theneverendingtbr's reviews
372 reviews

The Hatching by Ezekiel Boone

Go to review page

dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Deep in the jungle of Peru, a black, skittering mass devours an American tourist party whole. FBI agent Mike Rich investigates a fatal plane crash in Minneapolis and makes a gruesome discovery. Unusual seismic patterns register in a Indian earthquake lab, confounding the scientists there.

The Chinese government "accidentally" drops a nuclear bomb in an isolated region of its own country. The first female president of the United States is summoned to an emergency briefing. And all of these events are connected.

As panic begins to sweep the globe, a mysterious package from South America arrives at Melanie Guyer's Washington laboratory. The unusual egg inside begins to crack. Something is spreading...
The world is on the brink of an apocalyptic disaster. An virulent ancient species, long dormant, is now very much awake. But this is only the beginning of our end...

Plot sounds awesome right?
I thought so too..
I read three quarters of this and thought it was a dud, because nothing much happened and the characters weren't written very well the location around the world kept changing to introduce more characters - I started to get confused about who was who...

But..

Despite the weak characterization, the authors writing style and his creation of a very unique foe makes this one hell of a page turner and that last quarter of the book got sooo good, I'm moving straight onto the second book - 'Skitter'
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Go to review page

adventurous reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The main character here who goes by the name 'Humbert Humbert' a sexual predator who is also the book’s narrator of what appears to be a memoir or confession has an obsession for young girls or ("nymphets" as he calls them) 

He comes to the United States after inheriting a business and separating from his wife, Valeria.

He rents a room from a widow called Charlotte Haze and he becomes sexually obsessed with her 12 year old daughter whom he calls 'Lolita'. He marries Mrs. Haze to be near Lolita, and when the mother is killed, he takes the girl on a trip across the United States.

Many books and movies portray monsters, but this book puts us in the mind of a monster and raises uncomfortable questions.

It's very well-written and explores themes of love and conscience and it challenges the way we think about human beings and the nature of evil.

This has been one that's been on my to-read list for many years because I love classics and this one is always high up on the best books of all time lists; I'm glad I finally read it. It's a very good piece of literature. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Sour Candy by Kealan Patrick Burke

Go to review page

dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This 74 page novella was dark and fast-paced with an interesting and unique plot.

The writing was very good although I prefer character-driven books but given that this is a novella, it ticks all the boxes as a short plot-driven story. 

A perfect quick read before bed, which is what I used it for.

🍬

Think I'll try 'Kin' next, when I get around to reading another from this author. 


Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales by H.P. Lovecraft, Les Edwards, Stephen Jones

Go to review page

dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

“We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.”

Excellent collection of Lovecraft's stories, you've got most of his best ones in this collection; but it's such a big and somewhat cumbersome book.

Took me years to get through it, bought it in 2014 (crazy I know) but obviously that wasn't continuous reading, I'd read a story from it and leave it for ages with the bookmark in; he can be difficult to read sometimes due to his writing style - it's slow-paced and sometimes difficult for me to interpret because sometimes it seems to me like he starts rambling and I'm like..what's going on?

But I've been on a Lovecraft kick lately and I'm glad I finally finished most of his work, moving onto Eldritch Tales soon and that's me completed all of his fiction - as far as I know.

My favourite stories in Necronomicon were..

'The Rats in the Walls' 
'The Tomb'
'The Dunwich Horror'
'The Shunned House'
'At the Mountains of Madness'

Taschen 365 Day-By-Day: Pin-Up by Taschen

Go to review page

funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

4.0

Beautiful photos and artwork of classic pin-ups on the left pages and on the right page each date of the year has a saucy quote from various women, such as Marilyn Monroe, Jane Mansfield, Carmen Electra, Sasha Grey and my personal favourite - Bettie Page.

Definitely recommend to anyone who is into vintage, pulpy pin-up drawings.

You're supposed to read a page a day but I just read it all at once. 🤷‍♂️
The Haunter of the Dark: Collected Short Stories Volume 3 by H.P. Lovecraft

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

"From even the greatest of horrors irony is seldom absent." 

So I'd already read most of the collected stories in Volume 3, as most of them were in the Necronomicon and I've read about 80% of that one - which I'm going back to right now to finish it.

Most of the stories in Volume 3 of the collected stories are very well known ones, such as The Colour Out of Space, Herbert West - Reanimator, The Shadow Over Innsmouth and The Statement of Randolph Carter which I'd previously read so I skipped them.

The ones I hadn't read before were The Other Gods, Polaris, The Horror at Red Hook and my favourite of this bunch of unread ones was the brilliant The Shunned House.

Now back to finish Necronomicon - The Best Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft, which I bought back in 2014 but haven't finished because it's one of those Barnes and Nobles type books that weigh a ton and make reading awkward BUT I'm going to make this my final attempt to finish it - there's a few stories left.

Then onto finish Eldritch Tales after that and that's me done. 😌👌
Hung, Drawn and Executed: The Horror Art of Graham Humphreys by Victoria Price, Graham Humphreys, Dacre Stoker

Go to review page

dark fast-paced

5.0

A must-have for horror fans who appreciate the advertising art as much as the films themselves.
The Loved Dead (Mystery & Supernatural) by Winifred V. Jackson, C.M. Eddy Jr., Anna Helen Crofts, Duane W. Rimel, Sonia H. Greene, Harry Houdini, Wilfred Blanch Talman, Adolphe Danziger De Castro, H.P. Lovecraft, Zealia B. Reed, William Lumley, Robert H. Barlow, Kenneth J. Sterling, J. Chapman Miske

Go to review page

adventurous challenging mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

"That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die."

Out of the three volumes of collected stories, this second one had the more stories that I didn't previous know about; to be honest I didn't know any of them.

There was a few stand out ones such as The Thing in the Moonlight, The Loved Dead and my favourite of the bunch - the excellent Two Black Bottles.

I'd say volume one was the better of the two, but I still liked to a certain degree; Lovecraft can be difficult for me to read sometimes - especially when he starts going on about the unknowable, the abhorrent, the nameless, the ghastly - it takes it's toll on me because I prefer details I guess but I've promised myself that I'm going to complete all the books I've got of his.

I do enjoy most of his stories though, or else I wouldn't bother - I guess he's just difficult to read for me sometimes.

Volume 3 next, of which I've read most of the stories anyway; then to finish the rest of the stories in Necronomicon and Eldritch Tales. 

Then that's me, I might go back and read certain ones such as Herbert West - Reanimator, From Beyond and The Call of Cthulhu.
The Hound by H.P. Lovecraft

Go to review page

dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

"Madness rides the star-wind . . . claws and teeth sharpened on centuries of corpses . . . dripping death astride a Bacchanale of bats from night-black ruins of buried temples of Belial. . . . Now, as the baying of that dead, fleshless monstrosity grows louder and louder, and the stealthy whirring and flapping of those accursed web-wings circles closer and closer, I shall seek with my revolver the oblivion which is my only refuge from the unnamed and unnamable."


Definitely prefer his shorter works.
The Hound by H.P. Lovecraft

Go to review page

dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

"Madness rides the star-wind . . . claws and teeth sharpened on centuries of corpses . . . dripping death astride a Bacchanale of bats from night-black ruins of buried temples of Belial. . . . Now, as the baying of that dead, fleshless monstrosity grows louder and louder, and the stealthy whirring and flapping of those accursed web-wings circles closer and closer, I shall seek with my revolver the oblivion which is my only refuge from the unnamed and unnamable."


Definitely prefer his shorter works.