Tag: book review

angethology reviews Joe Hill's horror book, "Heart-Shaped Box."

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill – Review

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Rock star Judas Coyne with a taste for the macabre decides to buy a ghost off the internet. It sounds gnarly, stupid and a waste of time – but he eventually wishes it was only that.

Synopsis:

[Content warning and spoiler: assault, gore, violence, death, mental, physical and sexual abuse]

This novel follows a rock star, Judas Coyne (Jude), who loves collecting obscure and freakish objects. With his creepy collection that includes everything from a noose to a snuff film, nothing seems extreme to him. So when he becomes the highest bidder for a ghost on sale from a website, he merely thinks it’s a scam. But then, the ghost arrives in the form of a dead man’s suit, in a heart-shaped box. What then ensues is completely unexpected and reveals more of Jude’s past and relationships.

My review:

Heart-Shaped Box sounds like it has a bit of a goofy premise, and I was initially skeptical of it because combining technology with the supernatural has always been difficult to pull off, I find – it either comes across as cringe-worthy or trying too hard, unless it’s intentionally comedic.

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A book review of "Near the Bone" by Christina Henry, reviewed by Angethology.

Near the Bone by Christina Henry – Review

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Imagine living on a secluded snowy mountain in the middle of nowhere. You’ve been living with your husband, a monster, for 12 years – only to discover that there’s a new one lurking in the woods. How are you going to survive and escape both of them?

[Content Warning: SA, Abuse]

Christina Henry’s Near the Bone explores the horrors that the main character – Mattie – has to endure in an abusive relationship with her husband, William. While the premise does make it seem like the book mainly explores the strange supernatural-like entity living on the mountain, it actually focuses more on the abuse that Mattie endures which I don’t mind, the blurb is just a bit misleading. Mattie and William both have been residing on a mountain, almost completely secluded from the outside world. After years of being trapped and not having seen a single soul, it’s clear that William is not who claims to be and has tried to instill the idea that Mattie’s life revolves entirely around him. Her discovery of a horrifying yet intelligent creature called the “cryptid” alarms her and shows that there’s something else she should be afraid of, which also becomes the catalyst of her realisation that she could try to escape.

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1984 by George Orwell, reviewed by angethology

1984 by George Orwell – Review

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There is no doubt that a lot of people are familiar with George Orwell’s famous dystopian novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” – particularly due to its well-known slogan that is often used these days, “Big Brother is watching you”. But why is this novel considered a classic?

This novel focuses on Airstrip One (previously known as Great Britain) and its state of utter chaos where people suffer under the regime of a totalitarian government and are being watched – literally – by surveillance cameras planted in every corner of the country, and the relationship between the Novel’s two protagonists: Winston Smith and Julia.

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