Evocation

Evocation by S.T. Gibson, 301 pages

David Aristarkhov is a powerful and persuasive attorney by day, a spirit medium by night. He comes from a long line of powerful magicians who, legend has it, come by their charisma thanks to an ancestor's deal with a demon. When he's performing a séance one night, David is forcibly taken over by an angry spirit, who continues to pester him for months afterward. Unable to fix the problem by himself, David is forced to seek help from his ex, Rhys, and Rhys's witch wife, Moira, who find that the help they provide is inextricably tangled up with their feelings for David.

This is the first book of a planned quadrilogy, and I enjoyed the characters and setting enough that I'll probably pick up more of them as they come out. However, I don't know that I'd offer this up as a solid fantasy recommendation, as the magical elements seem to be there only to further the relationship plot surrounding David, Rhys, and Moira. And the magic felt even more hand-wavy than usual. Not bad, just not my favorite ever. (This is, however, a GORGOUS book, with some super high-quality production in the physical book. Props to the publisher, Angry Robot, for that!)

The men who stare at goats

The men who star at goats / Jon Ronson 259 pgs.

Reads like fiction but it is actually not...this book recounts some of the experiments in psychic phenomenon that have been on the radar of the armed forces, CIA and possibly other intelligence agencies.  The title refers to the ability to stop the heart of a being by staring at it.  There isn't any sure evidence that a goat got it, but there were experimental goats.  There seems to be video evidence that a hamster did die after 3 days of staring.  As you read this book, you aren't sure if it is for real or not but it is entirely presented as fact.  Of course there are strange things going on everywhere but seems like a lot of them in the intelligence arena.

Crooked

Crooked by Austin Grossman, 355 pages.
Nixon's rise to power tracked as a result of occult secrets he observes and investigates along the way, with Henry Kissinger as one of the most powerful sorcerers of the ages. It's a fun read, but it doesn't quite match the power and imagination of the author's Soon I Will Be Invincible.

Batman: Golden Dawn

Batman:  The Dark Knight, volume 1:  Golden Dawn by David Finch; graphic novel; 160 pages

Batman investigates the kidnapping of Bruce Wayne's childhood friend Dawn Golden, while the demon Etrigan makes an appearance in Gotham. 

I freely admit that there were several points where I rolled my eyes in this book ("Dawn Golden," daughter of some dude named Aleister?  REALLY?), but overall this was a fun story with a nice supernatural twist.  Yes, there's mysticism, demonology, and the occult, as well as the Batman equivalent of a Bond girl, but the story is fast-paced and engaging, and the art, while a little over the top in places, is lightyears above some of the mid-90s stuff I've been reading lately. 

There are two smaller stories tacked on to this volume:  an entry from Grant Morrison's Batman, Inc. storyline, showing Bruce getting the idea of a worldwide Batman initiative (this contains eye rolls numbers two and three:  when the bad guys repeatedly shout "Hail Levaihan" at each other--which is just too similar to "Hail Hydra!"--and when Morrison uses a line from a 17th century love poem to describe the evil organization).  The second story is very short--less than five pages--and is set in the distant future, where and aging Superman meets with an adult Damian Wayne (now Batman), to discuss the legacy Bruce left behind.  To my mind, that snippet is the best part of the whole book. 

Gooseberry Bluff Community College of Magic: The Thirteenth Rib

Gooseberry Bluff Community College of Magic: The Thirteenth Rib by David J. Schwartz  416 pp.

In an alternate version of Earth, there exists magic and demons and parallel dimensions and colleges that teach magic and government agencies like the Federal Bureau of Magical Affairs, among others. In this version of Earth the FBMA was started by Aleister Crowley. The heroine of the story is Joy Wilkins, an FBMA agent sent undercover as a professor at the community college to investigate the disappearance of a faculty member and a demon trafficking operation possibly connected to those committing terrorist attacks. Joy is a bit disabled in that she is face blind and has to rely on her ability to see auras to recognize people. But this doesn't always work because people's auras change. She finds herself in the midst of an ancient magical war and doesn't know who to trust; her agency boss, the members of the mysterious organization, The Thirteenth Rib, a trickster god who has taken the place of another professor, or any one of the many magical and possibly sinister people she encounters. This book has a variety of different characters, plenty of action, and intrigue. This book was originally published as a Kindle serial before coming out in paperback. I took a chance on it when the Kindle version was on sale for only a dollar or two because the title intrigued me.

