The Suffering by Rin Chupeco

Title: The Suffering
Author: Rin Chupeco
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Release Date: Sept 8, 2015
Rating: 5/5

The Gist: It’s been two years since Tark Halloway’s nightmare ended. Free from the evil spirit that haunted him all his life, he now aids the ghostly Okiku and avenges the souls of innocent children by hunting down their murderers. But when Okiku becomes responsible for a death at his high school, Tark begins to wonder if they’re no better than the killers they seek out.

When an old friend disappears in Aokigahara, Japan’s infamous ‘suicide forest’, both must resolve their differences and return to that country of secrets to find her.

Because there is a strange village inside Aokigahara, a village people claim does not exist. A village where strange things lie waiting.

A village with old ghosts and an ancient evil – one that may be stronger than even Okiku…

Review:

We rejoin Tark and Okiku two years after the events of The Girl From The Well.  The pair are still hunting for spirits and chasing down murderers.  Their relationship has grown into something even closer than friendship but that means that Tark doesn't have much of a social life either.  Okiku has agreed to hunt by his rules, until she decides to prevent a murder rather than punishing one.  This leads Tark to question whether they are the good guys after all.

When I saw this title come up for review I clicked right away and didn't even read the synopsis.  As such, I had no idea that it was going to be about Aokigahara - Japan's "Suicide Forest".  That fact alone sets us up for some serious terror.  If you haven't heard of this place go ahead, google.  I'll wait.

Done? Right, so just the name gives me the shivers and I don't think I would ever be one of those brave souls willing to enter.  Of course when their old friend, Kagura, goes missing, Tark has no other choice but to walk into one of the most haunted places on the planet.  To make matter worse, the spirits in the forest are connected with Earth, which has a serious advantage over Okiku's water based ones.  Tark has to take on a much stronger role in order to compensate for the fact that Okiku is often out of commission.  

Inside the forest we find the mysterious lost village.  Something dark and horrifying has happened to the residents of the town and one man's greed has led to some of the most terrifying ghosts that Tark has ever encountered.  The story itself is very fast paced and creepy in a way that will definitely appeal to horror fans, especially those who love the Japanese take on the genre.  There are terrifying ghosts, heart-pounding scenes, and a mystery which all add up to a read that you won't want to put down (unless it gets dark out and you are home alone and you can't take it anymore - I mean, I wouldn't know anything about that......)

The Suffering also holds an underlying thread of love and friendship.  In the years since the events of the first book, Tark and Okiku have grown closer and have built a life together.  Through the ending of this novel, we get to see just how dedicated Tark is to their relationship and just how far he will go to maintain their connection.  It really develops the characters and their relationship and gives me high hopes for their being another book in this series as I am just not ready to let them go yet!    

Bottom Line: I liked it even better than the first.  Give me more!

Teaching/Parental Notes:

Age: 13 and up
Sex: Kissing
Violence: Fist fighting, Ghost attacks - sometimes bloody, 
Inappropriate Language: Asshole, Bitch, Whore, Shit, Bastard, 
Substance Use/Abuse: Underage drinking

Great For Readers Who Loved:

Welcome the the Dark House by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Title: Welcome to the Dark House
Author: Laure Faria Stolarz
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Release Date: July 22, 2014
Rating: 2/5

Cover Impressions:  The title and background image don't seem to go together and I hate that font.  It doesn't have the creep factor that I would expect from this type of book.

The Gist: A group of teens is brought together by a mysterious contest.  Write an essay about your greatest nightmare and win an all expenses paid trip of a lifetime to meet a directing legend.  As they reach The Dark House, each person starts to realize that a weekend reliving their greatest fears may be more than they bargained for and the danger may be more than they realized. 

Review:

Welcome to the Dark House feels like a super campy, straight to video, horror movie.  With villains torn from a fictional series of movies who spout the cheesiest lines and terrible rhymes who often felt more like comic relief than a real source of danger.  It features a plethora of characters who are rather static and a bit boring.  I cared more for some characters (why wasn't Natalie the main character?) than others.  For example, I did not care one bit for Garth and, frankly, didn't give a damn what happened to him.  It also seemed very strange that we never even got to meet one of the contest winners and were expected to actually care when she disappeared.  I have a sneaking suspicion her scenes got the chop when Stolarz's editor felt the book was too long. 

