Pages: 16
Genre: Short Story, Horror
Publisher: Duke Classics
Rating: 3 stars
Book Description: Brace yourself for nearly unbearable suspense in this classic horror tale from British author W.W. Jacobs. Virtually everyone has fantasized about what it would be like to be granted three wishes by a magical being. But what if the cost of having your dreams come true was a horrible toll you never expected? This iconic short story is a must-read for fans of the horror genre.
My Review: Short, but quite good. It tells of a man's wishes made upon the monkey's paw. The 'be careful what you wish for' maxim comes to mind. Though that in no way ruins the story. It doesn't even come close to revealing anything much. The ending was spine tingling. My kind of scary.
Pages: 258
Genre: Middle Grade, Magic
Publisher: May Publishing
Website: http://merylyourish.com/books/
Rating: 4 stars
Book Description: It's been hundreds of years since the Darkness last surfaced, a grim time when both humans and Catmages--cats with magical abilities and human intelligence--lost their lives. But now the Wild Ones--evil Catmages--work with humans again, and thirteen year old Andy Cohen gets the surprise of his life when a talking cat shows up in his front yard.
Goldeneyes, a powerful Catmage, needs Andy's help. Her grandmother [Nafshi]--the wisest, most powerful Catmage alive--is missing, and her trail leads straight to Andy's town. But there's a problem: Goldeneyes doesn't like humans very much, and Andy is impulsive and reckless. They have to learn how to work together, and they need to do it before the Wild Ones kill Nafshi and steal her powerful Magelight.
In the first installment of this new series, the reader enters a world of magical cats, dark powers, and a boy who finds himself entangled in their war.
My Review: I got this book through first reads on goodreads.com.
Darkness Rising was a very enjoyable read. It had many things I liked. There was humor, moments of suspense, friendship and some action. There were times in the book where I did not expect situations to go the way they did. Riveting moments. It had its sad parts too. I teared up around the last pages.
I have read books with cats before, but not like Darkness Rising. The Catmage culture was interesting. I will not look at cats the same way. My favorite felines were Letsan, Goldeneyes and Patches. Goldeneyes is at first not fond of Andy. She's rough outwardly, but a softie inside. The development of Goldeneyes and Andy's friendship was gradual and wonderful to be a part of as a reader. Letsan was easygoing and amusing. Patches was weird, but in a good way. Really all the Catmages were likable. Even Razor. This does not include the Wild Ones.
The story and character development was good. I liked Andy and his friends. Andy cares a lot about them. If only he took as much care of himself. Mike was funny and I like his dramatic antics. I also liked Becca. Then there is the villain. He is despicable. He has his "justification" for doing what he does. It was only sort of revealed, so I would like to see more of his backstory in the next book.
There is also Taylor who causes some trouble for Andy. There was a small part in the book that revealed more about Taylor. It wasn't just I behave bad just because, which I liked. I did find the dialogue among Andy's and his friends' parents awkward. I felt that people don't really talk that way. Other than that I didn't have a problem getting into the story.
