Sam Hooker

A Midnight Night Clear is a collection of six ‘not-so-merry’ Christmas tales by various writers. As in any collection, I liked some better than others. My favourite was the title story by Sam Hooker that combines a cute portrait of Santa’s North Pole, a mad elf brought up before an elf court, and the horror of HP Lovecraft’s R’lyen. This story, alone, makes the book worth getting. But all of the stories were entertaining and a lot of fun to read. If books are part of your Christmas tradition and you are looking for something a little different this season or if you have a horror fan to buy for, I highly recommend A Midnight Clear..

Thanks to Netgalley and Black Sport Books for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review… (más)

I received this eARC from Black Spot Books on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of this book in any way.

"You may be a mild-mannered bundle of nerves, Peril, but you're the most earnest and loyal bundle of nerves I've ever met."

The Writing and Worldbuilding

I found this book to be a riot, and I was giggling and laughing basically the entire time. Sam Hooker really got that strange niche of humor I reside in, and I was really happy with the world and most of the characters.

The concept of the goblins was honestly the best running joke I've ever heard of and I seriously loved it so much. Seriously, if you want a good laugh, this is the book for you. It feels like you got a bunch of Russian people drunk and had them very inaccurately reenact 1984 by George Orwell.

Unfortunately, once the main cast actually got to Carpathia, I found the humor slipped from the absurd to the annoying and irritating, and I really didn't like that part of the book. Most of that was the characters introduced in that section of the book, and the rest was Sloot's arc (which kind of paused, reverted, and then got back on track basically as soon as he left), and also, not much really happened in Carpathia, and what did happen wasn't as funny or interesting.

The Characters

Sloot Peril: This guy is literally my worrier-spirit animal (and I mean worrier, not warrior). He was so funny and awkward. but his arc of coming into his own and gaining some degree of self-confidence was really awesome.

Roman: I really liked Roman. He was pretty straight-faced and also absurd, which is a difficult combination to do well, but Hooker did just that.

Myrtle (and Arthur): I liked her enough, but found her fairly annoying during the Carpathia parts. Arthur was pretty consistent but if he hadn't been there, I probably wouldn't have missed his presence. It was fairly unnecessary to the story.

Greta and Vlad: I liked Greta when she was introduced, but once she got into Carpathia, she became really annoying and I really didn't like her. Vlad's introduction was promising, but she quickly became a more annoying version of Willie without his stupidly endearing qualities. They were more plot devices than anything.

Willie: I really loved Willie's complete idiocy. He was so silly and consistent.

Mrs. Knife: lol this lady was a classic bad guy. I really liked her.

Conclusion

This was a very enjoyable book. I really liked it and I'm so glad I read it.… (más)