Fall Leaves and the Black Dragon by Erik Gustafson Review

            Fall Leaves and the Black Dragon is quite the interesting tale of a boy haunted by the past. From the time he was six, Liam was plagued by horrible nightmares and hallucinations brought on by a terrible fire. Once he learns that his parents had been lying to him about that night, he decides to take a trip back to his childhood home to confront his demons.

            The book starts out like an excited child, which is perfect because, at first, the story is from a child’s perspective. It really sold me on the story to begin with. Unfortunately, it continues to read that way even when the main character is an adolescent, and later, an adult. Though it wasn’t bothersome enough to take me out of the story, it was a little disappointing. There are also a lot of typos and strange grammatical errors. More than once, a Ouija board is referred to as “an Ouija” which just really bothered me.

            Overall, I think it is definitely worth the read. It’s an interesting story and I find that I am curious what happened to Liam later on in life. I do still have a lot of questions. Though calling this story horror is a stretch, it certainly has a few horror elements. If you spook easily, I don’t believe you’ll even find it that scary. Gustafson did a good job of creating a fascinating world!

           

Currently listed as $1.99 on Amazon.

The Wall by Jen Minkman Review

The Wall is the first book in a series called The Island Series. It follows the story of two teenagers who grew up on opposite sides of the wall that divides their island. Both learn some surprising secrets about their separate cultures and the wall. Their discoveries threaten to change everything they thought they knew about their worlds, especially when they find that the monsters on the other side of the wall aren’t monsters at all.

This novel has a lot of interesting elements, one side of the island is driven by “the force,” and I’m sure you know exactly where that was derived from since one of the main characters names is Leia. On the opposite side of the wall, the people are driven by the hope of their Goddess sailing back to them. Minkman does a very good job of painting their world and their struggles with their religion. Most of it, I’ve found, is pretty true to life. One particular part of this story is hilarious, but I don’t want to ruin it. The thought of this happening in a post-apocalyptic world is rather amusing to me and quite possible.

The Wall was a pretty quick read. It is written in present tense, which always feels a little clumsy to me. However, this story was still incredibly enjoyable despite that. I will definitely be reading the rest of the series. I’m curious to see where she focuses the story from the end of this first novel.

Overall, if you’re a YA fan with a sense of humor, I would absolutely recommend this book.

Before the Harvest by Kimberly A Bettes Review

            Before the Harvest is described as a fast-paced horror novel and that couldn’t be more inaccurate. The story of the Martin family battling a small town legend is drawn out and so repetitive that I didn’t think I was going to be able to finish it. I went into this story knowing it would be a stereotypical horror novel, but I was not expecting it to be this bad. The idea alone isn’t the worst, the writing is what kills it.

            It starts out very predictable. The woman knows horror movies yet falls into every stereotype knowingly. That alone is incredibly frustrating. She does everything wrong that she possibly can, putting herself and her daughter in danger. The idea of the daughter seemed inconsistent as well. It’s almost like she was added in as an afterthought, to drag the story out even more.

            Each chapter is from someone else’s perspective. It starts with the woman and then goes to her husband. It goes back and forth between the two until it adds in a couple other characters at the end. While this technique can be very interesting, in this case, it just increased how repetitive everything was. A lot of events were reiterated when it switched characters.

            Overall, I found this book rather annoying. It is a sad excuse of a horror story. I warn you not to waste your time.