Brunner's Bar

Sleepy Hollow Fall is here and I can't think if a better story that captures the feel of fall and Halloween like Sleepy Hollow. When the concept of that book was turned into a television series last Year I was excited. Last season ended with such a cliffhanger that I couldn't wait for this season to start. Last week was the first episode of the season and I must admit I was confused.  When the episode begins we have the little "Previously on" which helped me remember where we left off. Then it starts almost months later like nothing happened. I was really confused at first. So much so that my wife and I found the season finale on Demand and re-watched it. Nope, still confused after that. We taped it on our DVR and yes, I realize I am dating myself by saying I taped it. We started the episode over and just hung on.  About ten minutes in it all makes sense. I had worried that this was a show that wasn't going to stand the test of time. You can only ba

Gotham Calling all comic book fans. Calling all Batman fans. This is the series we have all been waiting for. There have been a few live action series dedicated to Superman but really nothing for Batman. Superman had the George Reeves Adventures of Superman, Dean Cain's Louis and Clark the New Adventures of Superman, and Tom Welling's Smallville. Aside from Adam West's Batman there hasn't been anything for our caped crusader. Even Gotham isn't about Batman, but about what happened prior to Bruce Wayne taking up the mantle of the Bat.  Gotham starts of with a bang. Litterally, the show opens with the most graphic depiction of the murder of Martha and Thomas Wayne. I have seen this done in several movies but this was the most real, and gut wrenching scene I have viewed about this event in Batman's history. We then see the investigation into the murder and what Gotham City is really like. In this series we meet all of the famous Batman characters just ye

A Midsummer Night's Scream I I'm really excited to be doing the R. I. P. Challenge again this year. I spent a whole evening looking for horror books that I could check out from the library in audio. When I came across an R. L. Stine book. The kid in me who read Goosebumps got excited. I'm taking a little break from YA but this sounded good and the cover is pretty cool so I thought I'd give it a try. Like OMG this book is so stereotypical teen that I wanted to totally gag. Wow, the dialog in this book is one of the reasons I tend to avoid YA unless it's a really good story. I felt like I was watching a really bad CW drama and no one could act. This is a modern take on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. I like when they do modern twists with classic stories and even though I'm not a big fan of Shakespeare I figured this was about a horror movie shoot instead of a bunch of characters falling asleep in a forest. Now, I expected the whole love

All Out War part 1 This is what I have been waiting for. All of the last few books have led to this and this book makes up for all of those dull character driven books. I have enjoyed the show from the very beginning and after several seasons my wife and I decided we had to read these. We started this series a little over a year ago and I am so excited to see what is going to happen with the story and a little sad that after the next book we are all caught up. It's very bittersweet. Rick has had it in this book. All the planning has led to this moment. The other communities have gathered some people to increase the army against Negan in his home. This book doesn't mess around. There is a brief morning of scene and then the battle begins and doesn't let up until almost the very end. What we are dealing with at the end feel like the calm before the storm. This of course sets up for the next volume. That is given away by the part one on the cover. The action is grea

The Lake I have heard a lot of good things about Richard Laymon's books. A few are even sitting on my to-read shelf. I was browsing through the available horror audio downloads on my library's web site and came across this. The description sounded interesting so I thought why not. This book was a middle of the road kind of novel.  There were some interesting spots that held my attention and kept it from being dull, but at the same time there were a few things I just didn't care for. To start, I will stay positive for a little bit. There is some mystery introduced in the very beginning that opens up a bunch of questions about our characters and their pasts. The questions I had surrounding Lee were answered about a quarter of the way through and then that was the end of my interest in her. Still her story was for the most part one that kept me from stopping the book and going on with other things. The other thing I enjoyed was the eerie feel of there being something

March to War I'm just waiting for the big battle that is about to come. I'm was anxious to get through this book so I could move on to All out War Part 1. Rick has had it in this book, and it didn't take long for him to snap and take things into his own hands. Since the title is march to war and the next book is called all out war I feel safe in saying Rick's attempts go south and all it does is make Negan insanely angry.  Yet again another book with practically no zombies. The series is because of a zombie apocalypse but there is only a small amount of them. The rest of the book is purely character driven. The story was pretty good and I couldn't put this one down. There were very few slow moments in this book but otherwise I enjoyed this one. The plot keeps building towards the war that is coming, my only concern is what is going to happen next. I feel as if once this conflict is over then there is nowhere else for our characters to go. They have alread

