Blood Sinister
by Celia Rees
Tulamarine, Vic.: Bolina Audio
2007
Performed by Shirley Barthelmie
5 sound discs (5 hours, 10 minutes)


Do you like a good vampire story? I do. And don't give me any sparkly vampires in love. I am more a Dracula traditionalist when it comes to vampire stories--darkness, casket in the cellar, menacing and driven to feed, and stake through the heart. Thankfully, Celia Rees has provided these elements in her tale, and I was not forced to turn off the recording in disgust.

Ellen is a terminally ill teen and nobody seems to know what is wrong with her, only that she seems to have a rare blood disorder. She is essentially wasting away and her mother and grandmother treat her like a piece of very delicate china. Of course, this makes her a little disgruntled, since all Ellen wants is to be normal and do normal teen things. Her mother sends her to stay with her grandmother who is nearer to the doctors being consulted on her problem. How convenient that Grandma lives right across the street from a very large, creepy cemetery!

Remember Highgate from the Graveyard Book?

While Ellen is lounging around trying not to overdo it, she discovers a trunk of old  papers, photos, and diaries in the attic. These are documents by her famous great-great-grandmother Ellen (I'll call her Ellen 1) who became a famous doctor in the late 1800s. Of course, teen Ellen can't resist reading the diaries of her famous ancestress; besides it's something to do.

Soon, Ellen becomes fascinated on the point of obsession with the diaries. Ellen 1 describes her life as the daughter of a doctor, and one of his patients is a count from central Europe is quite mysterious. Teen Ellen thinks, as she reads, that this man sounds very much like a vampire, with his strange habits, and she becomes quite worried about Ellen 1's relationship with this man. Her doctor father is forcing her to spend more and more time with him and his strange sister, who start to buy her gifts and then make plans for her to travel with them. How will she get out of it?

Teen Ellen is relieved from some reading anxieties by a friend's visit from her own past. She begins to tell Andy about the diaries and he also becomes fascinating, adding that he has heard of vampires lurking in the cemetery across the street.

As Ellen reads further into the story of Ellen 1, events surrounding her also become more mysterious, especially when she gets a new doctor to treat her strange condition. Who is this American doctor and why does he know so much about her and her great-great-grandmother? Luckily Ellen has Andy and other friends to help her in the end.

I liked the historical/horror fiction combination here. Some might find it confusing to go back and forth between Ellen 1 and Teen Ellen, but with the audio book I was able to keep their stories straight quite well. I could see the obvious connection to the old Bram Stoker story, and since this is my ideal for vampire stories, I enjoyed Blood Sinister quite alot. 

Amity

Amity
by Micol Ostow
New York: Egmont
2014
361 pages




Most people are familiar with the story The Amityville Horror, either in book or film form. The movie version with Margot Kidder and James Brolin was one of the first haunted house movies I was allowed to watch.

I remember when the story of the Lutz family was published in such magazines as Good Housekeeping. There are so many websites about them and their house, and people are still debating as to whether or not they were telling the truth. The movie has been updated and sequelized and prequelized and transformed so often that it is unrecognizable. This story has probably influenced all haunted house movies and books since it came out.

Of course, the house still stands and people live in it, quite happily by most accounts. But ghost hunters and gawkers still make pilgrimages to see the famous house.

Micol Ostow, a New Yorker, has taken up the challenge of writing a new fictional teen story about the Amityville house. Our story is split between a time about ten years ago, following Connor and his dysfunctional family's move into the house, and Gwen with her family in the present day. Both families have hopes for a new beginning in this house, but the house has other ideas. And yes, this house seems to be alive with a plan of its own for its occupants.

Slowly, in both timelines, our main characters respond to the house. Weird noises are heard, the boat house door bangs and taunts. Various family members see things or respond violently to the atmosphere of the house and have to leave. We end up uncertain as to whether our two main characters are victims or are tools of destruction.

This story does maintain some of the horror and tension needed for a scary story, although I was rather distracted by all of the back and forth, including a change in the fonts for Connor's story and Gwen's. I think I would have preferred having Connor's story as background, and maybe a merging of stories at the end. It is also told by the characters themselves, and possibly that in itself detracted from the horror. I think it is hard to convey the horror of the situation through one person's limited point of view. I don't get the impression that some characters, such as either mother, really seem to notice the atmosphere of the house or the strange behavior of their children.

I think Amity was worth reading, but it wasn't as frightening as it could have been. I'm somewhat disappointed since this story is so familiar. But if you are a collector of haunted house stories, as I am, you should give it a try.

It doesn't look like a haunted house, does it?

The 5th Wave

The 5th Wave

by Rick Yancey

Holland, OH: Dreamscape Media

2013
Performed by Phoebe Strole and Brandon Espinoza

10 sound discs (12 hours 42 minutes)

Recently, teens were allowed to vote for their favorite Top Ten Books in YALSA's (Young Adult Library Services Association) book challenge. The 5th Wave was on the list of  25 titles popular among teens right now, but it was not chosen. Personally, I am rather disappointed about this because I really like this book! It definitely is one of my Top Ten on that list!

