katdjz's review
3.0
Honestly, I hated this book when I first started it. Granted, when I started it I couldn't remember what it was about and just went in blindly, so I wasn't really prepared. The stories and poems are all often kind of odd, so I had no idea what I was reading for the first few stories. Once I got in to the swing of things though, I enjoyed a lot of it. There were parts I loved, parts that were ok, and parts I hated, but none of the stories or poems are long enough that too really slow you down or prevent you from enjoying the book as a whole.
chemistreadingonthejob's review
4.0
The New Death and Others is a collection of some entertaining short stories and poems. I could tell I was reading something that took alot of thought and talent because I laughed out loud several times to the point where my librarian told me to shut up. I would like to tell you my viewers about the most ironic funny ones.
The End-
This one had me laughing becuase what are the odds of 2 vampires, a succumbus, a demon, and a regenerate coagulate rage of murdered children on a camping trip together? They all come to the conclusion of what if all the humans are wiped out? And I thought to myself It's probably true seeing as how I'm a demon too.
How the Isle of Cats Got It's Name-
This is one of my favorites mainly because I love cats and I love how the sly and smug Artemisia is. I was sad towards the end becuase of the Kitty Killer Harp (read to find out), but the smug Artemisia won at the end at the wizard Abi-simti's demise.
The Doom That Was Laid Upon Fame-
I absolutely love how he uses gods and goddesses names and characteristics to make a story in this one. My favorite part was "You know how Pestilence and War and Fame and I are the 4 riders of the Apocalypse. Well he's the fifth. His name is Lawyers."
Everlasting Fire-
This one was the funniest and most ironic. A ironic punisher is punished because of her own lust even though she scourges the lustful.
Rumpelstiltskin-
A gnome who has the power to spin bullshit into gold becomes a consultant. The moral of the story ends up being if you can't do anything else, get into politics.
Now if you still don't think this story is worth the read then here is a little teaser poem.
If My Life Was Filmed
If my life was filmed, it would
go straight to DVD
and someone who was famous once
would have the role of me
and if five stars meant 'excellent'
you'd give it two or three
and most of those who rented it
would watch ironically.
Years later they would track me down
and do an interview.
They'd say "I heard you died," and I'd
say "Yeah, I heard that too."
"Is any of it fictional?"
"Perhaps a scene or two.
There weren't as many ninjas, but
the rest is mostly true."
The End-
This one had me laughing becuase what are the odds of 2 vampires, a succumbus, a demon, and a regenerate coagulate rage of murdered children on a camping trip together? They all come to the conclusion of what if all the humans are wiped out? And I thought to myself It's probably true seeing as how I'm a demon too.
How the Isle of Cats Got It's Name-
This is one of my favorites mainly because I love cats and I love how the sly and smug Artemisia is. I was sad towards the end becuase of the Kitty Killer Harp (read to find out), but the smug Artemisia won at the end at the wizard Abi-simti's demise.
The Doom That Was Laid Upon Fame-
I absolutely love how he uses gods and goddesses names and characteristics to make a story in this one. My favorite part was "You know how Pestilence and War and Fame and I are the 4 riders of the Apocalypse. Well he's the fifth. His name is Lawyers."
Everlasting Fire-
This one was the funniest and most ironic. A ironic punisher is punished because of her own lust even though she scourges the lustful.
Rumpelstiltskin-
A gnome who has the power to spin bullshit into gold becomes a consultant. The moral of the story ends up being if you can't do anything else, get into politics.
Now if you still don't think this story is worth the read then here is a little teaser poem.
If My Life Was Filmed
If my life was filmed, it would
go straight to DVD
and someone who was famous once
would have the role of me
and if five stars meant 'excellent'
you'd give it two or three
and most of those who rented it
would watch ironically.
Years later they would track me down
and do an interview.
They'd say "I heard you died," and I'd
say "Yeah, I heard that too."
"Is any of it fictional?"
"Perhaps a scene or two.
There weren't as many ninjas, but
the rest is mostly true."
jeanz's review
3.0
This book is a kind of Anthology of short tales and poetry. I had a mixed reaction to the book, not being what I call a "Poetry Person" I didn't expect to like those parts of the book and it turned out that in some cases I loved the poetry the most! I really loved the Poem about "Weary Love", I also enjoyed the "Under The Pyramids" Poem.
The short tales contained quite a bit of irony within them that I found different and yet enjoyed. I found the short tales to be like a cross between Aesop's Fables and Roald Dahl's Tales Of The Unexpected.
I specifically enjoyed "The Moon Said Sadly Through The Sky"
I don't want to give much away regarding all the individual tales but will talk about one in particular called "Monsters" which is basically all the monsters we tend to read about or see in movies such as, vampires, werewolves and witches etc, they are all gathered complaining that people don't seem to be as scared of them any more when a voice pops up saying people always seem scared of me. So the person who the voice belongs to is asked what/who he is and he replies simply "a foreigner" which i found quite ironic and humorous too.
