Holding Out For a Hero: The Death of Male (and Female) Characters in Popular Media

I recently finished reading Bridge of Clayby Markus Zusak and found myself struck with just how different this book was from so many I have picked up recently. It gave me vibes of something like The Outsidersbecause it’s a story of brothers and in general the struggles boys face growing up. I love Markus Zusak as a writer. The Book Thief is one of my favorite stories ever, and his other trilogy about the Wolfe Brothers that was published in the US as a bind-up called Underdogs was very much in the same vein. He writes brothers and boys so well, and so very accurately both these books gave me all the happy feels.

But what I’m getting at is the difference between this book and the majority of other new YA books I have picked up recently. For starters, it has male protagonists and an overwhelming male cast. Now let me give you an assignment. Go into a bookstore and look at the YA shelves and find me a book with a straight male character as the protagonist. Especially something that has been written in the last three years or so. They are a rare unicorn indeed. And if you do find one, then the male protagonist is never allowed to do anything because his female cohort has to kick all the ass and prove that she’s stronger than him because, oh no, you cannot have a male character stronger than a female one, even though that’s how biology works, it’s considered too sexist to even be mentioned. Check out books like Fawkes if you don’t believe me. But you also just have to look at the last couple seasons of Doctor Who as well to see this. Check out THIS VIDEO to see what I mean. This guy shares literally word for word my opinions and he says it better.

So for some reason everyone, especially women, think that in order to have strong female characters the men have to be oppressed, incompetent and constantly put down by their female compatriots because otherwise how are girls going to feel like they can do anything?

Girls, if you need that much reassurance, then you really are sad.

Bridge of Clay has everything that feminists term “toxic masculinity” but is really the sentiment ‘boys will be boys’—oh but wait, you can’t say that either because apparently in the feminist minds that’s essentially an excuse for men to rape women #modernsociety. The brothers in this book beat each other up and the other city boys, they get into fights, they squabble, but that’s how they show they love each other because this is how men work. And they also respect women, the whole story is in a way, about their love and respect for their mother who was a strong woman and a good role model. It’s biology, it’s not “male entitlement”. There is nothing toxic about masculinity, it’s healthy for boys to be boys, and it’s healthy for girls to embrace their femininity, but no one can do that when women are portrayed in fiction as something they’re not. That’s not a role model, that’s fantasy. A real role model is a woman who stays feminine and can still kick butt. Maybe she’s even a mother and takes down the baddies to save her kids. This is the kind of heroine that I, as a young girl, and now a woman, have always looked up to. One who keeps her self-respect instead of making a fool of herself and jeopardizing her mission by wasting time with stupid rants to reassure herself she’s awesome. A hero. (*cough*CaptainMarvel*cough*)

So while Bridge of Clay and books like it about mostly boys who actually act like real boys are rare, there are books that do everything right to both their male and female characters, and I’ll explain why.

First off, I’m going to talk about one of my favorite series, and one of my favorite heroines: Kara from The Thickety series by J. A. White.

Kara is everything a strong heroine should be. But does this make her a feminist hero? No. Not at all. In fact, it makes her so much better. She is forced into her decisions often by outside forces and boy does she have to make hard decisions and do things that seem impossible. But does she back away? No. Does she do them because “she is a woman and that makes her the only one who can do this”? No. She does them because she has to. Because she wants to protect the people she loves and she has the ability to do so, or she’s the only one who cares enough to try. She never belittles her little brother because he is male, she protects him because she is his big sister and that’s her job. When another male character is introduced later on, she works with him and they make a good team. Respect goes both ways so how can your male partner respect you if all you do is call him out for being stupid just because he’s a man?

This same kind of example is given in J. A. White’s other book Nightbooks. This one has a male protagonist and a girl sidekick. Their partnership is just as healthy as the ones in The Thickety, they work together to save themselves from the bad situation they have gotten in. Of course there’s setbacks and issues, but they don’t arise because of them being male and female and railing on each other, they arise from outside sources, things the protagonists have to overcome. You know, like old stories used to do. Both characters are viewed as intelligent and strong individuals because of what they fight to overcome, not just because of what gender they are.

I also have to make mention of another of my favorite heroines, Karin Murphy from Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files. She’s “small but fierce” as one of the characters described her. She’s both proud of her femininity and willing to kick monster butt. She jokes with Dresden about his “chauvinistic” white knight attitude, but she never bites his head off when he saves her during a fight—they’re comrades in arms. Because of that, she’s also someone Harry can count on, and is often one of the first people he goes to when he needs help. Miss Gard, a Valkyrie character from the series is also a super epic female character I always loved in this series no matter what side she’s on. 1,000 times a better Valkyrie than that poor attempt at one in Thor: Ragnarok which I frankly couldn't tell whether she was a man or a woman because the way she was written they could have cast either.

