Hell Reviews - Supernatural: Fresh Meat

Synopsis: A rash of strange deaths in the Tahoe National Forest bring Sam, Dean and Bobby to the Sierra Nevada mountains to hunt a monster with a taste for human flesh. Soon walking corpses, bodies with missing organs, and attacks by a mysterious flying creature lead the trio to a cunning and deadly foe which can assume a human form and will do anything to survive.

Woo! I bought the latest Supernatural book, Mythmaker, today! I still haven't started reading Cold Fire yet, but it's up there on my list to do and once I've read that and Mythmaker I will be reviewing them, but for now on with the show!

Wow...kudos to Alice Henderson.
This is the third book in a row that has proven to be bloody great.
I zoomed through this book like there was no tomorrow and it got me really pumped to read the next in the series (too bad it wasn't out at the time).

Once again the brothers were pretty much on point and all the interactions between them and the other characters were as you'd expect in the show.
I can't find much to fault in this on honestly, Sam and Dean seemed to share about as much story time as one another, even when they were split up and that was honestly a pleasant change considering some of the novels previous to this one.

The case is very reminiscent of the wendigo case from season one and I, personally, thought it was a riot and a total game changer.
There were instances where you thought something was happening and it took a different turn.
Each chapter was filled with enough information to keep you fascinated in the case and mythology, without becoming too much and bogging you down with more notes than action and that is an important balance to get in a Supernatural novel.
Each segment didn't drag on when Sam and Dean were briefly split up and that was such a pleasant change of pace that it felt almost refreshing in a way.

I know this isn't a long review but there isn't much to say when I don't have anything to complain about.
Alice did a fantastic job with this novel and I, for one, hope that she is the author of a future novel in this particular series.

Hell Reviews - Supernatural: Rite of Passage

Synopsis: As young children, Sam and Dean lost their mother to a mysterious supernatural force. In the years that followed, their father taught them about the paranormal evil that exists in the dark corners of America, and taught them how to kill it. As adults, after their father s demonic death, they eventually discovered that they were descended from a long line of hunters and now continue their mission. Laurel Hill, New Jersey, is beginning to look like one of the unluckiest places on Earth when a succession of mishaps, outbreaks and disasters hit the town. But Sam and Dean Winchester suspect that the events are more than just bad luck and decide to investigate. Along with Bobby Singer, the brothers question witnesses and check accident scenes and soon realize that a powerful Japanese demon is encouraging the chaos. But the demon has bigger plans than just spreading disorder and carnage, and Sam and Dean are going to need to make their own luck to stop the impending catastrophe. A Supernatural novel that reveals a previously unseen adventure for the Winchester brothers, from the hit TV series!

Once again John Passarella...you did good.
This is yet another enjoyable novel by someone who is fast becoming my favourite author of the Supernatural novel series.
Yet again, the brothers in the hands of this author shine through and feel like the ones we'd been acquainted to for about six years at the point this book had been published.

The case is one that really pulls you in, from start to go I found myself interested and wanting more. Unlike other novels where I felt like I'd been reading for years rather than a few hours.
I think it seems fair to say that this particular storyline would fascinate me however, it involves a Japanese demon and if there's one thing Hell loves, it's Japanese mythology and demons.

As I'd expect with John's novels after the last one, Sam and Dean were pretty on point in comparison to their TV series counterparts.
Once again the bond was there, the playful little quips at each other and the typical Winchester co-dependence, only this time they were accompanied by an old friend who wasn't just a throw in, once off character for the sake of plot.
It was nice to see Bobby along for the ride too, as far as I'm concerned we don't see enough of him.
I admit that I am a Bobby fan, if they made a spin off with Bobby and Rufus, I'd watch the hell out of that! I'd rather have that than the Wayward Daughters crap most seem to want. (This may be mostly because I find Claire insufferable.)
I understand personal preference, but the Bobby and Rufus duo is beyond one of my favourites.
To read about him interacting with the boys really made this novel all the more better, not perfect by a long shot, but it added a lot more to the story than you perhaps my realise.

Part of the books focus is also about Sam coping with the break in the wall that's keeping him walking.
Seeing Sam struggle to keep grips on reality and tell what is and what isn't fictional was interesting, yet it also didn't take over the whole storyline which is the kind of focus you want on something like that.
As with the series I felt pretty bad for him, it seems like a terrible thing to have to live with.

Overall, it was pretty damn enjoyable, one of the better novels in the series and worth a read.
I look forward to checking out his next one.

