#ftlorreviews

[the-homestead-reader]

Hell’s Princess Review

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Title: Hell’s Princess The Mystery of Belle Gunness- Butcher of Men

Author: Harold Schechter

Series: Stand Alone

Pages: 334

Genre: True Crime

Rating Out Of 5 Stars: 3

Buy it: Amazon / Book Depository / BookOutlet                 Goodreads Page

My Other Reviews:   Tumblr   /    Goodreads

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             ““Mrs. Belle Gunness, the grim widow of La Porte, Indiana, with her castle of death and her yard filled with graves,”"

Goodreads/General Synopsis:

In the pantheon of serial killers, Belle Gunness stands alone. She was the rarest of female psychopaths, a woman who engaged in wholesale slaughter, partly out of greed but mostly for the sheer joy of it. Between 1902 and 1908, she lured a succession of unsuspecting victims to her Indiana “murder farm.”

*****My Thoughts*****

               As a resident of Indiana I remember growing up hearing about the “Murder Farm” up North. When I found this title on the Amazon Kindle First Reads I decided to pick it up.

I was not overwhelmingly fond of the writing. It had a tendency to come across condescending.  The life of Belle Gunness was well researched, the extensive reference guide in the back of the book can attest to that. I was slightly disappointed that the majority of the book was focused more on what happened after her “death” as opposed to her years as one of America’s first female serial murderers. That aside it does give good insight if this is your first time delving into the life of Gunness. Overall it was an interesting read. 

[the-homestead-reader]

Obsidio Review

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Title: Obsidio

Author: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Series: The Illuminae Files Book 3

Pages: 615

Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction

Rating Out Of 5 Stars: 4

Buy it: Amazon / Book Depository / BookOutlet                 Goodreads Page

My Other Reviews:   Tumblr   /    Goodreads

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                  “O Captain, My Captain. Our fearful trip is done."

 Goodreads/General Synopsis:

Kady, Ezra, Hanna, and Nik narrowly escaped with their lives from the attacks on Heimdall station and now find themselves crammed with 2,000 refugees on the container ship, Mao. With the jump station destroyed and their resources scarce, the only option is to return to Kerenza—but who knows what they'll find seven months after the invasion? Meanwhile, Kady's cousin, Asha, survived the initial BeiTech assault and has joined Kerenza's ragtag underground resistance. When Rhys—an old flame from Asha's past—reappears on Kerenza, the two find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict. With time running out, a final battle will be waged on land and in space, heroes will fall, and hearts will be broken.

*****My Thoughts*****

               Picking up with our main casts of characters from the first two books in the series we start Obsidio condensing our storylines into one epic conclusion. There’s only one way this can end and that’s in the final space showdown of our heroes against BeiTech Industries.

               We’ve gone from a very stylized format to a more straight forward dossier presentation which I found to almost slow down the narrative. If not for our snarky quips here and there it could have really fallen flat. The progression of the story is solidly done if not a bit predictable. It wasn’t until the last third of the book that I really found myself engaged in what was happening.

               Despite being relatively new additions I did like the involvement of Asha and Katya. I felt these two really helped tie the events going on planet side and shipside together. When we come to the final showdown the emotional aspect really hits home about just what everyone has been fighting for.

               The ending itself, felt almost too cleanly done. The additional “retrospective” we get from our final character makes you wonder if we’re not in for a spin off or a return to the Illumine Files at a later time. Whether the authors intended to let you settle into the idea that good guys go on and bad guys get what they deserve to your heart pounding in your chest again I don’t know. The final pages just had me shaking my head in disbelief.

After sitting on it for a few hours I’ve gotten to really go over all the notes I’ve made for this series. It’s probably one of the better trilogies I’ve read in sometime. To have something so outside the norm that is solidly good across the board is not something that happens often. I am overwhelming ecstatic that I got to experience The Illuminae Files. It’s been one hell of a ride. I would absolutely recommend it.

[the-homestead-reader]

               ********************************************* Title: Milk and Honey Author: Rupi Kaur Series: Stand Alone Pages: 204 Genre: Poetry Rating Out Of 5 Stars:  3 Buy it: Amazon / Book Depository / BookOutlet                 Goodreads Page My Other Reviews:   Tumblr   /    Goodreads                *********************************************

           “ If you were born with the weakness to fall you were born with the strength to rise. ”

   Milk and Honey is a collection of poetry and prose about survival. It is about the experience of violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity. It is split into four chapters, and each chapter serves a different purpose, deals with a different pain, heals a different heartache. Milk and Honey takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them because there is sweetness everywhere if you are just willing to look.

*****My Thoughts***** First I must commend Kaur for speaking out on the things that have happend to her. So many, men and women alike suffer abuse, and are too afraid or ashamed to voice it.                The pieces themselves are not presented as one generally expects poety to appear. That said; I've always found that poetry is supposed to move you and make you feel something reguardless of its structure. Several of Kaur's pieces do do this. I understand why many give praise to the collection. I chose the rating I did on the grounds there were just too many one to two sentance pieces that I felt could have been collected to one page instead of wasting the pages in order to make it come across as more dynamic.

