Cover Image: Something Wicked This Way Comes!

Something Wicked This Way Comes!

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Member Reviews

Aliens, yes! Ships, yes! A big lake, yes! This had me very intrigued, however my interest did wane quite quickly. I had too many questions and I didn't feel like any of them were really answered. Some decent scares but not he horror book I was expecting. 2.5 stars.

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Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. Why did the author use the same title as the Ray Bradbury book? Very confusing. This is one of those books that is more enjoyable as you get further into it. The description of life aboard a lake steamer in the late 19th century was very good. When the alien is introduced the action became a little awkward. It probably could been more subtle, a la Steven King, but nevertheless was intriguing.

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Books with aliens as antagonists tend to either inspire a suitable level of dread or disbelief from me depending on the writing and the situation. This book had me wryly being pulled along, because I was genuinely curious as to how our valiant heroes would defeat the brutal menance.
The threat itself felt distinctly cliché, writhing tentacles and merciless murders abound, but what did keep me invested is the fact that it was set on a ship in the middle of a Great Lake (in a storm no less) and I find that sidelined danger more terrifying than any alien. However, my opinion would probably change if I was thrown into this scenario.
What truly holds this book from being a better read though, is the countless typos and errors throughout: 'taught' instead of 'taut' when describing a moustache is a strange adjective to start with, but this moustache apparently being educated did initially confuse me and also completely ruined my immersion
Unfortunately, this did happen several times throughout the novel and with characters having similar names and roles within the books: Billy and Benny- both young boys onboard the ship- it did detract from the reading experience.
The plot itself was mostly enjoyable, if predictable, and whilst I loved the setting, I found the characters and plot lacking to the point where I wondered if maybe even more characters should just be fed straight to the alien just for an extra twist on the genre.
(Also, why did alien-based menaces come to this planet if they don't like water- seems a massive oversight to me...)
Overall, this was an enjoyable, easy creature-feature read, but it needed tighter editing.

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I was looking for something scary to read, and found this book through NetGalley, who were kind enough to give me a copy in exchange for a review, which I am happy to provide. The description sounded great and the book did not disappoint, it had a great plot line, likable characters and some not so nice ones but you need them in a book like that. It had me at the edge of my seat and I read way passed my bedtime and then had trouble sleeping, perhaps not the best book nighttime reading. The only negative thing about it for me was when you write in a dialect of the main characters, I had trouble figuring out what they were saying, but overall great fun and very entertaining if you like that kind of book. Be warned there will be gore and plenty of people will perish in not the nicest way.

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A farmer in Ohio wakes to a ball of fire falling from the sky into his corn field on a summer night in 1888. What he sees in the hole is make terrifies him. Flash forward a month later and Captain Jerico Manning is counting his blessings as University Archeologist pay him triple to get their cargo across Lake Eerie quickly, money badly needed for his struggling ship The Orion. Jerico and his first mate Tal MacTavish set sail with their mysterious cargo and about 30 passengers for an uneventful crossing. Alas, the crossing does not go as planned.
William Todd Wright has written an enjoyable tale of the mariners of the Great Lakes, known to be some among the most dangerous waters in the world and the graveyard of thousand of ships. He touches on the Great Lakes passenger steamers established by railroads that took profits from many private owners. There are some character plot lines that add nicely to the story and the bits of scottish verbage is a nice touch. The reader will enjoy Jerico, Tal, Charlotte, Billy and will love to hate Ross and then there is the character of the title. I won't spoil the story by saying anything about that character other than, yes...wicked indeed. As wicked as the weather on Lake Eerie in August. When you combine the two, the lake weather and the wicked then you have a classic tale reminiscent of the sea monsters of old...for this one "'tis a hummin' muckle De'il Ye cannae murdurr", as the Scot Mariners Tal or Jerico might've said. #netgalley #SomethingWickedThisWayComes! #reviewathon

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What a spooky fantasy novel, I enjoyed reading this and felt for the characters. The build up was great and the mythology was well done.

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3.5 stars, though the story is at least a 4.