Hell Reviews - Supernatural: Night Terror

Synopsis: Alerted to strange happenings in Clayton Falls, Colorado, Bobby sends the boys to check it out. A speeding car with no driver, a homeless man pursued by a massive Gila monster, a little boy chased by uprooted trees it all sounds like the stuff of nightmares. The boys fight to survive a series of terrifying night times, realizing that sometimes the nightmares don't go away even when you're awake...
(Synopsis has been corrected...there were a few grammar mistakes on Amazon.)


Oh, John.
Darling John Passarella.
When it comes to the Supernatural novels...you are quickly becoming one of my favourite authors along with Keith R.A.Decandido.
With your grammar also being a vast improvement on some of the previous novels too, the three that shall not be mentioned against, you are like an angel brought down from book heaven to bestow upon us this wonderful novel.
I guess what I'm trying to say is:

We're cool man.
This novel, along with Rite of Passage, is one of the best novels in this series.
This is the same author who has just brought out the latest book (as of writing this) Cold Fire, which I am yet to read. Coming this month is another book in the series by Tim Waggoner who is also great at writing Supernatural books and he's writing Mythmaker, but more about him next week.
For now it's about John Passarella and his nightmare fuel.
Literally.
So lets begin!

Straight off the bat I can say that the brother's are back together in this one!
Winchester hugs for all!

With Soulless Sam out of the picture the Winchester bond is back in business and John is yet another author who catches their relationship perfectly.
There's not much more to say on that, Sam and Dean are back on track and it makes for some great reading in Passarella's capable hands.
Thankfully in this book there aren't any other primary characters that take attention away from the pinnacle twosome that you're there for and boy does that make a difference.
The story doesn't feel over packed and weak because it's just the boys on another case.
We don't have to sit through the ridiculously played out introductions of characters who will never appear again and have them take up more time that ultimately ends up being wasted.
Can't say the same about characters overstaying their welcome in the show, but I digress.

The case is one that  I thoroughly enjoyed and knew I would straight from the get go. I admit that I was slightly hesitant when I found out another one was coming out, after the last three travesties I was worried what this novel would bring.
The synopsis did give me more hope and the fact it was a completely different author sold me on the idea.
I love things about nightmares becoming a reality, it's one of those subjects where someone could tell me a movie involving it is horrible and I'll still want to watch it.
I guess I like delving into the psyche of people and find out their inner workings, I suppose it appeases the part of me that's more 'stalk and mentally torment your victims'.
And boy, are some of these nightmares understandable, especially the spiders.
Man, I freakin' hate spiders.
Having common yet understandable nightmares coming to life definitely helped you feel for the characters, something many of the past cases and kind of struggled to do.
You know as a fellow human being that you should feel compassion for these people and yet half the time I just never really cared, but the thought of someone struggling with a massive spider sent a cold shiver down my spine.
I'm bad enough with small spiders that are barely the size of my fingertip, let alone one the size of a car.

Now whilst I enjoyed the whole nightmare aspect, I do wish we had spent more time on Sam and Dean's fears.
Bit of a spoiler here.
But you seem one of them face off against the nightmare ejected Soulless Sam and it just didn't last long enough for my personal preference, it was only about a page and a half long and I think it would have been wonderful if that had been explored a little longer or even been a main part of the story honestly.
I mean with Sam being fragile as it is and having to be careful of the wall and all that literal hell, it'd have been interesting to see how he and Dean would react to odd goings on involving the younger Winchester, but I guess you have to be careful with the original show storyline.

Other than I have no complaints.
It's a great novel that was enjoyable to read and had I not had to keep pausing between reads I'd have shot through it within a few hours, there were some nights where I was meant to be sleeping for work the next day and was instead led in bed reading by torchlight.
I'd blame this book for my terrible sleeping pattern, but I know that started a while before it.
Overall, it's a solid book and definitely worth a read for any fan of Supernatural.

Also, there's my original review again!

Hell Reviews - Supernatural: Coyote's Kiss.

Synopsis: A truck full of illegal Mexican immigrants slaughtered with supernatural force is found by the side of a road. Trying to find answers, Sam and Dean are plunged into the dangerous world that exists along the Mexican border. They encounter a tattooed, pistol-packing bandita on a motorcycle who seems be everywhere they go before they get there. Xochi Cazadora draws them into a whole new world of monsters…

Right...well right off the bat I can tell you that Coyote's Kiss is a vast improvement to One Year Gone, sadly that isn't much of a positive as that isn't exactly a tough challenge.
I have read fanfiction better than One Year Gone.
However, does that mean Coyote's Kiss is a masterpiece?
Heck no, this is a Supernatural novel.
Supernatural being the cheesy horror show it is already kind of strikes out the novels being masterpieces, but they can be enjoyable.
Coyote's Kiss reaches about the middle level of entertainment for me.
It was alright, but definitely needed some sanding down.

