#BookReview The Pandora Room by Christopher Golden @ChristophGolden @FreshFiction @StMartinsPress

The Pandora Room by Christopher Golden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When what appears to be the original Pandora's Box is discovered in an ancient city, neighboring countries fight for ownership and unleash a terrible plague.

The Pandora Room is New York Times bestselling author Christopher Golden's chilling exploration of what happens when the original Pandora's Box is discovered in an ancient subterranean city, stirring international conflict and exposing the archaeological team to curses, whispers, and the terror of a legendary plague.

In one ancient variation on the myth of Pandora's Box, there were two jars, one for Pandora and one for her sister, Anesidora. One contained all the blessings of the gods, the other all the world's curses. Now, in a subterranean city in Northern Iraq, archaeologist Sophie Durand has discovered a secret chamber covered in writing that confirms that version of the tale--a chamber which contains a single jar. "Weird shit" expert Ben Walker joins Sophie's team just as the mystery deepens and grows ugly. Those who believe the myth want to know which jar has been found in the Pandora Room, the one containing blessings, or the one full of curses. Governments rush to lay claim, but jihadi forces aren't waiting for the dust to settle. Whatever the jar contains, they want it, no matter who they have to kill...or what will emerge when they open it. For Sophie, Walker, and the others, the Pandora Room may soon become their tomb.

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We were first introduced to Ben Walker in ARARAT. He was lucky to survive that experience, only to once again have to face evil when he is sent to Northern Iraq where a jar has been found. A jar with a connection to the myth of Pandora's Box. But, that is what it is, right, just a myth? There can't be anything to the legend that the jar is cursed. Ben hardly has time to settle into his new assignment when they are attacked by enemies that are after the jar. And, now trapped in the subterranean city must they fight against enemies above as well as and something below with them...

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#BookReview Indigo by Charlaine Harris @FreshFiction #FFreview @StMartinsPress

Indigo by Charlaine Harris
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Investigative reporter Nora Hesper spends her nights cloaked in shadows. As Indigo, she's become an urban myth, a brutal vigilante who can forge darkness into weapons and travel across the city by slipping from one patch of shadow to another. Her primary focus both as Nora and as Indigo has become a murderous criminal cult called the Children of Phonos. Children are being murdered in New York, and Nora is determined to make it stop, even if that means Indigo must eliminate every member. But in the aftermath of a bloody battle, a dying cultist makes claims that cause Indigo to question her own origin and memories.

Nora's parents were killed when she was nineteen years old. She took the life insurance money and went off to explore the world, leading to her becoming a student of meditation and strange magic in a mountaintop monastery in Nepal...a history that many would realize sounds suspiciously like the origins of several comic book characters. As Nora starts to pick apart her memory, it begins to unravel. Her parents are dead, but the rest is a series of lies. Where did she get the power inside her?

In a brilliant collaboration by New York Times and critically acclaimed coauthors Charlaine Harris, Christopher Golden, Kelley Armstrong, Jonathan Maberry, Kat Richardson, Seanan McGuire, Tim Lebbon, Cherie Priest, James Moore, and Mark Morris join forces to bring you a crime-solving novel like you've never read before.

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INDIGO is a book about reporter Nora Hester who has a secret identity as Indigo. Indigo is a vigilante that uses shadows to travel and fight evil by making weapons out of shadows. She primarily fights the members of Children of Phonos. When children are being killed in New York, Nora is sure that the cult is behind the killings and as Indigo she launches a brutal attack on them. But Nora is starting to fall apart, she isn't sure about her identity anymore. Are her memories really her own? Where did she get her powers from? She decided to try to figure out who she really is...

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#BookReview Ararat by Christopher Golden

Ararat by Christopher Golden
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Meryam and Adam take risks for a living. But neither is prepared for what lies in the legendary heights of Mount Ararat, Turkey.

First to reach a massive cave revealed by an avalanche, they discover the hole in the mountain's heart is really an ancient ship, buried in time. A relic that some fervently believe is Noah's Ark.

Deep in its recesses stands a coffin inscribed with mysterious symbols that no one in their team of scholars, archaeologists and filmmakers can identify. Inside is a twisted, horned cadaver. Outside a storm threatens to break.

As terror begins to infiltrate their every thought, is it the raging blizzard that chases them down the mountain - or something far worse?

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I was really bummed when I was not once but twice declined for this book on NetGalley. So, when the book was released did I actually buy it, despite the fact that I seldom buy new books. But, just luck at the cover, it's fabulous and the blurb really intrigued me. I couldn't wait to read the book. 

Perhaps I did have too high expectations because the book didn't really rock my boat. Sure, it was interesting to read, but it was never intense or terrifying, not even a bit chilling to read. It was ... OK. I just thought the story would be better. But, looking back can I see one big problem with the book and that is that the characters never came to life for me. They weren't fleshed out enough to make me care for them. I wanted to care for Meryam and Adam and the rest, but even when things started to go out of hand on Ararat, and people started to get killed off did I not really find the story intense because they were just names and let's face it, of course, the less important people would get killed off first before the more important ones were at risk. As usual. Yeah, I'm a grumpy horror fan. But, I like my horror books to be surprising and terrifying, not following a  formula. Even then ending felt predictable. 

The book was not all bad, I liked the beginning best when everything was still unknown and the ship hadn't been found and the things that happened after that. And I was curious to see how it all would end. But, for being a very short book did I feel like it took me ages to get through it. 

So Ararat didn't turn out to be as fantastic as I had hoped it would be. I liked the idea more than the result and I wished the characters had been more fleshed out.