Stephen D. Sullivan

Dr. Cushing's Chamber of Horrors is the perfect way to spark your imagination at Halloween. Every year for Halloween I like to have a horror movie marathon. This year I decided to start a few days early by diving into this book, and it was the perfect way to kick off Halloween week! Twins with a creepy psychic connection? Wax works? Monsters coming to life? Reading on a stormy night gives you the perfect amount of chills without tossing you into total terror should the lights go out.

Synopsis In a fantasy Japan ruled by an emperor who must balance the 7 Clans, the Scorpion Clan leader has a prophecy revealed to him that the current "Divine" line of Emperors will herald in doom for the entire world by allowing Feng Lu, THE demon, to be loosed.   My Thoughts To be honest, this is filled with the most purplish of prose you'll ever come across. It is based on Japanese culture, but that would be like if a Japanese author read all of Louis L'amour's westerns and then wrote a show more book "about America" based solely on those.   I don't know anything about the Legend of the Five Rings except that there was a collectable card game based on it some time ago. So I'm sure I might be missing details.   The story. It reminded me of a Forgotten Realms book with its simplicity and man-handling of the plot. There was no attempt at subterfuge on the authors part at all, it was full on "get this story told" kind of thing. The Scorpions were supposed to be the intelligence of the kingdom, but man, do they screw things up royally. So instead of saving the kingdom, it looks like they set things up for the End of the World.   There are 7 books in this series and several authors participate. I hope some of the other authors do a better job. I like the idea, just not the execution of this book. I'll keep reading it until it forces me to stop.   Rating: 3 of 5 Stars   Author: Stephen Sullivan     Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.com " show less

Dragonlance books are always going to be good. Especialy the older ones.