Now the case itself was pretty damn enjoyable, I liked the different kind of setting it offered and I do love the different monsters they bring into the novels.
I wouldn't say this novel has a stand out case compared to some of the other books, but it's an enjoyable one for the duration that you're reading, which is more than I could say for the last two.
One thing I did note is that once again, it's a Dean based book.
I know Sam isn't one of those characters that everyone loves, I'm surprised actually by how many people claim to actually dislike him. Naturally I may be shocked as I'm a Sam-girl myself, I didn't know he was 'that' disliked, there's a surprising amount of negativity towards that particular character.
Some people have legitimate reasons for not liking him, such as he's too whiney and broody.
Others dislike him purely because he gets in the way of their Destiel ship.
But either way it all surprised me a bit.
Yes, Sam can be an unbearable prick at times (looking at you season 4 Sam) but most characters have redeemable factors, not saying he has to be your favourite character ever, but still....these latest authors seem to like Dean to a point where Sam is just in the background.
When you're a fan like I am, then I'd like to read about both of them. Sure I prefer Sam, but I enjoy Dean too and it seems a little unfair that one brother gets more attention than the other.
In episodes it's understandable, but even in the monster of the week episodes there's an equal amount of each Winchester.
This also would have been a chance to delve further into the soulless Sam story, but that was a severely wasted opportunity.

One of the problems is that, whilst the case is a good one, the focus isn't so much on the case as it is on this new character they introduced in the book.
Yes, here we go again with Hell disliking a female character, but I have my reasons.
I for one am not someone who likes characters that are so 'bad ass' that it comes across as obnoxiousness. In my opinion, this is something that blonde Ruby had that made me dislike her, and this new female hunter Xochi has it in the bucket full.
She's not only bad-ass and has a motorbike, but she's also fiercely independent and can do anything...to the point where she's essentially a terrible Mary-Sue that bores you to death and makes you eyeroll at every turn.
I don't like it when characters are brought in that overshadow Sam and Dean, I know there will be people out there better than them just as there would be worse than them, but when this new character takes up 90% of the story then it's far too excessive.
If you wanted to write about that specific character then write them in an original novel.
Don't throw this out and then slap the Supernatural name on it, knowing fans will pick it up.
The problem with that is, whilst it'd be a clever move, you will have people who dislike it severely as they came for the brothers, not your original character.

Another thing is that once again, Dean is pushed into the 'love interest' category to the point where it's groan worthy.
Why is it that when a female character is introduced they seem to have to have something with one of the brothers?
Shockingly, that doesn't always happen, but I can bet you if it's Dean based and there's a lead female character....he'll probably be paired off with her.
Then you get moments like when they both have to share motorbikes with two girls, one is too young to be a 'threat' here who rides with Sam and Dean gets to ride with our new, bad ass favourite hunter. I'm sure you can guess that it gets awkward, what with him being male, riding behind a female on a rather shaky bike.
I'm sure I don't need to delve further.
What did this add to the story?
Nothing but an eye roll and a weary sigh.
I am one of these people that dislikes romance as a general form, I'll try to avoid watching things involving romance, I don't read romance novels, but I know it's unavoidable at certain times.
But bugger me does this seem so forced and it makes me cringe.
I am reading this novel for Sam and Dean, not for Xochi and Dean and Sam who occasionally gets a mention.
Don't get me wrong, I can take romance and love interests...when that character is actually decently written and enjoyable.
Which is horrible for me to say, I don't like accusing characters of being Mary Sues and the term is thrown around too easily, but with Xochi it's so true.
If you got on with the bad ass, Mexican huntress then good for you, but I couldn't stand her.

I guess all in all it's just a little frustrating that so much time is spent on Xochi and Dean, whilst Sam's character was written so weakly like he was just a second thought to their new character.
Dean's relationship with this new hunter would have been fun and refreshing had she not been so 'over powered', so to speak, and taken away from the original hunting plot.
Once again I miss the brotherly bond, but with Sam being soulless still it's to be expected.

Overall it's a good book, but it's a rather meh Supernatural book.
I'll just put it aside and leave it as a one off read.