I really enjoyed this tale of suspense, horror, and survival. The characters were interesting, and the plot was quite engrossing. Overall, I also enjoyed the author's writing style and he definitely had me on the seat of my pants trying to figure out how they were going to survive this voyage without endangering the world. There was one part of the ending that I predicted and that was particularly satisfying (no spoilers!). The only downside I had with reading this ARC is that it suffers from poor/incomplete editing. There are typos and formatting issues throughout, and there are at least two instances where it felt like they either started a scene, abruptly started another scene, then went back to the first scene and then ended the second scene. I don't know if that was a deliberate tactic by the author to imply the two scenes were happening at the same time or if it was an editing error. If it was a deliberate tactic, then I think it would be simple enough to use a separator to imply you're jumping to another scene ("meanwhile..."). There were also places where they used the wrong word (peaked vs. peeked). But despite these issues, I still found the story very riveting and I didn't want to put it down. I think it's a very strong story and I'm hoping these editing issues will be addressed before the final release. If so, I may bump up my rating.

Thanks to NetGalley, the Publisher, and the Author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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My thanks to Books go Social, Netgalley and the Author.
Much to my delight, halfway through this book, I went to my library cloud and discovered I had 3 books that I had bought or received for free over the years!
I'm just one happy woman, especially when tales take place on a ship. The Great Lakes have always held an odd sort of fascination for me. Something about a lake being so big that it creates its own weather patterns. I've never been to that side of the U.S. I've never felt a need to. But, I'd love to be on a steamer.
This book had all the elements of horror that I love. The big bad, a great cast of characters, and location! Also, throw in a Scotsman, and I'm fairly well hooked! The ending was a bit twee, but it was an ending I wanted. So, I can't complain! I'd definitely read more from Mr. Todd!

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Description
August 1888. Jericho Mannion is the captain of an old, cash-strapped steamer named the Orion. He's been steadily losing money to his competitors, the railways.

When he finds out from his first mate, Tal MacTavish, that the next passage across Lake Erie has only a few passengers, his hope of ever getting out of debt sinks. But Providence has smiled upon him, or so he thinks.

Though the passenger list is small, they have almost a full cargo hold, thanks to William Ross and the university he works for. Ross is the team leader of a university archeology dig tasked with retrieving the debris from a meteorite crash in western Ohio.

He is quite anxious to get his find back to the university for study and is willing to pay Jericho double the fare for his team and cargo to forego the Orion's other ports of call for a straight shot across Lake Erie from Toledo, Ohio to Buffalo, New York.

Jericho becomes suspicious when Ross refuses to divulge the contents of his cargo and the haste in which he wants to cross. Desperately needing money, and with prospects of no fares at his other stops,

Jericho reluctantly agrees when Ross finally offers him triple the fare; he will take Ross and his cargo on the nonstop 14-hour trek across the lake. But what few people on the ship know is what was initially thought to be a meteorite crash turned out to be an alien craft.

The crates in the cargo area hold the remains of the ship. And what no one knows, not even the university team, is that something in those crates is still alive.

Now, in a growing storm, alone in the middle of the lake, people are turning up dead. Their only hope is to scuttle the ship in the deepest part of the lake and try to survive in lifeboats, but that part of the lake is still two hours away. They must do what they can to stay alive.

Who will survive the crossing when Something Wicked This Way Comes?



My thoughts

Rating 3

delight of historical fiction (late 19th century), combining paranormal, science fiction but while it was also to have been horror , it just didn't pull that off at least not for me , it didn't give off the spookiness i want to feel , while I did like the story I just want more , I liked the author's writing , and how he told the story as well as the characters , but he just didn't pull of the spookiness , with that said i want to thank Netgalley for letting me read and review it .

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A delight of historical fictipn (late 19th century), combining paranormal, science fiction, and mystery with endearing characters, sharp-edged villains, and a heaping helping of altruism, SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES is set on Lake Erie and surrounds in 1888. A debt-ridden steamship owner is tasked to transport secretive cargo across the Lake for a university archaeological expedition. No hint as to the nature of that cargo, but an irresistible triple payment for the crossing. If only!! This story is unexpected and riveting.

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