Holly by Stephen King – Book Review

Holly by Stephen King – Book Cover

Stephen King read a newspaper article about an elderly couple who had committed murder. Everyone considered them to be kind and decent people—until the buried bodies were found in their backyard. “Perfect material for a novel,” thought King. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic was raging worldwide. All that was needed was Holly Gibney, the beloved character from the Mr. Mercedes books who had since become a private detective, and the result is the thrilling and chilling crime novel titled Holly.

Ultra-conservatives, beware!

Why?

Because you’ll get angry right at the beginning of this book.

One of the main threads in Stephen King’s Holly is the coronavirus. Interestingly, and almost inexplicably, anti-vaxxers primarily come from the staunchly right-wing voting demographic worldwide. I’m not entirely sure, but many believe these people are also the ones more susceptible to conspiracy theories.

(For example: The Earth is flat and is carried on the backs of four bristly armadillos.; or the Moon is made entirely of Emmental cheese. Watch out! These theories might seem entirely plausible at first glance, but they are not true!)

Read more

The Daylight War by Peter V. Brett – Book Review

Daylight War by Peter V. Brett – Book Cover

Demons Never Give You a Moment of Peace

It’s as if Peter V. Brett keeps getting better as a writer with each successive book in the Demon Cycle series. You definitely get that feeling with The Daylight War. And it’s not just because the stakes dramatically increase in this installment, which is true, but rather because Brett uses his characters much more effectively.

At first, the demons that seep to the surface from the depths of the earth during the night seem quite elusive and faceless. However, as the series progresses, you get to know these hellish creatures better and better.

What starts as a seemingly conventional world in The Warded Man, becomes increasingly complex here. And the demons lurking below ground realize that their dinner is becoming tougher and tougher.

In the Demon Cycle, everything and everyone comes in pairs: day and night, humans and demons, the northern duchies of Thesa and Krasia located in the south, the Creator and Everam, Ahmann Jardir and Arlen Bales. This duality is even more pronounced in Krasia, where men and women are separated just as distinctly as the full-fledged Sharum and the lower, despised Khaffit caste.

However, The Daylight War is about unification. Humanity must unite under the banner of the Deliverer if they are to defeat their common enemy. The problem is that there are two Deliverers. And each one is convinced that he is the true one. And with good reason…

Read more