The narrative switches perspectives between these characters and there were simply too many to keep track of.  There was very little change in the voice of the narrators which made following the switches difficult and I had to keep going back and reminding myself of who was speaking (until I stopped caring and gave up).  The plot is fairly fast paced and doesn't feature too much lag in between creepy happenings but gave way to quite a bit of explanation of the fictional films and their characters - of which there were MANY.  I almost wish (and I'm fairly certain this would infringe on copyright and therefore wouldn't be possible) that it could have been based on a real franchise like Halloween or Scream. 

Some of the scenes were pretty disturbing (I kept cringing at the whole eels in a tank scene) and I really enjoyed watching each character encounter their own fears (though it might have been more effective if there had been a little bit of mystery around what each one was afraid of).  However, I had some trouble as I kept questioning whether or not this was supposed to include some element of the supernatural or if it was some elaborate scheme set up by a real murderer.  I kept being distracted by nagging questions like how was this guy in so many places at once?  How did he set up an amusment park filled with cameras in the middle of the woods with no one taking notice?  Whose name was on the electric bill?  Why were there no work orders or witnesses to the construction?  What about purchase info for some of those pretty much priceless guitars and manuscripts in the house? 
 
In the end, I was sincerely hoping for a twist that would make this all worthwhile (this was all a shared psychosis or was set up by their therapists as a form of extreme therapy or it actually was set up by the murderer or Ivy's parents and he had somehow had a hand in each child's trauma)  But, I was disappointed.  It seemed to leave some room for a sequel, but I don't think I will bother if that is the case. 

Teaching/Parental Notes:

Age:  15 and up
Sex: Kissing
Violence: Violent murders by various means (buried alive, choking, stabbing)
Inappropriate Language: Piss, Shit
Substance Use/Abuse: None

The Girl From The Well by Rin Chupeco

Title: The Girl From The Well
Author: Rin Chupeco
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Release Date: August 5, 2014
Rating: 4/5

Cover Impressions:  It was the description of this one that really drew me in.  I am hoping for a re-vamp of the cover as this one just doesn't do the creepy nature of this novel justice.  I wanted to see Okiku featured on the cover.

The Gist: A vengeful spirit is stalking those who murder children and teens.  She seeks revenge on the one who scorned and killed her hundreds of years ago and moves from city to city seeking out her prey.  On one of these hunts, she encounters Tark, a strange tattooed boy with a dark and sinister force surrounding him.  Through the ghost's eyes, the reader is drawn into Japanese folklore and rituals as Tark and his family try to exorcise the evil that is threatening to escape.

Review:
I read this book, cover to cover, in just a few hours.  With an almost three year old and pregnant with my second - it takes a special kind of book to get me that involved.  In fact, it has single-handedly ended by several month long reading slump.  My only regret is that this novel was not scheduled for release in October so that I could have read it on a cool crisp night as autumn began to set in. 

The Girl From The Well had me from the very first page.  The writing is just stunning and the way that she talks about death is incredible.

"I am where dead children go.  With other kinds of dead it is different.  Often their souls drift quietly away, like a leaf caught in the throes of a hidden whirlpool; slipping down without sound, away from sight.  They roll and ebb gently with the tides until they sink beneath the waves and I no longer see where they go - like sputtering candlelight, like little embers that burn briefly and brightly for several drawn moments before all their light goes out."

Okiku is not like these gentle spirits.  She is vengeful and cruel to her victims.  She enjoys torturing those who would hurt children and is very inventive in their manner of punishment.  The opening scene of this novel features just such a death.  It is creepy, suspenseful and very well written.  It was like watching the first moments of a truly terrific horror movie.  One of the aspects that I loved was the idea that the victims of these men were tethered to their murderer.  Forced to follow him as he stalked the next child until Okiku ends his reign of terror and sets them free.  Much like Anna Dressed in Blood (which I LOVED) it was very easy to root for the slightly psychotic ghost who murders people in the most brutal of fashions, which is a pretty fun twist on the conventional ghost story. 

