Horror

Audiobook Reviews 4/5 Wendigo Fever by Kevin Hardman

Julie Gilbert Audiobooks, Horror, Paranormal , , , , , ,

 

Summary:

Errol Magnus, a deputy Warden for lack of a better title, sort of inherits responsibility for the region when his older brother, Tom, goes missing. Something big and scary is out there taking down people.

Additional Comments:

– Not sure why this book isn’t just called the Wendigo. It’s not really about the Wendigo Fever, that’s just sort of a sidenote. The cover confuses this issue even more as it makes it seem like WARDEN is the title and Wendigo Fever the subtitle.

– The worldbuilding is decent for such a short story. I think if I remember correctly, it’s one of those post-apocalyptic, set so far in the future we’ve come full circle to the past sorts of settings.

– The book is surprisingly lighthearted for being a horror story of the creepy things that go bump in the night variety.

– Errol’s fairly fleshed out as a character, but pretty much everybody else isn’t. Gail had potential, but she does little more than give Errol somebody to talk to while he explains stuff the reader needs to know.

– I can’t really talk about my favorite side character because that would be a spoiler, but suffice to say that there are a lot of colorful characters in this world.

Conclusion:

Interesting, short horror story.

Associate links to follow…

(If you click through and buy something, there’s the chance I’ll earn like $0.04 … not kidding, that’s basically it.)

Amazon Prime

 

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live.

Movie Reviews 4.5/5: Venom

Julie Gilbert Horror, Movie Reviews, Paranormal, scifi, superhero , , ,
Movie poster

4.5/5 Venom; Surprisingly Good Comic Book Movie

*mild spoilers possible*

Summary:

Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) has it all: a great job as an investigative reporter, a beautiful fiancée, and a really nice apartment. One mistake/ moral choice costs him all of that. Six months later, he’s broke, living in a run-down apartment, job hunting, and very single.  Meanwhile, Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) is a very wealthy business owner trying to save mankind by getting alien and human biology to be symbiotic to each other.

Additional Comments:

  • One of my friends said he overheard some young teens chatting afterwards, saying they were bored by the first half of the movie. I am grateful there was some setup involved. You got to see the rise and fall of Eddie Brock. This same friend also mentioned that since Tom Hardy played Eddie and voiced Venom, it was basically him talking to himself the whole movie.
  • CGI and special effects worked well enough. Venom’s not exactly going to be the poster child for hero, nor it is the best comic book movie I’ve ever seen. The general vibe of the movie goes toward action/horror.
  • Humor: There’s some. Not as much as most Marvel movies, but there are some well-timed funny lines. Venom can be sentimental and deadly.
  • So why the high rating: I found it entertaining. It’s not a deep-thinker, twisty movie. A guy picks up an alien and a lot goes down soon thereafter. There’s a certain amount of logic to the plot. Sure, there are quite a few predictable things, but it should hit the fandom-pleaser mark.
  • A note about expectations: The source material for this movie is a comic book series. You have to expect a certain amount of campy split from reality.
  • Parental Warning: Not exactly family fun. This movie does come with quite a few curses and at least one f-bomb.
  • Action movie: There’s a nice motorcycle/car chase and quite a few smaller fight scenes. The two larger fight scenes near the end didn’t have much suspense but they still scored.
  • I guess you could go into the ethical debates about progress vs human life, but generally, it’s recommended you leave it as an afternoon entertainment piece.

Conclusion:

Worth watching on a big screen. Going to the movies is expensive, but if you’re going to watch something like Venom where it’s pretty much about the fights, a giant screen is recommended.

Associate links to follow…

(If you click through and buy something, there’s the chance I’ll earn like $0.04 … not kidding, that’s basically it.)

Amazon Prime

 

Ashlynn’s Dreams Shorts – a kid deals with her parents’ divorce, bullies, and the wonder of discovery.

Try The Dark Side of Science – Genetically altered kids fight for the right to live. Some of the crazy scientists in Venom reminded me of these people.

Movie Reviews 3.5/5: Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies

Julie Gilbert comedy, Fantasy, Horror, Movie Reviews , ,
General promo pic for the movie. Nope, I don’t own it.

3.5/5 Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies –  you guessed it, spoilers are possible.

Summary:

Neither masterful, nor terrible. This is a quirky, shallow, comic, horror movie. The original Pride and Prejudice isn’t my favorite book, but it was probably one of the best books they made me read in high school.

