A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, Jim Kay (Illustrator), Siobhan Dowd (Conception)

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a beautiful story. I never thought I would say this about a “horror” story, but it truly is a story that reaches into the depths of the reader’s soul and remain there for a very long time.
The characters were all as realistic as they could possibly be; presenting human traits that most people would not want to admit to or write about in such detail. The main character especially was so intricately portrayed it felt like the reader was feeling, living, breathing and hurting with him.
The plot. Well, to be honest I forgot what the synopsis said about this story, but I know I had read it. Regardless of my failing memory, it was not what I expected from a story with the title A Monster Calls. A boy’s experience of a very painful period in his life told with interchanging stories of moral and differing point of view that has even the reader re-evaluate past experiences with a fresh set of eyes.
The writing flowed nicely. I did; however, need a few lines to fully immerse into the story after each break. Nevertheless, it was very good writing, full-bodied and engaging.
There are a handful of graphics/sketches that underline the storyline, which deserves special mentioning. Drawn as it appears to be in pencil without any colour except for black, they are dark and ominous and provide lovely visual cues of the darkness within the story.
Overall, I loved this story. It was dark, engaging, scary at times and showed the author’s understanding of the human psychology. It is not what one expects of a typical horror story, but very much worth anyone’s time. I would definitely recommend this story to everyone.

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Scarecrow's Dream by Flo Fitzpatrick

Scarecrow's Dream by Flo Fitzpatrick
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I was given this ARC by NetGalley in return for an honest review.
I don’t think I am having much luck finding good stories to read this year. I was very much interested to read a murder/mystery/ghost/romance story, but this story soon took a nosedive in the most spectacular and annoying way possible. I began text-ranting my husband at around chapter 2 and did not care one penny’s worth for anyone by chapter 4. As can be imagined, I was greatly disappointed and actually started downloading all the British classic I haven’t read yet onto my Kindle in a desperate attempt to read something of substance and quality.
As I said before, I was very interested in the protagonist on her journey through the story as a ghost, but what the reader gets instead is a self-congratulating, self-glorifying, self-proclaimed superwoman, who thinks she deserves the best at all times. The secondary characters are equally self-glorifying and annoying. There was not one trait in any of the characters that afforded at least some form of connection between the story and the reader.
The plot has a few great points of potential, yet it gets lost in the avalanche of verbal diarrhea that wanders too far from the focus of the story. Various issues of importance are addressed, such as racism, the monopoly of film productions in Hollywood and war, but they all get lost in the forced righteousness of the protagonist.
I don’t want to say the writing is awful, it does flow quite nicely, it is the author’s decision of the topics on which she focuses and how she does so: providing endless social commentary with a very biased point of view infused with insufferable righteousness and a better-than-everyone-else attitude. The story is almost entirely dialogue-driven, creating long, drawn out conversations that seem forced, staged and unnatural, amplifying the self-congratulating personality traits that made me want to throw the book across the room in the first place. On top, it feels like the author imagines the reader to be slightly stupid from the way she keeps repeating various points and wording particular sentences.
Overall, I appreciate the addressing of very important issues, if the reader can find them amongst the self-proclaiming greatness of the characters. I looked for entertainment and substance I could not find in this story. Others may have a different opinion, but unfortunately I cannot recommend this book.

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