And before you say “oh but these are male authors, what do they know about women?” well, heh, as a woman, I’m willing to say that male authors are most of the time the only authors who can get female characters right, or at least write them as actually likable. So often men nail the strong heroine because they write her as just that: a strong heroine. Female writers often seem to think strong means the same as ‘strong willed’ with the ‘I don’t need no man’ attitude, when that is exactly the opposite. A quietly strong heroine could easily be the one to save the day, while the loudmouth “feminist icons” are surrounded by ridiculous plots that have to be crafted in such a way so that the heroine’s stupidity doesn’t end up destroying everything. Which is why the characters is these types of stories often fall flat, and the storylines make no sense because there is hardly ever any real character development going on. It’s just a reason for an author to be able to tout their political agendas instead of actually taking the time to make a good story.

On that note, here’s a female author that does a fantastic job of writing male and female characters: Jennifer A. Neilson.

I adore her Ascendance Trilogy and Mark of the Thief Series. Sage is absolutely one of my favorite characters ever, and Imogen is a perfect example of a quietly strong heroine. The same goes for the characters in the Mark of the Thief series. In both of these books the hero is bolstered up by the support that is given from his female companions. And when they need to, these ladies step up to the plate and stand beside their men. Not behind them, and not in front of them either. They are equals. Ironically what feminists pretend to want, but you can’t be equal if you really just want to be better. 

In her book Scourge we saw a very fantastic female protagonist save her people from a plague by going under cover to discover what was really causing it. She has a male character at her side and like in her other books, Jennifer writes them as a team, and cuts out the relationship issues so many of the bloody stupid YA books portray these days because the men aren’t allowed to be men, and the female characters are still so stupid they get into more trouble than they’re worth. How the heck are you supposed to save the world when you can even get past your own personal issues?

So, now I want to move from books and talk about one of my favorite shows— Supernatural. There’s a lot of reasons I love it, mainly because all the main characters are male, and extremely flawed and likable characters, and very well acted and written as well. I think the fact that this show has just been renewed for its 15^thseason is testament to the fact that people enjoy this kind of content, even with the lack of female leads, romantic plotlines, and political agendas. Now yes, the later seasons have their PC moments, but they’re brief and rarely detract from the true storyline, unlike, say, recent seasons of shows like Doctor Who where it has essentially just become a media outlet for the BBC to tout their political agendas instead of being a fun sci-fi show. Even in a recent interview Misha Collins says that the main success of Supernatural is because “it defied convention in that it’s not about romantic relationships. It’s about this brotherhood of men”. It started with two brothers, then added a third with the inclusion of Castiel, and now the three of them are co-parenting an orphan nephillim son and I frankly can’t be happier with the familial aspect. 

But even with this band of brothers, when Supernatural has brought women around, aside from a few instances, they’ve done it right. There have been an array of platonic/sisterly relationships between female characters and the boys, and also motherly ones in characters like Jodi and Ellen. Even when the interests are romantic the women are usually generally supportive of the boys, but we rarely see these kind of relationships crop up anyway.

To prove my point of the difference between this show and, say, (again) recent Doctor Who (and to see my point here you really need to go watch that video I linked above) I’m going to pluck a seemingly random and innocuous scene from Supernatural but one that I feel really proves my point.

In Season 3 Episode 6 “Red Sky At Night” we see a reoccurring guest character Bela Talbot, show up. She’s a thief and an ‘independent woman’ and always does her best to pull one over on the Winchesters whenever she shows up, and usually does—until she is forced to go to them for help because she’s bitten off more than she can chew.

Not only is Bela an independent woman that will ask these brothers for help when she really needs it, even if grudgingly, but whenever she attacks the Winchesters with cheeky comments implying her superiority as a female, they are allowed to attack her in kind. Unlike in Doctor Who where apparently rebuttals from the men about gender superiority is no longer allowed so they’re constantly, laughably put down to the point you can’t even take these poor men seriously as heroes anymore. Granted, this Supernatural episode was from back in ’08 where you could still get away with general entertainment and were not forced to push political agendas, but knowing Eric Kripke I don’t think he would have written these characters any differently, and in fact, Sam and Dean, though obviously they have gone through the character arcs you would expect out of a long running series and have indeed grown up over the course of the show’s run, are still themselves, despite writer changes. Partly thanks to Jared and Jensen’s genuine care about the characters and also the fact that the producers still also care deeply about the show and have been there since the beginning. 

