words_on_paper_official's review against another edition
4.0
Oh wow! I’m throughly impressed and in awe.
Hunter Shea it’s not just a pretty face. (He’s really not) He surprised the heck out of me and came up with this amazingly somewhat historical cowboy monster cryptic demonic horror story. The king of crypt-ids still managed to throw in some of his charm adding wild men and Djinn. There was even some elements of Native American folklore in the mix.
Overall I really enjoyed this book. I wasn’t sure what to expect or where it was going from the start but it was way better than I could even imagine.
The characters were very likable and I found myself rooting for them. He was able to set the scenes without taking away from the pacing of the story.
I must say I look forward to read more from the King of Crypt-ids himself.
Hunter Shea it’s not just a pretty face. (He’s really not) He surprised the heck out of me and came up with this amazingly somewhat historical cowboy monster cryptic demonic horror story. The king of crypt-ids still managed to throw in some of his charm adding wild men and Djinn. There was even some elements of Native American folklore in the mix.
Overall I really enjoyed this book. I wasn’t sure what to expect or where it was going from the start but it was way better than I could even imagine.
The characters were very likable and I found myself rooting for them. He was able to set the scenes without taking away from the pacing of the story.
I must say I look forward to read more from the King of Crypt-ids himself.
unwrappingwords's review against another edition
5.0
I’m not usually a fan of book westerns. Maybe it’s because I’m British, or maybe I’ve just read the wrong types, but they’ve never completely grabbed me. I like the aesthetic, I like some of the films, but as for books…well, the ones I have read tend to be a bit lofty. Again, there might be reasons for this I can’t quite grasp. The idea of the Western genre is something I am definitely fascinated by. As we were told at university, the Western is the founding myth for the USA. Its influence stretches across the years, seeping into the majority of American media.
Maybe my general dislike of the setting in novels is why Ghost Mine didn’t initially grab me. The opening was creepy enough to keep me interested, but it lost me just a tad when we were introduced to the main character.
Nat is a cowboy turned lawman, though he isn’t too fussed on the city lifestyle in New York. He’s excited when Teddy Roosevelt asks him to investigate a strange town, where not only the townspeople have disappeared, but the soldiers Roosevelt sent to look into it have too. Nat takes his partner and friend Teta to investigate. They travel by train to Hecla, and at this point I really wasn’t finding Nat interesting, as a main or POV character.
On a personal level, it was hard to follow him, but once the characters arrived in Hecla, I was glad I stuck with it.
In this strange, abandoned mining town, the action picks up, and during the events that follow we learn more about Nat, his history and his current state of mind, deepening his character.
This book might start off slow, but once it gets going there’s a lot happening. Shea manages to combine various aspects from religion, folklore and mythology, yet weaves it into the story so it all fits together. Rather than feeling like a mish-mash, it creates a unique setting and set of challenges for our cowboy hero and sidekick.
Shea mixes black eyed children, Bigfoot, aspects of Native American folklore, the devil and Christianity to create a situation so messed up and difficult to untangle, it leaves the reader scratching their head as much as the characters, and it bloody well works.
This is the second book by Shea I’ve read, the first being the fantastic Creature, and it’s always great to see a writer going in different directions for each book. The two protagonists couldn’t be more different, the threats in both cases are vivid, imaginative, and really have nothing in common, and though the settings in these two books are remote, with a lot of attention paid to detail, but they are both unique. Shea is a bloody brilliant writer, with a talent for crafting extremely human characters going up against very non-human threats, in settings designed to make your spine tingle and question everything.
I may not have been a fan of literature Westerns before this, but at the hands of a talented writer and combined with horror, I’d definitely be keen to check out more.
Maybe my general dislike of the setting in novels is why Ghost Mine didn’t initially grab me. The opening was creepy enough to keep me interested, but it lost me just a tad when we were introduced to the main character.