The Diviners/Libba Bray

The Diviners by Libba Bray; young adult, historical fiction, fantasy, horror; 592 pages

After a party trick goes too far, seventeen-year-old Evie is banished from her quiet Ohio town and sent to live with her uncle in Manhattan.  It's 1926, the height of the flapper era, and despite Prohibition, New York City is still the most exciting place Evie's ever been.  Maybe even exciting enough that her talent for reading a person's history by touching an object they've owned won't seem so strange?  Her Uncle Will runs the "Museum of Creepy Crawlies," so the supernatural is pretty normal for him.  But over the course of her year in NYC, a series of gruesome, ritualistic killings takes place.  Their occult trappings lead the police to seek aid from Evie's uncle, and soon both of them are investigating the crimes.  They are clearly leading up to something, but what?  And what do they have to do with the cult that died out nearly a century ago? 

Loved this book!  It's not a fast read by any stretch of the imagination (I started it before Christmas!), but it's very gripping, and very suspenseful.  I always tell people that Libba Bray has two settings:  creepy, atmospheric historicals, and zany modern-day satire.  She's in the first gear here, creating a fascinating look at 1920s New York, and peopling it with wonderful, realistic characters.  It was so convincing that Iwas really disappointed to realize that not all of her locations were real (why wasn't there a Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult???).  Evie's the main character, but a close second is Memphis, a Harlem resident who hopes to one day become a poet to rival Langston Hughes (all while looking after his younger brother, who sometimes speaks prophecy in his sleep!).  There's also Theta, a Zeigfeld girl running from her past, and Mable, the daughter of two workers' rights activists.  Sam is a grifter and con artist with supernatural abilities of his own,  and Jericho is Will's assistant with a secret past that is only briefly touched on in this first volume.  And yes, Bray is clearly setting up for a series here:  she introduces all the major players, and while there's a conclusion enough for this book to stand alone, the ending is riddled with hints and foreshadowing clearly meant to set up the next book.  I can't wait to see where Bray takes this world! 

The Sandman Vol. 4: Season of Mists/ Neil Gaiman

The Sandman Vol. 4: Season of Mists by Neil Gaiman graphic literature, adventure, mythology, dark fantasy 224 pages

In writing this blog post, I have fulfilled my promise to read the first four volumes of Neil Gaiman's dark fantasy graphic novel epic, The Sandman. When I made this promise, I said I would read the first four volumes and decide only after reading those volumes whether I would continue on and finish the saga. If one has been following my posting, the choice to abandon this series would seem like an obvious one because I hated volumes 1 and 3, and was only pleased by volume 2 when it is compared to the colossal waste of paper that is volume 1. Now, I'll throw you a curveball--- I'm going to keep reading. This is not out of some delusional sense of reader's honor where I finish whatever I start. I will continue reading because Neil Gaiman finally hit a home run with volume four: Season of Mists.

After the monumental waste of time that was the vignette style in volume 3, Gaiman returns to the long arc form. This volume tells one major story (with the exception of one chapter, which seems out of place, but if I've learned anything about Gaiman, it's that i'll be eating my words on that one before too long) and that definitely works. This volume's story deals largely with Morpheus' quest to free a lover who he condemned to Hell ten thousand years ago. When he tries to rescue her, Morpheus meets up with Lucifer, lord of Hell. Lucifer explains to Morpheus that he is quitting his job and kicks everyone, from tormented souls to demonic torturers, out of Hell and gives Morpheus the key to his now-abandoned realm. Morpheus must then make the decision over what to do with the key, a decision that becomes even more difficult as he is propositioned by many different members of various mythological pantheons.

The point in the story where all of the Gods and mythical creatures start showing up is definitely a highlight. As someone familiar with mythology, I was extremely pleased to see Norse Gods like Odin and Thor dining next to Bast, the Egyptian cat Goddess and Remiel and Duma-- Angels from Heaven. Each of these Gods has their own personality (the belligerent and constantly drunk Thor is a personal favorite) and make for very interesting characters with different things to offer Morpheus in exchange for the key, all of which seem appealing. The conclusion of this storyline is a solution that will leave the reader and many of the characters satisfied.

I was also intrigued by the brief, but all-too-important presence of Dream's siblings, the Endless. Up to this point, we had been exposed to Dream, Death, and Desire, but now we get to meet two more as well as get hints at the identity of a third (a question that is still driving me NUTS). The two additional endless-- Destiny and Delirium, are both deep characters with strong story potential. I really hope Gaiman continues to keep the Endless at the core of this epic.

