GRIMM FAIRY TALES: V0LUME 11
Publisher: Zenescope 
Pub Date: May 15, 2012 
ISBN: 9781937068332 
Author: Joe Brusha 
Pages: 172

In this twisted, sometimes erotic, graphic novel series, Sela Mathers (a modern day Snow White) is dealing with the aftermath of The Dream Eater Saga. She overhears an elder telling the story of Jack the Giant Killer to a group of kids. In this tale, Jack’s family is killed by a ruthless king, resulting in Jack giving up his soul to the Dark Hords in exchange for the power to destroy giants. What is shocking about this tale is that it is true.

Sela’s love‘s, Erik, soul has been captured and is now in Limbo. With the help of Druanna, she travels to the Limbo to save Eirk’s soul, but she comes face to face with the realms’ wicked leader Alicia and her deadly assassin, Jack the Giant Killer. Alicia, along with her undead army, has plans for Sela.

It seems like the old Grimm’s fairy tales are becoming popular again thanks to the television series Once Upon A Time, and of course the lackluster comedy Mirror, Mirror and the dark Snow White and the Huntsman. Early this year The ASYLUM brought out their own titled Grimm’s Snow White to DVD starring Eliza Bennett (Inkheart), Jamie Thomas King, and Jane March on a much lower budget.

    The plot follows the basic Snow White formula, but there are a number of differences. After Snow's father is eaten by a lizard-dragon, Prince Alexander arrives shortly after and offers to marry the now widowed Queen Gwendolyn. After rejecting his offer (for now), the Prince meets the beautiful Snow White and he instantly falls for her. Meanwhile, the Queen’s mirror tells her that Snow is fairer than her, therefore she sends her huntsman to take Snow into the forest and murder her.

    Snow is rescued by elves. The huntsman is forced to kill an innocent man and brings his heart to the Queen, telling her it belongs to her stepdaughter. The Prince is heartbroken, while the Queen is thrilled as her plan to rule the kingdom is unfolding, which includes destroying the elves and taking their magic. The magical elves are the dwarfs in this tale, and they take the poor Snow into their home.

Fezariu's Epiphany
AUTHOR: David M. Brown
PUBLISHED BY: CreateSpace
ISBN: 978-1456500597
RELEASED DATE: 2011
PAGES: 386

    In this dark fantasy novel, tells the tale of a young man, Fezariu, whose mother was a prostitute. Until the age of twelve he believed that his mother was dead, when actually she was working in a popular brothel. Their reunion was nothing but a disaster as she rejected, making Fezariu to make a life changing decision of becoming one of the Merelax Mercenaries. Years later a mission requires him to return to his home town where he learns the real reason why his mother wanted nothing to do with. Fueling with rage, he wants nothing other than revenge.

I caught a few minutes of the second part of The Witches of Oz on an Encore channel the other day, where I saw a taxi floating in the air inside of a bubble while the wicked witch and her monkeys are causing chaos in the streets of New York. The scene caught my interest, but I had to leave at the time and the movie wasn’t going to be on again. Luckily, I happened to stumble upon it for under ten dollars and of course I had to buy it. Little did I know that the movie was 164 minutes! After a little googling, I found out it was original intended as a mini-series, but ended up being cut down to 100 minutes with 15 minutes of new special effects added and released to a limited (very limited) run in theaters earlier this year. Why in the world would they send the longer version to DVD and to Encore?

The Witches of Oz is set in our time and involves twenty-something Dorothy Gale getting a publishing contract for her OZ children stories; therefore she leaves her family farm and heads to New York. As strange situations occur, Dorothy’s memory slowly returns and so do the evil Wicked Witch and her followers (Princess Langwidere, Nome King, an army of Winked Monkeys and a powerful dragon.). Soon Dorothy’s friends from Oz return too, including Scarecrow, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, Frick & Frack, the good witches, and Oz himself, as they try to help her defeat the wicked witch once and for all.

Pages: 184


The family moves into the apartment above of the general store. Lizzy is sad that all of her books were burnt in the fire, but instantly became happy when her father told her that Uncle Harry had a library in a secret room in the store. Most of the books are non-fiction, and Lizzy wants to read them all. Robert investigates the store and finds a strange room filled with hourglasses that are labeled and has a string attached to each of them, but one of the strings was broken.

The family reopens the store, with a few customers complaining about all the rain because Finkleton use to have the perfect weather for farming. A stranger named Mr. Lowsley shows up several times asking about land he could buy. Robert doesn’t like this man, and believes that he is up to no good.

Then, Robert pulls on a wood lever hidden in the store and the rain suddenly stops. Did Uncle Harry control the weather in Finkleton? Why does Mr. Lowsly want to buy land in Finkleton?

