Reviews by markjazz

This tale could have been told in 30 pages. Mr. James seems to go off for pages at a time before finally wrapping up each chapter with a good ending. While reading this I felt bored and thrilled at the same time so it was hard for me to rate this a 4/5. If this book was written in recent times I would have given it a 3/5 for sure but when reading this I have to put myself in the time period and I think the story is very effective in that regard. If H.P. Lovecraft recommends this story then I'm all for it too! Also, I had no idea when I was reading this that the movie The Innocents (1961) was based off of it. That movie stuck to this book very well and it makes me like it even more now. If you like this story go and watch that movie.

This was my first read of Michio Kaku and I'm glad at how much it surprised me. I knew a little bit of space phyics and I wanted to see a dumbed down explanation and that is what I got. I also got to know a few more laws and I especially liked the quantum physics parts because I knew nothing about that at all. There was some stuff that still flew over my head a bit but I think after another read it'll make more sense to me. I'm more of a visual thinker and not good with reading math and although there is no pictures in this book, as with his others, Kaku is a very visual writter so that helped me a lot. Warning: One thing I didn't like it that he spoils a couple novels endings. There's a couple books that I would have liked to have read but he just gives the whole ending away while using it as an example for a theory he's talking about. Overall it's a fairly solid read and it has me wanting to read his other books, as well as a book on Tesla!

TRT: 1:23:49
First Kill: 5:47
Last Kill: 1:03:54
Total Kills: 5
Swears: 7
Tit Scenes: 3
Explosions: 0
Scenes with Blood: 11
False Scare: 8
Cigarettes Smoked: 0
Alcoholic Drinks: 1
Film Score: 4/5

It's been since 1995 the last time I read anything by R.L. Stine and I figured I'd give him a read again to bring back some memories of my childhood horror days. I must say I was surprised at how good this story was, as it takes place in 1900 and gives way to what becomes the street called "Fear Street" so I thought that was neat to read about. I knew it would it would be a quick read and I almost couldn't put it down because of that. It's very straight forward and has a pretty good ending. Although I felt the ending was a bit rushed. Overall it was a good read.

I found out about this album, and the band, by accident. I was searching for music that sounded like Motorhead and this one came up. I listened to the first two tracks and it was enough for me to buy it. I then got home and listened to it while playing MLB: 2012 on my PS3. I was amazed that every song that was playing was awesome. Half way through the album my MLB game was done and I decided to listen to the rest of the album while following the lyrics. I suddenly realized that it was a concept album. I then read the liner notes and sure enough it states that this is the first horror concept metal album. Made me love it even more!

I got the double disc album with the bonus tracks and the DVD. The DVD features a very crappy recording of a live show that runs about 35 minutes and there's also three music videos. The Family Ghost and Welcome Home suck but the one for Sleepless Nights is neat and features clips from the movies Horror Hotel and The Screaming Skull. A great buy for $15 new but I wouldn't go out of my way to get this DVD.

I didn't like this book as much as the first one, which I gave a 5/5. I guess it's because the first one opened a whole new world for me and I feel this one just took longer to get anywhere. You know there's a final battle that's going to happen but you have to read through 400+ pages of people talking and plotting first. I'm also getting a little tired of reading about how many endowments everyone has. Overall it is a good read but just felt like a lead up to book #3 to be honestly.

Fantasy is not my first choice when it comes to novels but I do dabble in it once and a while. I think after reading this book though I'm going to be stuck as a fan of fantasy for a long while. I've read the first books from "Lord of the Rings", "Game of Thrones", and "The Wheel of Time" series and I have to honestly say this novel is the best I've read out of any fantasy novel. It has everything and there really isn't a chapter that I felt was either useless or not related to the overall plot. I love the magic system and the final battle was very visual. It'll stick in my brain for a long time. I own the 2nd and 3rd books so I can't wait to read those and if they're anything like this 1st novel I'll maybe try and read the whole friggn' eight book series (be a first for me).

Almost a great novel. I felt this book had a great beginning and middle but once the Artifact is found I was kind of getting disappointed as to what it was and what it stood for. I liked the different character view points, the vividness of the Planet as well, and it had just the right amount of relationship b.s. you'd expect from a hard sci-fi. All in all I'm glad this is just a stand alone novel but I wish the ending had been just as exciting as the the first 350+ pages.

A very solid and quick read. Scalzi manages to create a Starship Troopers style storyline but with a new style that should appeal to sci-fi readers of this generation. He pictures for us a very vivid Universe filled with danger and yet manages to make the reader laugh here and there. A must for any fan of sci-fi, even if you don't plan to read the others in the series it's a strong book on its own.

1) Respect - 5:59 (8/10)
2) Suspended - 5:02 (8/10)
3) Deviation - 8:03 (8/10)
4) Illumination Rounds - 4:27 (6/10)
5) No Remorse - 5:47 (9/10)
6) Closer - 8:06 (8/10)
7) Defiler - 6:13 (6/10)
8) Benthos - 4:35 (8/10)
9) Immolate - 6:40 (7/10)
10) Distorted Relations - 6:33 (7/10)

Total: 7.5/10