But I want to bring attention to one scene in particular that has always struck me for some reason. 

During the course of the episode they have to retrieve an item from a museum and to do so they have to infiltrate a gala. Dean dresses in a tux and when Bela sees him, she’s obviously pretty hot under the collar, and propositions him for “angry sex” later. Dean, taking offense, tells her “Don’t objectify me”. (Watch the scene HERE) 

Ladies and gentlemen, in that moment, Dean, a well known ladies man, showed he had more self-respect than 80% of these so-called strong, independent YA heroines. And he also handled the situation better than any of them when they are propositioned by the “misogynistic” male character where the heroine flies off the handle at them for even thinking of them like that. Supernatural is actually very “progressive” about this topic if you’ll forgive the word, because, having male leads and a lot of female monster baddies, situations like this do crop up. Vampires and demons forcing kisses, unwanted groping and such: the kind of situations a lot of people only seem to think female characters get themselves into, but no, this just isn’t true. Women can be just as nasty and objectify men just as well as men can women. There is such a thing as mansels in distress. And whether it’s their brother, guardian angel, or female hunt buddy coming to their rescue, the Winchesters are never emasculated by this because they’re allowed to actually BE masculine in the first place. If you’re fighting creatures with supernatural strength sometimes you will be beaten up by a girl.

All I ask is for authors to write real men characters as well as real women characters. Instead of simply writing crappy fiction that doesn’t please anyone, has flat characters and no plotlines past the political agendas that are only there because the author wants it to be. You can’t make characters be themselves if you put words in their mouths which is why so few books have characters that feel real anymore and why the last couple Doctors have lost viewership to a well-loved sci-fi show. A greater example of this cannot be given than the Disney Star Wars franchise.

So will we ever see another book like Bridge of Clay published? Frankly, and sadly, I find it unlikely. What will we do when Supernatural finally ends? Because it’s honestly the only show of its kind on television right now, and I doubt there will be others made despite its success. 

The pure and simple fact is, you can’t please everyone, so just please stop trying. At the very least you might get a good story out of it.

My Review for "Ship It" by Britta Lundin (and all that entails) PART 1

My Review of Ship It 

or

Why I’m officially done with Publishing Companies

This is the story of how it’s apparently okay to attack a specific fandom and person (in not a very veiled way) in a published novel in the glorious age we live in.

Let me preface this by saying that I have nothing against books about fans. While I may not like the type of book Rainbow Rowell writes and Fangirljust isn’t my cup of tea, I am happy that there are books out there that portray fans as not insane psychos because 98% of us really aren’t. Even the majority of fans who ship ships I personally don’t agree with aren’t insane, petty stalkers.

In 2017 two amazing books about fans came out. One of which was Geekerellaby Ashley Posten, which was almost a love letter to fans everywhere. It captured the “True Fan” the ones who love their fandoms despite its possible faults, who cosplay and go to conventions and are supportive of other people in their fandom because you’re supposed to be on the same team. Plus the romance between the heroine and the star of the movie adaption of her favorite show was actually really adorable and actually pretty realistic. I mean, it *could* happen within the bounds of reality. Unlike the situations in Ship It. But we’ll get to that later.

There was also Eliza and her Monsterswhich features the introverted creator of a popular web comic meeting a fan “in the wild” who shares with her that he writes fan-fiction of her comic (fan-fiction that is actually good!) and this book kind of shows both the side of the fandom and the side of the creator; something that, as both a fan and a writer myself, I particularly appreciated.

Both of these books were well written, had likable characters who the reader could relate to, and, especially in the case of Geekerella, illustratedthe best, and really, the most normally seen side of Fandom as a whole. I am one of those fans who gets excited to talk about stuff with other people in my fandoms. I chat online with friends, I cosplay and go to cons and do photo ops and autographs with authors and actors I love. I saved extra money for weeks to get photo ops with Jensen, Jared and Misha, I stood in line for three hours to get Elijah Wood’s autograph—I’m a fan, I get it.

But this is not the kind of fans that Ship It is portraying. In fact if anyone read this book and had little to no idea of what fandoms were typically like, they would probably never want to join one at all because this portrays everyone as whiny, petty, a-holes. 

