Eerie Archives Volume 1 - Archie Goodwin (editor)

I didn't personally purchase this one, but it was from our favorite used book store. Mom likes creepy stories (older ones), and I'm not 100% sure if she'd heard of this magazine before she bought it. After moving into our new home, we were sifting through things to get rid of, and Mom had this in a donate pile! What?! I wasn't even to be given the chance to read new comics? The horror!

I'd never heard of this particular magazine, but this book collects volumes 1-5. Apparently volume 1 was super rare, so if you're into this magazine, this might be an incentive for you. I will say I really liked the stories of that first issue.

I'm not going to try and explain all the stories, but they're short and in black and white. These were released in the 1960s, and I found a lot of them to be unique and original. On the other hand, I did notice a bit of repetition when it came to certain things. mostly the grave robbing. Also, having a hunchbacked minion seemed to be popular. I will admit, there were some twists to the usual formula, so it wasn't boring.

I liked these little stories overall. Being only a few pages, they could be read if I only had a few minutes. Some of them impressed me with their originality. The one thing I wasn't a fan of was Cousin Eerie, the weird dude that did introductions to the stories. He didn't strike me as funny or useful. They had a similar character in their other magazine, Creepy, so I guess they felt the need to have one here as well.

I want to give a quick shoutout to the ads. I love they included those in here, and they were super fun. Some of them were for movies (a lot of which I've seen), music, toys, and my favorite page had some of the coolest stuff. A Frankenstein mask that weeps blood, a werewolf ring that sounds like a siren when you blow on it, and my personal favorite: real cannons! They can apparently be heard from 5 miles away, and I can imagine little kids with them. I mean, they were a lot more expensive than the ring ($4.95 vs. $0.75), but I just love the thought they were available back then.

This book easily gets the Good Book! review. The stories were cool, and the ads were the icing on the cake.

Operation Last Chance - Efraim Zuroff

Zuroff is more of a "modern" Nazi hunter. His journey is trying to track down men and women who have escaped justice for many years. The prey are, in many cases, over 80 years old. The book was originally published in 2009, so there were still a fair number of criminals hiding.

He faces more than his share of hate and pushback, which I found unfortunate. It was disappointing to read how the different countries were apathetic or outright protecting these people. One of the common excuses was related to the amount of time that had passed. I didn't really understand that. I equate it to a cold case. If your relative had been brutally murdered, would you care how long it had been? Wouldn't you want justice?

On the other side of the problem was the long-term consequences of the hunt. It made me think of the children of parents who are murderers. Granted, these criminals are so old, their family either already knows of their past, or they're old enough to cope with it. But I feel like the family would suffer more than the hunted. Many of the criminals died while waiting for the governments to decide what to do with them or didn't spend much time in jail. In a perfect world, these people wouldn't have gotten away with their crimes in the first place, so this whole operation wouldn't have been necessary. I guess what I'm trying to say is I have no sympathy for the criminals themselves, but for the innocent, (and I mean those that didn't know and share the views of their family member) I do have sympathy.

The book itself was a lot of dealing with governments. A few specific hunts are described in detail, but they don't really have a satisfying ending. How can they when these people lived for so long without any consequences for their actions? I think the best thing the operation accomplishes is making sure the criminals knew they weren't safe in their anonymity, and the Holocaust isn't forgotten. The latter is probably more important in 2024, as there probably aren't many Nazis from WWII still alive.

Nimona - ND Stevenson

This graphic novel was recommended to me by my daughter, so I was excited to read it. I didn't know anything about it.

Nimona is the new sidekick to the villain Ballister. He's bitter because the person he believed to be his friend attacked him and took his arm. Now they're on opposite sides. Goldenloin feels bad about the rift, but he also is part of the Institution pursuing Ballister. Nimona starts creating chaos around her, and Ballister isn't sure what to do about her.

I liked the story with this one. It made me smile a few times. My main complaint is the print. It was so tiny most of the time, I had troubles figuring it out at times. That bothered me through the whole story. The end was sweet. It didn't take me a long time to get through this one, but it was a neat read. Good Book!

Death - Neil Gaiman

One of the most interesting side characters while I was reading the Sandman series was his sister, Death. This book collects a couple installments from the Sandman and has some others as well. From Sandman, the issues 'The Sound of Her Wings,' 'Façade,' and 'Death and Venice.' Then it had two miniseries 'The High Cost of Living' and 'The Time of Your Life.' Finally, a couple short stories are sprinkled in there: 'A Winter's Tale,' 'The Wheel,' and 'Death Talks About Life.'

I'm not going to go through and explain the plots of all of these unconnected stories. There's a reason I gravitate toward this particular character, and it's because Gaiman has some interesting things to say about life and death. He reminds me of things I'd forgotten or started taking for granted. And the stories are so unique. The man is talented. There's not much else to say. Good Book!

Assassin's Creed: Forsaken - Oliver Bowden

I had been watching the first book of this series on eReaderIQ, because I thought it would be interesting. When we went to HPB, I was shocked to see three copies of this book in the clearance section! After a quick search to make sure it was okay to read them out of order (it is), I snagged this one up. It was in perfect condition and was only $2! 

This is the fifth book in the series. If you know anything about the Assassin's Creed video games, the books are separated the same way. There's a period of history the game/story focuses on, and the story is centered and unique to that particular era. I don't know a ton about the lore associated with this series, but that's my impression of it.

In this book, Haytham is still a young man when his father is murdered, and his sister is kidnapped. His father was teaching him to fight, and a Templar named Birch takes Haytham under his wing. As he ages, Haytham learns that both Assassin and Templar believe in what they're doing, and he ends up caught in the middle, not sure he really believes in either. The era is what I would call American Revolution.

I really enjoyed this book. I liked the writing style, even though it was in first person. It takes away some of the tension you would feel for the main character, because there wouldn't be more book if he had died, but Haytham's life was a sad and lonely one. The book was really good, and I look forward to reading more of Bowden's work. Out of the 10 books currently in the series, only 8 are written by Bowden. I'm not going to keep track of the others at this time, but you never know what the future holds! Good Book!

Sergeant Rex - Mike Dowling

My next nonfiction book was an easy pick. I love dog stories. Rex was a MWD and one of the first sent to Iraq. At that point, there hadn't been any K9 units since Vietnam, so the entire group was going in as guinea pigs. The troops they were stationed with weren't sure what to do with them. Mike had to take the initiative to show the officers what Rex was capable of. In no time, the K9 team a vital part of the group.

Rex has a personality the guys in the 2/2 Warlords end up loving. The team gets into firefights, but Rex and Mike prove their bravery every time. Not only were they courageous, Rex found caches of weapons and materials that would've been used for IEDs.

This is one of the better autobiographies I've gotten to read. Rex's personality really comes through. Mike sprinkles his past in the story at various points, but it wasn't in a jarring way. The writing style was easy to read, and I was invested in the story.

One thing I will point out is the pictures. The whole time I was reading, Mike would mention taking pictures, and I kept wondering if pictures were included. I hit the epilogue, then the acknowledgements, and then...there they were! The pictures were wonderful and cover many of the moments I wanted to see.

SPOILER: I'm sorry Mike wasn't able to adopt Rex. He did a wonderful thing by passing the opportunity on to a fellow soldier. It was a heartbreaking end to the story of a man who loved Rex so much. Even if it was the right thing to do, it was a bummer. I'm happy Rex made it through all his tours and got to live out his life in retirement.

Good Book!