The narrative style is very unique.  We watch through Okiku's eyes and most of the other characters spend most or all of their time being referred to by names like The Stained Man or The Smiling Man.  We only begin to see names for them as they become more important to the plot.  We do not even learn Okiku's name until we are quite a ways into the narrative.  These adds and extra sense of mystery to the novel as we are not only waiting to learn what exactly is plaguing Tark, but also the sad story behind Okiku's fate.  While the narrative style make take some getting used to, the plot features great pacing with lots of scary moments and horrifying interludes.  Even as we travel from the states to Japan, there are both small, creepy, moments that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up and those big, intense, scenes that can leaving you reaching to turn on yet another light.

I will fully admit that I know next to nothing about Japanese culture and mythology so, please, correct me if I am wrong but the background here seems very solid and well researched.  I found it very refreshing to read about the folklore of a culture that is so far removed from my own and not just another take on the same old ghost story that I have been reading since childhood.  The one thing I did find a little off-putting is that,once they arrived in Japan, there were a number of Japanese terms that were explained once and then brought up again later.  I could not, for the life of me, remember what those words had meant and I found the plot slowed for me as I tried to remember or sometimes, flip back to locate the meaning.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book.  I am definitely recommending this one, especially as a Halloween read, and signing on for Chupeco's next book.


Teaching/Parental Notes:

Age:  15 and up
Sex: None
Violence: Kidnapping, A number of very violent death scenes.
Inappropriate Language: Fag, Bastard, Bitch, Jesus Christ, Prick, Fuck
Substance Use/Abuse: None

Book Review: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Title: Anna Dressed in Blood
Author: Kendare Blake
Publisher: Macmillin
Release Date: September, 2011
Rating: 5/5

Cover Impressions:  Love it so much I am pretty sure this is going to be my Halloween costume.  The bright spots of red in an otherwise monochromatic image are phenomenal and I love that you get this great image of Anna's house (once you finally tear your eyes away from the lady herself).

The Gist: Cas Lowood hunts ghosts.  With the death of his father, he took up the family blade and is preparing himself for the ultimate battle - with his father's killer.  Along the way he is intrigued by the story of Anna Dressed in Blood, a ghost who died under mysterious circumstances and brutally murders anyone who dare enter her house.  As Cas investigates, he finds a ghost that is far beyond anything he has faced before.  With the help of his new friends, Thomas and Carmel, he tries to get to the bottom of Anna's murder and discover what makes her so special.

Review:
This is actually my second time reading Anna Dressed in Blood.  The first time was before I really got into blogging and so I didn't write a review.  This time, I chose it as the season opener for my student book club.

I love the feeling of this book.  Blake doesn't shy away from amazingly brutal scenes and it engages the reader in a way that a more censored version never could.  This novel is not for the faint of heart.  There are some truly gruesome and horrific scenes.  One of my favorites involves the first time we meet Anna - the ghost who changes everything.  There is very little lead up.  We stop only for a short visual description before Anna unleashes her terrifying power.  Anna walks a tightrope in between all powerful evil goddess and sympathetic character who we root for.  The author has done an incredible job of letting us see all of the facets of her character. 

I enjoyed watching all of the missteps as Cas develops friendships for the first time ever.  I found myself smiling or laughing each time he would lament how much easier it was the deal with the dead rather than the living.  The characters of Cas, Anna, and Thomas are decently well developed and interesting but I never really get a feel for Carmel.  She doesn't seem to add anything significant to the plot other than playing the girl in their Scooby Doo Gang.

Anna Dressed in Blood is a veritable "This Is How You Do It" when it comes to the balance between suspense and action.  Blake does a wonderful job providing enough action to keep the plot moving very quickly while also allowing for some relationship building and character development.

I am a fan - reading everything Kendare Blake writes for the rest of her life.

Teaching/Parental Notes:

Age: 13 and up
Gender: Both
Sex: Kissing
Violence: Graphic Supernatural Violence
Inappropriate Language: Bastard,Shit, Fuck, Dick, Ass, Douche, Pussy, Bitch, Whore
Substance Use/Abuse: Underage Drinking, Smoking
Other Issues: Scary scenes - may give younger readers nightmares