In a sea of dystopian fiction for teenagers right now, this book stands out as being different.Instead of the world falling apart due to human actions through war, stupidity, or disease, this story revolves around the end of life as we know it due to an unusual alien invasion.

Let me explain the Waves:

1. The First Wave was a massive EMP strike (revisit electromagnet pulses in Ilsa Bick's trilogy) that shorted out all forms of technology and electrical devices. Think about when the power goes out at your house. What can you do? Not a lot, unless you have some things that run on batteries or gas. And if you are lucky, you can always go stay with a friend or at a hotel. But what if everyone's power was out all over the world? Not only would your lights not work in an EMP strike, but your cell phone, your car battery, etc. would not function.
2. The Second Wave was a tsunami wave, created by the Others when they dropped some form of metal rod from the upper atmosphere onto one of the earth's fault lines. Coastal cities on all seven continents were wiped out, including huge cities such as New York and Los Angeles.
3. The Third Wave was a formidable plague that wiped out ninety-seven percent of the remaining human population. Also called the "blood plague," the Others engineered a virus so quickly fatal that humans didn't have a chance to even find a cure. Not all people who contracted the plague died. Ben was the sole survivor in his family, but nobody knows why some people were spared.
4. The Fourth Wave was a group of silencers, people previously embedded with alien consciousnesses and awakened to their alien self, who travel the countryside, shooting any humans they discover.

Our story begins in the middle of the Fourth Wave, when humans are huddling together in small communities, waiting and wondering what is next for them. There is a giant spaceship in the sky which no one has managed to contact or, as is more likely, the aliens are purposely ignoring the contact. People had thought the aliens would be interested in meeting them, with visions of an E.T. visit, but it has turned out to be more like the War of the Worlds, without the happy-ish ending.

Scene from the 1953 version of The War of the Worlds

Cassie, her father and brother, Sam, are living in a camp of survivors. Things are okay, not great, but at least they are together. Cassie's mother and many of her friends and neighbors had died of the plague.

One day, they hear the sound of buses rumbling into the camp. It's the army to rescue! Or is it? The buses turn out to be older school buses and the army personnel who come with them start rounding up all of the children. They tell the adults that they are taking the smallest children to the closest military base for safety and then more buses will return for them. Most parents seem unhappy about this, but they want their children to be safe. When Cassie's and Sam's turn comes to board the bus, Cassie is not allowed on--only Sam is wanted. Cassie, being protective of her brother and adamant about the small family staying together, argues that either she goes or Sam stays. In the end, Sam goes without Cassie but gives her his teddy bear to keep her safe, with the hopes that she will return it soon.

After the buses leave, the rest are rounded up into the buildings. Cassie starts to get suspicious about what is happening, only to have her fears confirmed. She only manages to escape by hiding in the nearby ash pit, comprised of the ashes of the dead.

I don't to tell you how this story comes out because I want you to read it, but Cassie, in her quest to find and rescue her brother from murderers, discovers the true nature of the Fifth Wave. She learns that she isn't the only human on earth, which worried her for a while, and that not all of the "others" are cruel destroyers of all human life. She learns to trust again, although doing so leaves her very exposed physically, mentally, and emotionally.

I particularly like Cassie as a main female character. She reminds me somewhat of Alex in the Ilsa Bick trilogy in the way she, as an ordinary high school girl, finds the strength and smarts to survive in the wilderness. Neither girl really knows what is happening or why. I know plenty of young women who would probably feel lost and helpless without their cell phones and the internet to tell them what to do or what is going on. The drive and urgency to help another person or people to survive, too, also plays a part in both stories, and maybe that helps them carry on and not give up despite the odds.

There are also two very strong male characters: Ben (Zombie) and Evan Walker. Ben has the guts to stick up for younger kids in the military camp. He is the main reason that Cassie's little brother, Sam, is able to deal with what has happened to him. Evan Walker is a mystery and I can't wait to find out how his character develops and interacts with the other human characters.

I liked the audio version of this story. We have two readers, Brandon Espinoza and Phoebe Strole. It makes sense in this story since we switch back and forth between Cassie and Evan and Ben. Both readers are smooth and engaging. I look forward to hearing more from them in the second volume.

The movie version is being cast as we speak. It is due to come out in January 2016. I can't wait!

Fiendish

Fiendish
by Brenna Yovanoff
New York: Razor Bill
2014
341 pages



I have seen a newish trend in teen fiction emerging--the Southern Gothic. Maybe it's not so new, since we have seen popular books like Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia, and from my earlier review, Spirit and Dust by Rosemary Clement-Moore, but I have seen more of this particular sub-genre in the reviews. This is my first Brenna Yovanoff book, but I am eager to read more.

Fiendish is an entertaining Southern Gothic with a paranormal twist. I found these elements of the Gothic Novel very nicely outlined by Robert Harris. Here's their application to this novel.

