Book Review: Johannes Cabal the Fear Insitute by Jonathan L. Howard

The Fear Institute by Jonathan L. Howard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So this book of the Johannes Cabal series was different than the last two-mostly because they were in the Dreamlands looking for the Phobic Animus (in which THERE WASN'T ONE) and also because it felt like I was on a D&D adventure with Cabal and his companions. So what happened in this book?

Well three men came to Cabal's house to employ him to go to the dreamlands to retrieve this Phobic Animus. Cabal thought about it and after a day he said yes, and the four of them went to visit a poet that had the Sliver Key, and once he died, off they went into the dreamlands. Sadly throughout the adventure that I cannot remember because I took a break from reading this, but for the rest of the books I will be keeping a journal of all my thoughts:

Shadrach, and Corde died, Miss Smith and Cabal had a very nice conversation, they found a dead hermit's body and Cabal used necromancy to bring his skull back, the fight on the boat, and one of the Fear Institute People died.

Cabal is scared of cats, though I'm convinced there were Khajits in the book and Corde died, then Bose revealed himself to be Nyarlothotep, and sent Cabal through a dream, where he basically dreamt that his experiments worked, brought that girl in the casket back to life and then died WHYYYYYYYY.

Cabal also changed into a ghoul, didn't like it, so he made a laboratory so he could make an elixir to make himself hooman again. But the ghoul's leader took it from him, drank it, and became hooman, but then for some reason Cabal was knocked out, and a weird man came and took him home and took care of him. Now whoever he was knew the house intimately knew where everything was, and when Cabal woke up, he's like "You're supposed to be dead...."

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Book Review: Return to the Isle of the Lost by Melissa de la Cruz

Return to the Isle of the Lost by Melissa de la Cruz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have to say, this book is better than the first book, which is weird for me because normally the second book don't do well than the first. But when I started reading this book, I was instantly hooked all the way to the last page. So the Descendants of the Disney Villains (Maleficent, Cruella de Vil, the Evil Queen, and Jafar) Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos, are quite happy in Auradon-going to Auradon Prep, playing for the Auradon Knights, making friends, even dating King Ben-but of course, did you think their happiness was going to last?

Even when they started to get weird messages about going back to the Isle of the Lost?

At first, they thought it was their parents sending them that message-but Maleficent's a small lizard, sleeping away in a little glass, and Cruella, Evil Quen and Jafar? Nowhere to be found. Then Carlos found the DarkNet, where there was a photo of the four of them, calling them the 'AntiHeros' and have a red X over their faces including over King Ben. So the four of them decided to go back to Isle of the Lost, but after the dance.

But it took some planning, especially when Jay had an interview with Jordan and tricked her into wishing he had the keys to the royal limo (like why Jay why) but once they went to the dance for the Auradon Knights and had to fake that they're sick, they went to the limo to go back to the Isle of the Lost.

They were stopped by King Ben that was coming back from Camelot because they were having a dragon problem and thought the dragon was Maleficent, but towards the end it wasn't. He was wondering why they have the limo and how Carlos can drive a car, but once Mal explaned what was going on, he let them go back to the Isle.

When they went back to the Isle of the Lost, they started looking for their parents. Jafar left Iago at the Junk Shop, but Jay did try and steal Anthony Tremaine's watch, but slipped it in his pocket, Mal went back to Bargain Castle only to find her things left untouched, so she took a backpack and packed it with her things, the Evil Queen left her heart box, and Cruella left her fur coats.

So where were they?

Underground. Looking for their talismans-The Golden Coba, the Ring of Envy, the Dragon’s Egg and Fruit of Venom.

So once they met the AntiHeros Club, they went to find the four talismans before their parents do. And they did, even though they had some obstacles, but they passed them. Then at the end, it turns out the purple dragon wasn’t Maleficent, but was Mad Maddy’s grandmother, Mim, and they stopped her before she destroyed anyone else. And then they returned to the Auradon, and everything was back to normal….for now.

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Book Review: Black Canary #2 by Brenden Fletcher, Annie Wu

Black Canary (2015-) #2 by Brenden Fletcher
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Issue #2 was a bit different, mostly because it was just about Black Canary teaching her band how to defend themselves and then Bo Maeve appears, and honestly I don't trust that girl for some reason. I really, really don't. Then the husband (in which I DON'T APPROVE OF) appears out of no where and attacked Dinah, even though he was in a mask and she was shocked that it was him (I was honestly looking for Oliver, but....DAMMIT OLLIE WHERE ARE YOU?)) but I enjoyed it, even though this review was short.

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Book Review: Black Canary #1 by Brenden Fletcher, Annie Wu, & Lee Loughridge

Black Canary #1 by Brenden Fletcher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is honestly my first comic book I've ever read before, and I've always wanted to read about a superhero, so while I was at my comic book/gaming store after D&D (yeah I play that....) and I was waiting for my ride, I rifled through the comics till I saw the tab for 'Black Canary'. I was kinda shocked at first-I only know about the Black Canary from Arrow, and seeing her having a comic book....well, I just had to get it.

So in this comic Dinah is in a band called Black Canary, and her bandmates call her D.D for short. They are known as the Most Dangerous Band in America because in every show they ever play, the venue gets destroyed each time because the bad guys are always showing up, and Dinah has to protect them...but it turns out the bad guys are coming after Ditto, a silent girl who can't talk, but she can play.

The group don't know why they were after Ditto, but Dinah swore on protecting them, though she was only on their EP tour with them for a couple shows before she's off again. So she decided to teach her bandmates how to defend themselves, using guns and martial arts.