The Skin Collector Things in my life have been crazy the last few months.I had this book on pre-order as soon as it was available. I anxiously wait for it to arrive on release day so I could start it. I did and then never had time to read anything but audio books. Deaver is one of those authors I have to read every word of, I don't want to miss a thing and sometimes with an audio book I miss little bits. The whole time that this sat on my shelf partially read was driving me nuts. I loved this book from the very beginning and it bothered me I couldn't pick this up again. Well this weekend my kids were great and let me read. I couldn't stop turning pages. I flew through the end of this book.  Alright, enough about me and on to the book. I loved this book and couldn't get enough. I have read quite a few bad reviews about this book and I disagree. I thought there was a lot of tension and suspense in this book. Deaver has yet again created memorable characters and

What Comes After At this point we have met our new villain who has put the community in danger. Rick has already tried to get rid of Negan and his gang of bullies and it didn't work. Rick is given and ultimatum and is forced to take it. We see a defeated and depressed Rick doing anything he can to keep his new home safe. His friends are starting to wonder what happened to their strong leader now that he has given up. Secrets are running deep in our little group of heroes. Trust issues are popping up everywhere and this book delves into the human aspect to keep the plot going. Not a whole lot happens that is really worth mentioning in this book but it still was better than some of the in between or filler books in this series. We learn more about a neighboring community and there is even more to the character Negan that comes to light in this book. Negan is one of those characters that is interesting but you just hate more than anything. I hope he gets torn apart by zombi

The Last Olympian When my interest was starting to wane and I was tired of the repetitive events just worded differently I read this book. One word..."Wow"! I knew this was going to be a better book when it didn't open with a battle in yet another school that Percy and some mythic creature destroy. With only five books in the series everything comes to a head in this book and it was very well written.  Kronos is gaining in power and it is up to Percy to live out the prophecy that we finally get to know. From the very beginning this story just took off with plenty of action. All of the pieces begin to come together which really made this book hard to put down. Half way through this book the battle to end the whole series. I loved this book and it made each boring moment along the way worth it.  I don't know what more I can say about this book that wouldn't ruin this great story. It is an easy decision for me to give this 5 out of 5 stars. I flew thro

Something to Fear When I though all hope was lost this book finally brought some interest back into the story. There still is a frightening lack of zombies but the plot takes a turn that made this an interesting read. This is the first time since the Governor that Rick and our group have had something really tangible to fear. Sure the zombies are always a constant concern but they know how to kill them and when to run. I mean, the dead walk which makes them fairly easy to run away from.  In this book we meet Negan who is nothing but a bully trying to take advantage of the communities who just can't stand up to that kind of evil. Rick decideds to help out their new friends in the second community and take Negan out. Rick doesn't relize that the threat ahead of him is much larger than he thought. Finally the story picks up and has begun to set up a big battle in the future. It took a little while to get going but about half way through I was really invested in the stor

To all my fellow bloggers and reviewers, have you ever felt like it was a chore to write a review? I love to write reviews because it keeps me writing and allows me to express what I feel about what I just read. It also kind of gives me closure to when I finish a book. If it is a great book I get to relive my favorite moments, and if it was really terrible I get to vent my anger and frustration. Lately I have found that reading series it makes it hard to write reviews. I don't want to spoil earlier books for those who haven't read them, and I really don't want to be repetitive. For example, The Walking Dead is a great series and I am really enjoying it, but sometimes I feel like everything I want to say about a volume I've already said. Same thing with the Last Apprentice Series that I have been reading. Each book has the next chapter of a larger story, but it seems tough to really review these books like I would something that stands alone. The Lincoln Rhyme seri

A Larger World Well her we are with the next chapter in the story. Was it impressive, meh. In this book Rick is trying to strengthen their community. Keep things safe and secure and I felt this books exactly that. It's a safe bet that people will read this because it is part of the series, and the publisher is secure knowing that even though this is a slow plain book they will make tons of money because it says "The Walking Dead". I'm being to harsh, this does set up what I hope is a very intense story line in future books. In this book Rick finds out that there are in fact other communities out there. It shouldn't have been such a shock because it just makes sense. It hopefully will open up trade between our group and these others which will bring in some much needed supplies. We get some new characters introduced and with a new community of people it opens up for some new conflicts that our group hasn't had to deal with. I wasn't a big fan of