Sons of the Dark: Outcast - Book #3 (Sons of the Dark)

Book Description

Four guys living in Los Angeles:A rock star, a rebel, an artist, and a shaman.Like most students at Turney High School, they're just trying to survive. But for these four--Renegades on the run from the sinister world of Nefandus--survival means learning how to control their powers and fulfill their destiny as The Sons of the Dark

Customer Reviews:

SOTD.......2007-09-03

I've been wanting to read this book.. so happy i did...
it told me more about the Daughters because after the 12th book i was wondering what had happened to them... i cant wait for #13!!!!
it's coming out in December!!!!

My fav of the Sons of the Dark so far..........2006-05-21

I loved this book. There were many twists in this book that made it hard to put down... i finished it in 4 hours. And there are parts in this book that made me laugh too. my favorite line has to be: "No! that's my kiss!" Yeah i love Kyle's story, it's a bit sad though, and his relationship with Catty is still up in the air. I hope they can be together though. I realized something after reading this book, ok maybe a few people will disagree with me but, you don't exactly find out what happens to the daughters in this book, you find out earlier. I mean, if you read DOTM 12, you find out then that they were captured, Kyle's story just explains a little more of what is going on currently. Anyway... this is a must have. I truely enjoyed it, eventhough Obie is my favorite Son, I liked Kyle's story the best. I hope Ewing comes out with #5 soon and the rest of the DOTM series as well because I like them both. The Girls have more fun, because that's true in real life....nahh just kidding guys. ~~~Lata

confused.......2005-10-26

i've read the book but the odd thing is how can what happened to serena be true when her boyfriend is 2nd in line to the atrox? can someone explain that.

Pretty Good... more connected with the Daughters of the Moon.......2005-03-27

This book was decent, however parts of it left me confused and wondering. Basically, Kyle finds out about his past and his power, and the reader finds out what happened to the Daughters of the Moon after The Becoming. Overall, the book was good, but some parts confused me.

We hear Kyle's story.......2005-03-23

We find out in this book what happened to the Daughters after the Becoming and Kyle's power and that Catty and Kyle's destiny are connected and that Kyle and Catty have a lot of similarities. This is a very good book and I highely recommend it.

Average customer rating:

Read it 20 years ago... Still A Great Read
Stephen King and Peter Straub make a very good team.
The Adventures of Jack Sawyer--Horrifying and Wonderful!
love it
Memorable Novel

The Talisman
Stephen King , and Peter Straub
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0375507779
Release Date: 2001-09-15

Book Description

To coincide with the publication of Stephen King and Peter Straub's extraordinary new thriller, BLACK HOUSE, here is the story that started it all.

On a brisk autumn day, a twelve-year-old boy stands on the shores of the gray Atlantic, near a silent amusement park and a fading ocean resort called the Alhambra. The past has driven Jack Sawyer here: his father is gone, his mother is dying, and the world no longer makes sense. But for Jack everything is about to change. For he has been chosen to make a journey back across America--and into another realm.

One of the most influential and heralded works of fantasy ever written, The Talisman is an extraordinary novel of loyalty, awakening, terror, and mystery. Jack Sawyer, on a desperate quest to save his mother's life, must search for a prize across an epic landscape of innocents and monsters, of incredible dangers and even more incredible truths. The prize is essential, but the journey means even more. Let the quest begin. . . .

Download Description

In celebration of the publication of Stephen King and Peter Straub's extraordinary new thriller, Black House, we offer here the story that started it all -- The Talisman.

On a brisk autumn day, a twelve-year-old boy stands on the shores of thegray Atlantic, near a silent amusement park and a fading ocean resortcalled the Alhambra. The past has driven Jack Sawyer here: his father isgone, his mother is dying, and the world no longer makes sense. But forJack everything is about to change. For he has been chosen to make ajourney back across America -- and into another realm.

One of the most influential and heralded works of fantasy ever written,The Talisman is an extraordinary novel of loyalty, awakening,terror, and mystery. Jack Sawyer, on a desperate quest to save hismother's life, must search for a prize across an epic landscape ofinnocents and monsters, of incredible dangers and even more incredibletruths. The prize is essential, but the journey means even more.

Let the quest begin...

"Extraordinary.... Makes your hair stand on end."
    THE WASHINGTON POST

"A classic... rare and dazzling."
    NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Customer Reviews:

Read it 20 years ago... Still A Great Read.......2007-09-08

I read this book when I was about 13 years old. I remember being bored through the first bit and then becoming more and more involved as the story picked up. As it happens I just finished re-reading it and it's still a really good book. My perspective has changed a bit now though.

For a book that has been reviewed by 337 people before me, it's probably not exactly vital to do a plot summary but I'll do one in 50 words or less. A kid named Jack Sawyer has a mother who is dying of cancer. He learns of a parallel world that he can travel back and forth to and which contains a magical artifact which has the power to heal her. That artifact is the eponymous Talisman. The catch is that Jack is in New England somewhere and the Talisman is in California. So an epic quest begins! Will he overcome the forces of evel? Will he find the Talisman?? Will he save his dying mother???

Well of course he will! Like all good quest tales it's not the destination that counts as much as the journey. And what a journey it is! Jack will travel the length of the United States and face violent fops, evil werewolves, malls, radioactive wastelands, fireballs, snipers and worst of all.. the most frightening of all... Televangelists.

The esthetic of the Quest epic usually involves a party of companions that travel with the hero and guide him and help him along. This book is actually different from them in that Jack usually is either alone or only has one companion at a time. This means that there is a lot of time spent inside Jack's head as he works things out.