Nat is a cowboy turned lawman, though he isn’t too fussed on the city lifestyle in New York. He’s excited when Teddy Roosevelt asks him to investigate a strange town, where not only the townspeople have disappeared, but the soldiers Roosevelt sent to look into it have too. Nat takes his partner and friend Teta to investigate. They travel by train to Hecla, and at this point I really wasn’t finding Nat interesting, as a main or POV character.
On a personal level, it was hard to follow him, but once the characters arrived in Hecla, I was glad I stuck with it.
In this strange, abandoned mining town, the action picks up, and during the events that follow we learn more about Nat, his history and his current state of mind, deepening his character.
This book might start off slow, but once it gets going there’s a lot happening. Shea manages to combine various aspects from religion, folklore and mythology, yet weaves it into the story so it all fits together. Rather than feeling like a mish-mash, it creates a unique setting and set of challenges for our cowboy hero and sidekick.
Shea mixes black eyed children, Bigfoot, aspects of Native American folklore, the devil and Christianity to create a situation so messed up and difficult to untangle, it leaves the reader scratching their head as much as the characters, and it bloody well works.
This is the second book by Shea I’ve read, the first being the fantastic Creature, and it’s always great to see a writer going in different directions for each book. The two protagonists couldn’t be more different, the threats in both cases are vivid, imaginative, and really have nothing in common, and though the settings in these two books are remote, with a lot of attention paid to detail, but they are both unique. Shea is a bloody brilliant writer, with a talent for crafting extremely human characters going up against very non-human threats, in settings designed to make your spine tingle and question everything.
I may not have been a fan of literature Westerns before this, but at the hands of a talented writer and combined with horror, I’d definitely be keen to check out more.
readingvicariously's review against another edition
5.0
What do I not see enough of in books? Horror stories full of scares and violence set in the old American West featuring spooky abandoned (or not) gold mines and a climactic fight of Biblical proportions. How do I know I need more of this? Because I just finished Hunter Shea's Ghost Mine and loved every second of it!
The tale is about two immediately likable rough-and-tough leads, Nat and Teta, who team up to explore a mysteriously abandoned mining town in Wyoming at the behest of President Roosevelt. Nat is an aging ex-soldier/ex-cop, and Teta is his Dominican sidekick who has been with him through thick and thin. Together they have survived insurmountable odds, but this latest assignment is beyond anything they've ever seen.
I absolutely love these two characters, and I was onboard from their very first wisecrack and background story. Their violent tendencies and slight insanity would seem a little much in a normal story, but these are exactly the characteristics that may help them survive the horrors in the mines. Nat in particular is given a lot of depth and complexity in his character, and I found it quite easy to sympathize with him along the way. Teta is very much the sidekick painted in broader strokes, but he's still an integral part of the story and is given moments to shine. Nat needs him, and so do we.
I also love the pacing in the story. Shea does an amazing job of building suspense; slowly peeling back layers of the mystery while also peppering the story with moments of dread or outright fear. It really kept me on my toes trying to guess what would happen next, and I love all of the twists and elements that I did NOT expect (unfortunately I can't discuss them here because they're spoilers, but also because this book works best going in with no expectations). Is the story about ghosts, monsters, creatures, demons, or something else? The answer is yes, and that's all I'll say.
More things I liked? Okay! How about the two characters that were introduced halfway through that made for an intriguing dynamic to the cast, or literally any creepy part set down in the mine shafts (seriously, I'm afraid of the dark and claustrophobic, and Shea's brilliant writing made these scenes all too visceral and terrifying)? How about the blend of mythology, folklore, and the supernatural? Or the way almost every chapter ends in a cliffhanger (I've never seen so many ways to say "and suddenly things got a whole lot worse")? I could go on, but I won't. And things I didn't like? Ummmm I'm going to have to get back to you.
If you wanted to make comparisons you could use The Descent, Bone Tomahawk, Constantine, The Lone Ranger, Scooby Doo, and Indiana Jones - but then throw them away because none of them do this story justice. Instead you need to stop everything, go get this book, and then buckle up because it's a hell of a ride. This is my first time reading Hunter Shea and I'm hooked! Excuse me while I go get everything else he has ever written!
