Stay Out of the Basement by R.L. Stine
One of my kids loves Halloween – she starts celebrating in September – and, since she wanted to read some horror for children during October, we listened to a few of R.L. Stine’s GOOSEBUMPS books together. Each is a standalone short novel with a pretty hefty scare factor.
Stay Out of the Basement (1992) is the second novel in the series (which contains dozens of stories) and there’s no reason to read the first one first.
October 25th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 2.5 | R.L. Stine | Audio, Children, Horror | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The House Where Nobody Lived by John Bellairs & Brad Strickland
The House Where Nobody Lived is the eleventh (and penultimate) novel in John Bellairs & Brad Strickland’s LEWIS BARNAVELT series. These are stand-alone horror mysteries for kids. I’ve been listening to Recorded Books’ audio versions with my daughter. We love George Guidall’s performance.
This story starts with a flashback to the beginning of the series when Lewis is 11 years old and it’s been just over a year since his parents died and he moved in with Uncle Jonathan.
October 22nd, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Brad Strickland, John Bellairs | Audio, Children, Horror | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Whistle, the Grave, and the Ghost by John Bellairs & Brad Strickland
In the tenth installment in John Bellairs & Brad Strickland’s LEWIS BARNAVELT series, Lewis is camping with his fellow Scouts (who are bullying him, of course) when he finds an old whistle near a grave and puts it in his pocket. The whistle has a Latin encryption on it and, when he asks the priest at his church to help him with the translation, the priest (who Lewis isn’t particularly fond of),
October 20th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Brad Strickland, John Bellairs | Audio, Children, Horror | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
A decade-long war is finally over and the people who live on the planet of Beltane are relieved. During the war, Beltane, where many scientists lived, was recruited for the war effort and served, unwillingly, as an experimental lab. After the war, most of the scientists left the planet, creating a brain drain, and the people who remained were pacifists who looked forward to starting a new way of life without interference from the Confederation.
When a disfigured veteran named Griss Lugard is brought back home to Beltane,
October 15th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Andre Norton | Audio, Children, Stand-Alone, Young Adult | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
Paper & Blood is the second novel in Kevin Hearne’s INK & SIGIL series which is a spin-off of his very popular IRON DRUID CHRONICLES. In the first INK & SIGIL novel, Ink & Sigil, which you’ll want to read first (though Hearne thankfully gives us a “The Story So Far” summary – thank you!), we met Al MacBharrais, a sigil agent who uses ink and paper to create magic spells.
October 11th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Kevin Hearne | Audio | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Tower at the End of the World by John Bellairs & Brad Strickland
In The Tower at the End of the World (2001), the ninth novel in John Bellairs & Brad Strickland’s LEWIS BARNAVELT series, Strickland once again pays tribute to the late Bellairs by returning to, and expanding the plot of the first novel in the series, The House with a Clock in its Walls.
At this point, Lewis is 13 years old and has just finished reading Sax Rohmer’s FU MANCHU series.
October 4th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Brad Strickland, John Bellairs | Audio, Children, Horror | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Original by Brandon Sanderson & Mary Robinette Kowal
Holly wakes up in the hospital. Her last memory is being at a party with Jonathan, her husband. The party was for a potter and she remembers being thrilled to actually be able to touch the clay – something real to feel and even deconstruct. She has no idea how she ended up in the hospital, and it takes a while to get some answers, but finally she learns that she has been cloned as a Provisional Replica because her real self (her Original) murdered her husband.
September 30th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal | Audio, Short Fiction, Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Beast Under the Wizard’s Bridge by John Bellairs & Brad Strickland
The Beast Under the Wizard’s Bridge (2000) is the eighth novel in the LEWIS BARNAVELT series for middle graders which was started by John Bellairs in 1973 and finished up by Brad Strickland after Bellairs’ death in 1991. I’m listening, with my daughter, to the excellent audio editions by Recorded Books which are narrated by George Guidall.
Remember that scary car chase scene, I think it was in the first book The House with a Clock in its Walls,
September 27th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3.5 | Brad Strickland, John Bellairs | Audio, Children, Horror | SFF Reviews | no comments |
The Specter from the Magician’s Museum by John Bellairs & Brad Strickland
The Specter from the Magician’s Museum (1998) is the seventh novel in the LEWIS BARNAVELT horror series for middle graders. The first novel, The House with a Clock in its Walls, was written by John Bellairs and published in 1973. There was a 17-year hiatus after the third book, The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring, was published in 1976 while Bellairs was focused on his JOHNNY DIXON series.
September 24th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 3 | Brad Strickland, John Bellairs | Audio, Children, Horror | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
The Doom of the Haunted Opera by John Bellairs & Brad Strickland
The Doom of the Haunted Opera (1995), the sixth book in John Bellairs’ and Brad Strickland’s LEWIS BARNAVELT series for middle grade readers, has best friends Lewis and Rose Rita back together again after having separate adventures in the previous two novels, The Ghost in the Mirror (Rose Rita) and The Vengeance of the Witch-Finder (Lewis).
September 20th, 2021. Kat Hooper´s rating: 4 | Brad Strickland, John Bellairs | Audio, Children, Horror | SFF Reviews | no comments |
Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn is my favorite fantasy series. It's fantastic. I've been holding off on starting The Last King…
I believe you are missing the point of this book here. I don't believe the purpose is to tell a…
I love it!
Almost as good as my friend: up-and-coming author Amber Merlini!
I don't know what kind of a writer he is, but Simon Raven got the best speculative-fiction-writing name ever!