One of the reasons I liked this book as a teenager was that the stories, either in printed or visual form, never seemed..hrm.. I don't know.. (You know.. this is print.. I didn't have to let you know I was searching for words here, I could have just edited this out once I thought of the right ones.. but oh well) The actions of evildoers never seemed to be handled appropriately, the writers always seemed to wuss out. I'll give a for instance: I was 13 at the time I read this book as I mentioned. At the time G.I. Joe, Masters of the Universe and The Transformers were in vogue (Robotech hadn't hit TV yet) and the villains on these shows, being recurring characters, never really suffered any realistic consequences, I mean if Cobra Commander was a real guy they would have put a bullet in his brainpan the first time they captured him. But they put him in jail instead - because an organization that can blow up cities and control the weather and such is probably incapable of breaking their leader out of Jail. Star Trek was popular in our family but it seemed that all those guys did was talk everything to death. EVEN Star Wars, the bastion of fanboy Fantasy violence was getting to a point where Luke and Vader were all lovey dovey. I didn't want to see Darth Vader redeemed (I mean I did.. and I liked that he was but come on) I wanted to see Luke slice that dude into 9 pieces Ice Pirates style.

I am making a point here (all evidence to the contrary) in that this book was so awesome to me at that particular moment because it was the first story I had heard where evil is punished (well thee was Lord of the Rings. but dropping a ring into a volcano didn't exactly strike me as evil being punished :)). There have been many stories since where I get that similar sense of closure (Robotech hit the air six months or so after I finished the Talisman and changed my outlook forever. Everyone got a slice in that show, good guys and bad) but this was the first.

That may have seemed like a very long digression there, but to me it was very important. It is especially important now that I see the Talisman as a small part of Stephen King's larger universe. That universe has The Dark Tower as it's axis and the Dark tower is the biggest let down in literary history in my not so humble opinion.

I should also say here that, as an adult rereading this book, I discovered that hidden away towards the end of this novel is the best description of a mystical experience I have ever read in fiction. Most people say that a mystical experience is impossible to describe (and it is) but I think he came the closest you can come while being hampered by the chains of the written word.

Finally, Peter Straub is credited as co-writer of this particular Stephen King book, but I think he must have just been the editor or something, maybe he wrote the table of contents. After reading this book I sought out a Peter Straub book and read it. It was hard to find and knew why long about page 20. This guy is bad.. very bad.. he's axiomatically bad. He makes C.J. Cherryh look like Chaucer. Yes that BAD! So I can't understand how this book got his name on it. IF you have read Straub and hated him, don't shy away from this book because King is the main voice here.

Stephen King and Peter Straub make a very good team........2007-08-29

I read this book in like, three days. It moves at a fast pace. Stephen King and Peter Straub work very well together. No, it is not one of my favorite novels by him, and I prefer most of his horror novels (and other stories) to this, but I really liked it. I recommend this to all fans of Stephen King and Peter Straub.

P.S. I am reading Black House now and I will review that when I am done.

The Adventures of Jack Sawyer--Horrifying and Wonderful!.......2007-07-28

In THE TALISMAN, Stephen King and Peter Straub have crafted a horror-fantasy-adventure story for the ages (one which they were proud enough to sequelize, years later). When I read this book, I had an idea that most of the ideas were Straub's (as they seemed very un-King like to me at the time, having not yet read THE GUNSLINGER or EYES OF THE DRAGON) and that most of the actual writing was King's (this based wholly on King's growing tendency to write in the vernacular, even when in third person omniscient point of view). I'm better read and, I hope, less presumptuous now, but I'd still be curious as to the division of labor on this incredible journey. THE TALISMAN should be listed among the greater works of either author, and that is saying something.

It's the archetypical quest story: a boy's mother is dying, and he must journey across the country (blipping back and forth between this world and its smaller, "twinner" fantasy equivalent). Along the way, out hero will face untold dangers, befriend magical creatures, suffer horrible betrayals--and, of course, he will triumph. These reliable stand-by devices for the epic quest story are augmented, empowered, and tweaked with a hearty helping of King-Straub horror, and by that style of writing that begins to make the reader feel not as though he is actually reading a story, but that someone is sitting next to him and telling the story. And the storyteller isn't a wizened old, professor, speaking in the archaic; he's probably a retired, slightly alcoholic rock star, rich and profane in expression, musical, and nostalgic for his own lost boyhood.

Grand, imaginative, and inexplicably sorrowful--the more so as it nears the end--THE TALISMAN is a must-read novel.

(This review has been posted by Marcus Damanda, author of the vampire book, "Teeth: a Horror Fantasy".)

love it.......2007-06-12

This book is awesome..I have read it 3 times..I love love love..This guy is a rock star

Memorable Novel.......2007-05-25

Two things stood in my mind after I finished this book. I'll let you make up your own mind on what this says for the novel. The truth 'the test of truly owning something is the ability to give it up.' The phrase 'goat penis.' It is uttered by one of the story's villains entirely too much.

A mix of the profound and the grotesque, like any good horror show.

Narrative drive and suspense are top standard. Characters and settings are amazing, except for our main hero, Traveling Jack. He is never really described, but that is a technique of King's where we insert our own ideal image into Jack's place. This would have served me better if I could have easily figured out if Jack was White, Mexican, Asian or African American. His ethnicity is a mystery that is not addressed.

