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My Goodreads Reviews: Always Haunted: Hallowe'en Poems

Always Haunted: Hallowe'en Poems by LindaAnn LoSchiavo

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

LindaAnn LoSchiavo's Always Haunted: Hallowe'en Poems, is distinctly more than that. This smart, well-crafted collection strays beyond the graveyard (though it goes there, too!) to deliver a chilling variety of topics. Historical horror, true crime, multi-cultural mythology . . . it's all here, in twenty-four poems including a few haibun and one microfiction.

Although the collection begins with a lyric -- the quietly breathtaking "Samhain" -- the majority of these poems are narrative. In the timeless tradition of storytelling in meter, LoSchiavo makes frequent use of blank verse. This is an effective choice. When well used, blank verse approximates the natural rhythms of English, allowing the "crafted" aspect of the poem to get out of its own way and let the story flow. And flow it does, through retellings of Sleepy Hollow and A Night on Bald Mountain, to a celebration of "Elizabeth Siddal Rossetti, Cemetery Superstar" to the dark historical "Don't Monetize Those Poltergeists."

Many other verse forms appear in this collection as well -- again, in the service of storytelling, and often women's history. One Italian sonnet celebrates "Hetty Green, the 'Witch of Wall Street", while an abecedarian (26-line poem incorporating each letter of the alphabet as a first letter) deals with murder and its vengeful feminine aftermath. A pair of bilingual haibun celebrate Our Lady of the Holy Death.

There is much to learn as well as to enjoy in these poems -- fortunately, LoSchiavo includes unobtrusive notes for the curious. Several original black and white illustrations complete this intelligent, diverting, and at times extremely creepy seasonal entertainment.

My thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

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My Goodreads review: An Academy For Liars

An Academy for Liars by Alexis Henderson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This thoroughly adult piece of dark academia -- no teen wizards, no monsters other than human ones --enhances its Southern Gothic setting with an intriguing magic system variant. Rather than casting spells, students at Drayton College study to refine their powers of persuasion. Far more than personal charm, persuasion is an innate (yet trainable) ability to force one's will upon other entities, from rats to classmates to time itself. Those who wield it pay a heavy price, however -- and many of Drayton's residents are damaged to begin with.

Recruited from a life spiraling toward self-destruction, Lennon Carter struggles at first with both her studies and her relationships. After a short lifetime of choosing controlling men, she winds up falling for her advisor -- a plot point some readers will have trouble with, as I did -- and running afoul of a violent male classmate. Both relationships examine just what power does to those who wield it -- and whether "good" people can truly use persuasion effectively.

Lennon, however, must do more than use her talents effectively. Like all proper dark academic institutions, Drayton has a secret. As Lennon improves her control and discovers her unique persuasive skills, she is drawn deeper into the web of half-truths and betrayals that protect this secret -- and, eventually, the survival of Drayton itself. Her own survival is secondary.

At times, this novel felt over-packed. There's a lot of backstory -- sometimes delivered at multiple-page length --and interpersonal machinations early on, though most will turn out to be significant. There is possibly too much emphasis on style (androgynous names, tattoos galore), and way too many clove cigarettes. As the plot cranks up, however, none of this matters. Alexis Henderson knows her way around eldritch action, and the suspense keeps twisting until the end.

An Academy for Liars is on the morally grayer side of its subgenre. Persuasion isn't a pretty gift, and there's a good bit of gore along the way. Readers seeking an edgier experience, however, should be well satisfied.

My thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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My Goodreads Review: The Lost Story

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

[My thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.]

Although this novel presents itself as a fairy tale for grown-ups -- and a very effective one -- the magical land at its heart, Shenandoah, turns out to be the creation of a thirteen-year-old girl. A very gifted, troubled thirteen year-old girl, who was kidnapped several years before the start of this novel. When her younger stepsister (separated by adoption) hires a noted missing-persons expert to find her, he turns out to have his own experience of being lost -- and his own connection to Shenandoah. He also has an artist friend who was lost with him in Shenandoah, but no longer remembers the experience. He does, however, remember how to get them all to one possible entrance.

And we're off!

This was a truly delightful reading experience -- though, like all authentic fairy tales, The Lost Story holds its share of darkness. There is plenty of death and more than a little abuse in the back stories of these characters. The artist -- who turns out to be more than a friend to our missing-persons expert -- has unfinished business with his father. The sisters only want to stay together. No one wants to leave Shenandoah, although it offers little of the security of twenty-first century America. As the plot winds tighter, however, it becomes increasingly evident that wishes do not always come true in this enchanted place. Can a rewrite fix it?

As in Meg Shaffer's previous novel, The Wishing Game, the characters here seem slightly off-center from our reality. This doesn't get in the way of them being immediately sympathetic. There are also several pop culture referents (Stevie Nicks, Firefly, Trapper Keepers) which may not hold up well over time. The spirit of true storytelling, though, is another matter -- and The Lost Story has that in spades.

Recommended for anyone in need of medicine for melancholy.

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My Goodreads review: Extinction

Extinction by Douglas Preston

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

[Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advance e-copy in exchange for an honest review.]

This well-crafted, science-forward thriller offers a full helping of everything Douglas Preston's readers (also Preston/Child readers) have come to expect. Set in the high finance altitudes of Colorado, at the kind of resort mostly found in thrillers and Bond movies, it quickly escalates from a Jurassic Park riff with "de-extincted" mammoths to a grisly double homicide.

And then it gets weirder.

When Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Frances Cash is made agent-in-charge of the investigation, she's not sure whether she's been given a promotion or a big chance to fail. Fortunately, she and local county sheriff James Colcord manage to leave the corporate breadcrumb trail laid for them and actually find information. Lost mine maps, disregarded scientists, and a ticked-off movie producer all contribute to a series of discoveries neither of them want to make, but can't avoid.

It's hard to get more specific than that without dropping spoilers, but suffice it to say that this is a highly effective cautionary tale. Combined with Preston's short, POV-switching chapters, this allows the plot to barrel along without getting bogged down in what is actually a lot of speculative science. For curious readers, Preston also provides a chilling Afterword about that science.

Characterization isn't really the point of thrillers, but I was impressed by Frankie Cash (an actual grownup female, possibly over 40!) and the not-quite-a-good-ol'-boy Sheriff Colcord. The big-money, morals-optional villains were more stereotypical, though sadly quite believable. The depth of entertaining scientific detail was impressive. If this is the first of a new series -- which is hinted at the end -- I'll be preordering the next.

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