If I had one criticism of this book, it's that a chapter concerning a haunted boarding school was included. I understand that this was an excellent way of showing the reader what the Earth was like now that souls were locked out of Hell, but it seemed really out of place with everything else that went on. Furthermore, the conclusion of that chapter seems interesting, but then it proves pointless because the souls must return to Hell at the end of the story when ownership of Hell is finally decided.

I am really excited to keep reading, which is something I never thought I would say until now. If anyone decides to pick up this series and takes stock in anything I say, PLEASE read until the fourth volume. Everything else you read might be crap, but the fourth volume is 100% worth it. I promise you.

as much as I hate to do this....

Annie Fuller Credibility Rating (pre-volume 4): -1
Annie Fuller Credibility Rating (post-volume 4): 1 (it REALLY is that good...this is no joke)

Sandman Volume 3: The Dream Country/ Neil Gaiman

The Sandman Volume 3: The Dream Country by Neil Gaiman graphic literature, adventure, occult, dark fantasy 160 pages

This truly leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Neil Gaiman certainly has a way of turning my interest into a roller coaster ride. First, he writes volume 1, which is the single most uninspired piece of trash I've ever read. Then, he almost redeems himself with the gripping story and interesting characters of volume 2. Those of you familiar with momentum would expect (like I did) that volume three will continue in this upward swing. Unfortunately, those of you would be just as wrong as me. To call volume 3 a collection of chapters seems wrong, because it is actually a series of lame vignettes that are interwoven only by the fact that Morpheus, the saga's protagonist, makes an appearance in each. What a lame waste of a volume.

The first of these vignettes tells the story of Calliope, a muse captured by writers who rape her in order to harness her inspiration and use it for their own ends. Calliope, a former girlfriend of Morpheus, seeks the aid of her powerful ex-lover in order to be free from the imprisonment of the aforementioned captors. In Morpheus' revenge, we get to see just how powerful the Sandman is and his vessel of vengeance is so creepy that I had chills multiple times in this chapter. Gaiman manages to do creepy without doing interesting, which is harder to do than one would think. Verdict: Boooooooooooooooooo

The second vignette tells about the secret life of cats. Yes, that's right-- Cats. As in HOUSEHOLD CATS!!! All of the neighborhood cats are travelling at night to meet a messiah cat who gives a speech in an old clearing about her journey to meet Morpheus (who is, unsurprisingly, perceived by cats to be a cat). A pointless chapter where Gaiman's only redeeming facet is that he uses some beautiful language. Unfortunately, such language tells a crappy story. Verdict: Boooooooooooooooooo

Next, we have one of the laziest pieces of graphic literature I have ever read. The third vignette tells the story of Shakespeare's first performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream. In the last volume, Shakespeare and Morpheus made a deal, and this deal was never revealed to the reader, but they learn now that Morpheus is responsible for two of Shakespeare's most lauded plays-- the aforementioned "Midsummer" and a second play yet to be revealed (although it's OBVIOUSLY gonna be the Tempest). There are about 5 panels in this whole chapter that feature lines not stolen verbatim from Shakespeare's play. If I had wanted to read the Midsummer graphic novel, I would've picked it up--- I'm sure someone's thought of that already and if not, they could make decent money with it. Verdict: Booooooooooooo

Finally, we see a vignette that focuses not on Morpheus, but on another of the Endless, his sister Death. This story shows Death's involvement in a woman cursed with an extremely weird superpower taking her own life. The woman's superpower is that she can turn any material into any other material, but unfortunately, the same goes for her body, so she looks really weird. She lives in her dark apartment chainsmoking her life away while she flirts with the Veteran's check clerk on the phone. Besides being depressing, this chapter is kind of gross because we get to see her failed attempt to mask her now-ghoulish appearance when she shows up to lunch with a friend and her false face falls into her pasta mid-conversation. This brief vignette gives us some exposure to Death, who is definitely one of the more engaging and equally mysterious characters. Verdict: face-pasta ewwwwwwwwwww all-in-all Boooooooooooooo

What more can I say besides....
Annie Fuller Credibility (pre-volume 3): 0
Annie Fuller Credibility (post- volume 3): -1
awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Sandman Volume 2: The Doll's House/ Neil Gaiman

Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House by Neil Gaiman graphic literature, adventure, occult, fantasy 240 pages

I liked this volume of Neil Gaiman's dark fantasy epic "The Sandman." I didn't love it, but I certainly did like it. For those of you who read my review of Gaiman's first volume (a review that will live in infamy as one of the most scathing reviews of any person, place, or thing that I have ever written) I am wondering the same question as you: Was this volume really good, or did it just seem good in comparison to the absolute pile of livestock excrement that made up the first volume??? I honestly think that I will never know the answer to this question, so I will attempt to explain myself without relying too much on comparison to the first volume, although that is almost impossible (especially when you consider how much I like ranting about stuff I hate). Here are a few reasons I really liked the second volume:

REASON 1: IT HAS A STORY

This may seem like a given, but those who have read Gaiman's first novel will remember that it was mostly just aimless meandering with a little bit of plot thrown in there. Volume 2 features a major plot arc that the reader can not only follow, but be interested in. This story splits focus between the Sandman and another interesting protagonist, Rose Walker, a human who also, for some unknown reason, acts as a vortex in Morpheus' land of dreams. Morpheus' story focuses on locating some of the rogue dreams that have abandoned his dreamland (which may seem eerily similar to his quest in the first volume, but believe me, it's better) while Rose's focuses on her quest to locate her long-lost younger brother. These quests intertwine in a way that makes sense without feeling forced.

REASON 2: THE CHARACTERS ARE ACTUALLY INTERESTING

Gaiman has a great imagination. Nobody can argue that. That is why I was so bothered by the fact that he chose to populate his world with both boring characters such as the less-than-diabolical Dr. Dee and interesting characters borrowed from other DC franchises (John Constantine anyone??). The characters in Gaiman's second volume were both original and deep. I especially enjoyed reading about the hauntingly horrible character known as the Corinthian and Morpheus' undying friend Robert "Hob" Gadling. Gaiman makes new characters that are interesting and fleshes out old characters to make them more interesting. Both work extremely well and Gaiman should be commended for that.

REASON 3: EVERYTHING ELSE

As a literature nerd, I was on the verge of peeing myself when Gaiman populated one of the volume's chapters with cameos by some of literature's most renowned figures. Will Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer, and Kit Marlowe all make appearances in the world of Sandman. Such appearances are done in a way that doesn't seem cheap or hokey, which is what makes their inclusion worthwhile. This point may not be worth its own reason heading, but I was especially pleased by it. Also, the second volume features a "Cereal" convention which is actually a clever misspelling that masks the true nature of the convention. Gaiman presents a major convention of serial killers that is both interesting and humorous. The inclusion of such a bizarre plot device manages to work well with the story while also creating perfect breaks in the action by giving the reader insight into many of the humorous panel discussions and industry-talk between avid professional murderers.

So yes, I liked this volume of Sandman a lot. I even have to admit that it almost makes reading the first volume worthwhile just to understand the action going on in this one...almost.

Annie Fuller credibility rating (pre-volume 2): -1
Annie Fuller credibility rating (post-volume 2): 0
Annie Fuller credibility rating (post-volume 3): tune in next time, folks...

The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes/ Neil Gaiman

The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman graphic literature, adventure, dark fantasy, occult, humor...? 238 pages

I must admit that I have been putting off this review for some time mostly because Annie recommended this series to me a couple months ago, and then when I finally took her up on the offer, she warned me in advance that the first two volumes of Gaiman's graphic novel epic "The Sandman" were pretty bad but worth reading in order to get to the good stuff (which, for the record, is one of the WORST ways to get someone to dive head-first into a series). Then, after I finished this first volume, my review of the book came in the form of spoken sarcastic comments at the expense of Annie, Neil Gaiman, and the plethora of characters in the Sandman's first volume. Now, I feel that I have put off blogging about it for long enough and will dive right into my review of Sandman volume 1: Preludes and Nocturnes.

The first 80-ish pages, which would normally act as an attention-grabber in any reasonable book or graphic novel, instead act like a buffer to weed out the weak of concentration. Had I not made a promise to at least read the series through volume 4, I would have quit within this frame myself, because not only does Gaiman quickly bounce around from pointless instance to pointless instance in an extremely disconnected manner, but he manages to go almost 100 pages without hinting at any possibility of what this series could be about!!! I almost want to applaud Gaiman on this fact because it must have taken a truly dedicated effort to tell almost NO story in 80 FREAKIN PAGES!!!