And the end. Jack has such incredible adventures, it is easy to forget he is twelve. The end ends well, but reminds us many threads are left unexplored because this was a child's story. The authors allude this isn't the end of Jack's life, a life which has other magnificent stories, but as far as I can tell, no other novels have been written about Traveling Jack, the man of many worlds. That left me a little disappointed, as the Black House, the sort-of-sequel, sounds like Jack decided to just forget his entire adventure. I may read it in few years. Eventually.

This was a good book to read while sitting through a 20+ hour bus ride, which is where I read my copy. While good, the story doesn't even make my personal top twenty-five, but I can see how you can really fall in love with it if you haven't read thousands of books.

Average customer rating:

Darkness and the Dahlia
"the sky was a carcinogenic tan"
Needed an editor
Relentless
TMI

My Dark Places
James Ellroy
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679762051
Release Date: 1997-08-19

Amazon.com

James Ellroy's trademark is his language: it is sometimes caustically funny and always brazen. When he's hitting on all cylinders, as he is in My Dark Places, his style makes punchy rhythms out of short sentences using lingo such as "scoot" (dollar), "trim" (sex), and "brace" (to interrogate). But the premise for My Dark Places is what makes it especially compelling: Ellroy goes back to his own childhood to investigate the central mystery behind his obsession with violence against women--the death of his mother when he was 10 years old. It's hard to imagine a more psychologically treacherous, more self-exposing way in which to write about true crime. The New York Times calls it a "strenuously involving book.... Early on, Mr. Ellroy makes a promise to his dead mother that seems maudlin at first: 'I want to give you breath.' But he's done just that and--on occasion--taken ours away."

Book Description

"Astonishing . . . original, daring, brilliant."
--Philadelphia Inquirer

In 1958 Jean Ellroy was murdered, her body dumped on a roadway in a seedy L.A. suburb. Her killer was never found, and the police dismissed her as a casualty of a cheap Saturday night. James Ellroy was ten when his mother died, and he spent the next thirty-six years running from her ghost and attempting to exorcize it through crime fiction. In 1994, Ellroy quit running. He went back to L.A., to find out the truth about his mother--and himself.

In My Dark Places, our most uncompromising crime writer tells what happened when he teamed up with a brilliant homicide cop to investigate a murder that everyone else had forgotten--and reclaim the mother he had despised, desired, but never dared to love. What ensues is a epic of loss, fixation, and redemption, a memoir that is also a history of the American way of violence.

"Ellroy is more powerful than ever."
--The Nation

Customer Reviews:

Darkness and the Dahlia.......2007-09-26

I've been a fan of James Ellroy since reading "The Black Dahlia" years ago. He blended violent death and raw eroticism, threw in a few dashes of creative nonfiction, and came up with a fast-paced noir tale about a detective who becomes obsessed with the murdered Elizabeth Short, aka The Black Dahlia. The protagonist doesn't content himself with merely trying to unmask her killer- he pursues Short as if she were yet attainable, loving her more in death than he ever could have in life.

"My Dark Places" evolved from an article Ellroy wrote for GQ Magazine after viewing the homicide file of his mother, Geneva 'Jean' Ellroy, whose strangled remains were dumped in a seedy L.A. suburb in 1958. The killer was never found and the case was closed, but the ten year old Ellroy was left with a lifelong fascination with the beautiful and the slaughtered. After battling through a personal hell of drug and alcohol addiction, he made unconscious attempts to reconnect with his mother by writing provocative and darkly loving crime fiction whose primary love interests were dead women.

Ellroy teamed up with veteran homicide detective Bill Stoner and re-opened the thirty year old case case. They pored over yellowing files and battered evidence boxes, and interviewed some of the last people to see Geneva Ellroy alive. Ellroy recounts their efforts in a suspenseful manner that would do justice to a good piece of detective fiction. While their investigation does not result in the finding of her killer, Ellroy clearly experiences a psychic catharsis in the process, and the reader witnesses a documented softening of a child's hostility into an adult son's love for a mother he never truly knew.

"the sky was a carcinogenic tan".......2007-08-17

My Dark Places stands alone among the most naked, poignant, exquisite writing I have ever encountered. Anyone unmoved by either its subject matter or the sheer beauty of Ellroy's prose must be clinically dead.

Needed an editor.......2007-07-10

James Ellroy is undeniably a great writer, and the story he tells here --the unsolved murder of his mother when he was ten years old, and how the fact marked (and almost ruined) his life-- is an amazing one. But the book suffers, in my opinion, from a lack of editing. You can't blame Ellroy for believing that every single detail about the case, and his struggle to solve it, is fascinating, but the truth is, the writing suffers from too many details--some of them, irrelevant and even boring. A good editor could have transformed great but raw material into what it should have been: a masterpiece.

Relentless.......2007-06-13

To better understand (if not enjoy) My Dark Places, I would suggest that you need to have read at least one Ellroy novel. It will help to put this semi-autobiography into perspective, and if you're already an Ellroy fan it will make a great deal more sense. It's an extraordinary piece of work, so ruthlessly exhaustive in its detail that I for one felt almost physically tired by the time I had finished. Not tired of reading the book itself, but tired just to think of the incredible lengths Ellroy went to in order to track down his mother's killer some 37/38 years after her death in 1958. Although the book is dedicated to Ellroy's wife Helen, it could just as well have been dedicated to Bill Stoner, the retired ex-detective who committed himself absolutely to the cause of helping Ellroy in his unusual quest - but this might be an opportunity to mention two of Ellroy's greatest works American Tabloid and The Cold Six Thousand, one a sequel to the other; the latter was in fact dedicated to Stoner and deservedly so.

