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: 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.

Belated Movie Monday Review - Hell Reviews Fingerprints.

Synopsis: In this terrifying supernatural thriller, a troubled teenager sets out on a grisly path to discover the disturbing truth behind a well-known urban legend. Haunted for fifty years by the horrifying tale of a train colliding with a school bus, killing all the children aboard, the small town left behind continues to suffer as a stomach-churning chain of murders claims victim after victim. Brought to life by a stand-out cast including Kristin Cavallari (Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County), Leah Pipes (Malcolm In The Middle), Josh Henderson (Desperate Housewives) and Lou Diamond Phillips (Courage Under Fire), Fingerprints will leave its mark on your nightmares!

 

The old legend of the children pushing the car across the tracks is one of my favourites out there, it’s so sad yet so endearing at the same time.

In retrospect it could have been such a good film idea in the hands of competent writers, but unfortunately we weren’t gifted with talented screen writers.

What a terrible film this was.

Not only was it a cliché mess of a film, but the story just had nothing to it that was worth watching.

The characters were bland and offered nothing, aside from the mother of the main character being a totally unlikeable bitch.

We have a main character who is interchangeable with any other person in the film and the impact would be the same, the actress is just barely watchable at times and is a complete non-entity.

It’s such a bad film that there’s just nothing to say about it except don’t watch it, it’s up there on my list of worst films along with Krampus: The Christmas Devil.

Avoid it.

Tek Tek by Hell.R.

She was beautiful, undeniably beautiful.

Her hair cascaded down her back as her eyes sparkled with a smile with unexplained joy as she looked at me, she was like a siren. Calling me in with her smile.

Something about her had me rooted to the spot, unable to move despite my will to continue home and rest for the night. It wasn’t like I had the urge to investigate this mysterious beauty further I just genuinely could move no further, like my legs were frozen solid.

A strange feeling began crawling through me, a feeling of unease. The hair on the back of my neck prickled and my blood ran cold as I saw her move, an unexplained feeling.
This woman had never done anything to me in the past in fact I had never met her before, so why did a single movement from her make me shudder?

I glanced around in hope of finding something else that would peak my interest, anything that could take my mind off the mystery woman and perhaps let me move again. Sadly there was nothing apart from buildings that were hidden behind rows of trees.

When I looked back towards the wall where the woman was leaning I was surprised to find that she was gone but that I still couldn’t move and the feeling of dread was still rushing over me. My hands were shaking and my stomach was full of butterflies.

A movement across the floor caught my attention, making me jump in shock. Considering its size I didn’t know how I had managed to over look the figure crawling across the floor, part of me wished I hadn’t noticed it just now.

My heart instantly faltered with a few beats and the lump got bigger causing my breath to catch in my chest, my shivering turned into full blown shakes as I surveyed the figure on the floor.

It was the woman, she was skeletally thin and her skin was deathly grey, her lips had turned blue whilst her once blonde hair had become more of a grey colour, matted with dirt and blood. There was no denying that she looked a lot healthier and…alive…when she was leaning against the wall a few feet away.

My eyes slowly scanned down her body which was led out on the concrete, nausea hit me in a second and I felt the colour drain from my face as I saw the trail of blood where her legs should be.

How was this woman still moving?

Her dead eyes looked up at me as she slowly reached out to me, her cold lips parting slowly and strange strangled noises left her throat.

My own throat went dry as I stared into her eyes and my body continued to betray my mind which was still crying out
for me to move, run away and not to look back.

It started screaming for me to move as I watched her reach down to where her legs should have been and pulled out a scythe that was covered in dried blood, where that had come from I couldn’t tell and it was the last thing I was capable of thinking about right now.

With the fear of death looming upon me my mind went blank; no life flashed before my eyes, no last wishes for friends and family….just fear.

She was going to make me like her, take my legs and let me bleed to death where I stood and it all started with a simple look her way.