Buffy lives on and on

The first volume of the 'season 8' comics left me slightly confused; some interesting plot twists and developments but little of the feel of the real Buffy, little of the claustrophobic sense of the small American town fighting bravely back against supernatural foes. The second volume has really developed the narrative arc, introducing a subplot involving Faith and Giles. The dialogue is strong and really develops the flavour and tone of the original series,whilst the illustrations are well-constructed and allow the authors to introduce much of the humour of the TV series.

Better than many!

This book about Anita Blake is well written and very entertaining perhaps because of rather than despite the lack of the usual large cast of characters. It lets us into the lives of Anita and Jason and we learn more of their earlier lives. It is also better due to a lesser emphasis on marathon sex sessions. There is sex, but it takes second place to the story, which is as it should be and the story benefits from it.

However, that said, it is Anita lite, the plot what there is of it is interesting but there was not enough of it. It is, obviously, setting the scene for the next book in the series it might have been better to have shortened this book and amalgamated with the next one. I personally do not like our author's habit of using an entire book to cover very short periods of time, I would prefer a faster pacing of story lines.

That all said this is a reasonably entertaining book and you should enjoy it.

Just leaves me with MORE questions. But an OK book.

Normally, when a film is based on a book I love the book so much more. But not this time. I have to say that I'm liking the film more this time. For anyone that hasn't seen the film or read the book........the book is nothing like the film.......and the film is nothing like the book.. If that makes sense?

The book is good, don't get me wrong. I was scared in parts. However, it's nothing like the film. If you're looking for similar, but better, read 'Salems Lot' by Stephen King.

The only thing the book and the film have in common is that they both involve a man who is probably one of the last few survivors after a virus strikes the population.

With both though, I'm left with lots of questions that aren't addressed and it's frustrating to be 'almost' at the point of knowing it all, but not quite having enough information. I read the book thinking that the unanswered questions from the film would be answered, but all it's done is given me more questions.

Vamp-tastic!

I happened across this book in the fantasy section of Waterstones. I was looking for some new material in that genre that wasn't necessarily a best-seller and therefore thrust in your face at every opportunity. I'm now very glad I took the time to look. I love vampire novels, and books about various ghosts and beasties and I was immediately drawn after reading the cover blurb of this one -"Can you ever really trust a vampire?"

Desperate to find out, I bought this book and the sequel. I was drawn in right from the beginning of Touch the Dark. The narrative voice is very easy to read, a very conversational style, with not many big words! As I continued to read I was grateful for this easy style as the novel is so action-packed with so many different characters and events, it's already hard to keep track!

The book begins right in the middle of the action. The main character Cassandra Palmer returns to her desk at work to find a note attached to her computer, containing an obituary. Hers. Most people would be horrified by this prospect, but as we soon find out, Cassie isn't just anybody. She's a clairvoyant with a great deal of power and this makes her both desired and feared by other magical people - not least vampires.

Cassie immediately goes on the run and takes flight to warn her roommate Tomas and let him know that she has to leave town. Just as she is trying to get away with explaining as little as possible, the two are attacked. Cassie tries to protect Tomas, but as the violence continues, she discovers he can hold his own - because he too, is a vampire. Once the threat has dissipated, Cassie wants answers. But they're not necessarily what she wants to hear...

Cassie's powers are sought after by many magical groups, some who would like to use them for good, others not so good. The problem is, Cassie has been brought up her whole life in the company of a most unsavoury vampire who exploited her powers to make himself rich. And now Cassie wants him dead and out of her life for good so she can continue with a fairly normal and quiet existence. But what she doesn't realise is many, many more people are looking for her... some to protect her, some to kill her. Before long, she has no idea who she can trust or where to turn... will Cassie ever get the quiet life she desires?

I thought this book was fab! It was completely action-packed from start to finish and you have to make sure you're paying attention to who's doing what, or you'll quickly get lost. But this book has everything; action, great characters, magic, and even a little bit of sex to spice things up even more!

Readers into this kind of genre will love this book. It's very dark and threatening; you can't take your eye off the ball for one minute, but once you start reading, you won't want to. It's definitely my favourite vampire novel so far, but then, I've yet to read the sequel... I'll post the review as soon as I'm finished!

Courtesy of Teens Read Too

After four thrilling novels featuring Grubbs Grady and his adventures with his crazy but caring uncle, his half-brother, Bill-E, and all the demons and monsters he's had to face (especially the one who took his parents away from him), Grubbs is back.

And this time he discovers that the only monster he has to face is himself.

Grubbs begins to have nightmares, ones with him covered in blood and being attacked by his late sister. But whenever he wakes up, he shrugs them aside, not thinking twice about them, most likely because he just doesn't want to know what they mean.

Aside from his sudden attraction to the moon and the need to howl, Grubbs has other problems on his mind. Like the differences between his new best friend, Loch, and his old good friend, now turned brother, Bill-E. Once Loch entered the picture, Grubbs just doesn't seem to have time for his first true friend and it's killing him inside, ironically. And the horrifying issues that attending school brings just don't make it any better.

