It Came from the Multiplex edited by Joshua Viola

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Hex Publishers in exchange for an honest review.

Though admitting so might revoke my 'horror fan' badge, I must be honest and say that I've not seen many 80s horror films. I've seen a decent chunk of cheesy, almost comedy horror films though and this was absolutely the tone this anthology was going for. It was a whole lot of fun but I want to make this clear in case people are expecting more of a violent slasher/sexual horror vibe. This anthology is mild on those elements but is all the stronger for it in my opinion, instead serving up some good old cheesy horror fun. I agree with other reviews that it would benefit more from being compared to 60s or 70s horror films.

Number of stories: 14

Great stories: 3

Good stories: 7

Meh stories: 3

Stories using the slur 'gypsy': 1

ALIEN PARASITES FROM OUTER SPACE/RETURN OF THE ALIEN PARASITES FROM OUTER SPACE-I am combining these two stories together as they are essentially one story (a story and its 'sequel'). This was a fun story about a teen who goes to see a movie about alien parasites and realises that the movie may be more real than it appears. I wish the sequel had been included later on in the anthology as it was a little repetitive when it followed straight after the first one and I think I would have enjoyed a break later on. The first one was also by far the stronger story for me with the sequel not being as good. But both were fun romps with some neat details, and they were a good way to introduce the tone of the anthology.

NEGATIVE CREEP-This had the really cool concept of kids being stalked by some kind of entity which behaved in uncertain ways. I really liked how films were incorporated into this story and I thought it was a lot more clever and original than some. It wasn't my favourite but it had strong moments and managed to stand out.

HELLULOID-This was the story where I realised just how strong the cinema/movie theme was. Honestly I don't really remember much about it, apart from that it used film reel in a kind of interesting way but the plot itself wasn't very gripping.

RISE, YE VERMIN!-Some neat lesbian representation here but not much else going for it sadly. It felt like it was a retread of previous stories with the bug and film reel motif, and it really struggled to stand out as unique to me. It was at this point I wondered if all the authors had been given the same specific brief for writing stories.

THE CRONENBERG CONCERTO-A man recounts his personal history of going to the cinema to watch horror films. For most of this story, I was kinda meh. Then something happened and I fell in love. This was deliciously dark and really caught me off guard, which made the ending all the better. I adored this story and I think it will stay in my mind a long time.

CREATURE FEATURE-A fun story about a teen who gets a new job at a very unusual movie theatre. This uses a type of horror I'm not a huge fan of but it really was a more lighthearted horror read and it deserves points for uniqueness. Ended a little abruptly but all in all, a good romp.

INVISIBLE-A chilling tale of a serial killer and how he selects his victims. This was another unique way to incorporate the cinema theme and I really enjoyed it. Parts are definitely hard to read but this didn't skew super graphic which I appreciated. The ending was really neat and dark in a good way.

SCREEN HAUNT-A woman afraid of everything creates a horror movie. This was a little hard to follow but had some great moments and imagery. I really liked parts of it, I just wish it had been told in a clearer style.

THE DEVIL'S REEL-A travelling man comes to a small town and opens up a cinema with a nefarious purpose. A lot happened in this story and I appreciated the pacing and plot elements. It went big scale and fit well into the movie theme for that reason.

ON THE ROCKS-Four teenagers go to see a werewolf film. This ended far too abruptly and was a little predictable, which was a shame because I dug the writing style.

COMING ATTRACTIONS-Four teenagers use a broken panel in a cinema to stay after dark. This story was amazing! I was completely gripped throughout and it actually properly scared me which rarely happens. A definite gem and my favourite of the collection.

LATE SLEEPERS-A student leaves his house in disarray after a family Thanksgiving meal and goes to the cinema. I really liked the main idea of this story and it did have a creeping sense of dread throughout. However, the ending was a little unclear (and not in a good way, just in a confusing way) which was a bit of a shame. Still a strong concept though!

SPECIAL MAKEUP-Okay, so this story has a great idea with the horror item but uh, repeatedly uses the g slur for traveler. And the whole plot is based around a 'gypsy curse'. I was actually pretty shocked to read this because I thought everyone had the memo now that it's not okay but apparently not. It was a shame as well since it was the last story so I was left feeling a bit sour about the whole thing.

Overall, this anthology is a very fun one with a strong theme and some truly great stories. Most of the stories kind of overlap a bit and so I think more variety could have been beneficial, but the second half is much more varied and so I found it more entertaining. Maybe a rejiggling of the order of the stories would have helped? Either way, this is perfect if you're looking for a quick campy read this Halloween and I'm very glad I picked it up.