Hell Reviews - Supernatural: One Year Gone

Synopsis: A Supernatural novel that reveals a previously unseen adventure for the Winchester brothers, from the hit TV series! Twenty-seven years ago, Sam and Dean Winchester lost their mother to a demonic supernatural force. Following the tragedy, their father taught the boys everything about the paranormal evil that lives in the dark corners of America... and how to kill it. This story will fill in gaps in the Supernatural timeline thanks to the author s first-hand knowledge of the show and unrivalled access to the show s creator. Dean believes that Sam is in Hell so he is trying to keep his promise to his brother and live a normal live with Lisa and Ben. When he realizes that a spell in the Necronomicon could raise Lucifer and therefore Sam, he convinces his new family to travel with him on vacation to Salem. Meanwhile Sam is not as far away as Dean thinks and is determined to protect his brother from the Salem witches... Eric Kripke (creator and executive producer of Supernatural) has written a foreword for the book.

Oh boy, here we have it people, the crème of the crop of the bad Supernatural novels.

The one at the very top where I’d have to stop repeatedly and comprehend what I had just read, if it wasn’t just blatant mistakes on when Sam’s birthday is (which kind of irked me for reasons to be explained) then it was the awful porn like quotes:

Paraphrase of a quote because Hell is too lazy to flip through the book and find the actual thing:

Random blatantly witch, bad guy girl from the past to Sam: You remind me of a horse my family used to own.

Sam, kind of smirking I think, he’s soulless and doesn’t care about whatever: Well then giddy up.

What….what was that?!

Did I just slip into an erotic book by accident?

Look Sam, you’re my favourite character in the show and always have been. Most variations of you have been hot beyond believe, from moody Sam to Lucifer!Sam to soulless Sam, heck even demon blood Sam would have been hot if it wasn’t for the whole out of character sleeping with a demon thing (then trust her over your own brother?! What.the.hell?)…but bugger me if you did that to me I’d be laughing too hard to go any further with you, naked or otherwise.

Just what is that?
Dear god.

So, in case you didn’t get it, One Year Gone is based on that year or so between when Sam jumped into the pit and when Dean got pulled back into the game.

Which is for the best really, I mean…come on Lisa, you were bit of a meh character.
“You shoved my son!”
Yeah…after he was warned to stay the hell away and didn’t listen and put himself in danger, the little shit deserved to get more than shoved.
Maybe if you taught your kid to listen every once in a while it wouldn’t be an issue.
Forced conflict is forced.
Anyway, I digress.
The point is that you spend a lot of time flitting between, Sam’s case, Dean looking for the Necronimicon whilst acting like he’s there for holiday time with the new family and short passages of a similar case to Sam’s in past with what I believe is their ancestors.

Now the positive is that I really enjoyed the parts in the past, those parts I found really fascinating.

We had a look at past ancestors never mentioned before during the Salem Witch trials, which was one of my favourite subjects to learn about in English class. (Not to brag, but I got a B in that subject and an A in a law paper…yeah.)
This part was something new and fresh, brand new characters to form opinions on whilst being linked to our favourite brothers, it was all mayhem and it was awesome.

Sadly that’s all there is to the good of this book, which is a serious shame.

Everything else is just a glob of ‘what?’
There’s just a bunch of things that could have been promising, I mean come on there’s Dean’s worst enemy next to demons, witches, and they just posed such a small threat that it wasn’t worth the energy that getting excited would have used.
Sam is off hunting by himself and being soulless, once again could be promising but turns out to be a complete was of time unless you wish to see him pick up some witch to bang and do nothing else that’s really memorable.
Trust me, after the ‘giddy up’ nothing else sticks out for Sam, that was so bad that I had to share it with my best friend the second I was online after reading it.
When ‘that’ is all that sticks out about one of the main characters, then you know there’s an issue.

The main flaw of this book is that it drags so much.

I knew what I was getting into and I didn’t go in expecting the brother’s to be magically reunited only for Dean to magically lose his memory by the end of the book so it can continue with the canon story, I mean that’d be ridiculous even for Supernatural’s standards.
However the promise of finding out how they were coping separated, one ‘settled down’ but still obsessed with finding a way to help his brother, whilst the other being completely emotionless and just hunting because it’s what he knew during that dark time of having no soul would have been so interesting, if done right.
But Rebecca added nothing that gave these two separate and potentially interesting stories life.
It’s so cardboard and boring and bugger me, Lisa and Ben are still annoying as all heck.
The main thing about Supernatural is its focus on the family bond, the chemistry between Sam and Dean, and the actors playing them on screen, is vital for the stories to work.
Without that there’s nothing to keep you interested and their understandable separation in this book just makes it drag out for so long that it almost became a chore to read it.
I wasn’t going in blind, I knew it was going to be about their time separated and looked forward to it, but it all just fell so short that eventually I was pushing myself to get to the end and almost gave up on it altogether a few times.
If it hadn’t been for the time jumps to the past at random times, I wouldn’t have bothered.

