'Bite Marks - A Vampire Testament' by Terrance Taylor/'Atomik Aztex' by Sesshu Foster
Goodness, it's been a while since I posted here. I just started doing my next 50 books challenge, after a bit of a hiatus, and in so doing discovered a bunch of books I never wrote up from last time, and am slowly trying to plough through them.
I thought I'd start with two books which I think I didn't review because I'm not even sure I finished them.
'Bite Marks - A Vampire Testament' by Terrance Taylor
I think I floundered with this book purely because I couldn't quite deal with the vampire baby bad guy. I wanted to get into it. I liked loads of the characters. In fact, I think I liked all of the characters. I found Adam, the bad guy, really quite compelling and I thought Perenelle in particular really rocked. I kept getting into the book, really buying it, and then the weird creepy baby vampire would show up again and for some reason that just really really jarred with me. I don't know why - I think it is mostly that I found it hard to take the baby seriously, and I couldn't visualize it without making it cartoonish which was a shame as the rest of the novel felt really grounded.
I suspect this is purely a mental block for me and so I want to recommend it, for anyone who can read about creepy baby vampires without feeling the need to giggle.
'Atomik Aztex' by Sesshu Foster
I totally acknowledge that I failed with this book because I couldn't handle the use of language. Sesshu Foster rips up our normal reading patterns, re-arranges the language, makes us actually look again at words, at spellings...and totally broke up my ability to lose myself in this book. As a note, I, for some weird reason, am very very bad at handling odd spellings. I think it's a side effect of being mildly dyslexic - I read by the shape of words, and not by the letters. I read a chunk of this aloud to myself, and slowly plodded through the rest of it.
I gave up, after a while, mostly frustrated with myself. I think it is a really good, really interesting book. It was just a little too challenging for me in the place I was in at that place, and I think required a bit more intelligent commitment than I felt able to give, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't really work for someone else.
I thought I'd start with two books which I think I didn't review because I'm not even sure I finished them.
'Bite Marks - A Vampire Testament' by Terrance Taylor
I think I floundered with this book purely because I couldn't quite deal with the vampire baby bad guy. I wanted to get into it. I liked loads of the characters. In fact, I think I liked all of the characters. I found Adam, the bad guy, really quite compelling and I thought Perenelle in particular really rocked. I kept getting into the book, really buying it, and then the weird creepy baby vampire would show up again and for some reason that just really really jarred with me. I don't know why - I think it is mostly that I found it hard to take the baby seriously, and I couldn't visualize it without making it cartoonish which was a shame as the rest of the novel felt really grounded.
I suspect this is purely a mental block for me and so I want to recommend it, for anyone who can read about creepy baby vampires without feeling the need to giggle.
'Atomik Aztex' by Sesshu Foster
I totally acknowledge that I failed with this book because I couldn't handle the use of language. Sesshu Foster rips up our normal reading patterns, re-arranges the language, makes us actually look again at words, at spellings...and totally broke up my ability to lose myself in this book. As a note, I, for some weird reason, am very very bad at handling odd spellings. I think it's a side effect of being mildly dyslexic - I read by the shape of words, and not by the letters. I read a chunk of this aloud to myself, and slowly plodded through the rest of it.
I gave up, after a while, mostly frustrated with myself. I think it is a really good, really interesting book. It was just a little too challenging for me in the place I was in at that place, and I think required a bit more intelligent commitment than I felt able to give, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't really work for someone else.