Overall Rating:

.5

Fangs by Sarah Andersen

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Andrews McMeel Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

I am in love! This graphic novel is perhaps the cutest love story ever told. It features a bunch of one shot comics (each page being one incident) throughout the relationship of a vampire and a werewolf. It is incredibly cute, very funny and just a fantastic feel-good read. Vamp and Jimmy are both extremely likeable characters and I instantly fell in love with both of them. I loved watching their relationship unfold and it just brightened my whole day. I 100% recommend this if you like funny, cutesy graphic novels with a lot of humour and heart.

Overall Rating:

Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker & Wendy Xu

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Diamond Book Distributors in exchange for an honest review.

I am LIVING for this wave of cute fantasy graphic novels with great representation in them. Mooncakes is the story of Tam, a non-binary werewolf who comes back to their old town and reconnects with their old childhood friend, Nova. Nova is a deaf witch who has been investigating some mysterious demon activity in her town and, when Tam gets dragged into the demon activity, it's up to the both of them to put a stop to it.

Firstly, this graphic novel has a great art style. It's cute but not so much that older readers would be put off by it. The colours and particularly the way the magic is shown in the universe creates a lovely atmosphere that sets the tone for this world. Secondly, I fell in love with pretty much all of the characters. They aren't the most developed in the world (which to be fair, is standard for a graphic novel) but they're so likeable and every character has a key role to play in the narrative which was a neat touch. I adore Nova and Tam and could honestly read a good dozen or so stories about them.

Overall, Mooncakes is the perfect read for anyone who loves cute fantasy stories with great art and lovable characters. It joins a proud group of witch-themed graphic novels which makes it a fantastic Halloween read for those who aren't necessarily into horror. It is definitely worth checking out.

Overall Rating:

The Shapes of Midnight by Joseph Payne Brennan

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Dover Publications in exchange for an honest review.

Horror anthologies can be so hit or miss for me. I tend to avoid collections published by one author unless I know their work because I have specific tastes for horror and I dislike the ambiguous short stories the genre often results in. I made an exception for The Shapes of Midnight and I am so glad I did!

This is a VERY short collection (~100 pages) of horror stories which are mostly basic in concept but are executed really well. The first two were my least favourite and the most straightforward of the bunch but it was all uphill from there. If you could plot my ratings of these on a graph, it would almost be a perfect bell curve because I felt the middle stories were definitely the strongest. My Kindle ARC was sadly missing two stories (Canavan’s Back Yard and Slime) which might also be why it felt so short to me.

No of stories: 10 (12 in actual collection)

Diary of a Werewolf-What it says on the tin. This was definitely one the weaker ones. It wasn't bad but it was very straightforward and there were no surprises or depth to it.

The Corpse of Charlie Rull-A man dies in a radioactive river and comes back to life. Slightly better than the one above because I couldn't tell where it was going and it was less of a standard plot. I also loved the way this opened, it had a fantastic style to it.

The Pavilion-A very creepy story about a man who murders his friend and returns to check if the body has been dislodged by the sea. This grabbed my attention and kept me excited to see what was going to happen next.

House of Memory-A different type of horror story to most and a refreshing addition to the collection. A woman is forced out of her childhood home and refuses to accept it has been demolished, much to the confusion of her family. Another very decent and enjoyable one.

The Willow Platform-A man in a small town finds an evil demon book. The writing style of this was very entertaining but I wasn't a fan of the story topic itself, which is probably just personal preference.

Who Was He?-A man in hospital keeps getting visits from a hospital barber. This was hands down my favourite of the whole bunch. I read it late at night and was genuinely very scared by it.

Disappearance-Another very strong story about a man whose brother has gone missing and the narrator suspects he killed him. The 'twist' of this was very easy to guess but it was still entertaining and possibly my second favourite.

The Horror at Chilton Castle-A man lives near a castle which has a secret sealed room, the contents of which are only shown to the heirs of Earls. This started off strong but the actual contents of the room turned it into not my type of horror story. It was still one of the best and definitely had some good horror moments.

The Impulse to Kill-A man who has the urge to kill devises a way to do so without being arrested for it. This is a neat enough idea for a story and it was well-written but it suffers from being very linear and not having a lot beyond the basic concept.

The House on Hazel Street-Upon entering a house, a man realises he has no memory of why he is there. The occupant of the house has a specific request of him. This story has one of the more unique concepts in the anthology and it was good but not one of my absolute favourites.

I debated between 3.5 and 4 stars for a while but I felt 4 stars was right since I enjoyed almost every story in here and the writing style was consistently strong throughout. At points Brennan has almost a Lemony Snicket-esque narration style and this was very enjoyable when it cropped up. This collection is very short in the form I received but that was minus two stories so I decided to not lower the rating due to that. Overall, this was a wonderful horror anthology and I would definitely want to read more by this author.

Overall Rating:

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

Upon finishing Shiver, I wasn't so much left wanting more as I was left curious as to what else the story could do. After all, the first book was wrapped up so well by the end that I hardly saw the need for a sequel. I picked up Linger thinking that it was an unnecessary attempt at dragging things out to make more money. I am pleased to say that I was very much mistaken.

