Tag Archives: Book review

December 15, 2012 · 23:38

Murder, disappearances and creatures from the sea

The dogs of Edinburgh is a prequel to the hit series, I was thrilled when I found this graphic novel since I’m a big fan of the TV series.
The story revolves around the time before season one of the TV-series start, Sam who is still studying at Stanford travels alone to Edinburgh while on an academic brake, in search for occult knowledge. On his first day he meets the beautiful raven-haired Emma of the Isles. As it turns out she is a member of the Scottish group called Breaker, a UK variant of Hunters. Emma drags Sam along showing him a darker side of town and they end up hunting some of Edinburgh supernatural monsters. After an romantic evening she then disappears more or less into the night and Sam doesn’t hear a word from her. Then three years later he receives a package from abroad containing a phone, a map, a gun, some newspaper clippings about murders and disappearances at the Scottish coast and books of myths and legends of the sea. Will he be able to get there in time and is he capable to help out with whatever creatures of the sea is responsible for these killings…

So the verdict, well I really wanted to like this one, but unfortunately it was a bit disappointing. The story in itself was interesting, we meet a younger Sam and there is innocence that in the TV-series are long gone. The problem I had was with the presentation of the story. The art is a bit to, how should I put it “square”, big heads, a square jaw line, small body etc. and that isn’t really my cup of tea. The pictures are dark, even when our heroes are out in daylight and the colors are a bit too dull for my taste. Some part of story take place at the Scottish coast and it should have been a gorgeous backdrop to explore but unfortunately the scenery is just flat and not very interesting. All of this I can overlook, no the biggest problem was the reading itself, I had to go back over and over, thinking did I just miss a page, a picture, it felt like there were just something missing.
I think this one is only for the diehard Supernatural fans, there are so many really great graphic novels out there so you will not miss much if you skip this one.

————————————————–
Supernatural: The Dogs of Edinburgh
by Brian Wood (writer), Grant Bond (artist) and
Dustin Nguyen (collection covers and original series covers)
Published 2012 by DC Comics

Leave a comment

Filed under Comics, Graphic Novels, Paranormal

Tagged as ,

August 27, 2012 · 07:53

New Summer Project – have a go at abandoned books

I often have a couple of books that I read parallel to one another, and most of the time I finish them rather fast. But from time to time I sort of forget, have a change of heart or just happen to stumble upon some new and more exciting books,  and then you will find all of these poor abandoned books all over my flat just waiting to be read. So I had this idea that during the summer I would make it a project and finish reading them.

Unfortunately my first attempt didn’t go quite as well as I would have liked.

At random I just picked up one of those abandoned books, and it happened to be, Laurell K Hamilton Blood Noir which is the 16th installation in the series about Anita Blake, vampire hunter.

Blood Noir*sigh* realized when I opened the book that I’ve started on it in December 2009 and deserted it somewhere halfway in.

This was once one of the best urban fantasy series out there. The first in the series, Guility Pleasures, I stumbled upon as far back as 1996, and have actually re-read it more than a couple of times. The first books are absolutely fabulous! I can totally recommend reading them, from the first one up until about number 6- 7.

After that it goes just go right downhill, from being intelligent, witty and entertaining books it just becomes more “harlequin”, and then just straight to home wife porn-ish. It’s depressing and I don’t think I actually can finish this book, unfortunately I think all hope is lost when it comes to Ms. Hamilton and her heroine.
So sad, I really miss the old Anita.

Or maybe I should try to re-read/ finish this one using this excellent blog writers suggestion how you manage to get through these last installments. Maybe it will be more fun to read then, and I’m most certainly going to get oh so drunk!

http://alphareader.blogspot.se/2011/06/anita-blake-hit-list-drinking-game.html

———————-
Blood Noir
Laurell K Hamilton
Published 2009 by Jove

1 Comment

Filed under Laurell K Hamilton, Urban Fantasy

Tagged as , , , ,

July 23, 2012 · 18:42

Days Gone Bye

For some reason I been overlooking this graphic novel, so now when the TV-series approaching the third season it’s time to correct my mistake!

Days Gone Bye

How many hours are in a day when you don’t spend half of them watching television?
When is the last time any of us really worked to get something that we wanted?
How long has it been since any of us really needed something that we wanted?
The world we knew is gone.

The world of commerce and frivolous necessity has been replaced by a world of survival and responsibility.
An epidemic of apocalyptic proportions has swept the globe causing the dead to rise and feed on the living.
In a matter of months society has crumbled, no government, no grocery stores, no mail delivery, no cable TV.

In a world ruled by the dead, we are forced to finally start living

—

This is my first take on Zombies in a more graphic form; I absolutely love the zombie genre ever since my first encounter with the classic Night of the living dead. Most Zombie films are more about gore and quick scares than about character building or questions surrounding the human condition under extreme stress. But in the recent year there been a shift and we see more of the psychological aspects of human behavior.

How do we stay alive when the entire world as we know it seizes to exist?

This is a story that’s all about the characters and how they cope with their new reality. Tony Moor’s beautiful black and white art is setting the mood right from the beginning. At first it almost feels a bit dreamlike, you follow our hero Ricks awakening at the abandoned hospital, confused and totally clueless about what happened to the world. But that dream fast and brutally changes into a hellish nightmare instead.

The zombies are always there in the background during the whole story and when you start to relax there is a sudden burst and someone ends up dead. But the main theme is what happens to a modern society and its people when everything collapses. This story isn’t about gore, guts and cool zombies (well not all of it), it’s about survival, relationships and not all women and men might be good at heart, the may have started that way, but the fight to survive can lead us on to a different path.

I do wish that there were a bit more character development, and particularly when it comes to the women. They feel a bit one dimensional and to be honest not so very interesting. But then again maybe the story is all about Rick Grimes…although I personally hope there will be a bit more development of the women and some depth of the other survivors in future volumes.

Robert Kirkman just push you, right in to a reality were even the basics in life is a struggle and were friends may become the enemy in a blink of an eye. It is going to be interesting to see how the character reacts to this harsh new world. And when you get to the end of this first volume, it’s sad and chocking and you just want more!

—————————————————-
The Walking Dead, Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye
By Robert Kirkman & Tony Moore
Image Comics

Leave a comment

Filed under Dystopian, Graphic Novels

Tagged as , ,