en-US Mon, 14 Apr 2025 23:42:30 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review7489857692 Mon, 14 Apr 2025 23:42:30 -0700 /review/show/7489857692 Sean gave 3 stars to Tempest Breaker (Star Wars: The High Republic) by Cavan Scott
bookshelves: star-wars-the-high-republic-phase-3
]]> Review5000507684 Thu, 10 Apr 2025 10:35:59 -0700 /review/show/5000507684 Sean gave 4 stars to The Hellbound Heart (Paperback) by Clive Barker
bookshelves: horror
It's a pretty fast pace, no-fat story that's morbid, gory, and scary. It's almost a total 1:1 with the infamous movie barring a few changes and shows how faithful of an adaptation the movie really is. So if you've seen the movie there really won't be too many surprises but it's still a good introduction to the world of Clive Barker. ]]> Review7478112944 Thu, 10 Apr 2025 10:27:38 -0700 /review/show/7478112944 Sean gave 5 stars to The Mask of Fear (Star Wars: Reign of the Empire, #1) by Alexander Freed
bookshelves: star-wars-canon
I didn't expect to like this one as much as I did, especially because Alexander Freed has been hit or miss for me in the past. But it was an absolute page turner with the characters and political thrill in absolute top form. Freed also has done his homework - it pulls from a miasma of extended lore sources for the betterment of the story. An absolute must for any person interested in the state of the galaxy immediately after Revenge of the Sith or just wanting a political Star Wars story in general. ]]> Review7478108059 Thu, 10 Apr 2025 10:27:23 -0700 /review/show/7478108059 Sean gave 3 stars to Mace Windu: The Glass Abyss (Hardcover) by Steven Barnes
bookshelves: star-wars-canon
Steve Barnes seems to really understand Mace Windu's character for the most part. It's a little unnecessarily wordy and there were a few head scratchers as far as characterization but there's some great action and a really unique setting. ]]> Review7478108059 Thu, 10 Apr 2025 10:25:12 -0700 /review/show/7478108059 Sean gave 3 stars to Mace Windu: The Glass Abyss (Hardcover) by Steven Barnes
bookshelves: star-wars-canon
Steve Barnes seems to really understand Mace Windu's character for the most part. It's a little unnecessarily wordy and there were a few head scratchers as far as characterization but there's some great action and a really unique setting. ]]> Review7478106484 Thu, 10 Apr 2025 10:24:42 -0700 /review/show/7478106484 Sean gave 4 stars to It Calls From the Sea: An Anthology of Terror On the Deep Blue Sea (Kindle Edition) by Alanna Robertson-Webb
bookshelves: horror
A pretty good mix of maritime and sea horror stories or stories that embody the concept of the sea. There were some really good, creepy tales but there were also a few stories that had little to do with the premise of the anthology that weren't very good. On the whole, though, definitely a worthwhile read that goes pretty quickly, especially if you like people turning into corral monsters, ancient sea gods, and primordial swamp creatures. My list of favorite to least favorite spooky stories:

Reef Encounter
Fronds
Abyssal Horror
Xook
Long Pork
She Calls from the Sea
Shoney's Revenge
Jelly
Hostile Territory
Heaven's Lake
Cry of the Hunger Fish
Buoy 21415
The Hunter and the Prey
Dead Ships
Into the Depths
Please Leave
Euphoria
The Sea Reaches Up
The Ocean Sings Softly
The Shadow over Innsmouth High ]]> Review7478106484 Thu, 10 Apr 2025 10:24:27 -0700 /review/show/7478106484 Sean gave 4 stars to It Calls From the Sea: An Anthology of Terror On the Deep Blue Sea (Kindle Edition) by Alanna Robertson-Webb
bookshelves: horror
A pretty good mix of maritime and sea horror stories or stories that embody the concept of the sea. There were some really good, creepy tales but there were also a few stories that had little to do with the premise of the anthology that weren't very good. On the whole, though, definitely a worthwhile read that goes pretty quickly, especially if you like people turning into corral monsters, ancient sea gods, and primordial swamp creatures. My list of favorite to least favorite spooky stories:

