Jason Cavallaro's Best and Worst of February

As a member of the Splatterpunk Awards jury, I spent the vast majority of the month reading splatterpunk and extreme horror nominations. A list of the nominees can be found at www.briankeene.com, amongst other places. As to not show my hand in voting matters, I will not publish ratings for those. But I will judge the rest of them with my typical harshness.


But first, the good news:

BEST OF THE MONTH

Upgrade by Blake Crouch If you're already a fan of Blake's, you will get more of what you've come to expect from him: a compulsively readable and surprisingly emotional science fiction novel. If you aren't already a fan of his, this wouldn't be a bad place to start.


WORST OF THE MONTH

Books of Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guin
I'm sure some of you are hating me for this. I've admitted many times here that I'm a known heathen of literature. The problem isn't Le Guin per se. The problem is fantasy's addiction to world-building. I sometimes tire of that aspect of it. If you have the patience for it, I'm sure this can be a 5-star read for you.

The rest:

Cat Diary: Yon and Mu (graphic novel), by Junji Ito. Funny, cute, and entertaining, plus I'm a sucker for cat stuff. Grade: A
150 Exquisite Horror Books (reference), by Alessandro Manzetti. I love list-based books like this; there aren't enough of them. Grade: B
February's Son, by Alan Parks. Forgettable crime fiction. Grade: C
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr. Great concept, but not every aspect of it works. Grade: C
The Autumnal (graphic novel) by Daniel Kraus. Folk horror perfection. Grade: A

Reviews by Jason Cavallaro
jcavallaro42@gmail.com
Twitter: @pinheadspawn