• We have the actually have several large and spooky houses. We have the burnt-down house in which Clementine was found. We have her aunt Myloria's decrepit house. We also have Fisher's grandmother's house, with the mysterious rooms in the attic.
• The first element of mystery in this story is how did Clementine get into the cellar closet and subsequently survive, and who put her in there?
• There are ancient prophecies, omens, portents, and visions in abundance about the "Crooked people" of Hoax County. The return of the Reckoning, when the town's people tried to burn out the Blackwoods' home, is what people of the craft are afraid of.
• There are many supernatural elements: how did Clementine survive all of those years in the cellar? What about the hollow and the fiends? And the hell dogs are deadly. 
• The high, overwrought emotion is everywhere in this story: Aunt Myloria's strange behavior, the animosity between the village and the hollow dwellers, the overwhelming sense of doom, all contribute to the highly charged emotional level of the story.
• Women in distress is also a common theme in the Gothic novel. Clementine, her cousin Shiny, friend Rae and, most of all, Davenport, all are threatened by the past, the town's people, the hollow fiends, and even each other.
• The metonymy of doom and gloom. We have plenty of metaphors in the wind howling, the rain flooding the rivers, and the dark smoke of the burning buildings.
• And the use of language to create a dark and tense atmosphere.

The spooky, swampy hollows

As a Gothic horror story, this story was exciting and intense. I really enjoyed the side romance, too, with Clementine and Fisher, brought together in the beginning of the story by some mysterious connection. It's the typical teen romance, on again off again, but also rather intense as Clementine is so drawn to her rescuer. The characters face their opponents with strength and determination, and although we aren't quite sure how it will end, we know our story's heroes will put up a good fight. I did wonder

I recommend this book for any teen reader who likes horror stories but doesn't mind a touch of the supernatural.

Ammie, Come Home

Ammie, Come Home

by Barbara Michaels

New York: HarperCollins
2009
352 pages
eBook version

I may have told you before that I discovered Barbara Michaels' books when I was a teen. I have loved her gothic thrillers ever since and when I am looking for a comfort book to read, I often will pull out one of her titles. This month I reread the old favorite, Ammie, Come Home. Although it seems rather dated, with the references to hippie culture, I still find the historical ghost story appealing.

Ruth Bennett  lives in a beautiful old Georgian home in Georgetown. She has inherited it from an older relation whom she didn't know that well, but Ruth loves the history and elegance of the neighborhood and the house. She has recently invited her niece, Sara, to come live with her while she attends the nearby university, and she is glad for the company. But this is when things start to happen in the house.

A Georgian-style Home

It is little things that begin to unnerve the two women. A lonely voice in the night calling, "Ammie, come home!" awakens Sara, who wonders what small pet is lost in the dark. There is a feeling of cold in the parlor that is uncomfortable but not unbearable to both women.

Then Ruth meets dashing Pat McDougal, professor of Sara, who invites her to his mother's home for dinner. There she meets a famous medium--of course!--and promptly and uncharacteristically invites her to her own home to do a reading.This is when the true haunting begins!

The ghost story develops well, with the characters doing their historical research on the house to see if they can find out who is stuck there. It turns out that it is more than one ghost anchored there due to a past tragedy, which leads to confusion and difficulties for Ruth and Sara, along with their friends, Pat and Sara's boyfriend, Bruce. The ghostly possessions and apparitional appearances increase in frequency and intensity until we reach a terrifying climax.

Although this book, first published in 1968, is somewhat dated in some ways and I never quite forget that I am reading a story about characters in the hippie '60s, I think the characters are developed well  I feel connected to them. It is rather strange and unbelievable, however, how quickly the relationship between Ruth and Professor Pat progresses. But because I like Ruth and Pat, I can disregard the swiftness of their romance.

During this reading, I discovered that Ammie, Come Home had been made into a television movie! It stars legends Barbara Stanwyck and Richard Egan. The House that Would Not Die (1970) changes the story somewhat. There is still a house, but it is in the country, not the city, and Ruth has left her job for a time to decide if she wants to live there. Sara is there with her, but it is unclear why she is hanging out with her auntie in the country since the college connection is lost. Pat McDougal is now a neighbor, and there is no Mrs. Mac, his mother, the hostess with the most-est in Georgetown. She is replaced with with an aunt who is far more bland. Bruce, the boyfriend, is mysteriously replaced by Stan, and I confess that I don't like him much.

Despite these changes, I greatly enjoyed the movie and considering it was made for television, it is a satisfying ghost story for a Saturday afternoon. It is divided into parts on Youtube. Here is part one for you to get started:

An added bonus for me in finding The House That Would Not Die was finding the Youtube station TV Terror Land. Imagine finding 1970s-1980s scary television shows that you thought you would never see again! There will be more reviews on some of those shows later!

