shidoburrito's Reviews (1.54k)

 Okay, I have mixed feelings about this book. Now that I'm completely done with it I can say it was generally good overall and I'm satisfied especially with the original Broadway ending and not 1986 movie, test-audience approved ending. I do feel the writing was a little clunky and repetitive in parts though, like the author had an idea for a book with a start and an ending, but needed help filling in the middle. Stasia seemed to keep repeating herself with her thoughts going around and around, and I understand that realistically, I would also be wishy washy and think in circles if the family I felt I belonged with wanted to cull the world and humans I grew up with. Still, I just felt like I was reading Stasia's same thoughts over and over again. And was I supposed to like Toni? I didn't like Toni. I did like Graham though, he was definitely the best character. And Mandy!
Anyway, as solid 3 stars, and mostly because I am a die-hard fan of Little Shop of Horrors. 

 Please listen to this as an audiobook! It was EXCELLENT! I originally assigned it as Horror Book Club's July read for 4th of July (when the book starts out), but I'm finding it also a great Juneteenth read as well (which is when I'm currently reading it-ish).

It is also a perfect book companion to the movie Sinners. There are many parallels and similarities! Either way, I really enjoyed this book! 

After seeing this book recommended every chance r/horrorlit got, and after reading two other books by C. Buehlman and loving them, I finally decided to read this. While I don't think it's deserving of the rabid, frothing, crazed praise and recommendation of the r/horrolit community, it was pretty good. It also is not my favorite book by this author who will be hard pressed to write something better than The Lesser Dead. But then this book is very different from the vampire-fare that was The Lesser Dead and The Suicide Motor Club or the werewolves of Those Across the River.

This book was historical, apocalyptical, fantasy/horror. You've got France during the Black Death in the 1300's, with 3 characters you will fall in love with despite all their flaws, as they try to get to Avignon to save humanity from the clutches of Hell and its devils. The monsters they fight are gruesome and terrifying, as are many peoples' deaths.

It was a slow start and I wasn't quite sure about it, but if you stick with the book you too will soon be finding every excuse to read the next chapter or race to find out how it ends! 

Excellent excellent book by C. Tingle bringing the real-world horror of AI, corporate greed, rainbow capitalism, and Hollywood homophobia and mixing it with the absurd movie horror tropes. I was reminded a little bit of Hendrix's Final Girl Support Group, but only a little. Chuck Tingle has his own way of writing that keeps you reading and thinking and turning the page in suspense, and then still thinking after you've set the book down!

Oh! Oh! And can I say I LOVED the ace representation with the colorful, wonderful Tara?! I also super loved the shots fired when he made Tara the hero because she was able to sneak past the AI's algorithm based on the fact that ASEXUALS ARE NOT REPRESENTED IN ANY WAY IN MEDIA AND ARE INVISIBLE! Thank you for that! Her invisibility made me feel seen. <3

 I am so happy with book 2. It's definitely as good as the first, maybe even better??? Either way, I love these characters SO much and the world RJB has built is, as Ana would put it, "Fascinating!"

I also appreciate the author's note at the end talking about the idiocy and danger that comes when men become kings and then start to think of themselves as divine, especially in today's world. It made me love the author even more! 

 The stories I enjoyed in this book I really REALLY loved! I really liked Matchgirl, The Wild Heart, The Voice, Dark Ship, and the last 3 Stands a God Within the Shadows, She Moved Through the Fair, and A Strand in the Web. Excellent! I was shocked though at the amount of SA that are in these. I've honestly only read her Others series, and I guess that was in there too, of course, but it seemed story after story after story had women SAd in some horrible situations! So, trigger warning on that for sure. But I really got into some of these short stories and didn't want to put them down! 

 I've always meant to read this but when it came as a recommendation from a friend who knows I like "spooky stuff" I decided to finally read it. I really loved the characters, and the narrator for the audiobook did an excellent job! It definitely had me chuckling at times. The author did a great job making the characters loveable, fallible, and believable. And while I read a lot of horror, there were definitely some spooky parts!
Thanks for the rec! Now I'm recommending it too! 

 3 stars but only because it took me SO LONG to get through it because other books caught my interest, or I had to return it and there was always a wait list until I got it back. I can't say I even remember the first half of the book!
Much like any anthology, most stories were good, one or two were meh, but nothing was terrible! I should re-read this again in the future, hopefully a little more quickly, to more thoroughly enjoy it. 

 The audiobook edition read by the author himself was recommended several times by the readers of r/horrolit. I'm glad I gave it a try because it was an excellent way to read this book! Mr. Blatty does a superb job doing the voices and narration. He does get kind of soft, and his rumbly voice made it hard to hear at moments when I was in the car, but overall I would still recommend this version of the book if you also want to experience it! It was on my library's Hoopla, BTW. 

 I always love listening to John Green read his own books. This was a very quick listen, but very informative. While following the life of Henry you are also drawn into facts about the history of tuberculosis as well as the injustices of people suffering from it today when we have the capacity and know-how to wipe it out. But just like anything these days, it's all about keeping the poor, poor and the rich, rich.