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Book Review: It by Stephen King

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
It-Stephen-King-Book-Cover
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In Derry a dark force has awoken, named It.

Seven children battled It twenty seven years before and almost beat it. This monster wakes every twenty seven years and murder, dismember and feed on children. It has the ability to change its form, to become the things that individual children fear and likes to take the form of Pennywise the clown.

Then following a big event were It reaches its peak of activity, then the monster sleeps. This cycle has been repeating since before records began, but nobody likes to talk about it or write about it. It’s like all the citizens of Derry have willful blindness.

It tells the story of Bill (Big Bill), Eddie, Richie, Bev, Ben, Stan and Mike. Their battle with It as children and their return to Derry as adults to face It again.

As adults will they have the same magic that they had as children to beat It? And this time, will they be able to finish what they started twenty seven years ago?

This book is way too long. It has 1,166 pages and the reader will find themselves counting down the pages. The plot is simple, most of the book is character development, rather than storytelling. Whole sections of this book could be cut without any interfering with the plot and would still have give the reader a good sense of each individual character. The description was overly wordy at times.

There are some iconic horror scenes that will stay with the reader long after they have read the book. These scenes would lend themselves brilliantly to film, which is why it is no surprise that it was recently made into a film.

Overall what made It mildly enjoyable was getting to know the characters. The plot lacked any captivating moments, twists or turns. This story could easily have been told in a standard novel size, rather than this massive book. Inadequate editing and seemingly no harsh cutting let this book down.

It is available to buy on Amazon and at all good book shops.

Review soon,

Antony

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Book Review: Monster by Michael Grant

By Amazon, Books & Authors, Reviews2 Comments
Monster-Michael-Grant-Book-Cover
View on Amazon.co.uk
Monster is the exciting and explosive first book in a trilogy that will be a sequel series to the superb and super selling Gone Series.

The Gone Series had six books:

  1. Gone which I reviewed here.
  2. Hunger which I reviewed here.
  3. Lies which I reviewed here.
  4. Plague which I reviewed here.
  5. Fear which I reviewed here.
  6. Light which I reviewed here.

In Monster it has been four years since the events at Perdido Beach.

Four years ago, a meteorite hit a Nuclear Power Plant, an invisible dome was created and all the adults disappeared. The children and teenagers that remained trapped inside the dome had a lot to deal with including an alien virus that gave some of them powers. Some used their powers for good and others for selfish or cruel purposes.

Now more pieces from the same meteorite are starting to fall to earth from space.

This time the alien virus make even more dramatic changes to people whom come into contact with it. They are much more powerful than those in the Perdido Beach dome ever were. They will be able to morph into monsters with astonishing powers and then be able to de-morph back into human form. But for each of those infected with the alien virus, one question trumps all others: Will you be a Hero, Villain or Monster?

Most of our main characters are new. Shade Darby saw her mother murdered by Gaia when the Perdido Beach dome came down and barely survived herself. Her father works for the Government studying pieces of the meteorite in space and he has calculated the exact position of the pieces landing.

Shade was powerless when her mother was murdered and is determined never to be so again. In fact, quite the opposite, she wants to gain power to become a hero. Malik Tenerife is in love with Shade, but their relationship ended due to Shade’s obsession with gaining power.

Shade meets Cruz Martinez Rojas at a bus stop. Cruz is a trans character, although physically male, he dresses feminine and feels neither male nor female. Grant explained and dealt with this gender issue expertly. This didn’t come as a surprise, after all The Gone Series had gay, lesbian and bisexual characters.

Justin DeVeere is a promising art student with delusions of grandeur. He is going out with Erin O’Day. Justin comes in contact with one of the pieces of the meteorite and develops powers. In panic, but with some pleasure he makes some mistakes that harm people.

But Justin makes a choice to murder. He decides to name himself Knightmare and tries to make it a persona. He is aiming for people to think of him like The Hulk. Justin is Bruce Banner and Knightmare is the Hulk, something he has no control over. Only he does.

Armo (his nickname, actual name: Aristotle Adamo) is an Adonis, who happens to have Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). He has his whole life a head of him, being just 17 years old. That is until the accident and his nonconsensual exposure to one of the pieces of the meteorite.

Vincent Vu hears voices in his head. He possibly has bipolar or schizophrenia. He is exposed to the largest piece and amount of the meteorite an undergoes the most dramatic change. But does this make him unstoppable?

Dekka Talent makes a welcome return and offers fans of The Gone Series the opportunity to find out what happened to other characters from the series. Tom Peaks from the US Government recruits Dekka to help, but all is not what it seems as Dekka quickly discovers.

Whenever any of the characters use their powers, they are aware of being watched by Dark Watchers. These Dark Watchers appear to be using them as a form of entertainment and love death, destruction and devastation.

The description was superb and brilliant. The plot was action packed and compelled the reader to read on. The pacing was ultra fast-paced.

I would highly recommend Monster to anyone and everyone. It’s a crucial and necessary read for any fan of The Gone Series. Those who haven’t read any of The Gone Series could still pick it up, know what’s happened, understand what’s going on and get full enjoyment from the book.

Review soon,

Antony

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I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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