The tale is about two immediately likable rough-and-tough leads, Nat and Teta, who team up to explore a mysteriously abandoned mining town in Wyoming at the behest of President Roosevelt. Nat is an aging ex-soldier/ex-cop, and Teta is his Dominican sidekick who has been with him through thick and thin. Together they have survived insurmountable odds, but this latest assignment is beyond anything they've ever seen.
I absolutely love these two characters, and I was onboard from their very first wisecrack and background story. Their violent tendencies and slight insanity would seem a little much in a normal story, but these are exactly the characteristics that may help them survive the horrors in the mines. Nat in particular is given a lot of depth and complexity in his character, and I found it quite easy to sympathize with him along the way. Teta is very much the sidekick painted in broader strokes, but he's still an integral part of the story and is given moments to shine. Nat needs him, and so do we.
I also love the pacing in the story. Shea does an amazing job of building suspense; slowly peeling back layers of the mystery while also peppering the story with moments of dread or outright fear. It really kept me on my toes trying to guess what would happen next, and I love all of the twists and elements that I did NOT expect (unfortunately I can't discuss them here because they're spoilers, but also because this book works best going in with no expectations). Is the story about ghosts, monsters, creatures, demons, or something else? The answer is yes, and that's all I'll say.
More things I liked? Okay! How about the two characters that were introduced halfway through that made for an intriguing dynamic to the cast, or literally any creepy part set down in the mine shafts (seriously, I'm afraid of the dark and claustrophobic, and Shea's brilliant writing made these scenes all too visceral and terrifying)? How about the blend of mythology, folklore, and the supernatural? Or the way almost every chapter ends in a cliffhanger (I've never seen so many ways to say "and suddenly things got a whole lot worse")? I could go on, but I won't. And things I didn't like? Ummmm I'm going to have to get back to you.
If you wanted to make comparisons you could use The Descent, Bone Tomahawk, Constantine, The Lone Ranger, Scooby Doo, and Indiana Jones - but then throw them away because none of them do this story justice. Instead you need to stop everything, go get this book, and then buckle up because it's a hell of a ride. This is my first time reading Hunter Shea and I'm hooked! Excuse me while I go get everything else he has ever written!
monty_reads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
bubblescotch's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
For some reason I had low expectations for this book—maybe the lackluster title? Instead, it was a pleasant surprise. I enjoyed the Western setting and thought the Western-horror tone was well executed. I personally found the ending a slightly anti-climactic answer to a very solid buildup, but that’s personal preference.
lanternsjourney's review against another edition
4.0
Reading this book I got exactly what I expected, and wanted! I knew Hunter Shea was all about the creature feature, and this had an abundance of them. 2/3 of the way through the book, I was actually wondering how he was going to bring it all together in the end, but he did it well. It was a wild ride, and since I'm still relatively new to horror books, I found myself googling things often. The book is about the rough riders going to explore an abandoned mine, but he also brings in a lot of lore, and it all works really well together.
I loved the characters and the pacing but the main issue I had was in the flow between the chapters. Many of the chapters ended with a sentence to draw you into the next chapter that essentially said, "but things got worse..." the first two times drew the intended reaction, but the many subsequent times desensitized me and frankly, it wasnt needed. The story itself was gripping enough that it didnt need that extra grabbing sentence.
Give this one a try if you want a fun and wild western mining hell ride.
I loved the characters and the pacing but the main issue I had was in the flow between the chapters. Many of the chapters ended with a sentence to draw you into the next chapter that essentially said, "but things got worse..." the first two times drew the intended reaction, but the many subsequent times desensitized me and frankly, it wasnt needed. The story itself was gripping enough that it didnt need that extra grabbing sentence.
Give this one a try if you want a fun and wild western mining hell ride.
biblio_kel's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
A decent enough read. It starts off fairly slow but picked up speed just in time to stop me from losing interest. I liked the variety of supernatural beings in the tale and the historical setting felt well-considered and authentic. Though I enjoyed, it doesn't inspire a re-read.