shidoburrito's Reviews (1.54k)

Read for Horror Book Club.
Not supernatural or ghostly horror, but definitely an uncomfortable horror that makes you think. Here are my thoughts jotted down while I read it:

Spoiler

Most (all?) stories were written in the first person. That was key to making me uncomfortable. Many times their thoughts were unkind, many times racist, self-pitying, ugly. But sometimes I would find myself reflected in some of those thoughts. But I swear that's not me! Or is it? Very uncomfortable to read. Often times the MC was young, educated, "innocent" and fresh, observing someone they perceived as antagonist often described in opposites as older, jaded, criminal, evil. Often it was a white person comparing themselves to a black character, frightened, racist, stereotyping. Often portrayed as uneducated, poorly spoken, drug dealers, murderers, and thieves.

"The Rescuer" stands out in my mind as being the hardest to read as the MC is being brought down by family and she changes her life, her ambitions and her goals just to please them and she ends up being brought low and ruined because of her parents and her brother.

The next short(er) story came as a relief and I enjoyed it a bit more because, let's be honest, I'm a fan of revenge stories, and seeing a sexist old writer who's full of himself get what's coming to him is entertaining to me.

Would I have enjoyed this had I read it without prompting? No. Most probably not. Was it a book that made me think about it long after I had finished? Yes, and it made for a good book club book.

Hmmm, I'm on the fence about this one. I'm not sure if the writing and the language of this was poetic or superfluous? The characters were a little over-the-top and reacted in ways that came out of left field at times.

But all in all, I do love me some horror, +50 points for it being a bunch of gaijin being picked off by yokai in an old Heian-era house.

Also, a very quick read, so even if it wasn't the best horror I've ever read, it was quick, entertaining, and (mostly) to the point!

Awww, *sniffle* what a great second volume and an end to a wonderful comic series! Very heartwarming, adorable and funny. I recommend this to just about anyone! <3
Thanks for being such a great character Bittle!

Okay, I can see where this is compared to the X-Files. The MC Nolan, while not as crazed in his search for "the truth" and "the truth" being aliens per se, is certainly open minded and a believer in spooky anomalies that he is willing to try and find for his Youtube show The Anomaly Files. Which leads him and his team to a weird cave in the Grand Canyon.

Indiana Jones? There is a giant ball that may or may not roll through a cave. But it's the "group of scientist/explorers being killed one-by-one" trope (which I love) that makes me think of this book as more Crichton-esque, but without the in-depth science within the science fiction.

I don't know if I would read this as a series, but this book does well enough on its own and was fun to read. Definitely a great page-turner!

Spoiler

The second to last chapter was very reminiscent of Well Manicured Man or someone from the Syndicate meeting Mulder on a park bench to tell hi, to stop his pursuit of the truth and forget everything he saw.

3.5 stars
Well, since I just finished my review for Manly Appetites saying it wasn't my type of BL manga, here, have a weird one that IS!
TW: gore, NSFW, M/M, cannibalism

Thanks but no thanks, DNF. I'm not a fan of tsundere characters, like Otsu. I'm also not into the feeding fetish, and some of the things Minegishi said or thought was pretty close to it. Just not the BL for me. Thanks!

Hm, ok, ok, we are well into the plot now but... I'm not intrigued enough to continue on to volume 3 (unless someone dropped it in my lap and I was like, "oh! well, guess I'll read it while it's here in my lap!"). The art 7/10. The plot 6/10. The characters 5/10. All around average, not bad, but not intriguing enough to buy on my own and continue.

Being a fan of the X Files, I am used to being strung around and never really getting a good answer or the "truth" of a story. So if you read this and just enjoy the characters and the intrigue and mysterious-ness, it's a good book! If you want answers and don't like to be left hanging, maybe still read it but just know you're gonna get Chris Carter-ed at the ending.

2.75 stars because while I ended up enjoying it at the end, it went well beyond my 100 page limit to almost 200 pages in to finally get to where I was comfortable with it. I enjoyed the murder mystery bits and the horror aspect with the revenant and the curse. I did NOT enjoy the main character. He drove me nuts with his withdrawing and anger and grumpiness and self-endangerment and lack of self-care. Which is all intentional and part of the character (his best friend/brother/soulmate just supposedly died from suicide out of nowhere, that is a terrible thing to go through), but my brain just HATED being stuck as third-person POV through Andrew. Reading from mostly this character's POV was like driving a car that constantly drifts to the right (think Desert Bus). While I wanted him to communicate or ask questions or be polite or a decent person or take a friggin shower, he would do the opposite. So I was stuck most of this book just watching the train-wreck that is Andrew do everything he could to NOT improve his life and avoid any gesture that would help him in his plight to prove that Eddie was murdered.

*takes deep breath* ANYWAY, once Andrew started to act civil and actually makes some smart decisions, this book got better. Much better.

So anyway, TL;DR: A great horror book with a stupid MC who takes a while to get out of his self-endangering grief funk and finally get to solving the mystery of his brother and friend Eddie, accept some things about him and them, and learn about a curse they both suffered from due to an accident in some caves 8 years ago.

I may dislike series and gotten burned out on YA but Meyer never makes it a chore and always a fantastical adventure to read her books. I love her characters, but even more so the settings. So happy with Gild and can't wait to read it's conclusion in the next book!

...Please keep it to just two books. I am but a busy adult with so little time. XD