A little crash course in fan-fiction for people who don’t know:

So, fan-fiction can be divided into several basic categories.

First off you have Canon and Gen Canon is based off the book/show/movie directly, either deleted scenes, and such that would be found in the normal universe of the original work. It only has canon ships (or maybe an original character, here and there, if it works). Gen is pretty much the same but essentially has no ships at all or can also cover AUs (alternate universes) or other things that may not happen in canon, but are generally not offensive to anyone.

Then you move into Slash. Slash is fan-fics where characters of the same gender are paired. These are not canon pairings, or at least the term never seems to be used to refer to canon pairings.

Then even further into that you go to RPF or ‘real person fiction’. RPF is essentially fan-fics about actors, singers or other celebrities. Some fan-fiction sites don’t even allow RPF to be posted. Now, I’m not saying all RPF is like this, I’m sure at least some of it is actually Gen, I don’t look for it because it’s not my cup of tea. But the majority of it takes actors who are in real life happily married to their wives and have children and everything, and the writers pretend they are in love, instead, with their co-stars, sometimes even behind their wives backs if their actual wives exist at all in these fics. This to me is just disrespectful. Fictional characters are one thing, but when you make up stuff about real people, it’s just disgusting to me.

And we all thought Mary-Sues were bad. And speaking of Mary-Sues Claire in this book was a serious Mary-Sue alert.

Look, so yes, I don’t like it when shippers pop out of the woodwork and ruin things for me with their fanart of my favorite boys snogging. But as long as they don’t get in my face, they’re not my problem. They can stay on their side of the internet, I’ll stay on mine. I’m willing to ignore them. The problem is they don’t always do that and there are fans who are ADAMANT that ships are canon even though writers, authors, and even actors have denied that they are canon. This is approaching the disrespectful level and what you don’t realize is that you make all of us fans look bad for doing this. Some actors *are* jerks, but the ones who aren’t, like the cast of Supernatural and Merlin and a lot of the cast of Avengers and all that are super nice people and they don’t deserve the heckling some fans resort to. And not only in the shipping quarter (I could bring up a certain panel with Seb Stan, Tom Holland, and Anthony Mackie as an example of this) (Also, as an aside, this is a textbook reason of why you have question moderators at panels, which this book sneers at, and also a textbook example of HOW NOT TO MODERATE A PANEL when the guest actor has to be the one to move it along instead of whoever is modding.)

And then you have the fans like Claire in Ship Itwho take it even farther and literally demand (in this book, while holding the showrunner freaking hostage with promise of blackmail) that the writers and producers/authors change the story to fit theirimage of it. Like literally, I have seen petitions and campaigns to make ships go canon. What the actual heck, people? Ever think that maybe you should turn that passion into actually helping people?

Ladies (and maybe a few gents) do you remember how everyone hated the Star Wars prequels so much they said George Lucas (who legit came up with the story, so I find their arguments invalid—like, don’t like it, don’t watch) did a terrible job with his own movies? And then he sold the rights to Disney and, welp, you guys got your wish, and look at the absolute tripefest that ensued. (Besides Rogue Onethat was beautiful and canon and like a WWII spy story in space—see, we all have our opinions.) This is what happens when you ask people to go off canon. We could have had cool villains, Luke Skywalker with a kick-butt bounty hunter wife and Jacen and Jaina Solo, and would have been spared the emo little boy pain of Kylo Ren, but nooooo. 

But I digress…

So a little backstory on Where This Book Got Its Storyline From:

It’s no secret Jensen Ackles who plays Dean Winchester on Supernatural is no fan of the Dean/Cas ship. So when questions were asked about it, he responded like a normal human, and not even meanly, but he was obviously annoyed and done with the question and no one can blame him for sounding a bit grumpy about it. Well, some people took offence to that, probably tears were shed, and obviously it made it onto the internet.

(I couldn’t find the original video, but here is another one where essentially the same thing happens)

I don’t know why this author decided it was her personal crusade to accuse Jensen, not to his face, but in this really backhanded and frankly disgusting way, but it’s pretty obvious that that’s literally what this book is. I mean, come on “Demon Heart”? A show about a demon hunter and a freaking conflicted demon ally with—get this—a distinctive coat and husky voice? Sure they cut out the brother thing, but just wait until you read the lovely selections I have for you from this book and you’ll see just how many parallels it had with Supernatural. (And on the note of actors hating ships, I’m going to mention in passing Bradley James’ obvious hatred for the Merlin/Arthur ship. You go, Bradley.)

