emhamill's review against another edition
3.0
Again, Damian Serbu writes the best anti-heroes in the business. There's an awful lot of disturbing stuff in here, and it's not for the faint of heart.
My incredibly dark sense of humor was tickled to death (ha) with some of the vignettes in this book. My favorite scene was the end of the chapter with Rudolph, which had me giggling off and on at inappropriate times. I definitely liked Mrs. Claus's chapter as well.
Simon and his wise-ass, uncontrollable mouth is consistent throughout the book as an unreliable, almost unlikeable narrator, but it kept me going to the end of the book.
That being said, it's definitely a one-time read for me, unlike some of Serbu's other stuff. It's a VERY dark look at Santa and Christmas in general, so if your sense of humor is twisted like mine, I think you'll enjoy it.
My incredibly dark sense of humor was tickled to death (ha) with some of the vignettes in this book. My favorite scene was the end of the chapter with Rudolph, which had me giggling off and on at inappropriate times. I definitely liked Mrs. Claus's chapter as well.
Simon and his wise-ass, uncontrollable mouth is consistent throughout the book as an unreliable, almost unlikeable narrator, but it kept me going to the end of the book.
That being said, it's definitely a one-time read for me, unlike some of Serbu's other stuff. It's a VERY dark look at Santa and Christmas in general, so if your sense of humor is twisted like mine, I think you'll enjoy it.
aligroen's review against another edition
3.0
A Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Review An Alisa Review:
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Interesting concept for a story. I liked the way this was written and how we see things from Simon’s point of view and we get to see some of his interesting thoughts. I never would have thought of going this far off the rails for Santa, Mrs. Claus and Rudolph but I think they connect together.
So, everything is told from Simon’s point of view which does give a once sided view to all the stories but I enjoyed how he told it. The history of Santa is well told and thought out that I didn’t feel that there was much missing after hearing everyone’s stories and how Santa pretty much tricked Simon into writing a new story for him. What I didn’t enjoy were the excessive jokes and references to pee and farts, it just seemed childish. This story doesn’t have any romance or anything of the sort however Simon is gay which would be the connection to LGBT.
Cover art by Natasha Snow is nice and low key but works well for this story.
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Interesting concept for a story. I liked the way this was written and how we see things from Simon’s point of view and we get to see some of his interesting thoughts. I never would have thought of going this far off the rails for Santa, Mrs. Claus and Rudolph but I think they connect together.
So, everything is told from Simon’s point of view which does give a once sided view to all the stories but I enjoyed how he told it. The history of Santa is well told and thought out that I didn’t feel that there was much missing after hearing everyone’s stories and how Santa pretty much tricked Simon into writing a new story for him. What I didn’t enjoy were the excessive jokes and references to pee and farts, it just seemed childish. This story doesn’t have any romance or anything of the sort however Simon is gay which would be the connection to LGBT.
Cover art by Natasha Snow is nice and low key but works well for this story.
vikingslyn's review against another edition
4.0
Simon the Elf wrote about his enslavement with the Vampiric Santa and everyone else trapped in the Winter Wonderland. I loved Simon's sarcasm but he also had perpetual foot in mouth disease that always seemed to keep him in trouble with Santa, who had a very nasty cruel streak. Finding out the origins of Santa, Mrs. Claus and of course Rudolph was absolutely hilarious and very disturbing.
'I received an ARC of this book and voluntarily reviewed it.
'I received an ARC of this book and voluntarily reviewed it.
walterhpdx's review against another edition
4.0
I received an ARC (advanced reading copy) of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The blurb for this book was so intriguing that I had to get on the list as an early reviewer. There's an inherent innocence about the book, based on the subject. But all that fell away as I read about Santa being the ultimate in evilness, taking innocent lives, and the elves that have to clean up after him. There are some hysterical lines in this, so if you're in for a bit of a horror/humor mix, this is definitely the book for you! My only personal criticism is that the book is written in first person, which I am loathed to read. But if you get past that (which many people do - this is just a personal preference on my part) then take a chance on this. You'll be glad you did.
The blurb for this book was so intriguing that I had to get on the list as an early reviewer. There's an inherent innocence about the book, based on the subject. But all that fell away as I read about Santa being the ultimate in evilness, taking innocent lives, and the elves that have to clean up after him. There are some hysterical lines in this, so if you're in for a bit of a horror/humor mix, this is definitely the book for you! My only personal criticism is that the book is written in first person, which I am loathed to read. But if you get past that (which many people do - this is just a personal preference on my part) then take a chance on this. You'll be glad you did.
More...