Dorothy Must Die

Dorothy Must Die
by Danielle Paige
New York: Harper
2014
452 pages



For all of you Oz fans out there, how about a dypstopian story about Dorothy, the Wizard, and all of the strange inhabitants we have met in the Emerald City?

Amy Gumm lives in a trailer in Kansas with her mother, an alcoholic who doesn't pay much attention to what is going on in Amy's life. Then along comes a tornado. Amy is left to hold the fort, as her mother has left her and Star, the family's pet rat, to take care of themselves in the upcoming disaster. Amy has nowhere to hide and she is taken up in the storm, twirling around in the trailer.

Immediately upon landing with a thud, Amy finds herself at the top of a precipice. Handily, a beautiful and strange young man is there to help her out of the trailer before it falls crashing to the bottom of the cliff. The mysterious young man welcomes her to Oz, but this isn't the Oz of the stories Amy has heard. The countryside is devoid of crops and color. Where did the lovely Munchkin blue go?

The strange young man explains to Amy that Dorothy, once she became Princess of Oz, became addicted to magic and now mines it from the land and people of Oz. Her laws are strict, even fierce, and her helpers--the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion--frighten, imprison, and punish the Oz population if they do not happily cooperate. And the Oz citizens must be happy, or else the Scarecrow, a nightmarish mad scientist figure in this story, will give them an "Attitude Adjustment."

The witches of Oz are divided. Glinda, the Good Witch, is key in the mining operations and is instrumental in making Dorothy's whims a reality. The other witches, however, those that we have always thought of as "Wicked," are united in The Order of the Wicked and are excited to find a girl from the Other Place who is their only hope to defeat Dorothy in her conquest of Oz. In this Oz, the roles of Wicked and Good are reversed, although the witches are not entirely Good, either. They are longing for the old days, when they were free to terrorize the land. They trap Amy into helping with their cause, convincing her that she is the only one who can set Oz to rights again. And the only way to do that is to kill Dorothy and end her reign of terror.

There is a lot of action in this story, and Amy's fumbling to spy on Dorothy and her household, makes the story interesting. Amy is a smart, capable, and strong female character, but she would be the first to say that she doesn't know what she is doing. I can appreciate that in a book character. I also enjoyed meeting other personalities along the way, including Nox, another Order member who teaches Amy about magic; Star, the amazing rodent; Ollie, the wingless monkey who helps Amy along the way; Jellia, the head maid in the palace; and Pete, the mysterious young man who is not who Amy thought he was.

I even experienced a furtive enjoyment in meeting the Wizard, who can't be trusted to be on either side, and the crazy, evil Scarecrow, who eats the brains of smart, magical creatures so that he can be smarter.

Surprisingly, this book is only the beginning of the story. Dorothy gets away and Amy gains surprising allies. But what comes next? We will have to wait for the next installment from Danielle Paige. I know I can't wait for it!

The Naturals

The Naturals
by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
New York: Hyperion
2013
308 pages



This book will remove many of you of Spirit and Dust by Rosemary Clement-Moore, reviewed in this blog. This story is also about a sassy psychic teen girl who is asked to assist the FBI with their investigations. This book also has cute boy protagonists who are also helping the FBI in various ways. This book, however, has a very real, versus supernatural, criminal.

This red-headed psychic is seventeen-year-old Cassie. She can read people by observing even the minutest details and can tell all sorts of things about that person's life, personality, and behavior. Cassie lives with her grandmother on her father's side. Her father works for the government and is often gone, and her mother, a "psychic" performer was mysteriously murdered in her dressing room several years before this story takes place. Cassie was the one to discover the crime scene and has been haunted by the experience. Her mother's body was never found, and the case never solved.

 One day at work, she meets a young man who tells her about the special program run by the FBI for people like her. Cassie is interested in the program, especially as it might help her figure out what happened to her mother. She decides to  join the other "naturals" in Washington, D.C. to help solve cold cases. Needless to say, her grandmother is not happy with her moving away, but Agent Briggs, who is in charge of the program, convinces them that it would be a great opportunity for Cassie.

In D.C., Cassie meets other young people involved in the program. She is attracted to Michael, the young man who first approached her about it, and Dean, a young man with a tragic back story. She starts her work with Agent Lacey Locke,  a determined and ambitious woman who heads up the profiler section of the special program.

Soon after Cassie settles in, she and the other teens learn about a horrible case that Agents Locke and Briggs are working on. Cassie begins to see similarities between the victims and then it becomes evident that there is some connection to her own mother's death.

This story was fairly entertaining. I enjoyed the dynamics between the young teens involved in the program. The ending was a bit of a surprise and I thought there should have been more clues. I wont' give it away, but I thought it was a little unrealistic. There would have been signs to point us and Cassie, who is very good at reading people, to the actual criminal in the case. It also seemed a bit coincidental, but I won't tell you more because that would give too much away.

I think those of you who enjoy watching Psych, The Mentalist, and CSI will enjoy this book. There is a little bit of everything in this book for you: romance, mystery, horror, and even humor.