Additional Comments:

  • Getting ready for ball intriguing; nice weapons.
  • Featherstone’s demise … ha. That’s pretty much going to be a thing.
  • The fights always went to slow motion… kind of a cheap trick.
  • Darcy babbles about Lizzy after the fight. Jane takes down a zombie on the way to tea with the Bingleys.
  • Lizzy catches the flies that would tell if her sister was bitten or not. Ha.

Other Observations:

– Wickham is still a jerk.

– Turning down Collins was still epic.

– Wickham’s zombie friendly philosophy is odd.

– Lady Catherine as a great zombie hunter. Also, same actress as Cersi Lannister… that’s awesome.

– Darcy’s confession of love is beautifully awkward. I don’t remember it being quite so awkward in the original tale. Their conversation is more interesting as a fist fight though.

– The woven tale of Wickham is nicely done.

– Rekindled love over a zombie graveyard. Cliche but fitting.

Random:

  • Logistically, the sound goes crazy high whenever there’s any kind of special effects or fighting. While I’m sure that’s awesome in a movie theater, it’s really jarring at home. One needed to keep the volume pretty high to understand the dialogue.
  • It’d probably be pretty slow and boring without the random acts of violence that crop up against zombies here.

Conclusion:

Worth watching, but the audiobook is way better.

Associate links to follow…

(If you click through and buy something, there’s the chance I’ll earn like $0.04 … not kidding, that’s basically it.)

Amazon Prime

 

Audible – If you’d like some free codes, please email me at [email protected] with requests for any of my works.

Try Awakening.


OR


Audiobook Reviews 3/5: Short Story Collection by Charlie Chitty Narrated by Petrina Kingham

Julie Gilbert Audiobooks, ghosts, Horror , ,

3/5 stars Mixed Bag Short Story Collection

Summary:

The stories range a bit in genre from zombie apocalypse to family drama to futuristic scifi to suspense to flat out horror. It’s a little hard to judge something like this on the whole. There are stories in here I absolutely loved, like the one with the 12 year old boy and the baby. On the flip side, there are some stories in here that are so disturbing that I can’t even recommend the book on a clean mailing list.

Additional Comments:

– Most of the stories have some sort of circular logic, a twist at the end that makes it wrap up nicely given previous events. That makes them cool but somewhat predictable.

– I can’t remember every detail right now, but I guess it followed a standard bell curve. 2-3 stories really impressed me in every sense, most didn’t move me one way or the other, and 2-3 either annoyed me or brought out some other negative emotion.

– Content warning: Adult content. There’s one story in particular where the plot involves teenagers getting into the porn industry. Very strong language. Several stories dropped unnecessary f-bombs. (There were about 5-7 throughout the book, maybe 1 was necessary to move the plot forward.)

– I heard the audio version. It was decently narrated.

– There’s a note at the end of the audiobook that bothered me because it came across as arrogant. It said something like “if you enjoyed this, please consider leaving a review …” (that’s standard and totally acceptable, but then it went on…I’m paraphrasing here.) “If you didn’t like it, I’m sorry. I’m sorry you don’t know how to have fun.” I get that it was meant to be funny, but it’s way more abrasive than it should be. People being people, at best you get a chuckle or two but at what cost?

Conclusion:

It’s a very mixed short story collection. Some are worth reading, and some are not. This book will not be on the Audiobook Edge list, but I’m starting to believe that I should just post all opinions and let people decide for themselves what they spend their time on.

 

Associate links to follow…

Amazon Prime

 

Audible – If you’d like some free codes, please email me at [email protected] with requests for any of my works.


Awesome Audiobooks: 4.5/5 Crane by Stacey Rourke narrated by Karen Krause

Julie Gilbert Audiobooks, Horror , , ,

 

Content warning: Language; graphic violence

(Sorry about the name spellings. I heard the audio version.)

Summary:

Ireland Crane moves to Sleepy Hollow/ Terrytown to get away from a disastrous romance. What awakens in her when she gets there is much, much worse.

 

Additional Comments:

– There’s a good deal of snark in the lines of dialogue and in the protagonist’s thoughts. It adds a much-needed lightness to an otherwise gripping but very, very grim, dark, horrific plotline.

