It’s been a while since I dove into a Dan Brown book. I do enjoy his Robert Langdon adventures, and I love how he takes elements from the real world, be it organizations, technology, art, architecture, religion, science and marry them into engaging popcorn thrill ride narratives. Origin is no different, but also includes a…
Tag: 2017
Song of the Dark Crystal (2017) – J.M. Lee
The second novel in The Dark Crystal series by J.M. Lee (again featuring illustrations by Cory Godbey) picks up just after the events of the first book, and actually ties in with episode four of The Age of Resistance series on Netflix, though some of the details of characters meeting have changed since the novel…
Meddling Kids (2017) – Edgar Cantero
When I was a kid I loved reading the Hardy Boys (I could knock out a book in a day – which to me at the time was amazing, and I loved those little blue hardcover books). Between ages 11 and 12, I danced around the edges of things that could be interpreted as scary,…
The Grip of It (2017) – Jac Jemc
I threw a google search into the system lately for best haunted house books, and scariest books and garnered a nice list of novels I would be keen to read, The Grip of It falls into the haunted house category and it’s a solid, and quick read. With a story that gets under your skin…
Soul of the Border (2019) – Matteo Righetto
Releasing this week from House of Anansi Press is the English translation of Matteo Righetto’s Soul of the Border. Released in Italy in 2017, the novel became a bestseller and is now getting it’s English release. A brisk, cinematic tale; it’s short chapters deliver a story that sees a young woman in search of her…
Paprebacks From Hell (2017) – Grady Hendrix
Grady Hendrix wowed and delighted me with his nostalgia, and horror filled, My Best Friend’s Exorcism, and I’m always on the look out for the other books he’s written. So when I came across his non-fiction book, Paperbacks From Hell, documenting the paperback horror novels of the 70s and 80s, I had to grab it…
TAD 2018: The Inhabitant (2017) – Guillermo Amoedo
It’s unfortunate that The Exorcist is considered the gold standard in horror films, because the film having its Canadian Premiere at the Scotiabank Theatre as part of the Toronto After Dark film festival is no doubt going to draw comparisons because of it’s subject matter. And that is unfortunate, because the Mexican/Chilean coproduction of The…
TAD2018: Tigers Are Not Afraid (2017) – Issa Lopez
Toronto After Dark gets underway this evening at the Scotiabank Theatre with its opening night film, Tigers Are Not Afraid. Hailing from Mexico, this film kicks off the festival with a darkly beautiful story that has hints of del Toro, and invites us into the troubled lives of a group of children. Screening at 7pm…
Star Wars: Rebel Rising (2017) – Beth Revis
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… I am truly enjoying the new canon Star Wars series, yes, I mourn some of the lost stories, now relegated to the Legends pile, but the new novels, comics, television series, and of course, the movies, all tie in with one another. Things are checked,…
Star Wars: Phasma (2017) – Delilah S. Dawson
It’s been awhile since I dived into a Star Wars novel, but I got my hands on Phasma, a novel about one of the new characters introduced in the new Star Wars Trilogy and found myself swept up in the canon tale of who she is, what drives her, and how far she is willing…
Persepolis Rising (2017) – James S.A. Corey
The seventh volume in the brilliant, and highly enjoyable science fiction series, The Expanse, finally finds its way to the Book Shelf this week, and it was so worth the wait. I love this series so much, and this book, Persepolis Rising does two things that haven’t really happened in the series before: there’s a…
Paddington 2 (2017) – Blu-Ray Review
Hitting blu-ray and DVD today from Warner Brothers is the brilliant follow-up to the 2014 hit, Paddington. Ben Whishaw returns to voice the iconic bear in the red hat and the blue duffle coat, as he continues to win hearts around London, and the world. The first film boasted a truckload of recognisable English talent,…