Uncrashable Dakota

Uncrashable Dakota
by Andy Marino
New York: Henry Holt and Co.
2013
320 pages





For those of you who loved disaster books, as I do, and especially stories about the Titanic, here is an interesting twist. What if the huge ship wasn't a sea-going vessel but rather a gigantic dirigible?

The author, Andy Marino, was very influenced by the Walter Lord story, A Night To Remember, so readers of that famous book will see elements of it in this book. But this isn't just a retelling of the Titanic sinking.

Hollis Dakota is the heir to a vast empire of airships, circa 1912. He, his mother Lucy Dakota, stepfather Jefferson Castor, and stepbrother Ron, are embarking on the maiden voyage of the Wesley Dakota, an unprecedentedly large airship named for Hollis's deceased father. Everything is going well until Hollis's mother, Lucy, is kidnapped by hijackers from their cabin and Hollis has to flee into the bowels of the ship to save himself. With the help of his stepbrother and some interesting steerage characters, Hollis manages to escape detection and work on the rescue of his mother and ultimately the ship. But who are the hijackers? That is part of the surprise of the story.

The ship encounters some of the same fate as the Titanic, hitting another airship and splitting in half. We know that not all of the passengers make it, but we are not told how many go down with the ship.

The technology used to float the massive vessel is described well and is quite unique, I think. I won't give it away since I hope you will read the story yourself. There is some back story given about the Hollis's grandfather and inventor of airship travel, Samuel Dakota, which is relevant to the present day. The mistakes we make in the past can sometimes catch up to us again in the future.

Hollis is a brave and clever boy, but he also has the help of a very clever girl, Delia. I think this is a story that boys or girls can enjoy and find characters with which they can connect.

I recommend this book for teens 14 and up. It is a story full of details, so it might seem longer than the average story. If you stick with it, you will be happy you did.

Thorn Abbey

Thorn Abbey
by Nancy Ohlin
New York: Simon Pulse
2013
295 pages


The title of this new teen horror book reminded me of Gothic horror favorites, alluding to Thornfield in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. But the story is essentially a remake of Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, one of my all-time favorite books. Could this book live up to it? Well, not really because the goal is too high, but it is an entertaining story nevertheless.

Tess is a shy, insecure, mousey, and very ordinary girl who transfers to Thorn Abbey, a prestigious boarding school. Her new roommate, Devon,  seems friendly at first, until the mention of Max de Villiers comes up. Max was her former roommate, Becca Winters', boyfriend, but Becca died tragically and Max is heartbroken so leave him alone.

Of course, there is an instant connection between Max and Tess and despite Devon's dire warnings, they begin to date. But weird things start to happen to Tess. She hears crying in her dorm room when no one is crying. Someone tries to burn her at the bonfire. The girls' lounge is vandalized. And Max is moody and won't talk about Becca. Tess feels uncertain about his feelings and thinks he is broken up about Becca, who was seemingly perfect in every way.

Thorn Abbey might be like Fettes College,
a prestigious boarding school in Edinburgh, Scotland

The original Rebecca in the Daphne Du Maurier haunts Manderly more figuratively and "gets her revenge" on Max from beyond the grave through a set of circumstances and the mind of a crazy housekeeper. But I she is not an actual spirit walking the halls. Becca Winter, however, is portrayed here as a real ghost with revenge in mind on Max and the school, possessing her former roommate, Devon, and causing her to carry out her deadly schemes from the afterlife.

I think I found the original story far more disturbing. We can easily imagine the young Mrs. de Winter -- young, naive, happy to leave a life of servitude but frightened of the grandiose life she now finds herself thrown into. Everywhere she goes she hears about the perfect Rebecca, the dead wife of her new husband who won't talk about her. How could anyone live up to that? Rebecca doesn't have to do anything at all to be disturbing to us, but having Mrs. Danvers around to emphasize the new wife's inadequacies compared to her beloved Rebecca makes the story even creepier.

Thorn Abbey is a readable story that hangs together well enough, although I found the ending rather silly, like a B horror movie ending. One possession was enough for me. I think teens 14-16 will enjoy the boarding school premise, as well as the ghostly occurrences, even if they haven't read the original classic.

The Memory of Trees

The Memory of Trees
by F. G. Cottam
Sutton, Surrey, England: Severn House
2013
249 pages


This is another adult book that I think teens might also like that also involves some mythology, this time British mythology and history.

Tom Curtis is a tree expert. He has been hired by billionaire Saul Ambercrombie to complete a very unusual job. Saul has purchased a very large expanse of land in Wales and wants to convert it back to the medieval forest that existed there over 1000 years ago. But he doesn't want baby trees, he wants full-grown, authentically Welsh trees that would have existed there originally.

Clocaenog Forest, North Wales

Tom is going through a bad divorce and custody battle, so he is looking for work that will help him gain financial stability in order to gain credence in the courts. He takes the job, despite its odd nature. Where else is a "Tree Man" going to find such a good opportunity?

