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Matt C. Staff Picks
A must-read for anyone with a predilection for the prehistoric! I think the best part about this book is how accessible it is. Brusatte's writing comes off almost conversational, and it never gets bogged down with forgettable technobabble. Perfect for newcomers or seasoned vets, this is my favorite book I've read on the subject.
-- Matt
This was unlike anything I've read before. The narrators in FRESHWATER are the voices (or "gods") inside Ada's head. And they talk about her like a virus talks about the next set of cells it's about to invade. Or like a parasite stalking an unknowing host... where eventually, some sort of symbiosis has to occur.
Emezi compliments this sense of unease with a lyrical narrative and a story that's as hypnotically beautiful as it is hauntingly tragic. Highest praise!
This book sucked me in, shook my nerves, stabbed my heart and melted my frickin' mind! Relentlessly gripping with layered originality, it's a home invasion nightmare unlike any other. A story grounded in domestic relatability, but with terror that creeps in and unleashes itself on unexpected levels. My #1 pick for 2018, no question!
-- Matt
From the mastermind behind TV's Riverdale!! Aguirre-Sacasa has also crafted some of the best horror comics out there and Chilling Tales of Sabrina is Satanically-spot-on! It features the Archie Comics characters you know and love, filtered through a macabre yet tongue-in-cheek lense. RATING: 5/5 upside down pentagrams
-- Matt
This was INSANE! It turns out the Nazis were basically doped-up on meth, coke and all sorts of other "miracle drugs" the whole time. And then there was Hitler --a droopy, drooling, paranoid lump in the end. Crazy-good must-read!
-- Matt
This was like an episode of Law & Order SVU that gets more twisted and horrifying as the story unfolds. Unforgivable crimes, bizarre mind-games, curious testimonials, questionable authorities... It's a dark book about dark people.
-- Matt
So many cool ideas packed into such a tiny book! This first of three novels is basically a gateway drug into Okorafor's Afro-futuristic world of Binti. Imaginative and easy-to-digest sci-fi goodness.
-- Matt
INFURIATING, but an essential read.
-- Matt
Much like Walker's first novel, THE DREAMERS is about a strange and somewhat apocalyptic phenomena affecting a small town and its inhabitants. This gives us grounded and believable characters, while the sleeping “sickness” brings the fear and danger of the impossible-unknown. There are moments of joy, revelation, and tragedy. And in the end, we’re left with a beautiful, but haunting exploration of what people want from, and perceive to be, reality. Not a dystopian novel, but a great alternative to those craving comfort in doom.
-- Matt
Technically, it’s a zombie horror story, complete with peril and gore. But it’s a story that carries such unexpected substance and emotional weight that it broke my stupid heart on numerous occasions. The characters are complex, fleshed out and uniquely motivated. There's tense action, and wholly original revelations all throughout the book. M.R. Carey took a genre that's overcrowded with repetitive tropes or Walking-Dead-wannabes, and created something that's equal parts chilling and heart-breaking.
-- Matt
"The human race was to be wiped out and the world made clean again for wiser occupants without undue delay." Beautifully bleak premise. And paced in a way that while the oncoming doom is ever present, it isn't always the focus. The characters are the focus. And they cope and live their lives the way they best know how. Some drink, some work, some deny. And when the inevitable end finally comes, Shute orchestrates a brutal, but true closing to their stories and convictions.
-- Matt
The Black Panther Party organized a community centered around respect and perseverance. Food was provided for children. Safety was provided for families. They policed the police, ensuring officers operated under the legal guidelines and nothing more. They wanted equality for all, not just whites, not just Blacks, but for all. They were a movement of positivity and progressive ideas, fueled by generations of unjust oppression. Huey's words are immaculate, and universal to anyone with a sense of what's right. He speaks from experience and with wisdom. He's seen the world in its ugliest, lowest form, yet he continues to fight in the hope that proper change can one day come.
-- Matt
