Wolf Hunt by Jeff Strand

I wasn't expecting to actually finish another book by the end of the year, but I guess I did. Jeff Strand's Wolf Hunt is, you've guessed it, a horror book. Or at least it tries to be. In a time where you have Team Jacob (you teenage girls and middle aged gay men know what I am talking about *wink*) and Underworld, werewolf stories don't manage to scary anyone anymore.

Leaving the fact that the title gives you a big clue what the book is about, the rest of the book was fun. You have two paid thugs - George and Lou- who are acting like an old married couple, their contact man - Ricky - who is just a contact man, an innocent woman caught in the mix - Michele - who apparently nobody mentions her boobs but I guess the author is "an ass-man", and a precious cargo in a cage - the psychopathic killer werewolf - Ivan. The entire action of this book is fast, dialogues are also witty and fast, the werewolf is fast but the cars are kind of slow in this one. Ironic, huh?!

OK, so we have a book about werewolves, that wants to be part of the horror genre. Theoretically, it is; but the scare factor is no more. The blood and the gore is there, but is anybody fazed by that anymore? Have you seen any of the SAW movies? Nothing is more scary after that experience. Though the book is highly entertaining, I believe that the scare factor is missing completely. 

Read this book for entertainment, the dialogues are insanely funny and sometimes completely out of the context, but what would you expect from a psychopathic werewolf? This one kept me up 2 nights in a row, not because it was scary, but because I wanted to find out how it ends. Usually a book that does that to someone, cannot be anything but good, right? 

Thank you for reading my posts and my New Year's Resolution is to come back in 2013 with more books and rants for my readers. Happy holidays!

Castaways by Brian Keene

Castaways by Brian Keene is a horror book, or at least that's how it was meant to be. The book follows the lines of the TV show Survivor, where a group of people are put on a deserted island and they form a tribe and then try to win different challenges in order to get immunity so the don't get voted off the island. Technically "Castaways" might as well have been called "Survivor", but I guess the author didn't want to face any copyright law suits.

The book is predictable and since it is so predictable this review will contain spoilers. You were warned. The book begins with a group of people participating in a contest like Survivor, and they say that is reality TV. The whole action starts when Cyclone Ivan hits the island and all hell breaks loose. The contestants find out that the island is not deserted but inhabited by a pack of inbred pack of neanderthals (a missing link actually). So the hominids want to eat the men and rape the females so they can increase their gene pool and that's exactly what happens. 

The book was fun, but like I said before, very predictable. After the first 3 chapters you'll know how most of the action is going to take place. You'll keep reading it so that you find out who lives eventually, if any and who dies and how. The action is entertaining and simple enough to keep track and remember where you left it. What this book lacks is character development, some characters get more developed than others. I think that a horror book where people die, part of the horror is knowing the character and having a bit of connection with it. 

For my next book I shall try to find something with more substance. I feel that I need to get more from a book, than just entertainment. Hopefully something interesting shall drop in my hands.  I am tired of horror and sex books. We'll see what pops up next...

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter - the movie

Well... well... well... I had finally managed to see the cinematic adaptation of Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, a book I had written about  a while back. My expectations were low. I mean they were so low, that I had waited to see it online, than to actually pay and go to the cinema. During the movie I kinda wished I went to the cinema for this one, because a lot of the action scenes were created for 3D and the images were very well done. 

The movie takes about 3-4 main ideas from the book, but the overall feeling is that only the title keeps a constant similarity. Most characters are there, but instead of a historical book with some vampire action, the movie is a lot of vampire action with very little history. I guess the movie makers felt that the book was not as juicy as the public might have wanted. Not even the main ideas, that were borrowed from the book, were not kept close to the original. In percentages I can say that the movie has a 10% similarity with the book (title included).