Reef Encounter
Fronds
Abyssal Horror
Xook
Long Pork
She Calls from the Sea
Shoney's Revenge
Jelly
Hostile Territory
Heaven's Lake
Cry of the Hunger Fish
Buoy 21415
The Hunter and the Prey
Dead Ships
Into the Depths
Please Leave
Euphoria
The Sea Reaches Up
The Ocean Sings Softly
The Shadow over Innsmouth High ]]> Review7359857123 Thu, 27 Feb 2025 08:35:31 -0800 /review/show/7359857123 Sean gave 4 stars to Sour Candy (Kindle Edition) by Kealan Patrick Burke
Sour Candy is a very quick but very fun read. It really taps in well to elements of cosmic horror that's quite well done for the story's length. It was really shocking and scary to read about how humans are basically birthing vessels for these otherworldly, nordic-esque gods. And it's really inventive the way people are drawn in by eating the offered sour candy acting akin to a sort of Eucharistic body of Christ or Indiana Jones Blood of Kali type of thing where you're drawn in under a a terrible dark spell and by the time you realize it it's too late.

It was gifted to me by my girlfriend on Valentine's Day, who I know is reading this review right this very moment, and it was a really entertaining, swift book that's a perfect read for a holiday of sweetness and candy. Not to mention you can easily finish it in one sitting. So thank you Bri for the wonderful gift on Valentine's Day about how we're all just being harvested by extra-dimensional gods ❤️ ]]> Review7359831707 Thu, 27 Feb 2025 08:24:36 -0800 /review/show/7359831707 Sean gave 2 stars to The Showers (Paperback) by Dylan Sindelar
bookshelves: horror
The Showers is a bundling of the the parts of the creepypasta original "The Showers" by Dylan Sindelar. Parts I & II, which are the most famous and well known parts of the story, are a decently fun, atmospheric presentation taking place in the middle of nowhere. As a midwesterner myself, I have to say that the great, vast, nothingness that can be the midwest is an untapped well of terror. So it's a perfect setting for some strange cult, demon, god activity stuff that goes on in The Showers. It's fun to see the main character of Jack find such an identity in the concept campfire stories so that when he finds himself wrapped up in his own sort of horrific campfire story, it feels like a stinging, ironic outcome akin to the boy who cried wolf.

However, Parts III & IV completely let the story down and honestly taints the first part for me. It feels the need to explain things but also not explain anything at all. The characters are all extremely unlikeable and make random, rash decisions. Not only that but the writing is really all over the damn place with events that feel very poorly written and disjointed. That was a bit of an issue in the first two parts but it was a little easy to overlook because of an original setting that sort of lent itself to speculation. But if you're going to do sequel pieces there has to be something to add and expand and unfortunately this is not that.

So if you're going to read The Showers, stick to and enjoy the first two parts and let the second two parts disappear into the ether, you'll enjoy it more in the long run that way. ]]> Review7359802113 Thu, 27 Feb 2025 08:12:05 -0800 /review/show/7359802113 Sean gave 4 stars to With Teeth: Stories of Horror and the Supernatural (Never Sleep Again) by Christian Wallis
With Teeth is a horror anthology by frequent R/nosleep author Christian Wallis and the strength of his imagination is on full display here. The compendium bundles up a R/nosleep post in the form of the story Pretend Play as well as twelve other ghastly, ghoulish stories, all of which felt strikingly original. I never thought I would find myself terrified of a mobile church building but here I stand. Wallis is creative, visceral, and quite good at crafting a good horror tale of both grounded or existential origins. 

There were really only one or two stories I really disliked, all the rest of them were at worst fun, at best terrific. If you like eldritch gods, dark forgotten and forbidden places of the world, creatures from other dimensions, forlorn arctic wastes, or terrors from the deep sea then I strongly recommend you check this anthology out, it's a fast, entertaining read that will stick with you. My list of favorite to least favorite stories are as follows:

The Bunker
The Hunt
My Eldritch Friends
A Better Place
The Workshop
Pretend Play
Annedale
Zolg
The Temple in the Lake
The Dealer
The Derelict
A Private Exhibition
Pompilidae ]]>