So a little about Claire, the main character is not a good person. She is rude to her mother all the time for no reason, especially since her mom supports her passions and even drives her to the first convention and then proceeds to leave her home and job for weeks to travel with Claire on the con circuit. And she’s also pretty terrible to her friend, and pretty much blackmails her in front of her other friends. So Claire, not a likable person, but what else were we to expect when this was the kind of fan this author was trying to portray.

So, let’s jump into the fray finally. I realized while reading this book that the best way to condemn it was to let it speak for itself, and, frankly, I couldn’t even come up with this crap if I tried.

(Warning: there may be some sensitivities hurt by reading these things, and also some unkind language from me. However, I did you the courtesy of blanking out the cussing in the text so there’s that)

Let’s start off this section with the definition of “Delusional”-- “Characterized by or holding idiosyncratic beliefs or impressions that are contradicted by reality or rational argument, typically as a symptom of mental disorder.” Keep that in mind while you read these selections.

(I'm also going to do a Cinema Sins style rating on this one so every + you see if the counter of sins this book gains)

Also, if it wasn't already obvious...spoiler warning 

So, let's just take a moment to appreciate that we're first introduced to our heroine literally googling gay porn in her school library to "see how it works" for her fanfic. Do I need to say more? If the author was trying to go for something funny here, it missed the mark by approximately a universe (+100)

I'm adding sins here because this is SO BLATANTLY stolen from the SPN family. Fans call Misha Collins 'Dad' on Twitter too (+10)

Again, sins added here for the similarity to Supernatural. Rico, (or Discount Misha, as I like to call him) plays the demon character and has an 'unnaturally gravelly voice' in character. >_> (+10)

Bless Claire's mom here for asking if the characters are actually bisexual. This whole conversation is one I have seen on Tumblr so many times. Let me just say this. If the writers wanted you to know something about a character on a show after 14 seasons, they are going to let you know. If it hasn't been said by then, then it's not true and you're delusional. (+20)

Again, a perfect example of how these types of fans perceive things. Sure, the character might have just been possessed and beaten his best friend into the ground, or maybe this is pre-friendship and they kinda hate each other so they're doing an alpha male thing. Does this make any sense to them? No, all they see is sexual tension. (+50)

Ah yes, the female characters getting killed off--another huge contention in the Supernatural fandom. While I agree some of them were totally killed off too quickly, others (the ones people actually get angry about like Charlie) actually *did* serve a purpose to the storyline by dying. It's not because they were female, it's because they furthered important plot points. (+5)

Girl, just because it wasn't your interpretation of the scene doesn't mean you are the only one who is right. You didn't write or act the bloody thing, you do not have the monopoly on deciding what it meant. (+10)

See comment above, but I'm still adding an additional 10 sins (+10)

Despite all the work this author did to demonize the creator/showrunner Jamie, he's actually one of the few characters I sympathized with in this book. And I seriously hope she didn't think she was basing him off Eric Kripke because I have never seen Kripke act like she tries to portray this poor guy at a panel or in an interview. None of the SPN writers do.

Okay, number one, there's no way the whole audience would be with her. Whenever anyone mentions slash at a con, there is always a collective groan from at least some audience members. And frankly, I refuse to call Forest the jerk here, seeing as the questions should have been vetted and actors are human too. You can't expect them to be happy with every question a fan asks. (+10)

Again with the delusions. Also, this is after Claire oh-so-gracefully runs off to her room crying because no one agreed with her theory. Insert joking truism about millennials and participation trophies (+10)

And here's why I feel sorry for Jamie. He's such a victim of the network that he can't even write his own bloody show without being demonized by not only his fans but his PR woman -- who he totally should have fired for everything she does later. I don't know a lot about that side of the business, but I do know that you shouldn't berate your clients this much and them proceed to essentially blackmail them later by siding with the fans. 

In this scene, even Claire's friend, who is another die hard shipper admits that they don't need it on the show if they have their fanfics. This is one of the many scenes where I actually had to wonder whether we were actually supposed to like Claire or not? (+10)

I love how she demonizes panel moderation and question vetting here. Because seriously, if they *didn't* do this at conventions (well, see the Avengers panel in the link I mentioned earlier) and you'd have so many uncomfortable questions. Some questions still slip through, yeah, but that's on the fans for saying something else to the mods before they actually ask the question. Some actors just don't want to answer questions about certain topics. And if they know it's something that's going to piss them off, then why would the fans want to do that to someone they *supposedly* respect? Oh yeah, because respect goes both ways.