In one sense I feel that this book was written almost exclusively for Ellroy himself to read, I'm sure that he had little commercial incentive or reasoning to do it. Yet the raw, body-pummelling honesty of the book from start to finish makes for fascinating reading for those who, like myself, have ever wondered what made Ellroy write in the way he does in such classics as The Black Dahlia or The Big Nowhere. I have to admit that the short sentence style adopted in My Dark Places does irritate at times, in spite of the fact that the writer explains this after the end of the story. It gave me the impression that what we are reading, much of the time, are either his own or Stoner's investigatory notes and copied to the page verbatim.

The lasting impression though is the tireless and absolutely relentless commitment to the cause of a murder investigation. Although there are only a handful of characters who appear in the book throughout, there are nevertheless several hundred others who are mentioned during its course, the majority of whom are either related to the victim or are suspected of being so - and ALL of these suspects, no matter how faint their association to the crime might seem, have to be contacted and interviewed. I guess that this gives us an insight into the mechanics of any murder investigation, and how different it is to the relative glamourisation we see on the TV. This book covers, in finite detail, the day-to-day work of a real-life murder investigation, one which was spread well over a year and one which covered every single day of that period. The huge difference of course is that the victim is the investigator's mother, and the death took place most of his life ago.

After closing the last page, I felt that while I didn't exactly understand Ellroy as a personality that much better, I certainly knew him and his motives as a writer more than I had. My Dark Places strips away much of the mystery surrounding him and helps to explain what made him a self-styled specialist of 1950's LA crime fiction; he was a victim of the real thing.

TMI.......2007-04-24

My Dark Places is an excellent journey into the formative events of Ellroy's childhood and how they would shape him over time into one of America's most celebrated crime fiction writers. It's graphic, intense, and very real. It's also tough to take, at times, and not for the reasons one might expect. The most difficult aspect of the book from a reader's perspective is actually double edged: first, we know going in that his mother's murder is unsolved, so there is no resolution possible, unlike the fictional one present at the end of Black Dahlia. Second, Ellroy does not spare us any of the details of his investigation. While it is interesting to see how a true detective goes about his business, it makes for impossible reading. The details just overwhelm and ultimately suffocate the life of this narrative. So as far as a voyeuristic perspective on Ellroy's life, this couldn't dig any deeper. But as far as good reading, My Dark Places is a case of Too Much Information.

Sons of the Dark: Escape - Book #2 (Sons of the Dark)

Average customer rating:

its ok
This book is kinda good
Fast good book
Good book
not a gooddie

Sons of the Dark: Escape - Book #2 (Sons of the Dark)
Lynne Ewing
Manufacturer: Volo
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0786818123
Release Date: 2004-07-19

Book Description

Samuel has just landed in modern day LA. The last time he has been free of Nefandus was when he was abducted from his home two hundred years ago. He is totally lost until Ashley shows up. She used to be a servi, like him, but now she helps others who have escaped their bondage. He and Ashley travel back in time to see his great grandfather, a wise shaman. After Samuel returns to the present, he realizes his grandfather has given him a very special gift-one that is difficult to control. He also begins to wonder if Ashley is really who she says she is . . . Soon his loyalty to the other Sons of the Dark is sorely tested.

Customer Reviews:

its ok.......2005-01-11

this book is pretty good true there not as good as daughters of the moon but they are pretty good i wish catty and Kyle were still together and i wish daughters of the moon could still go on at the same time its really good i cant wait for outcast to come out its like you cant put it down this also involves majic
you should defelently read it

This book is kinda good.......2004-11-17

It has to do with the 4th Son of the Dark and what his power is. I thought that his power was okay but not as impressive as the Daughters powers. There is some humor in this book though. I will keep on reading this series. Lets hope that the rest of the books are good and funny.

Fast good book.......2004-08-29

Samuel lives on the frontier. One day he is kidnapped with his best friend Mcduff. When he escapes he thinks he will go home to his cabin on the frontier and see his family again. Too much time has gone by on earth and when he escapes he doesn't go home to the frontier. He goes to Los Angeles and time has gone by. He has to learn to fit in to the 21st century and to find his best friend again. All the time this is going on he has Regulators from Nefandus, the place he came from, chasing him to capture him and take him back.

Good book.......2004-08-24

This was the first book I read in the series Sons of the Dark because I didn't find the book number one. That is because my teacher didn't have number one. Somebody else in class was already reading it. She gave the book to me to read for a book report because I don't like to read. My teacher gave it to me because I don't read but it's a good book about Samuel. He is a slave in another world. He escapes to go home to his family. But he doesn't go home to his home on the frontier. He goes into the future to Los Angeles and it's the 21 century. He doesn't know where he is. His adventures starts and the book is interesting because people want to help him and he can't trust anyone.

not a gooddie.......2004-08-18

i did not like this book. i love the daughters of the moon but sotd's seemed not as exiciting. there wernt as many parties or events that really interested me. I dont think that [as u find out] Catty shouldnt have broken up w/ kyle. They seemed to love each other and catty is like the only girl kyle can not kill by kissing her. her reason that it was 2 dangerous was bad ithink bcus if stanton and serena could do it so could they

Sons of the Dark: Barbarian - Book #1 (Sons of the Dark)

Average customer rating:

Barbarian
Barbarian
This truly is a great book!!!
Good start to a new series
Very Good

Sons of the Dark: Barbarian - Book #1 (Sons of the Dark)
Lynne Ewing
Manufacturer: Volo
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0786818115
Release Date: 2004-07-19

Book Description

Obie hates Los Angeles and all the junk that goes with it-especially trying to fit in at Thomas Turney High School. But with bounty hunters trying to capture him, his Renegade roommates urge him to lay low with his band and forget about ever getting back hoome. it's hard to blend in at school, though, when you've just made enemies with the football team. Obie can't keep away from Allison, the most popular girl in school and the girlfriend of the star quarterback, Sledge. And when his true love, Inna, shows up and pleads for his help, Obie must return to the one place he fears most.

Customer Reviews:

Barbarian.......2007-01-22

First book to a spell binding series.

At first when I started the book I thought it would be all about a teenage outcast trying to fit in at a new highschool.

Soon I found that it was not the case.

I absolutely love the way she uses a totally realistic teenage life senario and adds her dose of gothic fantasy.

Obbie, the main character, is one of the Sons of Dark in a ancient legend. He is also the historically oldest of the group.

This book is all about his life.

Known throughout highschool as a 'loner' he is also apart of a band, finding that music is the only real escape from this time.

As the book progresses, we find out that he will remain the same age forever, he is eternal, moving around when he graduated from highschool and then going to another, imagine stuck in highschool forever.

As strange and mysterious events are put into place, he finds out the truth of his father murder and knows he must avenge his death...what will befall this mysterious youth and his gothic adventure...

You find out...

Barbarian.......2006-04-25

Book:

It starts out with your average teenage boy, or so you may think.

Obie isn't just any teenage boy, he comes from the third century of our earth and was part of a people called the Visigoths. Obie can't stand where he is and the only realease he seems to have is music. He plays in a band with guys much older than him but, he doesn't care.

He takes a specail intrest in Alison a girl that has it all, the popularity, the friends, and the star football player.

In the end Obie finds out who killed his father and he has been seeking revenge every since. He was inslaved a alternate dimentio called Nefandus and thats where he was made imortal.

Obie and his friends set off to destroy the one that murdered his father.

Read and find out...
---
My opinion:

This book was easy reading and I couldn't ever put it down. The story is so unique and theres so much to it you think that you'll never get it but the infromation fits together so perfectly and it makes you root for the heros.

I really enjoyed this book and I definately recoment it thats why I give it five out of five stars.

This truly is a great book!!!.......2006-02-13

Ok i am really behind in my reading... this book came out in '04 and I got it in '05 and didn't finish it until '06 LoL ~~ Anyway about the book: This is a great book. It really is a fun read and the situations Obie gets into are quite funny. Since he's from a different time he doesn't exactly fit in in the modern world. I enjoyed Obie's courage in the story, Berto's recklessness and Kyle's protection over them both. LoL I also liked that Catty was slightly mentioned, but it was a bit sad to know what happened between her and Kyle. Well anyway I reconmend this book to everyone guys and girls! Thanks to DOTM i met a great guy... yes he actually reads DOTM haha... This was a great book and i can't wait to get started on the others. If you wanna chat AIM: yugi naruto girl ~ Lata

Good start to a new series.......2005-03-27

I liked Barbarian and how it started a new plot and concept in the same world that Daughters of the Moon took place in. Ms. Ewing has managed to write a story from the male perspective quite well. Good book, I recommend it if you liked the Daughters of the Moon series.

Very Good.......2005-01-05

A very good book. It explains a lot more about Nefundus and it's kind of cool how Lynne Ewing connected the Daughters of the Moon to The Sons of the Dark. It was a enjoyable book.

Average customer rating:

A short novel but solidly good reading material
A Wonderful Novel By A Lesser Known Irish Author
Excellent little novel.
Both disturbing and beautiful
A wonderfully haunting novel

The Dark
John McGahern
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140277951

Customer Reviews:

A short novel but solidly good reading material.......2005-10-18

"The Dark" is an interesting novel in that it starts out very dark and then works its way gradually toward the light. This very short novel can be completed in several hours of reading.

The novel starts with the young protagonist being abused both physically and sexually by his father. We are not told exactly how the sexual molestation takes place or the specific acts but we know that the father lifts his son's nightshirt and rubs his son's thighs and that the sheets in the morning are 'dirty with intimacy'. The father, Mahoney, is a violent tempered man, threatened by all about him, and capable of taking out all his frustrations and inadequacies out on his children.

The protagonist is lifted from this horrible situation by his cousin who is a Roman Catholic Priest and Father Benedict, the teacher in his school. Yet the cousin, an odd fellow, verges on the edge of seduction of the young protagonist also - though nothing is allowed to happen since our young protagonist gives every sign that he is not interested in being seduced.

The major thrust of the novel is upward as the protagonist grows up, strives for excellence in his studies, receives a scholarship, and then gives up the scholarship to go to Dublin for a job.

Yet, it is not the decision to give up a scholarship for work that brings this novel from the dark into the light; it is the act of forgiveness that the protagonist feels for his father for the violence and molestation he experienced in his youth. We don't have a lot of deep psychology here in this book, the forgiveness emerges gradually and concretely and we breathe a sign of release when father and son express that they both acknowledge and feel familial love for each other.

The book has not frills, no poetic language or philosophical diversions. The text is as straight forward as a Hemingway novel, with few adjectives and minimal concrete descriptors. Character is revealed by minimal actions of the players.

It is sometimes a real treat to be able to finish a short novel in a few hours, such is the case with "The Dark".

A Wonderful Novel By A Lesser Known Irish Author.......2005-01-25

To some extent, banned books have a special place in my heart. I recall a local bookstore chain had a sign in its window that advertised a banned book sale. All of the titles on sale were banned at one time or another. One of the titles was THE CATCHER IN THE RYE. I decided to buy it, hoping my parents would take a fit and I could be a bit of a rebel. Both probably read the book and didn't even flinch an eye at their maverick son reading a forbidden book. Of course it was 1980, so it was hardly controversial anymore. A few days later, I had the book in school, and one of my favorite teachers complimented me on selecting a good book to read. She also suggested other titles which moved me past childhood books to more mature literature. In effect, her complimenting my reading selection was a significant step in my becoming an adult reader. Now when I see a banned book display, I often remember her, take a second look, and see what the banned books have to offer. More often than not only hype (the banning of some mediocre books made them instant best sellers).It is by taking a second look at a banned book display I discovered John McGahern's THE DARK.

I had heard of McGahern before, and actually own BY THE LAKE. When I learned that the book was banned in Ireland, I immediately thought it had to either offend Church leaders or mention sex. I also expected it to be somewhat shallow. Poking fun at the Church and Irish attitudes toward sex is so commonplace it is cliché. McGahern avoids this trap and writes a powerful coming of age tale that is both riveting and disturbing. The unnamed protagonist lives in an Ireland similar to the Ireland of ANGELA'S ASHES but unlike Frank McCourt, McGahern paints a portrait using sparse words to give vivid images of a country far behind the modern world. The young man's single father is abusive, yet also tender and loving, which leads to a rather complex and at times twisted love/hate relationship between father and son. While the portrait of the Church is hardly better than that of the overall picture of Ireland, the young man's place in the Church is unsettled as well. The priests and religious of THE DARK are more conflicted than the anti-sex clerics that populate so many books, usually by American authors trying to show their interpretation of Ireland and often do so in a one dimensional manner. Coming to terms with sexuality and attraction also plays a major role in this work, and we find a young man who is confused about normal adolescent feelings, but these confused feelings can at one moment be brutal, but also can be endearingly innocent, especially when he develops his first crushes on girls. We may wonder if the young man will eventually be a priest where he seems headed at times, or the university where he dreams of majoring in science. Readers hope he does not follow in the dead end footsteps of his father whose love and put downs both seem to motivate this determined young man. In order to discover which road he takes, read the book.

The pacing of this book is slow, but intentionally so. Readers get to savor McGahern's images and also enter into the mind of the character. The point of view can at time be confusing, but again this is more the intention of the author rather than a literary flaw. Some believe McGahern creates a picture of Ireland rarely seen. I am not sure that this is accurate. He is in keeping with the Ireland we find in the writings of James Joyce, and to a lesser extent Frank O'Connor, and shares their literary gifts.

Excellent little novel........2003-07-11

John McGahern, The Dark (Panther, 1965)

John McGahern would seem to be another of those authors whose talent is lionized in his native land, but who never quite had Americans get the hang of his work (q.v. Margaret Laurence). The Dark, McGahern's second novel, is a fascinating portrait of adolescence that deserves far, far wider appreciation than it seems to have ever received.

McGahern's homeland of Ireland may have something to do with that. The Dark was banned not long after its release for its rather cavalier treatments of both sex and religion, and so a novel published almost forty years ago has actually had something less than that to make a name for itself. Someday, Oprah will discover this book and feature it in her book club, and well, McGahern will have it made.

Oprah couldn't not love this book. It's dysfunction central. The home depicted here won't be found in the bucolic emerald landscapes on sees in movies of the time. Here, we have the poor Depression-era Ireland, where the family burns peat and straw because it can't afford coal, instead. The nameless protagonist's mother is dead, presumably in childbirth. The father is both verbally and sexually abusive to his (uncounted, in the novel) children; explicitly to his son, implicitly to his daughters (though whether there is anything to this forms the crux of a scene much later on in the novel). There is much here to lay the groundwork for the main character of this novel to hate his father, but McGahern isn't going to take the easy way out, building a complex love/hate relationship between the main character and his father, complicated by both their feelings for Joan, the oldest daughter.

The book has rightly been compared to Joyce's Portrait of the Artist, though McGahern's prose is far clearer and less florid, almost minimal. His characters are beautifully drawn, real in every sense of the word, and it is impossible not to at least empathize with them. McGahern takes on the daunting task of telling a story with one main character and many different points of view, while keeping all those points of view sympathetic, as if he were telling the story from everyone's perspectives simultaneously. He pulls it off with great flair.

This is an uncomfortable book, to be sure, but it is a very good one, perhaps even a great one. Certainly one of the finer coming-of-age novels I've run across. ****

Both disturbing and beautiful.......2003-03-23

This novel was brought to my attention by the Guardian Unlimited in an article about banned books. I assumed it must be a good read, and I wasn't disappointed. My only cause for surprise is that it doesn't seem to be very well-known, that I am the second person to write a review.

My own transition from adolescence to adulthood was far from smooth, so I enjoy reading coming-of-age stories because I can relate to them on a very emotional level, and this novel is one of the most realistic to date, for many reasons, including sexual self-experimentation (as a Catholic, the main character is plagued with guilt), self-doubt, the confusion and fear, and so abundantly on.

But what makes this story all that and much more are the intense thoughts and ideas of this intelligent young man. The more he emotes, the more I also felt. He struggles with age-old philosophical questions and through introspection decides whether to become a priest. I highlighted some brilliant quotes about life and death in my copy. I could relate to his "dog's chance" of succeeding as a result of an unsupportive father, with whom he has a love-hate relationship. A perfectly able young man hobbled by a household of fear, anger, and constant complaining....

McGahern's literary style of switching among different points of view, as well as alternating between past and present tenses, truly sets the appropriate mood, and it's pure genius. This novel is timely considering the sex-abuse scandals in the Church. Although it feels as if the story ends abruptly, and somewhat anti-climactic, leaving the reader wanting for more, I like to think that it signifies a good book. I wish more authors would write true-to-life stories like this one.

A wonderfully haunting novel.......2002-05-10

A poetically written story of a boy's coming of age in rural Ireland, "The Dark" is a journey through teenage years full of self doubt, sexual frustration and religious fear. The protagonist, whose name we're never actually told, is an intelligent boy who excels academically, though he doubts and fears his own future. He wonders if he should become a priest, go to the university to be a scientist, join the civil service or end up a potato farmer like his father. Through the years of indecision and study, the boy endures his widowed father's physical and verbal abuse. But as he grows older and learns more about the truth of the world, the past, present and future take on new perspectives and his relationship with his father changes from one of fear and hate to a subdued respect and love.

Customer Reviews:

SOTD.......2007-09-03

this book is about berto... he is my favorite Character!!
i was kinda sad to see him lose Ashly... but he meets Piya... his ture love...

A Great Read, Hopefully not the last.......2006-04-26

This book was great, we learn abot Berto's past and more about his powers we even get hints about Maddie's destiny, in this book she starts having premonitions, at the end of the book Berto finds out what role she plays in the Sons destiny but he dosnet tell the others, I cant wait for the 5th book but it seems like it will be a while before it comes out its the same thing with DOTM 13 her outlines sill havent been approved so both series are currently discontinued. But Spring of 2007 Lynne's coming out with a whole new series called Sisters of Isis, the first two books are currently titled Ancient Magic and Cat Magic but might change. The series follows three girls Meri, Dalila and Sudi. She is working on those books right now.

Love this book.......2006-03-19

This book was excellent especially the end. i hope there is a fifth book in the series or 13th in dotm.

L.A chick who loves Lynne Ewing's books.......2005-09-04

I really like all of Lynne Ewing's books, especially since I can invision all the scenes she creates in these books since I live here in Los Angeles. I really liked this books, because we get to find out more about what happened to the Daughters. This book series doesn't have the "romance" found in Daughters of the Moon, but I believe they contain more adventure, and less drama. I can't say what happends in the end of this book because It will ruin the plot. But you can get a sense on what is going to happen next. I'm not sure if there's going to be another Daughter's of the Moon, but I do believe that the unfinished story of the girls, will kind of "morph" into the story of Sons of the Dark, that somehow their lives will come together. But who knows. I do hope the next book comes out soon. I would be very interested to find out what happends to all of them!

the best Berto saves Ashley.......2005-08-11

Berto has to save Ashley because it's the only thing he can do because he has to save the world. He finds out about the secrets Ashley is keeping from him that he didn't know before. After that he knows the reason why she does bad things like being a bounty hunter. It's because she had to get back home. He doesn't want to help her but he has to. Everything gets worse for him. The book has a good ending.

Average customer rating:

Not Free SF Reader
An American Classic huh?
Great Condition and perfect!
Amazing book...incredibly poetic, fantastically vivid imagery
The Wicked is pretty Wicked

Something Wicked This Way Comes
Ray Bradbury
Manufacturer: Eos
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0380977273
Release Date: 1999-06-08

Amazon.com

A masterpiece of modern Gothic literature, Something Wicked This Way Comes is the memorable story of two boys, James Nightshade and William Halloway, and the evil that grips their small Midwestern town with the arrival of a "dark carnival" one Autumn midnight. How these two innocents, both age 13, save the souls of the town (as well as their own), makes for compelling reading on timeless themes. What would you do if your secret wishes could be granted by the mysterious ringmaster Mr. Dark? Bradbury excels in revealing the dark side that exists in us all, teaching us ultimately to celebrate the shadows rather than fear them. In many ways, this is a companion piece to his joyful, nostalgia-drenched Dandelion Wine, in which Bradbury presented us with one perfect summer as seen through the eyes of a 12-year-old. In Something Wicked This Way Comes, he deftly explores the fearsome delights of one perfectly terrifying, unforgettable autumn. --Stanley Wiater

Book Description

Few American novels written this century have endured in th heart and mind as has this one-Ray Bradbury's incomparable masterwork of the dark fantastic. A carnival rolls in sometime after the midnight hour on a chill Midwestern October eve, ushering in Halloween a week before its time. A calliope's shrill siren song beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. In this season of dying, Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. And two inquisitive boys standing precariously on the brink of adulthood will soon discover the secret of the satanic raree-show's smoke, mazes, and mirrors, as they learn all too well the heavy cost of wishes -- and the stuff of nightmare.

Customer Reviews:

Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03

A good old creepy carny type story.

The wicked in the title refers to the travelling sideshow/fun fair/show or whatever you want to call it attraction that rolls into a nowheresville USA town. Bad things start happening because of this creepy joint, and two boys end up in the thick of the action trying to work out what they can do to stop all the dastardly goings-on.

An American Classic huh? .......2007-05-17

I will get directly to the point, which is something the author found difficult to do in this book.

This is one of the most disjointed, incomprehensible novels I have ever tried to read. I think this book is the most clear case of an author's vanity that I have ever seen. Do you ever get the feeling (when you're reading a novel) that the author is so very proud of the colorful language he has just scattered across the page that he can scarcely help himself from trying to top his last success at articulation? That is the way this book reads, like a perfect example of an author's vanity getting away from him.
I grew up with this movie (and loved it!). This is one instance where I can honestly say that the movie was way better than the book. The book took too long to get anywhere, tried to introduce motives for characters' actions that never seemed to make any sense (to any normal person anyway), and was generally boring.
So, whatever you do, stay clear of this book. Jump, skip, skidattle-crack your way on down the road to another book (yes this is my attempt to imitate Bradbury's annoying descriptive style in this book). You will not find anything that you liked about Farenheit 451 (another book by this author) in here.

Great Condition and perfect!.......2007-03-08

This was an awesome book and in great condition. Got it fast.

Amazing book...incredibly poetic, fantastically vivid imagery.......2007-03-05

I read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury about a year ago, and was amazed by it. I loved how painfully true the story was becoming...I also was enchanted by the beautiful writing. So obviously, I had to check out more works by this wonderful author. I purchased Dandelion Wine, and Something Wicked This Way Comes.

This book far exceeded my expectations. Though a few parts of the book are drawn out and uninteresting, the majority of it is fantastically written, with lots of beautiful imagery. The ending was very unexpected, but cute and thoughtful.

Is it as good as Fahrenheit 451? I wouldn't compare the two, but I enjoyed this book slightly more, though Fahrenheit 451's message is more true. Five big fat shiny stars for Something Wicked This Way Comes.

The Wicked is pretty Wicked.......2007-01-28

I read Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. I give this book a 3 star rating. The author takes a long time to get to the point, so it's a little boring. If you don't understand metaphors then you probably wouldn't want to read this book.
Something Wicked This Way Comes is mainly about two thirteen-year-old boys, who are best friends, experiencing the wrath of evil. It all starts with a flyer that says "Crooger and Dark's Pandemonium Side Show". Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade, the best friends, find this flyer. At three o'clock in the morning, they see the carnival roll in. Once they visit the carnival they quickly find out that there is something not right. The main attraction is the "Freak" show and the Mirror Maze will suck you in and you will never come out. Will and Jim visited the carnival one night and the "Freaks" caught them. The boys' got away but the "Freaks" hunted them down. Once the boys' and Charles Halloway were caught all it took was a little love for the "Freaks" and the carnival to go away.
Will Halloway is one of the main characters in the book. He thinks about danger much more than Jim. Will was afraid to go to the Mirror Maze because he saw evil in it. Although, as the story unfolds, he becomes more confident. He shows this by cutting the witches balloon. Jim Nightshade is a main character also. He is the exact opposite of Will. Jim is a daredevil and carefree. He wanted to experience the wrath of the carnival and fight the evil. Jim shows that he is afraid of nothing by wondering the streets at night and going to the carnival a couple times alone before Will went with him.
If you think or know that you enjoyed Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury then you would enjoy A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury, and The Veldt by Ray Bradbury. I am a seventh grade student in North Carolina.

Average customer rating:

Excellent Condition

Dark Sons
Nikki Grimes
Manufacturer: Jump At The Sun
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1423102517
Release Date: 2007-03-20

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Condition.......2007-01-25

I was pleased with the condition and timeliness of the delivery of this book. I was hesitate about purchasing a used book.

Son of It Was a Dark and Stormy Night (Bulwer-Lytton Contest)

Average customer rating:

A MUST-BUY FOR PARODOPHILES
If you like wordplay, you just can't beat it.
A wonderful way to wile the hours away.

Son of It Was a Dark and Stormy Night (Bulwer-Lytton Contest)

Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0140088393

Customer Reviews:

A MUST-BUY FOR PARODOPHILES.......2001-08-08

Beyond a doubt, this is one of the best ideas ever conceived. A University hosts a contest where the contestants try and come up with the most intentionally stupid opening lines for a novel. Needless to say, some of the results are downright hilarious. I spent a good part of a day pouring over the pages of this book. There are categories for science ficton novels, romance novels, plain-jane fiction, detective stories, "It was a dark and stormy night" stories, you name it, it's probably in here in some shape or form. Because the entrys are short, this is one book that can very easily be finished in one sitting, whether you're riding in the car, or flying your hang-glider. The artwork that goes along with the book is nice, too. If I were you, I'd hunt down these books with the same enthusiasm that a headhunter would go after Mr. Potatohead.

If you like wordplay, you just can't beat it........2001-03-17

"Son of 'It was A Dark And Stormy Night' " is the second of, to the best of my knowledge, five collections of entries in the annual "Bulwer-Lytton fiction contest". (The others being "It Was A Dark And Stormy Night", "Dark And Stormy Rides Again", "It Was A Dark And Stormy Night: The Final Conflict", and, I think, "Bride Of Dark And Stormy", if I'm not mistaken.) The Bulwer-Lytton fiction contest is a contest , named for Sir Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, whose "Paul Clifford" (1830) opens with the immortal line "It was a dark and stormy night...", which is run by Scott Rice and sponsored by San Jose State University, in which contestants vie to write the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels. Generally, the trick is to make the sentences as complex syntactically as it is possible to imagine, while violating as many rules of creative consistency as possible, and to be certain that no noun is without more than its share of purple-prose adjectives.

This is not for everyone, but if this sounds like fun to you, it probably is. This is the third of the collections that I've read; I thought that "The Final Conflict" was better than the original; this is even better than that one.

A wonderful way to wile the hours away........2000-05-08

The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction competitions are simply great for light reading. Highly suggested. Great Gifts, too.

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