Soon after Tom arrives to the estate, he discovers that all is not as it seems. There are local legends surrounding the place, and the few landmarks are steeped with eerie vibes. He takes an instant dislike to a humongous thorn bush at a spot called "Gibbet's Mourning," which seems to move on its own. There is a small unidentified church with a stained glass window of a knight holding up the head of a monster. The knight just coincidentally (not really) looks very much like Tom. There is also a mysterious cairn near the edge of the sea cliff, called Puller's Reach.

Tom plants some ceremonial yews near the cairn to mark the beginning of the project. This is where the creepy events begin to take place. Checking back the next day, there is not only one yew at Puller's Reach but two full grown yews, and every day they multiply. Work begins on the forest renewal and trees appear faster than they are planted, as if the forest is trying to replenish itself. But why? And why does Saul want to help it?

We eventually learn that long ago, the forest was ruled by Morgan le Fay, enchantress and nemesis of Arthur. She walked the land, with evil smelly beasts to do her bidding, and woe to any who got in her way.The knight of the window was Gregory of Avalon, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table and renowned for slaying dragons, who was commissioned to kill the monsters and eliminate or at least render her harmless. He accomplishes his task and the forest is burnt to the ground.

Tom is contacted by a mythologist, Professor Andrew Carrington, who has learned of the project and is greatly disturbed by it. He knows the stories that have been passed down and suspects that reclaiming the forest to its original state would not be a good idea. He tells Tom some of the story of Gregory, and also that of another man who wanted to study the forest but experienced terrible disaster there, but it is rather hard to believe, and anyway, what can Tom do? He needs the job and is committed to it. But soon the situation becomes so intense and tragic that Tom can no longer pretend that the project should continue.

I thought the mythology in this story was interesting, the characters were realistic and motives explained well. The suspense of the horror is built well and convincingly. I was glad that Tom survives to the end and Morgan is again incapacitated, but it is not a happy ending at all. Too many characters that I cared about ended up missing or dead, but this is horror after all.

In looking up a cover photo for this book, I found other "Memory of Trees," a mystical song by Irish songwriter and singer Enya. It doesn't have the same spirit as this book, but it is still worth a listen.

Dead Set

Dead Set
by Richard Kadrey
New York: Harper Voyager
2013
307 pages


I found this book in the adult section of my public library, but it seems to be a teen crossover book.

This is the story of Zoe, a teen whose family has fallen apart. Her father died unexpectedly, and her mother is left with the problems of dealing with insurance companies who say he never existed. The pair have had to move several times and are struggling to make ends meet while Zoe's mother tries to find a job and straighten out the insurance troubles. Zoe is left on her own to grieve, and her escape is found in recurrent dreams of a brother she never knew, named Valentine, who takes her to a pleasant place, up high in a tree house, where they can talk about her feelings and their father.

One day, Zoe finds life at the new school so intolerable that she leaves and wanders the streets, only to discover a small record shop called "Ammut Records, Rare, Used & Lost". There, she meets Emmett, a strange man who runs the empty, rundown store. He follows her into a back room where there are unusual records that turn out to be recordings of the lives of dead people. Emmett hooks Zoe up to a machine called an Animagraph. Zoe is fascinated as she watches and relives moments in the life of a young woman who had died recently, actually being the woman and experiencing her feelings and thoughts.

We can guess where this is going now. Emmett reveals that he has a recording of Zoe's father, so of course Zoe wants to experience it. This is where the story gets creepier. Emmett tells Zoe that she can view her father's recording but for a price, a lock of hair. Zoe does and learns about how her parents met, her father's job, and her father's last minutes. She is heartbroken at the end and wants more. Is it possible to speak to her father? Emmett says yes, for a price.

Warning sirens should be going off now for the reader. Any time the price for something involves something personal, such as a lock of hair, piece of fingernail, or drop of blood, you have to know that it won't be a good idea to pay. Valentine also tells Zoe not to do it, but Zoe is hurting too much from the death of her father and wants to see him, no matter the cost. She is not totally stupid, though, and tries to trick Emmett, but in the end it doesn't quite work the way she wants.

The next part of the story reminds me of several stories, including Suzanne Collins' Gregor the Overlander and Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. Zoe follows Emmett from the store, hoping to find out where he keeps her father's recording so she can take it for herself, but he leads her down under the street and through the sewer tunnels. There she descends into a strange place called Iphigene. I won't go into detail but we have been to Iphigene previously, but it did not look like this. Everything now is dark, dank, and decaying.

3-Headed Hecate

The inhabitants, all dead, are dejected and in the power of a queen so terrible and ruthless that there is no hope. Zoe learns most of the story of the queen's arrival and subjugation of the residents from her brother Valentine, who also does not resemble the brother of her dreams but rather a patchwork robot, pieced together with spare parts of metal discarded from broken machinery.

