Elijah David

A while back, I got the audio adaptation of Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez's graphic novel series Locke and Key  as part of a promotion on Audible. I haven't delved into it yet, and when my local library picked up the whole series I decided to check out the source material before diving into it. Before I go into the story, let me be frank: this is not a series for younger readers. It's probably not for a lot of older readers, either. Joe Hill is Stephen King's son and it shows in everything he writes, for better or worse. This series deals with graphic violence, alcoholism, death, murder, and creatures called (for lack of a better term) demons. Extreme profanity and vulgarity pepper the dialogue throughout. Proceed with caution and discernment. That being said, there are some good bones in this story. As the title suggests, my first impression of this series (volume 1 pictured above) was that it was N. D. Wilson's 100 Cupboards  if Stephen King were writing i...

Yesterday's prompt for the April Fae art challenge was Portal. Since I've been doing a poem a day this month as well as the art challenge, I started brainstorming what a portal poem might be like -- and what portals have been special to me over the years. The tendency in fantasy movies and shows like Once Upon a Time is to have a swirling vortex as the gateway between worlds. (I'm not immune to this image. In fact, the main method of inter-world travel in the Non de Velai books is a shimmering silver pool, though it often appears between two trees.) But the portals that appear in fiction are often more varied than that. The first portal stories I can remember seeing were The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland . The portals in these stories are naturally occurring phenomena: a tornado/twister/cyclone (whatever term you prefer) and a rabbit hole. While tornadoes weren't common where I grew up (outside of hurricane season), holes in the ground were common enoug...

I finished the third book in N.D. Wilson's 100 Cupboards trilogy much faster than the second. Given how much I wound up enjoying Dandelion Fire , that should give you an idea of what I think of The Chestnut King . Picking up a few months after the end of Dandelion Fire , The Chestnut King  begins with Henry once again caught between two worlds, sneaking back to Kansas through the cupboards to spend time with Zeke. Of course, he's not nearly as sneaky as he thinks he is, but his family knows he needs time to figure out where he fits in the worlds. Henry's father, Mordecai, who returned at the end of Fire , has been searching for a way to defeat Nimiane and teaching Henry how to control the magic that sprouts within him. Nimiane's rise to power continues in leaps and bounds, precipitating Mordecai's journey to her home kingdom of Endor. Just before he leaves on this mission, Mordecai tells Henry that the situation is more desperate than anyone realized; Nimian...

As the year draws to an end, I thought I would use this month's ThrowBook Thursday to look back on the books that I've enjoyed the most this year. If I've written about the book, I'll link to the post in its description. If not, I'll rave about it a bit. (For the sake of fairness, I'm not considering books that I read for a second or more time this year, else this would be a list of old favorites.) The Chestnut King by N.D. Wilson The finale of the 100 Cupboards series. I'll be writing a full review soon, but suffice it to say that this book was immensely satisfying. Turn Coat by Jim Butcher I haven't written about my love for this series much, which I hope to rectify in the coming months. I have mentioned it here , here , and here . Turn Coat is the eleventh book in the series, which currently stands at 15 novels, one short story collection, and several graphic novels. A further collection and novel are due out in the next year or two, ...

A couple of months back, I reviewed the first book in N.D. Wilson's 100 Cupboards trilogy. Today, I'm taking a look at the second book in the series, Dandelion Fire . Dandelion Fire  picks up the story in the weeks after 100 Cupboards  wraps up, and although Uncle Frank has failed to follow through on his promise to seal up the cupboards once again, Henry has no desire to go exploring any more. While he's curious about his otherworldly origins, the aftermath of his fight with Nimiane of Endor has left him satisfied with life in Kansas. He could stay here forever  and be happy with his newfound friends and family. Even a strange dandelion burning away his sight isn't enough to keep Henry from wanting to stay. Unfortunately, Henry's adoptive mother has other plans, and has sent an official letter through her lawyer that Henry will be brought back to Boston after the 4th of July. In a desperate attempt to find out where he comes from and where he belongs before...

I recently borrowed N.D. Wilson's novel 100 Cupboards from the library after a group of folks at NarniaWeb read through the series. It had been on my radar for some time, but the recent surge of interest in my circle of friends gave me a push to finally check it out. 100 Cupboards  is the story of Henry York, sent to live with his aunt, uncle, and cousins in Kansas after his parents are kidnapped on an anthropological trip out of the country (an event which serves as mere background and doesn't figure into the story beyond getting Henry to Kansas). While living in the attic bedroom, he discovers a series of cupboards built into the wall that lead to other places -- many of them not of this world. Together, he and his cousin Henrietta try to solve the mystery of the cupboards -- and get into more than a little trouble along the way. The premise of the story makes it sound very exciting, but for about half the book it's anything but. There's a lot of atmospheric...