Also, let me take a moment to catch you up on a little of the story here. Because Claire's feelings were kind of upset by Forest, the absolutely brilliant PR lady came up with the plan to invite her as a special guest to the rest of the convention circuit. Traveling WITH THE ACTORS and UNSUPERVISED on, get this, a tour bus, of all things. As if the situation wasn't ridiculous enough already the image of show and movie casts, especially big ones like the cast for Avengers traveling from con to con on a tour bus like some 90s pop band is freaking hilarious. Unfortunately, it also traps the actors with this chick who is obviously off her rocker, and ends up being where she somehow gains Forest's trust enough for him to tell her things he never should have because it's going to come back to bite him later when she blows stuff out of proportion and writes fake truths about him in RPF fanfics. And then PR lady proceeds to let her live tweet or whatever the panel and essentially trash talk everyone and yet this person who is supposed to be making sure the show stays in a good light so they can make another season, is totally okay with this? What the actual heck? As if the blatant attacks this books makes weren't bad enough the story itself has the sense of something written by a wishful tween.

All of this gets +100 sins

Poor, poor Forest. Apparently he's not allowed to say anything to this girl (+10 for toxic feminism)

This is so true here. Forest perceives the scene like a normal actor--he was cold. Which means he was obviously not thinking of any relationship between his character and the other one while shooting the scene, he was probably trying not to shiver. This just goes to show that these fans can't actually pull a scene up and prove anything with it. I love how everything this book does get right is just twisted to make actors and show writers look like idiots and uncaring jerks. And by the way, Claire, who the devil cares if you disagree? (+10)

Wow, Claire, how do YOU think it feels? HMMM????? You bloody hypocrite (+50)

And despite the fact that Claire has already probably completely ruined the chance for this show to get picked up for another season because of the bad press she alone has created, they are letting her actually physically moderate a panel. That means, having free rein to ask the actors anything she wants without being vetted because the mod is only supposed to go off a certain list, and then letting any fans ask any questions they want. (+50)

And then before the panel starts she sends out a message online to everyone there not to ask a question in protest. And EVERYONE somehow goes along with this. I don't care who you are, there is no fandom in this universe that would agree fully on one thing like this. There would be people against this shipping who would just say 'screw you' and stand up to make the actors feel less uncomfortable because they are GOOD DECENT people. And yes, Jamie here has every right to be done with the BS. If I were him, I'd never do another convention again. (+100)

And now, please see Part 2 of this review, because it's so long I decided to split it up into two sections. 

Review: LOST IN WONDERLAND by Nicky Peacock

Title/author: Lost In Wonderland (The Twisted and the Brave #1) by Nicky Peacock
Genre: YA, thriller, supernatural, horror
Rating: 3.75/5 stars
Synopsis: Monsters, serial killers, and imaginary friends—being a Wonderlander can be murder... 

Once upon a time, Kayla was lost. Then she found Wonderland, but not the one you know. Run by ex-government agents and funded by an eccentric Silicon Valley billionaire, this Wonderland is the name of a collective of highly trained vigilantes who hunt serial killers. Now Kayla, aka Mouse, works tirelessly alongside her fellow Wonderlanders, Rabbit and Cheshire, baiting dangerous murderers. But even her extensive training hasn’t prepared her for the return of her older brother…

Shilo has spent most of his life in an insane asylum, convinced his mother was abducted by a sinister Alaskan monster who lures the lost away to feast upon their flesh. And now he’s certain that his sister is in the same monster’s crosshairs. But if Shilo is going to save what’s left of his family, he’ll have to convince his sister that maybe, just maybe, we’re all a little mad.

Review:

I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review

So, first off, we have the premiss of this book which is hunting serial killers and a possible supernatural flare--two of my favorite things ever! And this book didn't disappoint, it was action packed, and exciting, and held the suspense of the story very well. I loved the illusions of Alice in Wonderland. It's not so much a retelling as a nod to the original story. I'm not really a huge Alice fan myself, but the way it was used in this book was awesome. 

Mouse was a likable main character, she was strong and did what she needed to do almost callously, to be honest, and it worked. While I kind of find it a little unrealistic that such young people would be able to hunt and kill serial killers so frequently without actually dying or getting caught by authorities, I loved the premiss. Overall it felt like a kind of off-beat version of Criminal Minds which is totally fine by me.