[the-homestead-reader]

                ********************************************* Title: Kill The Dead Author: Richard Kadrey Series: Sandman Slim  Book 1 Pages: 434 Genre: Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Rating Out Of 5 Stars:  4 Buy it: Amazon / Book Depository / BookOutlet                 Goodreads Page My Other Reviews:   Tumblr   /    Goodreads                 *********************************************

            “ Let me make sure I have this straight. The cavalry just now rode into town and it's a Czech Gypsy porn-star zombie killer. Have I got that right? ”

      What do you do after you’ve crawled out of Hell to wreak bloody revenge? If you’re Stark you turn to bounty hunting, tracking and decimating whatever rogue monsters you’re paid to kill. Stark hates the work, but he needs the money, especially the big bucks Lucifer is offering. In town as an adviser on a biopic of his life, Lucifer needs protection, and he wants Stark as his bodyguard. But the gig isn’t all bad; there is the very sexy, very hot porn star Brigitte Bardo, a friend of Lucifer’s in LA to remake her reputation as a legit actress. While it isn’t love, it’s pretty damn good, and after 11 years of demonic chastity, it’s enough for now. *****My Thoughts*****                    Our author doesnt waste anytime jumping straight into the action. If you thought the first book was a wild ride just wait until you get a load of this one. We meet new characters with interesting hobbies and even more questionable morals. 

         In this particular book, Stark has to deal with an outbreak of High plain drifters. AKA zombies. Kadrey doesnt go for your typical shambler or rage virus monsterosities. Instead he gives of several options and bloody ways of dealing with them. 

       I really enjoyed this one. The last fourty pages or so were completely engrossing. Usually I can see the curveballs that an author is going to throw but there was one I definately did not see coming. The ending left me wanting to make a bowl of popcorn and jump promptly into the third book to see just what kind of chaos is going to happen next. 

[the-homestead-reader]

               ********************************************* Title: Servant of Death Author: J.C Bell Series: Stand Alone Pages: 33 Genre: Horror / Sci fi Rating Out Of 5 Stars:  2 Buy it: Available as ebook fromfree-ebooks.net My Other Reviews:   Tumblr   /    Goodreads                *********************************************

         The Servant of Death, the Dark Lord Sevron has arisen once more. This time he has taken form in the Holy Tree of the Elves, their sacred Graelic. Power, wealth, immortality . . . such things are meaningless to him, for the Servant of Death desires but one thing – to turn the universe into a living hell. Even the power of the Maker failed to see him dead. There is but one man who can stand against him . . . but will there be anything left of the universe when their battle is done?

*****My Thoughts*****           For being a 33 page short story Bell packs a lot into a small amount of space. The concept is interesting but there is a LOT of work thats needs done to make this a bearable read. The story progesses in massive jumps without anything to bring it to that point. It was as if the author got stuck and just went on to the next section that happened to take off. Really interesting concept. It's just a shame that it's presented in such a lacklustre manner.

[the-homestead-reader]

                 ********************************************* Title: Sandman Slim Author: Richard Kadrey Series: Sandman Slim  Book 1 Pages: 388 Genre: Urban Fantasy Rating Out Of 5 Stars:  4 Buy it: Amazon / Book Depository / BookOutlet                 Goodreads Page My Other Reviews:   Tumblr   /    Goodreads                  *********************************************

             “There’s something magical about the sound of breaking glass. Especially around a mob. It works for both humans and Hellions. If you want to start a riot, throw a bottle.”

       Life sucks and then you die. Or, if you’re James Stark, you spend eleven years in Hell as a hitman before finally escaping, only to land back in the hell-on-earth that is Los Angeles.        Now Stark’s back, and ready for revenge. And absolution, and maybe even love. But when his first stop saddles him with an abusive talking head, Stark discovers that the road to absolution and revenge is much longer than you’d expect, and both Heaven and Hell have their own ideas for his future. Resurrection sucks. Saving the world is worse. *****My Thoughts*****                    Stark is every bit the antihero. He's mouthy, impulsive, self destructive and planning on taking everyone whose done him wrong back down with him. Unfortunately for him he's still got a conscience even after his time in Hell nagging him to do what is ultimately the right-ish thing.          The side characters are just as interesting as our leading player and for the most part, just as tragic. There’s a lot of side stories just from the glimpses we get into their lives that I hope Kadrey addresses in later books.            The writing flows with more ease then one would expect with dialogue that leans on the coarser side. Some of the things that came from the characters mouths litterally had me laughing out loud.            The only thing that particularly nagged me was the lack of chapter breaks. Beyond that its a fun, action filled story. One that I enjoyed so much I promptly went and bought the next seven books in the series.