Book Review: John Dies at the End

Title: John Dies at the End
Author: David Wong
Year of Publication: 2007
Summary: STOP. You should not have touched this flyer with your bare hands. NO, don't put it down. It's too late. They're watching you. My name is David Wong. My best friend is John. Those names are fake. You might want to change yours. You may not want to know about the things you'll read on these pages, about the sauce, about Korrok, about the invasion, and the future. But it's too late. You touched the book. You're in the game. You're under the eye. The only defense is knowledge. You need to read this book, to the end. Even the part with the bratwurst. Why? You just have to trust me.

The important thing is this: The drug is called Soy Sauce and it gives users a window into another dimension. John and I never had the chance to say no. You still do. I'm sorry to have involved you in this, I really am. But as you read about these terrible events and the very dark epoch the world is about to enter as a result, it is crucial you keep one thing in mind: None of this was my fault.

Review: John Dies at the End is the type of book that will make you pee your pants laughing, and simultaneously scare the crap out of you. Like with all books, I read it fairly quickly, but it stuck with me for nights afterwards...

It was recommended to me by a friend, one who does not read often, so I knew it had to be good if he went back for seconds or thirds. I was hooked from the first paragraph, and found myself awake into the small hours of the morning, trying to cram as much of it into my mind as possible before sleep.

I can't find any fault with this book, I really can't. It's an intriguing and mesmerizing mix of fear and humor that asks questions that stick with you for months afterward. The prose, the characters, the plot... I am in love, and it is only fitting that I give this book five stars.

Rating: 5/5 stars
★★★★★

Book review: Anna Dressed in Blood

Title: Anna Dressed in Blood
Author: Kendare Blake
Year of Publication: 2011
Summary: 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. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: 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.

 Yet she spares Cas's life.


Review: Okay, firstly for all the things I didn't like about this book, I do have to say parts of it genuinely gave me chills. The author spins a good story, one that kept me turning the pages. Most of the problems I had were with the characters, namely our protagonist, Cas.

Cas came off as extremely arrogant, making a lot of observations of people that never really shone through in the story. A lot of the background characters felt like they should have been fleshed out more - they never lived up to Cas's judgement of them, which by the way, jumped from place to place without even so much as a wink from the ones he was judging. Seriously, it kind of gave me whiplash.

A lot of the dialogue and interactions between the characters felt a little choppy, especially towards the beginning, though towards the end they did get a little better. To be honest, I didn't really give a hoot about most of the people the book centred on, with the exception of Cas's mom, I guess.

Nevertheless, it was still a pretty good read, and I am hoping the issues I had with the characters are resolved in book two, which I am looking forward to reading. Overall, I'd give this book a solid three stars.

Rating: 3/5 stars
★★★✰✰