Another flaw is that it’s just far too coincidental.

Now any Supernatural fan will know that coincidence and the Winchesters go hand in hand, but this book takes the biscuit sometimes.
You expect Sam and Dean to get out of being tied up with relative ease to beat the bad guys if it’s a one off episode, you expect clues to turn up in ridiculous circumstances so the plot can progress within its hour time slot, but this just got ridiculous.
Let me give you an example, don’t expect explicit details as I tried to bleach this out of my brain.
There’s a part where Dean has to sneak into somewhere and Lisa was like; “Here’s some balaclavas so no one recognises us, I packed them from home.”

…What?!

What?!

You’re going to Salem! Why would you pack freaking balaclavas unless you’re expecting to rob a place whilst there?!
Now, this may be due to my geographical ignorance, so please do correct me if I’m wrong because I really need a peace of mind over this, but is there a reason in Salem to pack balaclavas?
Is it normal to look at your luggage and think; “Well we’re going to Salem, better pack those balaclavas.”?
Please help me, this is keeping me up at night and that occurred five years ago.

My main problem here is that author themselves.

If this was some random thrown in author then it may have been different if they had written exactly the same things, sure the book still would have been bad but perhaps I’d have just tucked it away and not thought about it again.

However, unlike my usual self I glanced over the foreword of this book which is a small statement from the creator of Supernatural, Eric Kripke himself.
In this statement he says how we’re lucky to have this book in our ‘hot hands’ because it’s written by someone who knows Eric Kripke’s story and what he envisioned for Supernatural inside and out and someone who has actually worked on the show.
If that’s the case then how the hell did we get this crapfest of a book?
The person is supposed to know all the intricate little details flitting around in Kripke’s mind better than he does, he said so himself in that very same statement, so how can so much feel so wrong?
If she’s meant to know the show so well how can she gets Sam’s birth date wrong? (Which I know they do in season 11 too, I haven’t gotten there yet but I saw the screen shot….is it that hard to remember May 2^nd? Or is something else going on?)
I think this is why this book felt so disappointing and it made it clear that David Reed was the superior writer of their co-produced previous book, The Unholy Cause.
After that huge hype up of Rebecca, I expected more and was left high and dry.

So, those are all my gripes.

I feel so much better getting that off my chest.

 

I found this one so bad that it was one of my first reviews I ever actually wrote on Amazon.
Look…right there, at the top…it’s me!

 

Only one person found it helpful?! Come on…it’s worth at least two helpful ratings!
I feel like I was trying to be too nice, on recollection it’s definitely not worth the three stars I gave it.

Hell Reviews - Supernatural: War of the Sons - and I guess bit of a small rant.

Synopsis: This is a Supernatural novel that reveals a previously unseen adventure for the Winchester brothers, from the hit ITV series! Twenty-three years ago, Sam and Dean Winchester lost their mother to a demonic supernatural force. Following the tragedy, their father taught the boys everything about the paranormal evil that lives in the dark corners of America...and how to kill it. On the hunt for Lucifer, the boys find themselves in a small town in South Dakota where they meet Don - an angel with a proposition...How far will the boys go to uncover the secret Satan never wanted them to find out?

So here we have a time travel novel mixed in with the Supernatural verse, and compared to the few episodes we've been given over the years that involved canonical time travel...this book really didn't keep up with them.
Unfortinately Rebecca and David just didn't catch the Supernatural feel in this novel.
Now I'll be the first to say that this isn't the worst in the series, hooboy no...we'll be getting to that one soon enough, but I did find some issues with this one and it sticks out as a serious 'meh' one.

I have been with the series since it premiered in 2005, I'm pretty (read as a lot) obsessed with it, but not to the point where it takes over my life and I don't particularly partake in the fandom much. Sure I write fanfiction and kind of throw that out there for people to consume if they wish, but I don't run a dedication blog to my favourite character, heck aside from one small site I check I don't really pay attention to the actors themselves.
However, I am also not one of those fans that will blindly give something a good rating and five stars purely because it is Supernatural related and I can be critical. Heck...I'm still worried I made someone take down their own Supernatural story from Amazon for giving it an average review (I'm sure it was just legal stuff, but it's still kinda funny how it was up until I wrote the first review and then they both disappeared.)
Just because you like it, doesn't make everything associated with it good.
This is one of those novels that falls in line with deserving a more critical look despite the brand name.