There is also another "Foreigner" type based tale called "The Enemy Within"
It is a book you can pick up and read a little tale then put down until later, then pick up and read another tale.
As I have said I did enjoy some of the tales and most of the Poetry, though some of the tales just didn't appeal to me at all, or seemed a bit too drawn out for me.
I loved the funny skeleton couple on the cover.
The short tales contained quite a bit of irony within them that I found different and yet enjoyed. I found the short tales to be like a cross between Aesop's Fables and Roald Dahl's Tales Of The Unexpected.
I specifically enjoyed "The Moon Said Sadly Through The Sky"
I don't want to give much away regarding all the individual tales but will talk about one in particular called "Monsters" which is basically all the monsters we tend to read about or see in movies such as, vampires, werewolves and witches etc, they are all gathered complaining that people don't seem to be as scared of them any more when a voice pops up saying people always seem scared of me. So the person who the voice belongs to is asked what/who he is and he replies simply "a foreigner" which i found quite ironic and humorous too.
There is also another "Foreigner" type based tale called "The Enemy Within"
It is a book you can pick up and read a little tale then put down until later, then pick up and read another tale.
As I have said I did enjoy some of the tales and most of the Poetry, though some of the tales just didn't appeal to me at all, or seemed a bit too drawn out for me.
I loved the funny skeleton couple on the cover.
flosmith's review
4.0
I appreciate the chance to read this book in exchange for my honest review.
This is a collection of short stories and poetry all relating the macabre or to death in general. Many I found very funny and some were a little on the bizarre side, but most I really enjoyed. They aren't gorey or dark instead this collection is more on the fun side and some have an interesting underlying message. A Date With Destiny and also The God of the Poor were two of my favorites, but all of them were enjoyable. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys short story collections especially if you are looking for something humorous and a little off the beaten track.
This is a collection of short stories and poetry all relating the macabre or to death in general. Many I found very funny and some were a little on the bizarre side, but most I really enjoyed. They aren't gorey or dark instead this collection is more on the fun side and some have an interesting underlying message. A Date With Destiny and also The God of the Poor were two of my favorites, but all of them were enjoyable. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys short story collections especially if you are looking for something humorous and a little off the beaten track.
very_vero's review
4.0
This book was very different from anything I've read lately, it was a fresh breath of humour, sarcasm and irony that I truly enjoyed.
It consists of a lot of short stories and a few poems. I especially loved the stories that were bigger cause all the others were over too soon and I wanted more. This is one of the most unique books I've ever read and had me laughing at most of the times. I am a very ironic person and love to read about ironic characters when I get the chance, but this book was full of irony and sarcasm I think I took a good dose of it for the next few months. Surprisingly I even found myself enjoying the poems, sometimes even more than the stories, I say surprisingly cause I hate poems... :P
If you need something to make you laugh and light up your mood this is the book for you.
It consists of a lot of short stories and a few poems. I especially loved the stories that were bigger cause all the others were over too soon and I wanted more. This is one of the most unique books I've ever read and had me laughing at most of the times. I am a very ironic person and love to read about ironic characters when I get the chance, but this book was full of irony and sarcasm I think I took a good dose of it for the next few months. Surprisingly I even found myself enjoying the poems, sometimes even more than the stories, I say surprisingly cause I hate poems... :P
If you need something to make you laugh and light up your mood this is the book for you.
avoraciousreader68's review
4.0
The New Death and Others is a collection of 44 stories and 19 poems. Some of the stories are so short they could be a vignette…if they’d been drawn instead of written.
Irreverent, cheeky, sarcastic and very amusing is how I’d describe this collection. I skipped only three items: Under the Pyramids, The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune and The Garden of Adompha because I couldn’t get into them. The rest were pretty funny, at least to me they were. I’ve been told I have a strange sense of humor sometimes though, so what amused me in this collection may not be quite so amusing to others.
A fast easy read and an enjoyable way to pass the time. I groaned, snickered, giggled and even LOL’d my way thru this hodgepodge collection. A great way to pass the time.
*The author provided a copy of this book to me for review. Please see disclaimer page on my blog.
Irreverent, cheeky, sarcastic and very amusing is how I’d describe this collection. I skipped only three items: Under the Pyramids, The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune and The Garden of Adompha because I couldn’t get into them. The rest were pretty funny, at least to me they were. I’ve been told I have a strange sense of humor sometimes though, so what amused me in this collection may not be quite so amusing to others.
A fast easy read and an enjoyable way to pass the time. I groaned, snickered, giggled and even LOL’d my way thru this hodgepodge collection. A great way to pass the time.
*The author provided a copy of this book to me for review. Please see disclaimer page on my blog.
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