Creatures of myth and fantasy have come to life, and human beings are an endangered species.
Part One: Tales of the Return describes the world as it is ravaged by monsters of myth and fantasy. Human beings struggle to survive, and at the same time struggle to hold on to their humanity.
Part Two: Alicia's Tale is about a lone survivor and her struggles to find a safe haven and trustworthy friends. Sometimes the monsters have human faces.
Professional Reviews
What a ride!
Imagine a world where snippets of lore come true - in a dark way. It's not fairy-tale land, because there aren't any fairy godmothers or cheerful little dwarves rescuing princesses. It's story-land, with the stuff people talk about around campfires to scare each other before sleeping in the wild. In Napier's world creatures out of mythology, books, and movies come alive, bringing out both the best and the worst in surviving humans.
The best in us is amazing, but the worst in us is pretty darned bad.
This book is unlike everything I've ever read before. The first part is a series of suspenseful stories, and at first the timeline confused me. Then I decided it didn't matter, and went along for the ride. And what a ride it is!
Is it good? Let me put it this way. I didn't intend to read a book today, and I attempted to put it down several times. Each time, I went to the kitchen for another cup of coffee, and returned to the book. I HAD to see what would happen, and who would survive.
The book is well written, superbly edited, scary, gripping, and intense. If you're the kind of person who wants to hide under the bed at the mere thought of something supernatural, it might not be for you. Me, I read it on my iPad and as soon as I finish writing this review I'll go see if it's available as paperback so I can keep it forever.
Amazing story with an interesting structure
First off, this book took some creatures that no longer scare us and makes them scary again. Folk lore, pop culture horror, fantasy creatures, popular mythological beings all become rejuvenated in this book. I love the structure. The book appears to be split into two halves. The first half sets up the world scenery by isolating a short story for each chapter. They are all part of the world and you get a wider perspective how this situation is affecting various people. The second part of the story focuses on a character you'll meet in the first half. All throughout the second half, you get to follow along with the heroine as she makes her way through this bizarre and dangerous land. This is a pretty good read, and the price wasn't bad either. I'd recommend it to anyone who loves a scary story.
Couldn't put it down!
This book gets a solid 4. I started reading it before going to bed and next thing I knew it was early morning! I got completely caught up in the story and that is the true test of a great book.
The mini stories in the first half were great and did a really good job of building characters, and I loved finding out what happened to them in the second half. It was interesting to me as it read and felt like a YA novel, yet the content was very much for a more mature audience. Which, once I got used to it I really enjoyed and it definitely makes it an easy and appealing read for those who might usually steer clear of the fantasy genre.
What prevented me from giving this the 5th star was the lack of a driving plot. It did not make the book any less enjoyable, but for me personally, having a "goal" for Alicia would have given it a bit more cohesion. There were also a few print errors that the editors missed, but not enough to really disrupt the story.
I will definitely be looking into the other titles by this author and would welcome a sequel to Storyland (hint hint)!