When I received this book in the mail, my first thought was “This is a dazzling cover.” After reading the page and a half prologue, I was hooked into the world of Finkleton. It was a nice change to read an original book that doesn’t involve vampires and werewolves. I got a kick out of the kids bickering back and forth in the beginning of the book and enjoyed it when they started to work together to solve the mystery of Uncle Harry’s store. The Magic of Finkleton is a great read for both children and adults!

*I would like to thank the author for sending me a copy to review.

Pages: 573

An angle of the Light, Azrael, makes his descend onto the earth, but in the form of a living-flesh body. There are scars on his back where his wings once were. Confused and naked on the street, he is confronted by young thugs. He quickly picks up their language and begs them for help. Azrael realizes that he had no other choice, but to defend himself and take one of the thugs clothes.

Azrael finds Celeste in a sleazy bar and tell her to come with him. Of course, she doesn’t want to go with a psycho. He eventually tells her who he is and that he is there to protect her from the evil forces that have been ruining her life. A horrible battle for control of the mortal realm is coming, and Celeste is now in the middle of it. The angel has one problem, the longer he stays in his half-human form, the more he becomes human. He starts to have desires, and is very attractive to Celeste. T

To same the human race, Celeste must show Azrael the dark world and addictions that she has been living in her entire life, or the forces of evil will take over.

There are many books written about fallen angels falling in love with humans, and a few movies too. When I signed up to review Surrender the Dark, I didn’t realize that it was about angels. I changed my mind after reading the intriguing prologue, as the Azrael leaves heaven and descends upon the Earth. Many heroines are clichéd, but Celeste is a bit of fresh air and realization. She is a strong willed women with many weaknesses. She was never looking for a knight in shining armor to rescue her from her bad lifestyle, until Azrael came into her life. I can easily see this as a blockbuster movie. I recommend Surrender the Dark to all urban fantasy fans.

*I would like to thank Pocket Books for sending me a copy to review.

PUBLISHED BY: Berkley Sensation
PUBLISHED IN: 2010
ISBN: 978-1-61129-141-4
Pages: 309
Reviewed by Billy Burgess

Take the Camelot myth and blend it with a harlequin novel. That is exactly what author P.C. Cast has done in Goddess of Legend. Forty-two-year-old Isabel is enjoying her life as a single, childless photographer, but her life changes when she crashes her vehicle into a lake. She is rescued by Viviane, the Lady of the Lake, and transported back to the time of Camelot.

In return for being rescued, Isabel must seduce King Author away from Queen Guinevere. Nevertheless, Isabel is seduced by the King’s charms.

This is the first novel I have read by P.C. Cast. I have heard a lot about the House of Night novels, so I thought I would give Goddess of Legend of a try. After reading the first page, I automatically liked the strong character Isabel. She does not hold back her thoughts or emotions to anyone. The plot is a little thin. There should have been a bigger conflict for Isabel to overcome, besides from falling in love with the King. I was disappointed that Merlin did not have a bigger part in the book. I liked the author’s style of writing and pacing, but the love scene was badly written, and almost laughable. Some of the dialogue of King Author and his men are very questionable. Would they really be talking like during medieval times?

So would I recommend Goddess of Legend? Yes and no. I enjoyed the time travel premise and the strong main character. I am also a sucker for Camelot stories. If you are looking for a predictable, time traveling love story, then check this book out.

BY: Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan
PUBLISHED BY: Harper Collins
PUBLISHED IN: 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-155822-1
Pages: 308
Reviewed by Billy Burgess

I have never read the first book, The Strain, but I easily picked up the previous plot by reading the first few chapters. The vampire plaque is spreading and consuming the world. The Master’s grand plan is to start a war between the Old and New Vampires. Hidden, is a book detailing the vampire’s history and their darkest secrets. This book has the key to killing the virus.

A brilliant professor Abraham Setrakian, Vasiliy Fest, Eph and other survivors plan on stopping the vampires before the infest the world.

The Fall is dark and chilling. It takes the vampire legend and brings it into the real world. The plot is easily believable; a vampire virus is spreading all over the world. Abraham Setrakian reminds me of Van Helsing. I can see this book series becoming a movie.

By: Pat Nelson Childs
PUBLISHED BY: Glynworks Publishing
PUBLISHED IN: 2007
ISBN: 097959121X
Pages: 332
Reviewed By: Billy Burgess

In this fantasy adventure quest, the orphan hero, Rokey, was raised in a monastery. After an accident occurs, Rokey leaves his home and explores Firma. He is almost robbed when a elf named Flaskamber saves him.

Rokey joins the Elf’s group of friends led by Stanford. There is also Fia the bard and Lorq the giant. Soon they are attacked by ratmen, who are after Rokey. Why would they be after this orphan?

The Orphan’s Quest is your typical fantasy with all the clichés that go with it. The only thing that stands out is that the main hero, Rokey, is gay, and there is a romance between him and Flaskamber. I’m sure that fantasy fans will like this novel, but it really didn’t interest me. Many of the questions that rises in the book are unanswered by the disappointing ending.

BY: Laura Lodd
PUBLISHED BY: Dream Books LLC
PUBLISHED IN: 2010
Pages: 187
Reviewed by Billy Burgess

Normally a fairy tale is in the point-of-view of the young princess or prince, but not in “My Sparkling Misfortune.” The main character is Lord Arkus, the villain. Lord Arkus, along with his sidekick Shork, captured a gormack - an evil spirit to help him destroy his enemy - Prince Kellemar. To Arkus’s surprise, he didn’t catch a gormack, but he caught a sparkling - a good spirit.

When a sparkling is caught, they are bound to their owners for 6 years. Lord Arkus was stuck with it.

Lord Arkus asks for a new castle, supplies and a army, so he could be ready to battle with Prince Kellemar and his men. Soon, he is befriending King Osmund because the king believes only a good man would have a sparkling.

The King gives Lord Arkus his own castle and men. Arkus becomes engaged to the king’s daughter. Everything is going his way - he has own castle and army. He is read to battle Prince Kellemar, but Shork thinks Arkus is becoming too nice. Will Arkus become a hero?

This is a cute fairy tale with a twist. Each chapter has a wonderful illustration. Both girls and boys will like reading about Lord Arkus and the sparkling.

* I would like to thank Dream Books LLC for sending me a copy to review.

Pages: 214
Ages: 9-12
Reviewed by Billy Burgess

In the first book in the series, on the island of Berk, eleven-year-old Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the son of the Viking chief, must follow the rite of passage and capture a dragon from a cave. Hiccup, along with other children, are led by Gobber the Belch to catch their own eggs. Whoever can’t find an egg and train a dragon, will be kicked out of the tribe forever.

The River Kings’ Road
BY: Liane Merciel
PUBLISHED BY: Gallery Books
PUBLISHED IN: 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4391-5911-8
Pages: 388
Ages: Adult
Reviewed by Billy Burgess

I don’t read much fantasy books. The first look at the cool cover design caught my interest. “The River Kings’ Road is set in the kingdoms of Oakharn and Longmire - once a strong empire, but has fallen apart, splitting into two empires. The village of Willowfield is brutally murdered by the red mist - created by a crazy witch named The Thorn. The villagers are all killed including Sir Galefrid, and his family.

A mercenary knight, Brys Tarnell, saves a crying baby from the massacre. The baby Winston is the heir to Sir Galefrid. Brys doesn’t know anything about raising a baby and gets help from a baker’s daughter, Odosse. She is also a mother.

Leferic, Galefrid’s brother, wants control of both kingdoms. Once he hears of the rumors that his nephew has is alive, he makes a deal with the witch. Now, Brys and Odosse must protect Winston from the clutches of The Thorn.

“The River Kings’ Road” is an exciting debut novel by Liane Merciel. The action starts up in the first chapter, as the massacre of Willowfield occurs. The descriptions of this fantasy world is well written. The dialogue between the Brys and Odosse is superb. The author is currently working on the second novel in the series titled “Heaven’s Needle.” I can’t wait to read it. I recommend the book to anyone who enjoys fantasy/adventure novels.

Note: I would like to thank Gallery Books for sending me this complimentary copy to review.

Demon Possessed
BY: Stacia Kane
PUBLISHED BY: Pocket Books
PUBLISHED IN: 2010
ISBN: 978-4391-6761-8
Pages: 321
Ages: Adults
Reviewed by Billy Burgess

The psychic psychologist Megan Chase is back in “Demon Possessed,” the third and final book in the series. A FBI agent is wanting to know what her involvement with Greyson Dante is, and where the rumored demon meeting is going to be located at. Of course, Megan denies everything. The truth - Megan is attending the demon meeting with her demon lover, Greyson.

Greyson is pressuring Megan to join the “family” - to become a full-fledged demon, and he has a few dark secrets kept hidden from her.

Then, things start to go wrong at the meeting, including a minister performing “weekend exorcisms.” To make matters worse, a scary angel wants to kill Megan.

I have never read the first two books in the series, so it took me awhile to figure out what was going on. Megan Chase is a bold fantasy heroine, who doesn’t want to settle down. The book’s weakness is the lack of action, and it’s unnecessary focus on Megan’s emotions. The love scenes between Megan and Greyson are unbelievable. There was no passion, just dread. There are enough twists and turns to keep you turning the pages. “Demon Possessed” is fast-paced, just falling over three-hundred pages. Fan of the previous books will enjoy the final installment. If you’re new to the series, I would recommend reading the first book so you want be confused as I was.