This book doesn't do the well established characters justice.
By this point the show was on it's fifth season and neither authors seemed to pick up on Sam and Dean's personalities at all.
Sam is a complete non entity, I know it's something he seems to suffer from in some later seasons. Honestly they completely obliterate their characters later on (looking at you season eight, with Sam being weird and...just what was that Amelia shit?...Sam had good hair though) but it's all put down as 'character building.
Dean seems to be the main focus of this novel and that'd be cool...if they hadn't ruined it.
Yes I know Dean is into the ladies, but never have I come across him being as...I guess misogynistic as he seems to be in this particular book.
We know the older Winchester is bit of a lady killer, but this book takes it to a level that I feel even Dean wouldn't reach, it's like the writers don't know the difference between a little flirty and just downright skeevy.

From what I recall of 'Don the angel' I thought he was alright, but seeing as I don't remember him all that well he clearly didn't leave a lasting impression.
One person who did leave a lasting impression is the main female of the novel....I apparently loved her so much I can't even remember her name, that just shows how much I adored her! (Tries not to eye roll.)
I will openly admit to being one of 'those' people, you know the ones who don't like most of the female characters in the show.
No, it has nothing to do with 'slash shipping', I don't ship, I never have in anything I've watched (Okay...except Oz and Willow, loved them, but I'm biased because I love werewolves.)
No, it had nothing to do purely with the fact they are female, I dislike many male characters too.
It's because they're all written the same and that is atrociously.
I don't believe other characters should be altered just to make other characters look good, it's so forced and cringeworthy (I'll get hate for this...but looking at you Charlie.)
Of course there are exceptions, I liked Ellen and Jessica, for all of the five minutes of screen time she had, I quite like Donna too...and from the little shots I've seen of this new Reaper in season 11 I think she's alright too, everyone else is just insufferable.
Sadly whatshername from the book is no different and her interactions with Dean made me grimace and hold in a groan every time.
Yay for obvious and forced sexual tension.
Have fun with that grandma you visit when you're back in your own time, Dean. (Yes, that is relevant to the book.)

One thing I never picked up on though is what Lucifer could be wanting to hide from them, it's Lucifer...I doubt he'd give a big enough shit to need to hide anything as long as he got the vessel he needs to push his plan into motion.
I like the whole idea of the scripts, but I didn't see anything that was 'secret worthy' enough for the devil himself to worry about.
He's off killing whole groups of people and not caring because he's a grade A dickbag.

Overall, it's a disappointing read, and when I was finished I was eager to jump onto the next book that was waiting for me.
Boy....would I regret that one....
Sorry Rebecca, but even if you worked on the show it seems you have along way to go, as your next novel proves.

Hell Reviews - Supernatural: The Unholy Cause

Synopsis: A Supernatural novel that reveals a previously unseen adventure for the Winchester brothers, from the hit ITV series!Twenty-seven years ago, Sam and Dean Winchester lost their mother to a mysterious and demonic supernatural force. In the years after, their father, John, taught them about the paranormal evil that lives in the dark corners and on the back roads of America…and he taught them how to kill it. Way back in April 1862, Confederate Captain Jubal Beauchamp leads a charge across a Georgia battleground… Fast forward to 2009 and a civil war re-enactment becomes all too real. When Sam and Dean head down south to investigate they find that history has got somewhat out of hand… ar battle re-enactment has gone very badly wrong...


The Unholy Cause was actually a pretty good book, Joe Schreiber made a good addition to the series of novels.
The case is somewhat memorable, not the most memorable of the collection but it's definitely up there with some of the better written books.

As someone who doesn't know much about re-enactments this book really did help give insight into how they work and what takes place, Joe went into great detail to set the scene and it helped a re-enactment newbie like me to picture everything without any prior knowledge.
The great thing is that there's plenty of detail but it never gets to the point of being boing or tedious, nor does it seem to take away from the case or side track to the point where you forget what you're initially reading.

Joe takes the well known characters and does a fantastic job in keeping them as themselves, an issue, as mentioned before, that many people seem to have trouble doing.
Even the professional show writers themselves.
Like the few before him Joe managed to capture the famous banter of the Winchesters and made you feel like you were just along on the ride with them, only this time you're accompanied by resident angel Castiel.
This was before the days where his character got a little tiresome and unneeded, in my opinion, but in the book he is a wonderful addition who helps push the story forward and doesn't over stay his welcome in the novel or become a completely pointlessly added background character.
I'm just counting my blessings that Ruby is only ever mentioned and never actually shows up.