This story blends fantasy, horror, and mythology into an intriguing tale. The queen, we discover, is Hecate, a Greek deity known for her connection to crossroads, death, and witchcraft. Her son in this book, is Emmet--really Ammut, an Egyptian female deity, the devourer of hearts, soul-eater, and the embodiment of everything Egyptians feared about death. Although these two deities come from different traditions, their powerful connection to death explains their presence in this story.

Ammut is waiting to see if the soul Anubis weighs will be her next meal.

I would recommend this story for older teens, maybe 15 and up, who like retro culture and may also have an interest in the mythological aspects of this story.

The Shining

The Shining
by Stephen King
Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books
2005
Read by Campbell Scott
14 sound discs (16 hours)


Every winter, I listen to the audiobook of The Shining on my long drive back and forth to work. It has become a ritual of mine, as has listening to Duma Key, also by Stephen King, in the summer.  I really hate winter and especially driving in it, and you would think that listening to a story about a family at a secluded and hauntingly evil hotel in the winter is pretty weird for a person who doesn't like snow, winter, and being cold. Actually, listening to the description of the howling winds around the Overlook Hotel, and about Mr. Hallorann's terrible drive up the canyon on that last day, makes my drive seem less onerous, and I find both a sense of sympathy and understanding for the Torrance family and also a sense of relief that I don't have to face what they do in the story. Besides, I also really like haunted house stories and this one is probably the ultimate!

In this year's listening, I was struck by the descriptions of the wasps' nest and the images of destroying it. We encounter the wasps several times:

1. Jack finds a wasps' nest in the roof of the Overlook when he is re-shingling. The wasps are sluggish and he is able to kill them and remove the nest for Danny to see.
2. The wasps somehow return to the nest and life when the nest is in Danny's room. They come out to sting Danny while he is vulnerable in sleep, and this is the first stage in driving doubt into the relationship Jack has with his wife and son.
3. Jack recalls the occasion when he and his brothers watched his father burn a wasps' nest with gasoline. The event seems like it could have been dangerous, not just to the wasps, but to the young boys, and shows the cruelty of Jack's father as he obviously enjoys the destruction.
4. Danny tries to read the mind of the Woman in Room 217 but finds out it is like "sticking your hand in a wasps' nest". She only has thoughts to sting and hurt, like the wasps he encountered earlier.
5. The descriptions of the snowmobile in the tool shed compare it to a wasp. Its colors and sounds resemble a wasp, and Jack's reaction is a desire to destroy it so that it can't hurt him and his plans to leave the Overlook.
6. The black cloud of evil spirits leaving the Overlook as it is burning is likened to wasps swarming from a nest.
7. Mr. Hallorann also has an experience as a youth with a wasps' nest when he was a boy and recalls the he experience, which is quite similar to Jack's.

What is the best way to remove a wasps' nest anyway? Besides calling an exterminator, that is. Is dousing the nest with gasoline and burning it up really a good idea? 

Several websites advise no, burning the actual nest can only cause the wasps to leave quickly and angrily. Using  smoke can be effective, however, because it makes them sluggish when they fly away and then you can remove the nest.Several websites mention insecticides like Jack's bug bomb, but they also say there are better, more natural ways of removing them. Water, dish soap, or a shop vac are also mentioned as methods. Waiting until evening to use any method is also a good idea because the wasps will also be more lethargic. And always wear your protective gear!

The explosive burning of the Overlook at the end, like dousing the wasps' nest by Jack's father, causes the ghosts there to leave hurriedly, but they are not obviously harmed. Mr. Hallorann encounters them in the tool shed where they desperately attempt to make him complete their mission, but Dick gets away and the shed burns, too. We are then supposing that this might be the end of the ghosts as they have no home to fasten on to, but for those of you who go on to read Doctor Sleep, we find out that the ghosts of the Overlook are far-reaching and still very much a danger to Danny and others as they search for new places to build nests.

Most people have an instinctive fear of flying insects that sting. Our natural reaction is to run and swat. As we see with the ghosts at the Overlook, running and swatting doesn't work either. Danny, despite his young age, has to use his intelligence and insightful powers to out-think the Hotel mastermind, employing patience in the face of fear if he and his mother are going to have a chance to survive.

One last word about the audio version, Campbell Scott. Campbell Scott is the son of famous actors, George C. Scott and Colleen Dewhurst. He also is the reader/performer for another classic Stephen King book, The Cell. I find his voice clear, soothing but not soporific, engaging, and one of the main reasons I listen to the audiobook version rather than reading the book myself. 

Survivor

Survivor
Book Two in the Alone Trilogy
by James Phelan
New York: Kensington Publishing Corp.
2011
242 pages


This second book in the Alone Trilogy by Australian author, James Phelan, continues the story of Jesse, an Australian teen who had come to New York City for the United Nations Youth Camp, only to be propelled into a large-scale city-wide, if not worldwide, disaster. He was alone in the GE Building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza at the end of the first installment of the story and had decided to try to find other survivors. In his search, he had stopped at the apartment nearby and discovered the video evidence of another possible survivor, a girl named Felicity. Jesse became determined to find her, but how? Jesse was worried that she had headed into Central Park, the best possibility for survivors but also a congregating site of many Chasers--the survivors who chase any other humans they see in order to catch them and drink their blood.