I enjoyed this comic so much that I'm planning on getting all of them and the Green Arrow ones (might need to read the earlier comics so I can understand Oliver/Dinah's relationship).

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Book Review: Johannes Cabal the Detective by Jonathan L. Howard

Johannes Cabal the Detective by Jonathan L. Howard
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Johannes Cabal, a necromancer of little infamy, is a detective in this one after he escaped from the Mirkarvia-well, after he stole a book from the library *mini-heart attack*, was forced to bring back the leader of the Mirkarvian people, but he turned into a cannibal (really, Cabal, did you think? Nope), and then ran off after defeated Count Marechal in a duel. Cabal then scared a man named Herr Meissner, stole his idenity and got on a ship named the Princess Hortense...

WHERE MY OTP MEETS AGAIN *throws confetti everywhere*

That's right-Leonie Barrow, daughter of Frank Barrow, studying to be a criminologist, was on the Princess Hortense, and they sat at the captian's table, having a lovely dinner, until it all ended the moment M. DeGarre was killed, and Cabal was nearly thrown off the aeroship. Thus the mystery began to find out who killed M. DeGarre and who wanted to throw him to his death.

My favorite part of the book was when Leonie saw Cabal do some necromancy when they were following Cacon and found him dead. Though she was shocked, the answer Cacon told them were shocking in a way-he was killed by a woman with a venomous dagger. But at the end of that conversation, when they finally left the poor man to die:

Cabal: I am unsure whether to thank you or demand n explanation.
Leonie: The former, I hope. As I’m not so sure why I didn’t just grass you up like the scum you are.
Cabal: That’s uncanny. Are you channeling your father right now?
Lenoie: Please, Cabal. Please don’t mention my dad, or I’ll full guilty that I didn’t just do the right thing and stitch you up like a kipper. Even my dad doesn't talk like that. He would have understood not giving you up to the Mirkavians. He’s not a great fan of Capital Punishment. But he’d never understand why I didn’t just hand you over to Constable Don Juan back there. Go then Cabal. Just shoo. I’m done with you.

Like...I couldn't even. But at the end the both of them survived, Leonie in the hospital trying to remember before she finally does and told the police the whole tale....and that is where our story ends, if you wanted to know about that weird short story I didn't get, the Tomb of Umtak Ktharl, though I only got the part that some old giant or sorcerer came back to life and somehow Cabal knocked him out? But I really loved this book like the first one and I already put the other two on hold so I can get them and read more of this series because I love it so much already.

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Book Review: Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard

Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was recommended this novel by a friend and all it took was three pages for me to be hooked. So when Johannes Cabal, a necromancer or scientist, goes down to hell like a fly MFer and makes Satan a deal: he can get one hundred souls in exchange for his. But he had to do it before the next Walpurgisnacht, or Satan will kill him.

Oh, and did I mention he had to do it by a traveling carnival?

So with his brother Horst Cabal, the Cabal Brothers are out on the road with their devilish carnival, collecting ninety-nine souls, getting rid of a necromancer named Rufus Maleficarus (what kind of name is that anyway?), Johannes getting stuck in the pocket time universe made me giggle a bit, Ratuth Slabuth nearly destroying the carnival because he was bored, then....then they came to Penlow on Thurse on April 29....

A day where I ship Cabal x Leonie because they met and I got happy....

Till the end...when sweet Leonie signed her life away to save her father. But thank god Cabal burned her and another woman's forms so they wouldn't be in Hell when they die. But when Horst burned to death and died because he wanted to save his brother and I was so mad at Johannes...but I got over it when he saved Leonie and Lea (I think that's her name).

So I really do recommend this book because IT'S SO GOOD AND FUN AND YOU'LL HAVE FUN READING IT!!!

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Book Haul-5/10/2017

Hey y'all!

Today...today was a good day-did a little shopping and picked up a couple books at Ollie's Bargain Outlet (ya know, that store with the commercial and the line 'Good Stuff Cheap'?) and this is where I found these four books, which was good for me since I really wanted them so badly, even though I only the books from different book series. 

City of Ashes, book two of the Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

This is book two of the Mortal Instruments, and after I got done reading City of Bones, I swore I wouldn't read the whole series. But then seeing them and the new Shadowhunter novels coming out, makes me wanna read them right now. Also, I am thinking of watching the show as well, even though I've only seen one episode of the show on Freeform, and I might wanna watch the whole entire thing...if I can find it on Netflix or watch it on demand. 

City of Heavenly Fire, book six of the Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

So this is the last book of the Mortal Instruments (that's how stocked Ollie's are: they had the first two books and then the last book) and I like the original covers better than the other ones, though the new ones are alright. 

The Hiltons: The True Story of an American Dynasty by J. Randy Taraborrelli

So to balance out the fantasy novels, I thought it's time for me to get a biography-and I'm a sucker for anything fashion-y, historical or facts about someone, so I brought The Hiltons. I've always wanted this book since it came out, and I waited so long to buy it till now. And the good thing is, it only costed 3.99 and it's in hardback, so it'll look perfect on my makeshift bookshelf.

Gathering Darkness: A Falling Kingdoms novel by Morgan Rhodes

Once again, I found a part of a book series that I really really want to read. I fell in love with the cover (as usual because covers make or break the book-well to me anyway) and the person on the cover looks like a rouge and ironically, I play a rouge in Storm King's Thunder (my sorceress died in the body of a rhemzhor...NOT GOOD.) and I just had to get it.