In fact, not only did I enjoy Linger but I actually thought it vastly improved upon the first book. My main issues regarding Shiver were with how difficult it was to warm to Grace and with how the side characters seemed a little flat. Both of these are fixed wonderfully in this book. Isabelle gets her own little subplot involving my favourite character of the series, new addition Cole. This both fleshes out her character and introduces another, more intriguing one, injecting some much-needed life into the beautifully told but admittedly rather dull Grace/Sam relationship.

And what about Grace herself? Well, this book is really about her coming to terms with possibly changing into a wolf, a twist which is obvious in hindsight but I genuinely didn't see coming at the time. I like it a lot as far as plots for the sequel could have gone and it shakes up the standard paranormal romance thing of 'one partner is human, the other is mystical'. The ending is an obvious sequel hook but it doesn't bother me as much as it would if the first book had ended that way.

I guess upon reflection that this book still suffers from one of the issues of the first one-that is again, nothing much particularly happens in it. But the characters were a lot stronger which helped disguise this fact and it felt like a more varied and interesting plot on the whole. Another issue I have with it is the disappearance of Shelby but I'm guessing she'll be saved for the third one, like Victoria was in Twilight.

Are my hopes high for the third one? After reading Linger, I'm definitely more intrigued than I was. Whether the conclusion can live up to it or not will remain to be seen.

Overall Score:

.5

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

As far as books which have been turned into movies go, I will almost always prefer the book. This isn't some weird snobbish thing-I believe a movie is worth just as much as a book in terms of merit, and (depending on the movie and the book) sometimes more. It just so happens that usually I like the book better.

City of Bones is no exception.

I was on chapter ten of this book when I went to see the movie. After enduring what was possibly the most boring 2 hours of my life, I really had very little desire to finish it but I'm glad I did. This book is a hundred times better than the movie. For one thing it's actually pretty funny, a quality I find rare in books. For another, Clary actually does stuff in the book which doesn't involve screaming and falling over all the time.

But anyway, this isn't about my issues with the movie. Taken on its own, City of Bones is a pretty decent book. As I said, the dialogue manages to be pretty funny at times and the secondary characters are all likeable and interesting. My main issue comes from the main characters. That is to say, I don't actually particularly like either of them.

You might question how I can enjoy a book when I don't like the main characters and to be honest, I don't really have an answer for you. Clary is a little bland and suffers from the whole 'hostile and snarky for no real reason' problem which plagues 'feisty' female characters. Jace is just an asshole, plain and simple. But the rest of the characters I liked on the whole and for whatever reason, I was able to look past my disinterest in the two main ones.

The twist at the end I actually really liked, weird though it was. If I hadn't seen the movie first then it would have been genuinely surprising and it's definitely something which hasn't been done before. It's also very brave in YA fiction so Clare deserves some bonus points for that. Which she prompty loses for naming her heroine 'Clary'.

Overall, City of Bones is a moderately enjoyable book. It doesn't make my top ten list perhaps but I will be checking out the rest of the series and it's certainly an improvement from the snorefest of a movie. It's probably worth reading and you could certainly do a lot worse.

Overall Score:

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Paranormal romance is always sort of a sore subject isn't it? Like it or not, the genre has become synonymous with Twilight and all the sparkly terribleness that implies. I'm not generally a fan of straight romance books anyway (especially those aimed specifically at teenagers) but since wolves are my favourite animal and since I was able to buy the whole series on offer, I decided to take a chance with Shiver.

Am I glad I took that chance? Well, it's sort of hard to say.

First off, Shiver is by no means a bad book. It has an intriguing and refreshing take on werewolves (something which should be saluted) and a narrative style which, while it might not be everyone's cup of tea, flows well and is dreamy to read. Unfortunately, what lets it down is its characters.

Let's start with the main characters, Sam and Grace. Sam is certainly likeable enough-he's a typical indie dream boy perhaps but he gets decent development and is easy to empathise with. Grace on the other hand...she's presented as the sort of girl who is reserved and private with her emotions, which is certainly a nice change from the usual whiny female protagonists that seem to plague these types of books. However, this does mean that you reach the end of the book without really getting the sense that you know her-not great considering she's one of the narrators. She's not a terrible character but she's not terribly compelling either. She's just sort of...there.

The side characters in Shiver are also ridiculously flat. Apart from Sam's 'family', every other character basically amounts to little more than a plot device. They have the shadows of a personality but nothing that really brings them to life.

As I said earlier, I bought the whole Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy at once, and after reading this book I was surprised by the fact there were two more. The book seems to come to a natural conclusion and one which works well. Does this bode well for the sequels? Probably not. Further books have the potential to seem like padding if there's no substantial plot to carry them. However, I have optimism for this series and as far as paranormal romances go, you could do a lot worse.

Overall Score: