The Last Gargoyle

Review:

Audience: Middle Grade

Format: Hardcover/Library Copy

 

 

My earliest memory is of a crib, a darkened room, and three shadows slipping through the doorway with bad intentions.

- first sentence

 

This is such a charming book with fun characters and an exciting story. The story includes Grotesques, Bone Masons, Netherkin, Shadow Men, and the Boneless King. It has danger, mystery, good & evil, and suspense. I really liked it.

 

Penhallow is a gargoyle but he wants you to call him a grotesque. He protects his building and his wards from evil. When he loses his two best friends and faces a new enemy, he feels completely alone, until Viola turns up on his roof.

 

I loved Penhallow and Viola's relationship. They are cute together and she is stronger than she seems. I also enjoyed Penhallow's way of looking at the world and talking. He calls college students, "practice adults". Here is the definition from Penhallow's glossary:

 

Practice Adults:

Nocturnal creatures who seem to serve no useful purpose other than to keep taverns and pizza delivery people in business.

 

I highly recommend this book to middle-grade readers who enjoy dark fantasy with a touch of humor.

 

I read this for Snakes and Ladders space #16. Genre: fantasy.

I'm also using it for the Goodreads HA a to z challenge. :)

 

 

 

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1855140/the-last-gargoyle

Snakes and Ladders - space #21

 

 

I'm reading this for 21. Set in Europe.

 

It's set in France & Germany

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1855135/snakes-and-ladders-space-21

Snakes and Ladders Update #3

 

My next roll is:

 

 

 

1. Author is a woman - Grump by Liesl Shurtliff

9. Author's last name begins with the letters H, I, J, or K - What the Night Knows by Dean Koontz

16. Genre: fantasy - The Last Gargoyle by Paul Durham (I finished this but haven't written the review yet.)

 

 

Landed on:

 

21. Set in Europe - I'm not sure what I'm reading for this yet

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1854550/snakes-and-ladders-update-3

Reading...

Reblogged from: Hol

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1853606/reading

Killer by Nature - Audible Original

Review:

Audience: Adult

Format: Audiobook/Owned

 

 

This was just okay. I didn't really like any of the characters and I didn't even hate the villain enough. The main character is a psychologist who doesn't seem to notice that her daughter has symptoms of psychopathy. I'm not giving anything away. If you've read any books or seen any movies about psychopaths, then you know how it goes: no emotions, no sympathy or empathy, hurting animals, etc. How does her mother not notice?? She's supposed to be so busy, but even when the principal calls her in to talk about her daughter's behavior, she still doesn't see it. I found this part hard to believe. 

 

Then there's the killer (who is already in jail btw). When the doctor goes to see him, she gives him a test to see if he's a psychopath. Remember, this is the woman who can't even see it in her own daughter. The killer occasionally breaks into song - children's songs to be exact. It's a little creepy but more annoying than anything.

 

I listened to the Alien Audible Originals and they are also performances. I liked the format in that case. But for this one, it didn't really seem to fit. Also, it was broken into episodes which was kind of jarring and involved a lot of music. The first time this happened, I thought the whole thing had started over because it also restates the title and author.

 

At least it was fairly short.

 

If I had to sum it up in one sentence:

A watered down version of a Hannibal Lecter story.

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1853605/killer-by-nature-audible-original