dr_dr_olshakes's reviews
120 reviews

Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I know this is the book everyone recommends if you want to read a true dyed in the wool "slasher," and that is completely correct. From the set up, to the kills, to the final girl with an androgynous name, this is a slasher. Where it differs is that it makes me care about the usual lousy piece-of-shit teen characters. Don't get me wrong, they are definitely lousy pieces of shit (except for my king bby boi Rust), but the author didn't try to flatten them (most of them) into mean-spirited cannon fodder. I mean, they were still absolutely cannon fodder! But you get all the joys of the canon fodder with a nice bonus of interiority! 

Overall, a great time. Loved the gore, the fast pace, and the dedication to the genre!

The Lunatic Cafe by Laurell K. Hamilton

challenging dark funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I continue to just have a good time with these! I really liked the moral contrast between Anita and Richard. Her comfort with killing, her ease with revenge, and her personal sense of justice has been one of the through lines of her character development. We've come a long way from "never kill a human if you don't have to" in the first book to "I'm going to kill this racist piece of shit cop who killed my friend." Her sense of morality bouncing off of werewolf-with-a-heart-of-gold Richard made for some actually good character work! This is also the first book where I can see Anita actually interested in Jeane Claude (her ease with what he does to Gretchen especially stands out here). Overall, it's still comphet af, the celibacy thing was weird, but I stay entertained and I like the gore!

Leech by Hiron Ennes

dark relaxing tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Delectablly strange, embraces the weird, and really gives parasites their due. 

The ending did drag a bit. 

Just Like Mother by Anne Heltzel

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Truly middle of the road read. Compelling enough while I've been sick with an icky cold. That said, truly stretched the bounds of believability. The

baby dolls that seemed to only be there for a creep factor and to justify Andrea being rich

. The

whole global conspiracy aspect...

. Maeve

being so naive for someone who doesn't trust anyone

. Also, I did laugh out loud when we got the trite "where did I end and she begin?" line because wow are there miles and leagues between Andrea and Maeve. But overall, a totally fine thriller. 

'Salem's Lot by Stephen King

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I'm back in my SK phase and decided to read one that I missed in my original obsession. This has so many of the classic SK hallmarks, in particular the chapters fully focused on montages of the small town. It's done wonderfully here and is echoed in other books like the Tommyknockers. I know some people consider chapters like that to be fat that can be trimmed, but that just ain't me. 

The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is relentless. It's nonstop from like page 2. I was on the edge of my seat from the opening scene at the beach to the final scene at the beach. The stakes crept higher and higher to that explosive finale where O/detta have their confrontation. Hatchi matchi, what an electrifying read. Who says SK can't handle endings.

Of course, unfortunately, it's racist as hell. But also unfortunately, that whole story line is also compelling as hell. O/detta may be rife with respectability politics and images of monstrosity but every moment with her is rich with layers and brimming with emotion. I particularly love that the goal was never to eradicate Detta but instead to fold her and Detta together. I also love that it's Detta's voice and vernacular that sounds out when she saves Roland and Eddie on the beach, not Odetta's, not Susannah's. Unfortunately so racist and unfortunately very good.

I'd forgotten how much I love Eddie! When I would think back on the DT series, I remembered the least about Eddie. I adore and admire him in this book. He truly has that gunslinger heart and soul wrapped up in an incredible Brooklyn swagger. I'm so excited to read more of him!

And Roland, my sweet Roland. The size of his heart only outsized by the size of his need for the Tower. The wonderful pragmatism folded in with his nobility. He's summed up in this book with one of my all time favorite Stephen King quotes:  "Roland was enough of a realist to know that sometimes love really did conquer all."

The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar by Robin R. Means Coleman, Mark H. Harris

informative lighthearted slow-paced

3.0

The scope is impressive, both for breadth and specificity. It added dimension to some scholarship I was already familiar with and laid out new ones in an approachable and digestible way.

That said, I think the pop-acaemia bent is an unfortunate detractor. The humor almost never worked and really undercut several of the passages. It's like the book was afraid to take its own subject matter seriously. While there were some arguments made, I thought they lacked much depth and were only backed up by listing yet another crop of movies (or the same movies over and over).

My biggest issue is that there was a lack of internal order. It starts off fairly chronological with the spook and blacksploitation, and then sort of meanders around from topic to topic without really making sense why. Why were villains discussed when they were? Why separate the chapters on voodoo and hoodoo just to keep referencing voodoo in the hoodoo chapter? Again, the breadth is impressive but it was hard to keep the semblance of analysis when it just jumped from trope to trope. 

This is a solid pop academia book (an admittedly difficult genre to do well), but it sacrificed a lot of good scholarship practices so that it could make silly jokes that aren't actually funny. This book is a great letterboxed list that overly relies on ceaseless sardonic quips and gives up the ghost of analysis pretty quick. 

Queen of Teeth by Hailey Piper

dark funny sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Good for her 🤷‍♀️

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

challenging dark emotional funny slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Despite being a bit of a slog at the beginning, I think this book is going to stay with me a long time. I have some beef with the writing (a whole lot of telling me how each character was feeling, not a lot left to subtlety) and the pacing (I appreciate the multiple POVs but it did drag), but it's truly a stunning and devastating piece of art. 

I wrote about Adjei-Brenyah's short story "The Finkelstein Five" in my dissertation and that remains the absolute pinnacle of political short form fiction. I mean, it's untouchable in its portrayal of heartbreak over injustice, the rage born of helplessness and disillusionment, and inconquarable grief. This novel very much feels like a continuation of those themes...and the world created in it. I just wish that there had been a firmer editing hand.

All that said, I am stunned by Adjei-Brenyah's declaration that all life is precious. The sheer boldness to have the main character be a domestic abuser, to show humanity to rapists and murderers...no punches held, pun very much intended. I respect the hell out of it. If all life is precious then all life is precious, and fuck you if you want try a "what aboutism" game. 

Also, Adjei-Brenyah's pulls such deft trick at the end because, well, sure we the audience are enlightened and smart and nod our head along because we would never support the games! But...at the end...

I did want to know who would win the fight. I did want to see how it would play out. I didn't want a fade to black, or an ambiguous ending. I wanted to know who would win.

And I'm fucked up over that. Incredible. 

The Gunslinger by Stephen King

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Oh Jake Chambers. Oh Roland Deschain. Oh Cuthbert Allgood. I'm beginning my first journey to the Tower in nearly 15 years. I'd forgotten how much of Roland's childhood is explored in this book. 

I feel like having so many years, and so much life, between me and my high school self will make for a very different journey. I'm feeling much more of Roland-as-father than I used to (the tragedy of him and Jake in this novel is tremendous).  He's also not in the impassable stoic character that I remember in the first book. You can see the traces of who he will become. 

There's still the usual cringes though. Stephen King, as much as I love him, continues to be weird about women. Still shook about The Scene with the preacher woman, but I'm much more sympathetic to Allie (I love how often Roland thinks of her). There's a fair amount of navel-gazing and the pace does creep at points. But, nostalgia over powers all, and I'm glad to be back in the world that has moved on.