic, Horror, Novella
Age: Adult
Page Count: 108
Publication Date: 1872
Themes: Vampires, LGBTQ+

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if the Scooby-Doo gang were all grown up and battled real monsters? Well, here is your chance.

In 1977 the Blyton Summer Detective Club closed their final and fated case. 13 years later the teen are all grown up. Andy, Kerri, Nate, and Kerri’s dog Tim must get back together to return to Blyton Hills. Nate was in an asylum in Arkham, Massachusetts, where his only friend is Peter, previous member of the detective club and movie star. The only problem is Peter has been dead for years. The remainders of the Detective Club need to reopen their final case, and discovered why it changed their lives and discover if the culprit was really just a man in a mask or something far scarier.

I’m going to start with what drew me to this book. SCOOBY-DOO ALL GROWN UP! I mean, I grew up on Scooby-Doo. I absolutely loved Scooby-Doo growing up. Then putting the Scooby-Doo gang, or at least some people vaguely resembling the gang, into some real horror scenarios.

I really loved the nostalgic 90’s vibes of this book. It was so fun and really did feel like a fresh take on Scooby-Doo. The cover gives away the vibe of this book. It is definitely a fun and light hearted book in a lot of ways. I loved the 90s nostalgic vibe of the book that really made it feel fun and remincent of all the 90s shows I grew up watching.

I have very few critiques of this book. One critique is that I had a was that I guessed what the big bad secret monster was in the first few chapters of the book. Even having guessed the plot twist didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the book at all, and I think people who aren’t necessarily familiar with that particular twist may miss it.

My second critique was that I didn’t find this book specifically scary. This isn’t a critique of the book because I haven’t been finding a lot of horror scary lately. Though I didn’t find the book scary it was exciting and fast-paced. It was interesting and there were some twists I didn’t expect to happen.

Overall, if you enjoy horror and Scooby-Doo vibes I highly recommend this book.