I also liked the supernatural aspect of the story, which I think fit in really well with it. I had to look up the Kushtaka lore, because I had never heard of it before, but from what I could tell it was pretty well portrayed. And the whole is the monster real or is it not? gave the story an extra flare of suspense.

The only thing I had a problem with is that I wish the story was longer. I really liked what we got to read, but I would have liked more. It read almost like a movie because the chapters were so short they seemed more like scenes, and there wasn't a ton of details given at any one point. The story could easily have been twice as long and not lost any of it's fast pacing. But apart from that, I enjoyed it a lot!

Rating: 3.75/5 stars.

Recommended for: Fans of dark supernatural/suspense and anyone who wanted a mix of the supernatural with your Criminal Minds Ages 16 and up.

Review: I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER by Dan Wells

Title/ Author: I Am Not a Serial Killer (John Cleaver #1) by Dan Wells
Genre: Thriller, mystery, Supernatural,
Rating: 4/5 stars
Synopsis:John Wayne Cleaver is dangerous, and he knows it.

He's spent his life doing his best not to live up to his potential.

He's obsessed with serial killers, but really doesn't want to become one. So for his own sake, and the safety of those around him, he lives by rigid rules he's written for himself, practicing normal life as if it were a private religion that could save him from damnation.

Dead bodies are normal to John. He likes them, actually. They don't demand or expect the empathy he's unable to offer. Perhaps that's what gives him the objectivity to recognize that there's something different about the body the police have just found behind the Wash-n-Dry Laundromat---and to appreciate what that difference means.

Now, for the first time, John has to confront a danger outside himself, a threat he can't control, a menace to everything and everyone he would love, if only he could.

Dan Wells's debut novel is the first volume of a trilogy that will keep you awake and then haunt your dreams.

Review

Thoughts on the Overall Book: I picked this book up expecting something akin to I Hunt Killers and…didn't really get that. The synopsis of this book fails to mention the supernatural element so that was a little jarring. Once I got past that though, I was able to enjoy the book more.

Cover--Yea or Nay: It's kind of bland, but I do like it, I think it works for the kind of book this is.

Characters: John Wayne Carver…I'm still a little unsure how I really feel about him. While I was able to sympathize and even relate to Jazz Dent in I Hunt Killers I'm not sure I was totally able to do that with John who is definitely more of a psychopath and rather frightening. Maybe I liked him because of that? I enjoyed reading about him and from his point of view too. It was an interesting perspective to have and I totally applaud the author for being able to get into that character--and just for going there in the first place. I know how scary that can be as an author. So I don't know that I can say I really liked him, but I did like reading about him. It was interesting reading about the other characters from his point of view too. I actually liked his friend Max and Brooke as well. I sort of felt sorry for his mom, but at the same time, I think she could have done more to understand his condition and not just either freak out or pretend nothing is wrong, but I guess that's just human nature. Mr. Crowley was an interesting character. (view spoiler)

The Romance: None. I don't even think I'm going to call a budding romance between John and Brooke yet.

Writing Style: I did love the writing style. As I said before I always applaud authors for going out of their normal comfort zones (or at least I hope they are) and writing characters who go beyond reluctant or anti-heroes to maybe even past dark hero status. To put yourself in the head of a potential serial killer is a feat of skill, especially if you can make it sound accurate which Dan Wells does. And the fact that it's in first person makes it even better, and makes the reader experience some uncomfortable moments.

Accuracy/ Believability: Despite the supernatural element, the psychological depictions of John's character are spot on, and I really appreciate the research the author must have had to do into psychological disorders and serial killers.

Problems/What bothered me: As I mentioned before, my only complaint was that I thought demons were more boring than serial killers. I know there's something wrong with me...

Conclusion: 4 stars. I do look forward to continuing this series. Now that I know what I'm getting into, I think I'll be able to pick up the next book with fresh eyes and enjoy it more without the jarring realization that it's supernatural.

Recommended Audience: Girl or guy read, 17 and up. Fans of I Hunt Killers, who would like to see it crossed with Supernatural would like this. And for the record, it's actually less gritty than I Hunt Killers as well. Even though I think this is classed as 'adult' I would say, at least the first book, reads like YA.

(Read this review with spoilers on Goodreads)

Review: GHOST HOUSE by Alexandra Adornetto

Title/ Author: Ghost House by Alexandra Adornetto
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Supernatural, Romance
Rating: 3/5 stars
Synopsis: From the New York Times bestselling author of Halo comes the start of a beautiful and powerful new series.

