the mummy

Every October I tend to read books that are mostly “Halloween-ish” in nature. It doesn’t actually have to directly link to Halloween (although Bradbury’s Something Wicked and The Halloween Tree are on my list annually). Anything supernatural, creepy and/or monster-ish gets tackled during these weeks leading up to the 31st. Considering the amount of related challenges that pop-up this time of year makes it pretty clear I’m not the only seasonal-reader!

So, after I finished up The Night Eternal…I jumped right into The Mummy.

Way back when I was in high school, I went through a huge Stephen King-kick, then moved onto Dean Koontz and then I discovered Interview with the Vampire and that started my Anne Rice obsession. This was quite a while ago, we’re talking almost 23 years. So, I guess it’s to be expected that memory lapses would begin to occur and I could not for the life of me remember if I had already read this book. What also made it difficult, in addition to the large time-gap, was that the mummy theme has been done quite frequently. Not nearly as much as vampires, but it’s getting there.

As it turns out, this was my first time reading it. I would have remembered a story like this one! It had the same vibe to it as The Mummy film. The plot lines were very different, but they had the same early-1920’s feel to them.

Rice’s Mummy ended up being more of a love story…and Ramses, although immortal, managed to blunder his way around when it came to the women in his…eternity. However, I enjoyed the characters, the setting and the story itself. It moved at the perfect pace and I found it to be a very fun book to read, especially at this time of year.

The ending was left with more than one opening for a sequel, but I’m relatively sure one was never written. Frustrating in one sense, but in a literary world filled with sequels, trilogies, chronicles, etc. it’s always nice to close a back cover and be done. Letting your own mind fill in the gaps and give you whichever ending you’d like best!!

Off to figure out which book to read next!!

the night eternal

Four years after the release of The Strain, I finally got around to reading and finishing The Night Eternal…book #3 of The Strain Trilogy.

Shortly after the release of book #2, The Fall, I headed into NYC for an event with both authors Chuck Hogan and Guillermo del Toro. Guillermo made time to chat with everyone there…

…he seemed very sweet and even his autograph was cute!!

Which makes it all the more interesting just how twisted this guy is!!

As for the series, I enjoyed it. I would give the trilogy, as a whole, about three stars. It dragged at times, it certainly didn’t require three books. Occasionally, the writing was a little corny and sometimes events just didn’t fit. Like one of the characters waltzing into an abandoned Macy’s (two years after all of the looting and destruction began) during a time when all clothes and food were obtained either by vouchers or on the black market…and her big decision was whether or not she should go for boots (in her size) with or without a heel?!

So, this didn’t really offer up fantastic writing or a gripping fast-moving plot, but it was an interesting take on a theme that has become so incredibly played out. The books seemed to be organized well, starting with epidemiology, on to the spread of this ‘plague’, the aftermath and then the eradication. Beginning, middle, end…packaged up all nice and tidy (wiggly blood-worms excluded) for their dear readers.

With that said, this read from the start like something headed straight for the screen. That wasn’t really a grand prediction, considering del Toro’s involvement, so it’s not surprising that it’s already in the works. What IS surprising (to me anyway) is that they opted for tv rather than film. Guillermo definitely does not glamorize these vamps…they are ugly and vicious…they should be sure to have a warning in the credits letting people know these vampires don’t sparkle.