After Life by Daniel Ionson (Review)

 In the story of After Life we meet Kaemen and his fellow warrior-elites, The Wolfhounds, getting ready for war as Seer Mecas’ return to the nation Gaescea with a premonition of darkness and doom has the whole nation worrying for their future. 

 But as they get ready they suddenly find themselves trapped in The Land of the Dead with no memory of how they got there in the first place. The Land of the Dead proves to be filled with dangers and trickery. Kaemen is the obvious leader on the quest to get back to the living but after facing (what he considers to be) failure on an earlier mission he does not feel worthy. This also weighs down on him when it comes to the questions of what will happen to them all when they get to the very end of their journey. 

Can they get back to their loved ones? Who can they trust? And where will their past actions take them in the end?

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I got a copy of After Life sent to me from Daniel Ionson through a giveaway on Goodreads.

Thank you, Daniel 🙂

The After Life is an amazing story and Daniels’s writing took a hold of me and did not let go until the very last page.

I’ve been through my share of fantasy that was just too obvious or cliché, but After Life is a breath of fresh air in the fantasy genre. And the plot twist!! I never saw that coming!  And the way he made it work in a very unique way was refreshing!

I loved the story and loved the writing! Look forward to reading more of Daniel’s work!

After Life was very close to getting a five star rating. I would have loved to have gotten to know the characters a bit more. With so many characters and places I struggled a bit with all the names, but that could just be me. It got easier as the story progressed 🙂

If you like yourself some exciting dark fantasy then I definitely recommend that you give After Life a try!

You can get your copy of After Life by clicking on the logo below:

A few of my favorite quotes from After Life: 

“Why does being dead have to feel like a hangover every day?”

“But what is myth but faintly remembered history?”

“Hell is the promise of heaven dangled before you, and then taken away.”

The Paradox of Art by Shots of Awe

“We all know that Art is not truth.

Art is a lie that makes us realize truth”

-Picasso

1Q84 (#1-2) by Haruki Murakami (REVIEW)

I’ve had my eyes on this book for quite some time now and when I found it on sale a while back I seized the opportunity. I’ve heard so much about this one and for the past months it showed up in almost every book case that I came across. Could I have been missing out on the big thing? I sure had.

Have you ever met a person in your life and wished that you would have met them sooner? Well, 1Q84 felt that way to me!

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In 1Q84 you meet Tengo, a math teacher and aspiring author with good connections to a publisher that one day comes up with an idea. He wants him to rewrite a manuscript sent in by seventeen year old Fukaeri so that they can submit it in her name to win an award. 

Fukaeri is a truly mystical character with few spoken words but an important story to tell. She escaped a religious community where she had lived with her parents some years before and lives with a friend of the family, Ebisuno, and his daughter Azami. Fukaeri is dyslexic but had told the story “Air Chrysalis” to Azami who wrote it down and sent in the manuscript. 

Tengo feels uncomfortable with whole prospect of ghost-writing the novel when he finds out about this but the story has already captured him. Suddenly he finds himself in wonder if he has bitten off a whole lot more than he can chew. 

We also meets Aomame who one day gets out of a cab stuck in traffic to take an emergency escape (suggested by the taxi driver) to get to an important meeting in time. After climbing down the stairs strange things starts to happen and she starts to question the reality of the world she lives in. 

In all the mystery if 1Q84 the lives of Aomame and Tengo is drawn towards each other. Can they figure out what is happening?

***

I have to admit that at the moment I’m an a bit of a book hangover. I loved this book so much and when I found myself unable to sleep this night I got up and finished those last hundred pages that I’ve been dying to get to. I didn’t want this to end, and fortunately there is a third book (and has been rumors about a fourth from what I could find out) but I don’t have that at hand at the moment and have so many other books I need to get to first. But I can’t wait to get my hands on that third book!!

Murakami has made a magical and captivating novel that is so different from anything else I have ever read. The characters are so interesting and the details through the book grabs you and keep you in the story. Although Murakami does repeat himself a lot through 1Q84 I didn’t really mind because of how amazingly well it was written. And the story is anything but predictable!

Enjoyed and loved it from the first sentence till the last!

One of my favorite quotes from 1Q84:

“If you can love someone with your whole heart, even one person, then there’s salvation in life. Even if you can’t get together with that person.”

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If you would like your own copy of 1Q84 then you can CLICK HERE or on the picture below. 

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (Review)

The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only published novel by Oscar Wilde. It tells of a young man named Dorian Gray, the subject of a painting by artist Basil Hallward. Basil is impressed by Dorian’s beauty and becomes infatuated with him, believing his beauty is responsible for a new mode in his art. Talking in Basil’s garden, Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton, a friend of Basil’s, and becomes enthralled by Lord Henry’s world view. Espousing a new hedonism, Lord Henry suggests the only things worth pursuing in life are beauty and fulfilment of the senses. Realising that one day his beauty will fade, Dorian cries out, expressing his desire to sell his soul to ensure the portrait Basil has painted would age rather than himself. Dorian’s wish is fulfilled, plunging him into debauched acts. The portrait serves as a reminder of the effect each act has upon his soul, with each sin displayed as a disfigurement of his form, or through a sign of aging.

***

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a novel that I have been looking forward to read for some time. I regret seeing the movie before I read the book. It took some of the suspense out of the story. Never the less, Oscar Wilde is an amazing writer and story teller. The characters truly came to life and the mind of both Dorian Gray and Lord Henry Wotton fascinated and thrilled me.

That wish of staying young forever is something a lot of us can relate to, but all of us knows that it would come at a price that probably no one could handle over time. As it did to Dorian, it might have driven us all mad.

I highly recommend this book and gave it my top score of five stars on Goodreads.

I listen to the audiobook on Audible. If you would like to do the same then you can click HERE or on the picture below:

I myself am thinking about getting this gorgeous collection HERE or you can click on the picture below here as well:

I am absolutely addicted to these Barnes and Noble Leatherbound Classic Collections!

They are gorgeous!!

But if you would like the paperback version to have on the go, click HERE or on the picture:

And last, but not least, I will share my favorite quote from The Picture of Dorian Gray:

“When a woman marries again it is because she detested her first husband. When a man marries again it is because he adored his first wife. Women try their luck, men risk theirs.”

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I hope you enjoyed this and I would for you to recommend other books for me to read and review. Tell me in the comments below or you can write me an e-mail:

christina@geek-heaven.com