After the loss of her mother, Chloe Kennedy starts seeing the ghosts that haunted her as a young girl again. Spending time at her grandmother's country estate in the south of England is her chance to get away from her grief and the spirits that haunt her. Until she meets a mysterious stranger…

Alexander Reade is 157 years dead, with secrets darker than the lake surrounding Grange Hall and a lifelike presence that draws Chloe more strongly than any ghost before. But the bond between them awakens the vengeful spirit of Alexander's past love, Isobel. And she will stop at nothing to destroy anyone who threatens to take him from her.

To stop Isobel, Chloe must push her developing abilities to their most dangerous limits, even if it means losing Alex forever… and giving the hungry dead a chance to claim her for their own.

Review:

Thoughts on the Overall Book: I actually ended up liking this book more than I expected to. Every YA romance I've picked up lately has been annoying, but this one was actually enjoyable with likable characters. Plus an awesome setting always helps. I can't really hate any book set in an English manor house when ghosts are involved ;)

Cover--Yea or Nay: I do like the cover…but not the guy on it. He's just too bleh.

Characters: Chloe is actually a very likable and sympathetic character for this sort of book. She doesn't have an attitude, and when she does show a little bit of one, I can understand why she feels that way, and she has just lost her mother when the book begins. Considering what she's gone through, I think she handles herself pretty well. Plus she's sweet to her younger brother, and I always think it makes a character better if they are a good elder sibling. The only complaint I had about her character was her infatuation with Alex because it was a little too fast and without explanation for me, but besides that, I did like her. I also really liked her younger brother Rory. he was adorable and quiet and I just wanted to hug him. I liked her grandma as well, I actually would have liked to see more of her. I didn't mind Alex as such; he wasn't really dislikable, I just didn't overly care for him. He really didn't have enough character for me to give an opinion on and what you find out about his backstory, didn't make me sympathetic to him at all. Likewise with Isobel. I didn't feel sorry for her at all, she was obviously the reason this whole mess happened and Alex was just as guilty for not being a man and stepping up. If he wanted her so badly, he should have said so, not snuck around like a coward. And I really didn't see why her husband was so bad to begin with, we only ever were told he was (view spoiler) Anyway, so I couldn't really feel bad for Alex. My favorite character was Joe. He was just so sweet, and funny, and the perfect guy, really. And it goes without saying that I loved Mavis and May, the paranormal investigator sisters. They were really fun.

The Romance: It wasn't exactly terrible, but it was sort of borderline insta-love. Though to be fair, I suppose having a handsome ghost hanging around would be a little bit mind-boggling. This was also a book that had a potential for a love triangle and didn't, and, this might sound odd, but I almost wish it had. Here's why: I didn't really like Chloe and Alex together. We pretty much know it's sort of impossible, plus it just seems like he's two-timing because of Isobel. And, honestly, if he hadn't professed his feelings for Chloe that happened way too fast to be at all genuine, this whole problem never would have happened, and just like in his past, he can't be man enough to fix it. I really wish Chloe had paid more attention to Joe, I really liked them together and while there is some hints, it was obvious she still totally went for Mr. Ghosty. So yeah, that was my main issue with this book. I just couldn't understand her infatuation with Alex and even more, the fact that she never questioned his loyalty to her because of his relationships with Isobel.

Writing Style: Nothing really special, but not bad. It was first person past tense which was nice. Chloe wasn't a bad character to have as a narrator. And actually, I will say, that despite the fact this is a romance, she really didn't spend a lot of time mooning over the guys, there was a little bit of it, but I think the action and the problems with Isobel carried the book forward so that it was more than just all the blah romance stuff that gets on my nerves after a while. There were parts that were actually scary too, and I loved the overall setting. The whole thing felt like a misty moorland which is always awesome. Pretty much any time you give me a book with ghosts set in England I will at least enjoy it for that alone.

Accuracy/ Believability: Not totally applicable, but there was a nice amount of traditional folklore, what with the salt and lavender and other ghost-repelling herbs. Though it would have been easier if they had just called in the Winchesters to salt and burn ;P

Problems/What bothered me: Aside from the romantic issues that I already addressed I didn't have any other problems with this book. And I am interesting in continuing the series, even though I have a feeling it might get more into the annoying territory later on.

Conclusion: 3 stars. A quick and enjoyable read despite a couple issues I had. I'm interested to see where it goes next.

Recommended Audience: Girl read, ages 16 and up. Would probably appeal to readers who enjoyed Anna Dressed in Blood though it's more romance than horror.

(Read this review with spoilers on Goodreads)