All in all, it's a fun little case to read and it's great to once again see Sam and Dean in their element, it's not the greatest book in the lot but it is up there with one that I would re-read and not skip over if I chose to go through them all again.

Hell Reviews - Supernatural: Heart of the Dragon.

A Supernatural novel that reveals a previously unseen adventure for the Winchester brothers, from the hit TV series! Twenty-three years ago, Sam and Dean Winchester lost their mother to a demonic supernatural force. Following the tragedy, their father taught the boys everything about the paranormal evil that lives in the dark corners of America... and how to kill it. Bobby Singer alerts Sam and Dean to a series of particularly brutal killings in San Francisco's Japantown. It's been 270 new moons since the last time, and it looks like the Heart of the Dragon is back...

Sorry for missing my movie review on Monday, it's just been a little hectic this past week and will continue to be so for a little while.

Anyway!

The first in the new cover series, but still classed as book 4 of the whole range, brings in another great edition from Keith.

As stated before DeCandido does a wonderful job portraying the brothers and their relationship, he is one of my favourites to adapt the series to book range and this one is no different.

As someone who lives in the old United Kingdom, I can’t say how accurate any of the locations are to their original regions, I know the show does the typical thing of using Canada as any place but Canada (except in that one meta, fourth wall episode) but book wise? I’m not sure on the accuracy.

If it is accurate, then I think it does a good job of portraying the focused area and introduces people who aren’t really familiar with it to that little place we didn’t know existed.

Did I know there was a Japantown in San Francisco?

Nope.

But I’ve heard of it now.

Do I know if it actually exists now?

No.

You’ll have to excuse my ignorance, but I’m also not amazingly familiar with my own countries geography so it’s nothing personal, I just don’t care about that particular subject.

The case at hand is a good one and keeps you nicely intrigued, it’s not the best case out of the whole book series, but it’s certainly one of the better ones.

If I had to choose between rereading this one and say…One Year Gone, I wouldn’t hesitate to nab this one up again, and not just to avoid reading that.
I will be getting to that one in a few short weeks time.

All in all, it’s a good read, not the strongest but most definitely not the weakest.

Hell Reviews - Supernatural: Bone Key

This is a Supernatural novel that reveals a previously unseen adventure for the Winchester brothers, from the hit "CW" series!Monster hunters Sam and Dean Winchester head to Key West when an old acquaintance of their father calls to say that the coastal town's many ghosts seem to have gone into overdrive. Soon after the brothers meet the ghost of Ernest Hemingway, they discover that a demon couple who escaped from the Devil's Gate are supercharging the local spooks for their own purposes. But things go from bad to worse when the powerful spirits of a long-extinct Native American tribe decides to take its revenge on the "settlers". Join Sam and Dean on an unusual ghost hunt, in this original Supernatural novel.

 

I feel unfair reviewing this one as I honestly can’t remember a bit of it.

It’s the final book in this particular set, as the next moves on to the new cover format, but beyond that I don’t remember much of it to comment on.
Once again the author is Keith R.A. Decandido and I do remember him doing another wonderful job of keeping the book in it’s original Supernatural formula, with Sam and Dean acting in accordance to the shows painted personalities.
However beyond that, I find it hard to remember anything past the fact that I found it readable and didn’t get bored.
It’s worth a read, but not the strongest in the first trilogy, it was rather forgettable to me.
Sorry this one is so short, there's just nothing to say.

Hell Reviews - Supernatural: Witch's Canyon

Synopsis: This is a Supernatural novel that reveals a previously unseen adventure for the Winchester brothers, from the hit "CW" series!Twenty-two years ago, Sam and Dean Winchester lost their mother to a demonic supernatural force, and they have grown up learning how to hunt and kill the paranormal evil that lives in the dark corners and on the back roads of America...Now they are on a road trip around the Grand Canyon - to a stretch of deserted ranchland where mysterious murder sprees occur every forty years. But a new mega-mall is about to open and the brothers must face a horde of vindictive ghosts and animal spirits.Join Sam and Dean on an all-new monster hunt, in this original Supernatural novel.


The second book in the series, while not as memorable as Nevermore, was still a lot of fun to read.
This time the story is told by Jeff Mariotte and he does just as good a job at keeping the brothers in character as Keith does.
I seriously believe these guys should be writers on the show, they’d keep them more in character than some of the show writers themselves at the moment.

