Mini-Review: Broken Chain, Tell The Story to Its End, Campfire Tales

Time for some mini-reviews! What are mini-reviews, you ask? As the title suggests, these are short reviews, consisting of one paragraph tops, about a book. It’s a way to catch up on the books I’ve read a while ago, but never got around to reviewing.

Broken Chain

Tite: Broken Chain

Author: Lisa von Biela

Genre: Horror

Rating: 3 stars

Purchase: Amazon

An unprecedented wave of senseless and brutal violence is sweeping the nation.
Livestock are mysteriously dying in droves-and there is no cure.
Meat and dairy products are rotting before their sell-by dates.
Why?
Dr. Kyle Sommers is one of a team of CDC doctors deployed nationwide to find the cause. Along with his wife Gretchen and young daughter Lara, he travels to St. Joe, Minnesota to investigate after a particularly gruesome murder shocks the small town. Frantic to find the answer before more people die and haunted by the secret that destroyed his father, Dr. Sommers uncovers the shattering truth behind the seemingly unconnected crises. And when he does, he discovers his own family is in grave danger.
Something has gone horribly wrong with the food chain. And nothing will ever be the same.
Part medical detective story, part post-apocalyptic tale, “Broken Chain” examines what might happen if a major component of our food supply had to be destroyed and banned because of its malignant effect on those who consume it.
You are what you eat…

Review: What would happen if we had a broken link in our food chain, in the form of genetically modified food? The outcome is quite bleak, if we’re to believe “Broken Chain”. The story is great, and it’s definitely a topic that’s up for debate. The book takes some scientific liberties, but I didn’t find those too annoying. What I did find annoying was how hard it was to connect to the characters. I’ve had that a few times when reading this author’s work, so while in general, I enjoy the story and plot, not connecting to the characters makes it a less enjoyable experience for me.

Tell The Story to Its End

Title: Tell The Story To Its End

Author: Simon P. Clark

Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Young Adult

Rating: 5 stars

Purchase: Amazon

In this beautiful, haunting debut, a boy is whisked away to the country in the wake of a scandal, and finds a captivating creature in the attic whose attention comes at a sinister price.

“Tell the story to its end,” says Eren with a grin.
His yellow eyes are glowing like embers in the night.
“When I reach the end,” I say, “what happens? You’ll have the whole story.”
“Hmm,” he says, looking at me and licking his lips with a dry, grey tongue. “What happens then? Why don’t we find out?”

People are keeping secrets from Oli. His mum has brought him to stay with his aunt and uncle in the countryside, but nobody will tell him why his dad where his father is. Why isn’t he with them? Has something happened? Oli has a hundred questions, and only an old, empty house in the middle of an ancient forest for answers. But then he finds a secret of his own: there is a creature that lives in the attic…

Eren is not human.
Eren is hungry for stories.
Eren has been waiting for him.

Sharing his stories with Eren, Oli starts to make sense of what’s happening downstairs with his family. But what if it’s a trap? Soon, Oli must make a choice: learn the truth—or abandon himself to Eren’s world, forever.

Reminiscent of SKELLIG by David Almond and A MONSTER CALLS by Patrick Ness, EREN is richly atmospheric, moving, unsettleing, and told in gorgeous prose. A modern classic in the making.

Review: This book hooked me from start to finish. The creepiness is palpable, and grows worse with every page you turn. The stories within the story added to the overall atmosphere, and the question what Eren is and if Eren is friendly or not, is the red line throughout the book. Creepy,  out of the box, original, and highly enjoyable.

Campfire Tales: Great Lakes

Title: Campfire Tales: Great Lakes

Author: Christopher Larsen

Genre: Horror

Rating: 3 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Enjoy 11 spooky campfire tales based on legends and true events in and around the Great Lakes region. Filled with creepy and sometimes humorous details, each has historic significance. Shiver as you read about the ghosts in Duluth, Minnesota, haunting the Glensheen Mansion, and the myth of a giant moose terrorizing tourists off the North Shore of Lake Superior. Meet the Melon Head Creatures, living in a dark and forbidden forest off Lake Michigan, the result of a mad scientist s experiments, or a classic Lady in White. Discover the Manitous water gods, Native American spirits living at the bottom of the lake always looking for unsuspecting prey. Find a giant man-eating turtle, storm Hags, and the Red Devil of Detroit. Learn about Niagara Falls’ Maid of the Mist, the real legend of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and the Michigan Dogman.