Grubbs needs to get his priorities straight, especially the one dealing with him turning into a vicious monster, before it takes over and makes everything much worse.

With this fifth installment of THE DEMONATA series, fans will not be disappointed in this very thrilling, freaky, and funny novel about everyone's favorite character, Grubbs. With an ending that will drive you crazy, we can all say that Darren Shan has done it again!

Reviewed by: Randstostpher"tallnlankyrn" Nguyen

awsome

this seiries is by far the best.i started reading shan at an early age and ive grown up with the dementor but i moved to china so cant get this book ive tried to get my sister to get me it but she didnt aw well,the last book was one hell of a clif hanger who would have thought that juni had turend evil!its really awsome.cant wait to get this book

The shizz!

I had pretty high expectations when reading the comic. When it came my intial reaction was to jump up and down, which I did. I then read it all and thought it was great but not brilliant. Then I re-read it and it was brilliant! The quips and jokes, the buffy-ness. The arcs! They so wouldn't happen in Buffy but their wonderful and very interesting. Old faces and new baddies, it has everything! Can't wait for the second volume to come out!

Claimed by Shadow- review by MelEagles

This is the second in the Cassandra Palmer series and is as good as the first (Touch the Dark). If you enjoy Laurell K Hamilton, Christine Feehan and the like, you will enjoy these. It took me a while to get into it but once I did I just had to keep reading. Cassie is a great lead character- she is resourceful, with out knowing everything- she manages her way through all the bad stuff without suddenly getting extra magic powers right at the end-a flaw in Hamiltons work- both"Merry Gently" fairy books and"Anita Blake" vampire ones.
In this second look she is still trying to get out of perminantly becoming the"Pythia", the worlds cheif clairvoyant. She has to deal with the"hands off"/love spell that Mircea put on her when she was 11 that has now blown up in both their faces- they can't keep there hands off each other- and Cassie can't get together with anyone else as the spell burns anyone she gets to close too- like Pritkin, the Mage assisin whom she has formed an uneasy truce with while she searches for Tony (bad Vamp) and Myra (Would be evil-Pythia) to stop them from killing her or Mircea. A fun time travelling vampire/witch tale. I reccomend it to you- but only after you have read Touch The Dark first!

Good follow up.

Rogue is the follow up to Stray and picks things up a few months after the events in the previous book. Faythe and Marc are together as enforcers and as a couple, and life is going on as normal in the pack. When a number of toms are found murdered in Pride territory, their necks broken, these deaths are found to be linked to the disappearance of a number of strippers. Faythe and the rest of the werecats are plunged into a race to find the killers.

This book is well plotted and the comparisons to Kelley Armstrong's Bitten and Stolen are far less evident. The action moves at a fast pace and many of the characters are interesting and well drawn. The character sketches of the minor characters are great and I love the character of Marc but I'm continually left wondering why he loves such a selfish, immature character as Faythe. Yes she does grow up a little bit in this book and she is finally taking a greater involvement in the Pride, but she's doing it under duress and with no real intention of wanting to continue long-term. For a girl of twenty-three she's about as mature as someone five years her junior and her actions continue to hurt the people around her. My one real gripe with this series is Faythe, the angsty and angry, childish heroine that I wish I could shake some sense into. I know that Faythe is probably drawn the way she is as it gives the author lots of scope for future character development, but it makes it hard to love a book when you don't like the heroine. I like this series, but I don't think I'll love it until Faythe grows up a bit more. Here's hoping the cliffhanger ending of this book will lead to this happening in the next.

Entertaining way to pass a few hours

When this book was recommended to me by amazon I was initially reluctant to read it. I had the distinct impression that it was just going to be a poor Kelley Armstrong rip off featuring cats instead of wolves. I'm not exactly fond of cats and my opinion of werekittys has been badly tainted by Laurell K Hamiltons drivel so I had pretty low expectations for this book.

I was actually pleasantly surprised. It was very similar to Bitten and Stolen but not a totally shameless rip off. The plot in a nutshell - Faythe (one of only a handfull of female werecats) is summoned home from college by her family after another female werecat is abducted. Conflict with her (understandably) protective parents, brothers and the ex boyfriend she left behind ensues. Through her own stupidity Faythe then manages to get herself kidnapped.

Despite some irritations that I had with the immaturity of the main character the book was pretty well written and it moved at a good pace. The action kept developing and I kept reading. I've given this 4 stars - amazon's rating description has four stars meaning I liked it, which I did. I'll probably be buying more from this author but I hope the plot of her next book will be more original than that of this one as I think this writer show a lot of potential.

Brilliant!!

Wow, after reading the amazing"Lord Loss" I thought 'no way is Darren Shan going to be able to top with with his next book' - but he did!! This book was even better than the first! Despite the fact that this was not about Grubbs this time, which I was dissappointed with, this is still a brilliant book, and as ususal with a Darren Shan book it was so good I read it in one day. I doesn't even matter that it is a different set of charcters because, Kernal is a really likeable character, too.

Fantastic book, extremely suspecefull and imaginative (and gory!). The perfect sequel (or is it a prequel?) to"Lord Loss".

