Review: The Amber Diary Review
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 6, 2013
This book is a decent collection of strange horror stories. Most of them had interesting ideas going on, but I feel there could have been more to them. Like there could have been more explanations and reasons for why some things were happening. I understand many things are always left as a mystery, but it would have been a ton more interesting if we learned more about some things in some of the stories. For example, in one story a boy keeps finding rare jewels and gems. It made me wonder why. And in one story a tribesman faced off against some weird monster/creature which was never really explained. Where did it come from? Why was it there? What was it anyway? Honestly, I found the "Chimera" story more funny than I did scary. And I'm not saying that like it's a bad thing. No, no, no, no, no. I just kept imagining the evil villain from Conan parading around my bedroom shirtless, wearing nothing but a black speedo for some reason. I just couldn't help myself. But seriously, how can you blame me? I just happened to hear "Moves Like Jagger" on the radio while reading. It totally ruined the scary mood for me on that part. I did have a problem with one story, though. "The Wind in the Hollow" was my least favorite story because the characters were walking around a cornfield and talking about where everyone's post is 70%  of the time. At least that's how it felt for me. I would have just said: "Autobots, roll out!" and the scariness could commence. I guess it was necessary for building atmosphere, but unfortunately, it didn't work on me. I was too busy wondering if the characters were wearing shoes or not. Socks are your friends! Nobody should have to be subjected to such torture as walking barefoot! Oh, I'm  not talking about the torture of the barefoot people. I'm talking about how much it pains me to have to stare at human feet. Atrocious. So, back to the review, I think "El Curandero" was my favorite story because the fortune teller guy was really cool and he had a neat looking house. I wish we could have found out more about him and his business. All in all, I'd say give this novel a try if you're into scary stories, but I think it could have been made a little bit better. 10 points for making me think of the villain from Conan dancing to "Moves Like Jagger" in a speedo.