Book Genre: Horror, Short Story, Fiction, Mystery

Book Series: N/A

Released: 4/2/17 by Monolith Press

Pages:40 Price: $5.00 e-book

Links:  Goodreads, Author’s Site

Source: I own a copy of this book.

Book Synopsis:

My Review:

My Rating: 4 Stars Book Genre: Paranormal, Romance, Short Story, Audio

Released: 8/4/15

Pages: 54  Price: $1.99

Buy the Book: Amazon Pack Source: I borrowed this audiobook from my library Book Genre: Science Fiction, Horror, Mystery

Released: 2/28/17 by Tor.com

Pages:112  Price: $2.99 E-Book

Buy the Book: Amazon Agents of Dreamland My Rating: 3 Stars Book Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian, Classic, Short Story

Released: January 1962

Pages: 28  Price: 99 Cents E-book

Source:I borrowed this book from my library.

Stand alone short story: Publish in 2005

I borrowed the audio book version of this title for a reading challenge saving me $20.00(audio price)

Author’s Site

This is my first Murakami book and it might just well be my last.  This was a strange little story that I probably would not have read if not for a reading challenge that required me to try on of his books.  Not sure what to make of his writing style I went to the other reviews and according to some I’ve read this one not a typical story for this author, but not far off either…  Some of the strangeness I am chalking up to it being a translated work, something is always lost in the process.  The rest I am just going to file under not-for-me author.  I’m not sorry I tried him, especially since this was so short, and heck I might even try another of his audio books if it ever crosses my radar.  I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and one more shot since he seems to have such loyal followers.

This story though, was just as others described it; strange and surreal.  I’m not sure it had a point, and I spent much of the story trying to figure out what the author was trying to convey to me.  Now I’m not staying a story needs to have a moral, message or lesson to be valid, but the strangeness of this piece just led me to believe the author was trying to tell me something that was lost upon me.  I would like to take issue with how the author portrays librarians in this story, one was a cliché and the other down right monstrous.  Not appreciated.  Great way to perpetuate stereotypes and frighten people away from using a service of great value to them.  Again there seems to be no point or much of a plot to the story so I’m kind of lost on what else to review.  The imagery was bizarre, the lead character a pushover and the climatic end anticlimactic.  I did enjoy the parts of the story where the boy was reading and got lost in the experiences of the book.  I also liked the young girl and the starling.  Other than that it reminded me a lot of a less gory Stephen King bedtime story.  But still I didn’t hate it, just not something I would typically read.

My Rating: 2 Stars

Book one in the Reveler series

I received this book through Net Galley for an honest review

I’m not quite sure what to think of this book.  It is very short, the story only 89 pages on my nook, yet it took me three days to get through.  I can usually knock that many pages off in a couple hours, less if I’m really into the story.  So what does this say about how I felt about this story.  Hmm.  I’m thinking life might have gotten in the way.  Some busy days at work, riding my bike, shopping after two weeks without getting groceries, a tree falling down in our pasture…yep, life got in the way.  I also think that the story was difficult for me to get into at times or I had trouble figuring out what was going on.  Perhaps I wasn’t just paying close enough attention due to the interruptions.

The story reminded me of a lot of different ones, however, the ones it reminded me of are all movies.  Darkness falls is billed for paranormal romance fans in the synopsis, but to me the story is more sci-fi then paranormal.  Sure they have some sort of powers, but much of what is being dealt with is scientific or technological in origins.   I think the story could be enjoyed by both fans, but I would not really call it paranormal.  The romance label is spot on, though, and well done.  Steamy enough, but not over done.  They don’t spend most of the 89 pages in the sack, time is taken to develop the relationship.  Malcolm and Jordan have good chemistry and their personalities play off each other nicely.  The supporting characters didn’t get much development, but it is a short story, so I can overlook not learning too much about them.  We did learn a bit about Jordan’s sister, but she was pretty important to the plot.

So I mentioned that the book reminded me of some movies, so what are they?  Right off I this gave me a bit of The Matrix vibe and eventually elements of Inception filtered in.  Not that the book has anywhere near a similar story line as either movie, alright Inception is also about shared dreaming, but the story just reminded me of those movies.  I can’t think of a book that I can compare this to, so I can’t recommend it based on if you liked this book try this one too.  But fans of either of those movies might want to give it a go.

So what did I feel is missing from the story?  We never really find out why the “bad” guy wanted Jordan, and I was really curious about that.  There is another book after this one, so perhaps that was held over for a plot thread in that story.  The start was kind of rough for me.  I would have liked a little bit more information about how all the shared dreaming works and maybe some more time in the dream realm.   I think also the story didn’t grab me until about the middle, that could be why I had such an easy time putting it down to do other things.  If I’m really into a story to hell with everything else, I’m gonna read dammit.  This one just wasn’t that way for me.

Bottom line, it was an interesting concept, pretty good execution, and great ending.  The characters were likable and well written, with flaws, strengths, wise cracks, and growth.  The story is short, but feels like a longer book, the author packed a lot of action in to just 89 pages.  I think I’m going to give it 3 stars, and will probably look into book two to see what happens next.  I hope you give it a try, and if you do let me know what you think.
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