When the story finally DOES pick up, we learn that the protagonist of the volume is an anthropomorphous manifestation of the Dreamworld who goes by multiple names throughout the volume, including Morpheus, Dream, Sandman, and a few others that I didn't bother to revisit. The premise of the first novel is that Morpheus, upon being released from his imprisonment by an underground gathering of occult-wranglers attempting to capture his sibling, Death, must get all of his power-holding possessions back in order to regain the power he has lost in imprisonment. It is clear that Gaiman was attempting to appeal to the pre-existing DC fanbase because on his quest (which will seem oddly familiar to anyone who has lost their wallet, keys, and phone after a night of heavy drinking) Morpheus meets up with DC favorites like the Justice League and John Constantine. While these over-commercialized cameos may have been crucial when nobody had heard of Gaiman's series, to a reader who already knows that the series will develop into a graphic literature phenomenon, such guest appearances end up looking extremely cheesy.

I must also point out that the primary villain of the first volume, a character known as Dr. Dee, is an extremely weak antagonist. Dee is weak, whiny, and has an extremely disturbed mommy-complex, and maybe Gaiman's choice to make him the main villain of the first volume was to show readers what happens when Dream's powers are used by one who is weak-minded like Dee, but I found myself mostly just annoyed at the constantly-naked, mostly-senseless Dr. Dee and hoping that a more interesting villain lurks in the future volumes.

Amidst the piles of crap that make up the first volume of Sandman, I will admit that there are two major strengths of the novel, and sadly, I can only REALLY delve into one of them. The one I can't mention is the introduction of a surprising character at the end of the first novel ( a surprise that was ruined for me by one Annie Fuller, and with the exception of me totally blowing the ending of Josh Bazzell's "Beat the Reaper" in my review of it, I wouldn't do you like that). Let's just leave it with me saying that while the surprise doesn't even come close to making up for 180 pages of pure horsedump, it may still be worth reading 'til the end to see it. The second strength is a chapter within the first volume entitled "24 hours" which shows hour-by-hour how the world (and on a far-more-interesting micro-level, a diner where Dr. Dee is spending his time) plummets into darkness and chaos under the control of Dr. Dee and the ruby of power he has taken from Morpheus. I don't quite know what I like about this chapter, but I think it has a lot to do with the systematic nature of it. We see, step-by-step, just how much power Morpheus' ruby has and what it can do when used by those with less experience controlling such power.

What more can I say except that getting through this graphic novel (although reading it has almost undone all the good work that Scott Pilgrim and the Walking Dead did to get me on the side of graphic novels) was an uphill struggle and a painful endeavor. I will be reading through volume four because I promised I would give the series that much of a chance, but I am publicly putting out the warning now that if I have to read through 700 more pages of what I read in volume 1, then the Sandman may be what it takes to make me never read again (and considering I'm an English major with plans on becoming an English Teacher, I hope the severity of this claim is understood)

The Atrocity Archives

The Atrocity Archives & The Concrete Jungle by Charles Stross  345 pp.

I didn't know what I was getting into when I picked this as an audiobook. What I ended up with is amusing, confusing, and sometimes disturbing. Bob Howard is a computer tech in a secret British Intelligence Agency called "The Laundry." When he accidentally saves the lives of coworkers he ends up promoted to field work. "Field work" involves using the laws of physics for occult purposes and dealing with those who use those laws for nefarious purposes.. The promotion puts him in conflict with his former boss who is constantly bugging him about unexplained absences and incomplete time sheets. A portal has been opened to let supernatural beings from an alternate universe into our universe. Bob's investigations uncover the fact that the Nazis had used the millions of death camp victims as 'blood sacrifices' to open the portal and conjure evil. Now Bob and a team from the Laundry must close the portal to keep any more evil from passing through. However, they discover that the nuclear weapon they were planning to use to close the portal is actually going to make things worse. I'll not give away the ending.

In the novella, The Concrete Jungle, Bob is investigating concrete cows (which I really didn't understand) and a weapon called Scorpion Stare. Someone has programmed the local traffic cameras with the deadly weapon which seems to be a cross between a deadly taser and a flame thrower. Bob enlists the help of police officer named Josephine to put a stop to the surprise bad guys who are trying to pull off an internal coup of the Laundry. While it was a fun story, this part got tedious with way too much technical mumbo-jumbo.