If you want too see a vampire movie with lots of special effects, beautiful CGI and how Abe Lincoln is swinging his axe a la Blade with his sword, you should definitely watch this movie. If you happen to own a 3D screen, do yourself a favor and watch it in 3D. I did mention Blade because in a way this is the closest vampire action movie I could think of. Oh and the train action reminded me of Priest.  I am still waiting for the following movies: George Washington, cherry tree cutter; Theodore Roosevelt, butterfly catcher; Bill Clinton, assistant fucker and George Bush, pot smoker.

Only one question remains: would Honest Abe kick the shit out of Edward the sparkling vampire? I'd say: DEFFO. :)

The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice

I know what you'll say: "Oh hell no, another vampire book". Well... Yeah. But, this book does not resemble Twilight. You don't have shiny vampires that sparkle and you also do not have a teenage-romance novel. If you remember "Interview with the Vampire" you know what I am talking about. This is better writing than any of today's vampire books.

The Vampire Lestat has been on my reading list for a few years and I kept setting it aside because it felt like a long read. Actually it took me about 5 days to finish this book, and I had been on vacation with plenty of time for books. I am a fast reader and this book needed my entire attention to understand some parts. Overall it is a nice experience which leaves you wanting for more.

Ok, so in this book vampires are not afraid of crosses but they cannot walk in the light. You get beautiful descriptions of different eras and different places. You get hetero sex, you get incest and you get gay sex. To each his own, I guess. You get poverty and enormous wealth. You get a new version on how vampires came to be. You get lots of fights and plenty of violence. You get sensual love and complicated relationships. You get different views on religion etc. You get a well made cocktail of everything your heart desires. 

Children of the night, gather and suck the blood of mortals. Just kidding, but the book was pretty good. Even though it was quite long, it left me satisfied. I will have to find a chronological order of the series and maybe I will read another vampire book.

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

Sorry for such a late posting but I had been really busy and then went on vacation to a place with no internet. I started reading this book because of the movie, more like because of the movie's trailer on youtube.com. Well... I was expecting a different kind of book - something between Blade (action packed vampire slayer) and Twilight (sparkling teenage vampires).

I was pleasantly surprised to find it more along the lines of a historical read. The entire vampire premise seemed somewhat legit, especially because of the inserted pictures and also because the author managed to integrate it in the era's look and feel. Some parts seemed a bit far fetched and others seemed gratuitous with just a purpose to add up more pages to the book (eg. Elizabeth Battory part).

As I had mentioned before, the vampire premise was nicely inserted in the historical background and I didn't feel it to be over the top. The political part regarding the war between the North and the South from a vampiric point of view was also well thought out. What I didn't like was the end, due to the fact that the author forgot how the book started thus leaving me with a lot of questions, especially because the ending couldn't have been known to the reader of the diaries since Lincoln  had stopped writing them when he died. Read the book and you will know what I mean.

All in all was a decent book, I bet the movie will be more action than a "historical lesson". This one, and the Hunger Games movie are on top of my list of "movies to watch". I promise to update these articles with impressions from the movies.

Down the road by Bowie V. Ibarra

This time I come up with an easy book. It is a horror novel about zombies. Yes, I admit: I am a zombie geek. I am more fascinated how people imagine the collapse of society due to an epidemic (this time zombies) than the actual gore-fest of the undead. I like the idea of survival in a world that had lost its rules and how people start relating to each-other in extreme situations.

Down the road by Bowie V. Ibarra is the classic zombie story: the hero finds himself at the beginning of the zombie-apocalypse and he's trying to get back to his family. This short novel is entertaining even though I think the sex scenes are gratuitous in details and so is the gore. I believe that the author had seen himself in the shoes of George (our hero) and he wanted him to be some sort of geeky playboy. He made George a chick magnet and, go figure, he's Latino.   I did like the fact that it has a beginning and it has an end and the plot is not that bad (believe me, I had read far worse than this).

If you like the genre, read it. You won't be disappointed. You get zombies, sex, violence, the evil government, rebels, survivors, rapists, drug lords and druggies, Texans with lots of guns and a sexy widowed professor who fucks the women he saves and who can drive stick. Did I mention zombies and gore? I guess I did.

Final words: entertaining, somewhat predictable, but definitely worth your while.