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The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski Book Review

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 The Last Wish  (The Witcher #0.5) By Andrzej Sapkowski  Published Year: 1993 Page Count: 280 pages Medium Used: Paperback  Genre: Classics, Horror, Fantasy, High Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Vampires, Sorcery and Magic, Dark Fantasy, Anthology, Short Stories, 2026-read. Rating : 5/5 😎 😎 😎 😎 😎  This book is a collection of stories about the encounters of the witcher - who is a sorcerer and magician that kills demons for money - with different, troubling, evil characters and demonstrates how he tackles them - in some cases, he reverses the spells that made them monsters, in some he kills them and in others, renders them impotent of their mischief. The writing is gorgeous. The world created is spectacular and dark in every way. It's like being transported to a different time and space. I wondered if the author even inhabits our dimension(earth) in his mind's eye! The names of people and places signal the breadth of his imagination  because they don't sound rea...
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The Demon Star by Jesse Aragon Book Review

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 The Demon Star  By Jesse Aragon  Published Year: 2026 Page Count: 400 pages  Medium Used: Oneplus, Moon Reader  Genre: Science Fiction, Horror, High Fantasy, Dark Fantasy,  Fake Gods,Magic, Young Adult, LGBTq, 2026-read.  Rating: 3/5  This is a debut novel and I think the author made a bold attempt. She definitely has a command over english language but not enough on story telling or world building. The logic that holds together a brilliant plot felt handicapped here. The writing felt boring and confusing at times. The world building could have been better. This is not part of a series(as far as I know) and I am disappointed and dissatisfied with the ending. There are no breath hitching twists except for the one or two which are frankly passable. In some scenes, I didn't grasp what was happening. The author couldn't impress me with a shocker element even when she has had me in a thrall. Pity!  Coming to the story, there are three main charac...
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Annie Bot by Sierra Greer Book Review

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 Annie Bot  By Sierra Greer  Winner of Arthur C Clarke Award 2025  Published Year: 2024 Page Count: 240 pages  Medium Used: Oneplus phone, LibreraX  Genre: Suspense, AI bots, Sentience, Human AI interaction, Science fiction, Evolution, 2026-read. Rating : 3/5 😎 😎 😎  Frankly, I should like this book better. I mean, the author has transported herself into the thoughts of a rapidly evolving AI cuddle bunny robot, Annie and tracked the evolutionary process with integrity and much imagination. But I don't like it as much because I hated the ending. I hated the personality Annie has grown into, after much work from both herself and her owner, Doug. Sure they had hit a rough patch along their three year plus journey and he showed some inconsistent,self serving and cruel behaviour which rattled/traumatised her deeply but that is only to be subverted in the face of change in him for better with time, right? He has certainly never demonstrated his punishing c...
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Black House by Stephen King, Peter Straub Book Review

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 Black House  (The Talisman #2) By Stephen King, Peter Straub  Published Year: 2001 Page Count: 624 pages Medium Used: Paperback  Genre: Horror, Thriller, Fantasy, Multiverse, Good vs Evil, Action, Young Adult, Magic, 2026-read. Rating : 5/5 😎😎😎😎😎  I liked this story almost close to the first book in the series, the Talisman. I could venture a guess here that the first and last parts are written by Straub while the middle two by King. I enjoyed King's writing better. I can't explain how he has such a strange hold on the language and the reader. In this book, we don't see so much of the Territories other than for a couple of episodes. The focus is laid on a Black House - both covered in black paint and also feels depressing, bleak inside - which acts like a worm hole between the infinite worlds in existence. In this book, we meet the grown up coppiceman(a cop) Jack Sawyer, twenty years after Talisman adventure has ended. So, he is 32 now.  He has worked...
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Hungerstone by Kat Dunn Book Review

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 Hungerstone  By Kat Dunn  Published Year: 2025 Page Count: 336 pages  Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6, LibreraX  Genre: Horror, LGbtq, Lesbians, Blood and Gore, Suspense, 2016-read.  Rating : 2/5   I usually give an outline to the story before delving into my thoughts and impressions. But for this novel, my disappointment is so obvious. The loopholes are wide and glaring. I don't understand the numerous rave reviews this has got. First off, the writing felt repetitive, dragging and  boring. I didn't understand the title. Why is this called the Hungerstone? Is this because the main character's emotions have gone so dry and droughty before the end? Or is it because some murder is committed at a hungerstone and if this is the case, why is it so important to become the book title? I don't know the answer.  And then the character of Carmilla. Is she a vampire? Or some other supernatural entity? It isn't clear to me how she has the profound, na...
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Mister Monday by Garth Nix Book Review