Pure Horror!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My title, pure horror, is definatly true. If you read this amazing book, you'll be obsessed to Daren Shan's blood-curdling, gruesome, chilling facts and I gurantee that they'll send shivers down your spine.
This read is filled with sheer terror that, I promise, you won't regret if you buy and read this book!

Screams in the Dark indeed ...

I like to class myself as a big fan of Shan's works, reading all of his Vampire and Demon series to date. However, of all of them released so far, this is probably my favourite.

The book is fast pasted, and, if I may quote the praise at the back of the book, it's"utterly unputdownable". I completely disagree with the ending being weak, or with anyone who tries to find a fault with any of the book at all! I think the Shan deserves a big thums up for this work.

The characters are loveable and cleverly written so that the emotion evoked by the characters in the book are evoked by yourself as the reader. Although I don't claim to be an expert on ancient Ireland, I do think that the Celtic terms are very cleverly sown into the text and the writing is a flawless for the average teen reader.

He certainly has"put the next generation back onto reading with a bang"

book 3

where is it. like the rest i have been waiting its release i also will not buy any more till this is released please make it soon,

Amazing! But it's Darren Shan, soyou probably guessed that...

Darren Shan's books are AMAZING! When I started reading his vampire series I was always pestering my school librarian to see if they had the latest book yet. I Loved Lord Loss and the rest of the Demonata so much - more than the vampire stuff! Grubbs Grady is a great character and I loved all the horror.

If you haven't read this book yet... WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! You won't regret it. Believe me, I read it three times in a row...

Okay, not amazing

The fantastic front cover artwork and the snappy blurb on the back, combined with the slick marketing and advertising, would have you believe that Skulduggery Pleasant is the Next Big Thing after you-know-what.

Sadly, this isn't the case. Make no mistake, S.P is a GOOD read, but that's as far as it goes. The story is a bit thin on the ground and is padded out with far too many action scenes that are hard to follow. Skulduggery himself is a likeable character and hero, but he isn't as 'hilarious' as you'd believe. The pace cracks along nicely, if occasionally too quickly, and the world Landy has created is believeable and carefully introduced.

However, the biggest letdown within the book is that Landy himself is far too self-conscious of the story. Okay, so it's ultimately a comedy but that doesn't mean that everything should be turned into a joke. Whenever the story gets suitably serious or a character makes a poignant speech, it's cancelled out by a flippant quip at the end: 'I just made a big speech. It was quite good.' While funny at first, it quickly starts to grate and you'd just wish that Landy would get on with the story rather than trying desparately to squeeze some cheap laughs.

That said, it's fun, fast and the ending is rather nice, which leaves you with a sweet taste in the mouth rather than a bitter one. You will certainly enjoy S.P., just don't go expecting a book as special as the front cover looks.

BEST BOOK EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my god I love this series. The best book so far. It has like a really big cliff hanger at the end. I SO WANT TO NO WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lamon goes into overdrive!

It is fair to say that with this book that Lamon was running on all burners. The book isn't too long, and is really an expansion of his short story The Bleeder (availible in his short story collection Fiends), but it was very enjoyable for the few days that it took me to read. Having the plot unfold in front of you is the whole experience of the book, so I won't give much away except to say that the title of the book is revealing - people who are squemish about reading about charectors having their fingers cut off with razor blades and slit eyeballs need not apply. The charectors are all well drawn, the narrative has no time-shift periods (like Blood Games) and it is un-taxing to follow. For Lamon fans and horror readers in general who like a bit of a change.

Dark Tower 6 - Song of Susannah

King's sixth book in the"Dark Tower" series picks up immediately where"Wolves of the Calla" left off, reinserting the reader into the world of the gunslinger and his travelling companions. They resume their quest for the Dark Tower with a great opening scene, and soon cutting to the absconded Susannah and her new passenger ...

Things progress smoothly and very competently in this penultimate volume, a shorter story than many of its predeccessors and more focused for it. The writing is condensed but not neglectful of the characters or the scenarios, and has all the fluidity and poetry of the previous volumes, although sadly not to the extent of the wonderful"The Gunslinger".

The novel benefits from the sense of movement and progress, that was sadly lacking in the last two novels,"Wizard and Glass" which was almost entirely flashback, and"Wolves of the Calla" which took place entirely in one town. Now things are rolling and the excitement and urgency return to the story.

I'm not a fan of the metafictional aspects of the series, which begun in earnest last novel with the mention of"Stephen King, the authord from Maine", a plotline which is expounded upon and reaches a kind of conclusion here as well. Mixing real-life with fiction is often a bad idea, and although Stephen King appears here as a character, the novel itself doesn't appear to suffer greatly despite the cringing feeling you might get at the hubris of the author.

Still, there are some truly heart-stopping moments, such as the escalation of Susannah's troubles in the final chapter, and the moment of Jake and Pere Callahan's emergence into the New York of 1999. Despite another cliff-hanger ending, which generally drive me nuts with anger and disappointment, it's still a strong book and worthy of the collection. If you felt a little deflated after books four and five, you'll be happy to see a return to form with book six.

Fantastic

Gripping,atmospheric and menacing.
Koontz is the master of the horror genre.