Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles changed the world of vampire fiction and are responsible for so much of the way the genre is today. You can see Rice’s influence in everything from Twilight to True Blood to The Vampire Diaries. Knowing this, I picked up Rice’s books quite early, reading Interview with the Vampire during my initial bloodsucker craze when I was probably about thirteen. Taken together, the first three books—Interview, The Vampire Lestat, and The Queen of the Damned—have been canonized as timeless classics that are essential reading for anyone who loves these creatures of the night. But as many fans would agree, after Queen of the Damned the books begin to get … weird. I pushed through for a couple more books, but after Lestat embarked on a Dantesque voyage through heaven and hell and back in time to witness the Crucifixion during Memnoch the Devil, I decided I was done and abandoned the series for half a decade. This year, however, I decided to try picking back up where I left off with The Vampire Armand. Continue reading The Vampire Armand Review: Returning to Anne Rice
Category: Review
Bruja Born Review—The Right Way to Do Zombie Romance
Do not mess with death—That’s pretty much the golden rule of magic. You can have all the magic power in the world, but if you use it to bring someone back from the dead, things will not go as planned. I know that, you know that, even Harry Potter knows that. But apparently Lula Mortiz does not. Bruja Born is the second book in Zoraida Córdova’s Brooklyn Brujas series. Two years ago, I reviewed Labyrinth Lost, which Alex Mortiz accidentally sends her family to the underworld while trying to banish her magic. Now, in the sequel published last month, Alex’s sister Lula gets her own story. Continue reading Bruja Born Review—The Right Way to Do Zombie Romance
Review of Winter Tide—Subverted Lovecraft
*A version of this review first appeared as an article in Auxiliary Magazine*
Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys is the perfect book for lovers and haters of Lovecraft alike. H. P. Lovecraft, often considered the father of modern horror fiction, is famous for inventing the Cthulhu Mythos, which was been continued by many others in decades’ worth of novels, movies, games, and pop culture. But he’s also notorious for his rampant racism and serious lack of female characters. In Winter Tide, Ruthanna Emrys takes the amazing world that Lovecraft created, but subverts his negative aspects by using her story to explore the complexities of race and gender in post-World War II America. Winter Tide was published last year, but its sequel, Deep Roots, will be coming out in July. Continue reading Review of Winter Tide—Subverted Lovecraft
The Double Life of Incorporate Things Review
It’s good to get back to my favorite demon-fighting Victorian power couple. Just last month, I reviewed The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart, book 2 in Leanna Renee Hieber’s Magic Most Foul trilogy. After finishing the conclusion of that series, The Double Life of Incorporate Things, I’ve officially read every book that Leanna has published! Of course, now that means I’m stuck anxiously awaiting her next release. But in the meantime, I found Incorporate Things to be a highly satisfying conclusion to a love story I’ve been invested in for a good three years. Continue reading The Double Life of Incorporate Things Review
Lovecraft’s “Supernatural Horror in Literature”—A Survey of the Genre
H. P. Lovecraft is best known for his short stories and elaborate mythos of eldritch gods and unspeakable horrors. But we sometimes forget that writers don’t create in a vacuum. Before being a world-famous writer of horror fiction, Lovecraft was first a fan of the genre, reading everything from his predecessors and contemporaries that he could get his hands on. Much like what I do here on The Gothic Library, Lovecraft put many hours into researching the history of the genre and developing his own philosophies about how to define, categorize, and evaluate it. The fruits of his labor became the essay “Supernatural Horror in Literature,” which was first published in 1927 in the one-issue magazine The Recluse and subsequently updated and republished several times throughout his life.
I was recently sent an annotated edition of this essay by Hippocampus Press, a small publisher that specializes in works related to Lovecraft and other classic horror and sci-fi writers. This annotated edition comes with an introduction by Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi, an extensive bibliography, and plenty of explanatory footnotes. Reading Lovecraft’s essay combined with this supplemental material was a truly informative experience. Continue reading Lovecraft’s “Supernatural Horror in Literature”—A Survey of the Genre
Daughter of Smoke & Bone Review—Not Your Average Angels and Demons
Karou lives in two worlds. In one, she’s a gifted art student studying in Prague; in the other, she collects teeth for a ram-horned chimaera. Balancing those two lives was hard enough, even before being attacked by an angel. I have to admit that I had no idea what I was getting into when I picked up Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. The book has been out for years, and I remember there being a lot of hype a while back. But honestly, I have a really hard time keeping track of all the different series with “_____ of _____ and _____” titles. After a friend reminded me of this one’s existence, I decided to just jump into it cold, without looking anything up about the series. Once I started reading, I was pleasantly surprised! Continue reading Daughter of Smoke & Bone Review—Not Your Average Angels and Demons
Children of Blood and Bone Review
Zélie is a Reaper, the first one in eleven years. But with the power of death, can she really bring magic back to life? Find out in Tomi Adeyemi’s debut novel Children of Blood and Bone, the first book in the Legacy of Orïsha trilogy. The buzz around this new African-inspired YA fantasy novel has been taking over Twitter since well before the book’s release last month—so much so that I already had it on my radar when writing my list of Books I’m Excited for in 2018 at the beginning of the year. I had the audiobook on hold from the library for almost a month before finally getting it in, but it was definitely worth the wait. Continue reading Children of Blood and Bone Review
Review of Mary Roach’s Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife
Is there life after death? This question has plagued humanity from its very beginnings, leading many people to find answers through philosophy, faith, or religion. But what if you could finally get a definitive answer through science? In Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, Mary Roach explores the various historical figures and modern scientists who have tried to solve this age-old mystery and searches for some answers of her own. Spook is the second in her monosyllable series of science/humor books, and came on the heels of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, which I reviewed back in 2016. After how well she handled the macabre subject of Stiff, I knew I had to check this one out. Continue reading Review of Mary Roach’s Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife
Review of “The Gown”–Emilie Autumn’s Short Story
It’s the little things that will drive you mad.… “The Gown” is a brand new short story by musician-cum-author Emilie Autumn that explores the concepts of madness and obsession. Over the past couple of years, Emilie Autumn revamped and re-released her pseudo-autobiographical novel The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls, which combines an account of her experiences in the psychiatric ward of a hospital with a dark tale of her fictional Victorian alter-ego trapped in an abusive asylum. (I reviewed the interactive ebook of TAFWVG back in August.) In February, Emilie Autumn surprised her fans by releasing a new short story that presents similar themes. “The Gown” is available now on Amazon as either an ebook or paperback. Continue reading Review of “The Gown”–Emilie Autumn’s Short Story
Review of Clockmaker—A Steampunk Spinoff
In most good books, there’s always that fascinating side character that you wish you could learn more about, even though you know they’re not the focus of the story. That’s how I felt about Captain Melek, the mysterious female airship captain who features briefly in Ghost Machine by Kristen Brand, which I reviewed on this site just over a year ago. Lucky for me, my wish came true! Kristen Brand just released a new spinoff novel all about Captain Melek and her crew. Clockmaker: A Gothic Steampunk Novel comes out today, March 5, and is available on Amazon. Continue reading Review of Clockmaker—A Steampunk Spinoff