Early in the story, Jesse encounters a military truck full of soldiers. These men are not here to rescue survivors, however, but to quarantine the infected Chasers and survivors together. They offer no explanation to Jesse for what has happened or how he can get back home. Jesse begins to lose hope as the men move on, shooting Chasers and knocking down more buildings.

Afterwards, Jesse meets Rachel, an intern who is the lone survivor at the Central Park Zoo. She is trying to take care of the animals by herself with limited resources. Her living arrangements are inadequate and not nearly as safe as what Jesse had experienced at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Fortunately for her, Jesse is not afraid to go out to try to get more food and supplies for her and the animals. But how to get Rachel to join him in his search for Felicity and other survivors? Her sense of responsibility for the animals is very strong.

Jesse also finds another young man named Caleb who has been living comfortably in a bookstore. Caleb entices Jesse in from his search for food and supplies with offers of generator-cooked food, company, and potential help with the heavy lifting back to the zoo. Caleb means well, but he keeps Jesse too long while Rachel is alone and worrying about him. It comes out okay, however, and Caleb does help with the supplies and eventually a generator for the animal care.

We eventually find Felicity, who is also happy to find other survivors. She understands Rachel's commitment to the animals better than Jesse, I think. But Jesse still feels the need to go out to find more survivors and help.

The disturbing part of this story is that the Chasers seem to be getting smarter about tracking victims. They follow people and then revisit their safe places later unexpectedly. The blood drinking Chasers seem to be getting stronger, with more endurance, becoming quite dangerous to Jesse and the others. To make matters worse, the mysterious military men set off another missile containing the mysterious virus, so anyone in its vicinity who wasn't exposed previously is now at risk.

Despite the craftiness of the Chasers and the lack of explanation for the disaster, I still have an interest in the story. I want Jesse to find a way out of this trouble, and now I especially want help for Rachel and the animals. Adding cute zoo animals to the story will do that to me. I appreciated the toned-down descriptions of the zombie/vampire-like infected humans, unlike those I read in the Ilse Bick trilogy, so I think this story can appeal to a much younger audience.

I recommend this book for ages 12 and up.

Chasers

Chasers
by James Phelan
New York: Kensington Publishing Corp.
2010
213 pages



Chasers is the first in the dystopian Alone trilogy by Australian author, James Phelan. His Australian protagonist, Jesse, is 16 years old and visiting New York City for the first time in order to attend a United Nations camp for Youth Ambassadors. He and his new acquaintances--Dave, Mini, and Anna--are travelling on the subway with other camp attendees to see the sights, when disaster strikes. Jesse sees a fireball coming down the tunnel and hears the explosion before the train derails and tips over. Darkness envelops the teens and when they find their flashlights, they discover many people are dead or just not there anymore.

When the four make it out of the subway tunnels, the scene before them is devastating. Hundreds of cars had crashed into each other, buildings are demolished, and there are craters instead of streets. Some people are milling around, but they are not behaving normally. Jesse watches as they drink from puddles, but then he notices a few people hunched over the dead bodies, drinking their blood. What has happened on their subway ride? The teens have to run fast to get away from these "chasers" who will track people and attack them.

The teens hide on the
70th floorof
the GE Building,
Rockefeller Plaza, NYC

Jesse and the others find refuge in one of the only skyscrapers remaining intact, the GE Building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Fortunately, they find plenty to eat in the Rainbow Room restaurant, and there is an observation deck near the top of the building. Being 70 floors above the destroyed city gives them a sense of safety and also a view of the devastation. Not much is left and the few people they see seem to be the strangely-behaved "chasers" who attack those who are only drinking water or the few "normal" people.

The rest of the story outlines the friends' exploration of the building, their discussions about what could have happened to cause the massive ruination of the large city, and their tentative excursions into the outside world looking for a way out.

I'm not going to give away the surprise at the end. I'll just say that I was not expecting what I learned, and certain things mentioned along the way then made sense. This book, however, clearly is only the beginning of the story. Why are the car batteries drained making the cars unusable? Why are buildings collapsed and collapsing, even two weeks after the initial event? And what happened to all of the people? Most of the people are just gone, and those that remain seem to have a strange sickness that forces them to drink all the time. Are there any other survivors, and how will these kids find them?

The Rainbow Room where Jesse, Dave,
Anna, and Mini go after the big disaster.

This was a well-written story for teens, ages 12 and up, and typical of the dystopian genre. I felt connected to the main character, Jesse, who is the main focus of the story. The other characters seem less developed, but that is to be expected if they are only supporting characters. The violence of the Chasers is not described in gory detail, but we still can feel the horror of the situation in which these teens now find themselves.

I am excited to get to the next book in the series.