The story was one that kept me wanting to read, an issue I’ve had with a few of the later books is that they seemed to drag on and had some moments that were completely nonsensical, as you will discover when I review One Year Gone.

If you’re looking for examples of plot convenience then that book seems to be the one to go to, but I’ll get to that one in a few weeks.

The first three books however flew by and I found myself fairly disappointed when they ended, a feeling I’ve only had with a few of these later ones.
I’m not sure why they count the first three as a separate series, maybe it’s supposed to be pre-angels and then post-angels, I’ve never really looked it up but that’s my assumption.

Due to my lack of memory and re-reads, it seems unfair of me to try and make a comment on the content that I simply can’t remember, that’s not to say it isn’t a good book as it is, and I do vaguely remember Sam getting some good action moments but it was ultimately forgettable.
Usually I’d chalk this down to it being almost ten years since I’ve read it, but I have books I remember reading long before this one where I can remember specific details.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that it’s a fun ride whilst it lasts, but it’s not the best ride in the theme park, which is a shame as I know Jeff did a wonderful job with it and I never had moments where I was laughing because something was so out of character or shifted drastically away from the canon TV series.

From what I can recall there’s a nice, cohesive story behind what’s going on and everything is a nice build up to the final act of Sam and Dean saving the day. It’s just bit of a slow burner, but once it gets going boy does it get going.

I do wish they made a better cover for it, I personally cringe seeing this one. Now Jared and Jensen are handsome men, there’s no doubt about that, but this isn’t the most flattering photo shoot they could have used for the cover.

It’s my least favourite from this specific series, the original three.

In the end, it’s a good book and it’s worth a read if you’re a fan, just don’t expect to get too much from it.

Though it is adorable to see Dean get oddly excited over the Grand Canyon.

Hell Reviews - Supernatural: Nevermore

 

 

 

Synopsis: This is a Supernatural novel that reveals a previously unseen adventure for the Winchester brothers, from the hit "CW" series! Twenty-two years ago, Sam and Dean Winchester lost their mother to a mysterious and demonic supernatural force. Since then, they have grown up learning how to hunt and kill the paranormal evil that lives in the dark corners and on the back roads of America...When the brothers hit New York to check out a haunted house, they soon make a more grisly and suspicious discovery. A spate of killings, apparently based on the stories of Edgar Allan Poe, are occurring near the author's old house. Join Sam and Dean on an all-new monster hunt, in this original Supernatural novel.

 

To celebrate the beginning of Supernatural season 11 starting here in the UK this Wednesday, I have decided that I will spend the next few weeks reviewing the various Supernatural novels that have been released.

Aside from Cold Fire, as it’s only just been released and I haven’t had a chance to read it, and naturally I can’t review Mythmaker as it comes out next month and ‘Pending title’ September’s book.

For this I will mostly be focusing on the actual novels, not the various others like John Winchester’s Journal or the Bobby focused one.

The first in the series of books is Nevermore, and what an introduction it was.

Despite having two other titles with that particular cover style and ten, soon to be twelve by September, in the new cover style, Nevermore has been one that stuck with me years after the first read and it originally came out on 2007!

Man…I can’t believe it’s been that long already.

Now let’s get this out there straight off the bat, as I’ve noticed that I seem to comment on these a lot, but I like the cover.

It’s simplistic, I like the colours and I like Sam’s shirt.

Story wise I think it’s great, the whole book did have the whole feel that the show contained around the time that it was released. Brotherly banter, to the point hunting and general ghostlyness.

I really enjoyed the case and the integration of each haunting spot that went along with the Poe focus, I especially enjoyed Robert the doll’s little cameo.

Sam and Dean were written extremely well, and after originally being stuck with fan fiction for a while before that book came out it was a pleasant change. Not to say all fan fiction is terrible, heck I write Supernatural fan fiction myself, but sometimes it’s hard to hit the nail on the head when writing certain character tropes.

Keith R.A DeCandido has quickly become one of my favourite authors of these books, he’s so good at picking up different characters and keeping them true to their original introduction and I always found his own tiny spins on them interesting as well.

The same was with the books in the various Buffy the Vampire Slayer book series, he seems to have this penchant for keeping characters in character and not grabbing them and just going wild.

I think this is a strong start to the series, nothing stood out to me that was inherently negative. This is one book that I would happily pick up and read over and over again, the hunting was enjoyable and reading the Winchester’s brotherly banter brought a smile to my face.

For the first novel for this books I would give it top marks.