– Content warnings: language, graphic violence

– Characters: excellent. One can truly sympathize with Ireland. Noah’s kind of a flat character, but he’s still awesome. Rip is funny, but he doesn’t play much more of a role than inept conscience.

– Although the main character’s supposed to be a school guidance counselor, she does and says some stuff that makes me doubt she’s ever been in earshot of a school.

– Plot: Good but there are some leaps of logic required that have nothing to do with the fantasy side of the story.

– It’s an interesting twist on the legend of the headless horseman.

Conclusion:

If you can handle gruesome, go for it. There’s even some fun to be had in this bloody tale.

It’s one of the creepiest books I’ve heard in a long time, yet it was very, very compelling.

 

 

As Always …

If you want the chance to get the audiobook for free, please join Audiobook Readers’ Edge.

If you’re an author (or a narrator) with an audiobook you’d like featured, sign up for Audiobook Authors’ Edge.

Thanks for your time.

Sincerely,

Julie C. Gilbert

Audiobook Edge and it’s Matchmaker Program are completely free now, but if you wanna donate anyway, go for it 😉

Er, just do it as a friend b/c otherwise, you’re basically just paying paypal.

 

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Audiobook Reviews: 3/5 Zombie Park by Mark Cusco Ailes

Julie Gilbert Audiobooks, Horror, Reader Resource , ,

3/5 Zombie Park
*mild spoilers possible in discussion; sorry about name spellings, I heard the audiobook*

Summary:

Mad scientists create zombies for the government to use as soldiers. A down-on-his-luck guy submits an idea he clearly got from a video game to a local business man and wins the idea lottery. Boom – zombie park is born.

Character Comments:

 

  • With a ridiculous premise, one expects to have to suspend disbelief. Even so, there are quite a few giant coincidences that are hard to accept as a reader/audiobook listener. Ie. Forenstein has close ties to the military and General Poe. Why would they need Ben’s idea? They could have come up with something on their own or killed him and swiped the idea. Ben just happens to see and ad for Forenstein’s  “I’ll make you rich” scheme and just happens to submit his idea.
  • The general’s not exactly a people person yet he seems to be doing a lot of the leg work involving people.
  • The scientists clearly can’t stand each other, but their rivalry seems very childish as presented.
  • The emotional markings and cues are all over the place and not very believable. Nicholas Hollman’s reaction to certain events is completely incomprehensible. Even Ben’s reaction to an event when he’s in the donut shop is cold-hearted and unbelievable.

 

 

Additional Comments:

  • content warnings: It’s a zombie book. There’s the requisite descriptions of fountaining gushes of blood scattered throughout as well as a relatively high body count for a book this small. Number of curse words is minimal.
  • The premise of needing “smart zombies” to be soldiers is silly, but let’s indulge it for a moment. If thought about, it actually becomes dangerous as an idea. If you need humans to create zombies then it’s not about making soldiers, it’s about who becomes the soldier. At this pt, it’s actually kidnapping, assault, and ultimately slavery. (creating something/someone to fight for you)
  • The cost/benefit analysis doesn’t hold up. A program like this would cost billions with a b. The government could get hundreds of thousands of willing soldiers by less objectionable, less highly illegal recruitment methods. I am all for mad scientist books, but it needed a little more logic to make me buy in.
  • I’m not sure why pages are wasted on Gus and his two gamer friends. This is a relatively short book, and Gus doesn’t really seem that important. Perhaps he comes into play in a later book.
  • There are fun references to Jurassic Park and several zombie movies.
  • Book is decently narrated, but some of the voice choices were hard to listen to. (ie. Billy)
  • The story doesn’t really have an ending, it just sort of ends. There’s a distinct, this-is-the-first-in-a-series vibe that kind of stomps all over any sense of closure.

 

Conclusion:

If you’re willing to just read/listen without thinking, it’s a decently fun zombie book.

 

As Always …

If you want the chance to get the audiobook for free, please join Audiobook Readers’ Edge. Of course, this is going to go live the first Sunday of October …

If you’re an author with an audiobook you’d like featured, sign up for Audiobook Authors’ Edge.

Thanks for your time.

Sincerely,

Julie C. Gilbert

Audiobook Edge and it’s Matchmaker Program are completely free now, but if you wanna donate anyway, go for it 😉

Er, just do it as a friend b/c otherwise, you’re basically just paying paypal.

Prime Student

Kindle Unlimited

Amazon Prime

Free Kindle Reading App

Audible