Review/Morpheus Road: The Light

"MacHale (the Pendragon series) launches the Morpheus Road trilogy with this creepy, tension-filled adventure, in which 16-year-old Marsh Seaver is terrorized by forces he doesn't understand. It's the first week of summer, and Marsh is all alone, his widower father out of town on business, and his best friend Cooper a few hours away at Thistledown Lake with his family. Things get seriously weird when Gravedigger, a skeletal comic book character of Marsh's design, starts stalking him. Convinced that only Cooper can help him, Marsh enlists the aid of Cooper's beautiful yet frosty sister, Sydney, to get to the lake. Once they arrive, they learn that Cooper is missing and true terror is just beginning. Spooky and fraught with peril, this ghost story evokes campfire horrors and classic slasher films with a relentless onslaught of macabre imagery and mortal danger. What is Gravedigger, what does he want, and how does it all tie into Cooper's fate? Unfortunately, as the first act in a larger piece, few answers are revealed, and numerous questions are left unresolved in anticipation of the next installment. (Publisher summary from Powell's Books)

I recently finished listening to D.J. MacHale’s, Morpheus Road The Light read by Nick Podehl, and believe me this will be one of my top ten reads for this year. Bar none, this is one creepy and tense reads, and I have a new love for MacHale’s craft as a storyteller.

Morpheus Road: The Light is the first in a trilogy.  The plot is extremely intricate and the suspense if heart-pounding. In fact, from the moment Marsh Seaver first physically encounters The Gravedigger, a skeletal comic book character Marsh draws, the reader is literally catapulted, right along with Marsh, into an insane world where illusions become threatening and deadly. Listening to the book, I felt like I was running a marathon because the terror never stopped long enough for me to catch my breath. At one point towards the end of the story, I even felt relief that the events were winding down, but boy was I fooled. Instead, MacHale was only lulling me into a false sense of security so that he could blow me away one last time.

Along with the truly macabre plot, MacHale’s characters jumped off the pages making this story much more real than I would have thought possible. From the first page Marshall Seavers, the narrator, begins to weave the events so matter-of-factly that I was immediately caught up in his narration. As one bizarre event after another begins to unfold, Marsh’s reactions were typical of any rational human being: he thinks he is going nuts. I really enjoyed his thought process, which  felt like asides directed at me. For example, in one scene he is investigating a noise in his house and he admits that he was “doing the same dumb thing that people do in the horror movies. They always go to investigate. It makes you want to scream out, “Don’t’ look in the basement. Get the hell out of there, fool!” 

Two other characters in the book really helped bring out Marsh’s personality because they were total opposites. Marsh describes his best friend, Cooper, as completely different than him. Cooper never worries or thinks things through, he is great in social situations, loves to play sports, and doesn’t care what other people think. He is a risk taker and quite the comedian. Sydney, Cooper’s older sister, is the queen of snarkiness and ends up as Marsh’s side-kick as they search for Cooper. Her icy demeanor with her parents and Marsh hides a vulnerability that is eventually revealed as she and Marsh share some extremely scary moments. All three characters provide moments of comic relief that was certainly needed to offset the extreme suspense that fills each chapter of the book.

Morpheus Road:The Light is an extreme read right up to the very end. The tension and the suspense grips you so tightly that is near impossible to put the book down. If you love scary stories then trust me this is one of the best. Just make sure you keep the lights on as you read.

Review/ The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

It's wartime, and the Carver family decides to leave the capital where they live and move to a small coastal village where they've recently bought a home. But from the minute they cross the threshold, strange things begin to happen. In that mysterious house still lurks the spirit of Jacob, the previous owners' son, who died by drowning.


With the help of their new friend Roland, Max and Alicia Carver begin to explore the strange circumstances of that death and discover the existence of a mysterious being called the Prince of Mist--a diabolical character who has returned from the shadows to collect on a debt from the past. Soon the three friends find themselves caught up in an adventure of sunken ships and an enchanted stone garden--an adventure that will change their lives forever. (Publisher's summary from Powell's Books)

Although I found The Prince of Mist mildly scary, it definitely was a suspenseful read. From the moment the Carver family arrived in the small coastal town and their new home, strange things occur. Each new mysterious event serves to propel the story forward, and as the characters learn about the “mysterious being called the Prince of Mist,” an extremely creepy villain, the spook factor certainly rises. 

Zafon’s writing makes this book a true horror story. There is an eerie atmosphere that pervades the setting, and creeps into the consciousness of the reader very much like a mist. This is achieved through the author’s sensory details. Most of his description provides strong visual, auditory, tactile, and even olfactory experiences geared at provoking an emotional or psychological response.

The Prince of Mist is suspenseful with interesting characters that have the ability to hold the story together. The mystery is intriguing enough to maintain the reader's attention through out. While I liked the book, I did not love it. I definitely wanted a bigger scare factor and for me this fell short. 

Review/The Forest of Hand and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary's truths are failing her. She's learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future — between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death? (From Powell's Books)

Dark, depressing, disturbing. This alliteration is brought to you by my immediate impressions after finishing The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan. I bought this book because I had seen it featured a lot through out the many blogs I frequent, and because of late everyone has been talking about Ryan’s sequel, The Dead Tossed Waves, just released. Not one to read the book flap before I begin a book, I really had no clue what I was in for, and I must admit I will have to hold off at least a few days before I begin reading Ryan’s sequel.

There is no doubt that this book grabbed me and held me in its grip even after I finished the last page. The most obvious reason is Ryan’s prose. Like her character’s I felt trapped in her post-apocalyptic world, because Ryan’s explicit descriptions of the Unconsecrated (zombies) relentless drive for human flesh permeates the rest of the story. The intensity rarely wavered, even when Mary, the stories narrator, discussed her strong feeling about Travis, or her unwavering conviction that the stories her mother told her about oceans were true. Unlike Mary, I never felt the hope that something better was up ahead. The more I read the more hopeless I became. I can’t say I didn’t want to believe that the character’s living nightmare wouldn’t eventually end, but I just continued to despair with each new obstacle that Mary and her companions faced daily.

Even now, as I try to decide if I really like this book, I am torn. It is extremely well-written. It is a compelling read. I connected to Mary’s need to experience more than the tethered life she was forced to live. However, I am still completely overwhelmed by the dark, depressing, and disturbing emotions Ryan’s prose has evoked, and I think it will take some time before I can shake this story off.