Melody Writes

Note: I was given an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I have a lot of mixed feelings on this one. There is one very mild spoiler towards the end of the review. The Good: What drew me to Tenebrion was its intriguing premise - an amateur film maker recreates a Black Mass and accidentally summons a demon who hunts them down one by one. Along with haunted houses, demons and summonings are among my favourite types of horror stories. Longmore does excellent work with his descriptions and atmosphere. The book had a cinematic flavour and is filled with classic horror movie scares. There were many of the earlier scenes that sent shivers down my spine and had me doublechecking under the bed. But: This book is meant for someone with a stronger stomach than me. The summoning scene is straight-up gross. I had to set the book aside for a bit and be glad I hadn't been eating while reading.  I accept gore as part of horror, but a lot of this seemed unnecessarily gross. You've been warned....

Review is originally from 2015. I absolutely LOVE XCOM. I am still waiting for XCOM 3. Chimera Squad was fun, but not exactly what I need. Original Review XCOM: Enemy Unknown is my favourite video game and I have poured an embarrassing number of hours into it since its release. When they announced there would be a sequel released in November 2015, I was pumped. Then they delayed it until February 2016. In the meantime, they released this novel which bridges some of the story gap between the two games. The creators made the brilliant decision to base the sequel not on the ending the player receives when they win the game, but to follow the scenario that XCOM was crushed by the aliens almost immediately. Twenty years later, XCOM is struggling to regain the earth from the alien clutches. It will be an uphill battle of scrambling for resources and fighting against enemies that outclass your soldiers in almost every way. I love this idea. XCOM is one of those games that is meant...

Original review from 2015: I don't remember what compelled me to pull this audiobook off of the shelf at the local library. Was it a stray recommendation? Something about the title? No matter how I try to remember, all I can come up with is a blank space. It's frustrating, yet oddly appropriate for this book's forgetful protagonist. Rachel has been depressed ever since the breakdown of her marriage to Tom and one of her coping mechanisms is to obsess over the couple she watches from the train each day during her commute. They look so perfect and happy - like she once was - and she invents an entire life for these two. Then, one day, she sees something alarming in their backyard and Rachel decides to stop just being the girl on the train and insert herself into their lives. The next morning, Rachel wakes up in agony and no memory of the night before. Things get even worse when she learns that the woman from the couple (Meghan) has gone missing. The mystery is t...

Note from 2021: I note in the review that I have not read many books about martial arts. I have in the years since worked to rectify this and hope to start writing more discussions/reviews of those topics on this blog. Original Review from 2015: Despite having studied martial arts for over a decade, I have not read many books on the topic. I think this was because most of that time overlapped university, which ate up most of my reading time and when I was given some, non-fiction was the last thing I wanted to read. I’ve only just started to correct this. I mention this background to clarify that this is essentially a new genre for me and my review may be lacking. The Inner Art of Karate is not a “how to” fight book or anything of the sort. The author focuses on the mental side of karate that can easily be forgotten in among the ridiculous crane kicks and shiny trophies. He does discuss the physical aspects, but sticks to more of the ideas behind combat techniques rather than...