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 Mister Monday  (The Keys to the Kingdom #1) By Garth Nix  Published Year: 2003 Page Count: 200 pages  Medium Used: Kindle PW Genre: Adventure, Action, Young Adult, Children's Fiction, Middle Grade, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, 2026-read. Rating : 4.5/5 😎 😎 😎 😎 😄  There once was an Architect who created the House and the Secondary realms from Nothing. It is possible to navigate to different realities from the House. After a while, she goes off, leaving behind her Will. The Will document is broken into pieces and one of them is stored away on a distant star. The book starts with this component escaping and continues with a man called Mister Monday and his steward approaching an asthmatic kid, Arthur, who is struggling to catch his breath, alone on his school's playground. This man, Monday, gives him a Minute Key - his property/power -  because he is tricked by something into doing so. After that the adventures of Arthur start. He is a randomly chosen heir to...
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The Book of the Dead (Part 3) Edited by Jonathan Strahan Book Review

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 The Book of the Dead  ( Part 3 ) Edited By Jonathan Strahan  Published Year: 2026 Page Count: 475 pages  Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader  Genre: Horror, Thriller, Suspense, Anthology, Short Stories, Collections, Various Authors, 2026-read. Link to Part 1&2 stories  Part 1 Stories Review Part 2 Stories Review Now Watch Me as you hold your Breath by Sylvia Park  Rating : 4/5 What a crazy story!! This tells the experiences of a girl who has lost her parents and dog in a car accident. She cannot relate to the world and mainly to sex. She has no cravings for it. She has two friends - Aya, whom she once saw having sex with a local band vocalist where she literally snacks on him(creepy and is this the narrator's imagination!!?) , and Rinko who finds happiness only through relationships with older men that inevitably turn sour. I can understand why this story made the cut into this book. I mean there is death in this even though not like in th...
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The Book of the Dead (Part 2) Edited by Jonathan Strahan Book Review

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 The Book of the Dead (Part 2) Edited by Jonathan Strahan  Published Year: 2026 Page Count: 475 pages  Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader  Genre: Horror, Thriller, Suspense, Anthology, Short Stories, Collections, Various Authors, 2026-read. Link to the part 1 stories in the book  Part 1 stories review Link to Part 3 stories in the book Part 3 Stories Review Wait by Cassandra Khaw  Rating : 3.5/5 A woman of forty thinks that the arrival of a certain dog means her death is near. Long time ago, her mother had shot herself, orphaning her and her sister. Her friend requests her to wait before committing suicide herself. Then on the day she decides to drown herself, she meets a stranger. And her plans get foiled. What I liked about this story is the message that no matter how aware people are about the certainty of death, when time approaches, they want to tarry. No one wants to die because there is always something worthwhile to do, to accomplish! ...
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The Book of the Dead (Part 1) Edited by Jonathan Strahan Book Review

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 The Book of the Dead  ( Part 1 ) Edited By Jonathan Strahan  Published Year: 2026 Page Count: 475 pages  Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader  Genre: Horror, Thriller, Suspense, Anthology, Short Stories, Collections, Various Authors, 2026-read. Overall rating for the book : 4/5  Some stories I absolutely adored. Some i didn't enjoy so much. One or two i skipped and skimmed over. But this is a spectacular work of some great minds of our time!!   I really like .. no, am drawn like an addict to .. dark fiction. There can't be anything more violent or dark than stories covering death. Not one or two but all of them. Death, murder, slaughter in one way or the other. My mindspace of paradise! These tales recount the numerous interpretations of what happens to a spirit post death.  Passengers By Indrapramit Das  Rating : 5/5 This is the story of a young boy who loves a girl dearly enough that he covers up a murder she commits. He doesn'...
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All Of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and C.L. Herman Book Review

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 All of us Villains  (All of Us Villans #1) By Amanda Foody, C.L.Herman  Published Year: 2021 Page Count: 384 pages  Medium Used: Paperback  Genre: Magic, Games, Dark Fantasy, Fantasy, Betrayals and Alliances, Young Adult, Horror, 2026-read.  Rating : 4/5 😎 😄 😄 😄  First of all, the world and character building are good. All though all the characters stick to their true selves, the problem is none of them are likeable/good. Like the title reads, they are all villains in some form. There are seven main contestants to the game of Blood Veil and each has been groomed since birth for the prize. Participating in the game is generational for the seven families. Grieve family has never won - not even once in the last eight centuries with the game played every twenty years. Lowe family has won the most and has been possessor of the high magick which becomes theirs as the winner's family. The stakes for the participants - who are mere kids - is so high. Only...
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