The Walking Dead, by Robert Kirkman

I just read volume 14 of the Walking Dead comic books by Robert Kirkman, No way out. As usual, it ends with a cliff hanger, and I will have to wait until the next volume is published. This is the sort of comic books I find easily addictive: Once I’ve started reading, I can hardly put it down.

Normally, zombies aren’t really my cup of tea. However, the Walking Dead aren’t really about the zombies. Yes, the zombies, or roamers, are there, but what’s it’s really about are people. People’s reactions, their feelings, and how they cope under extreme circumstances.

The artwork is brilliant too. There’s so much to read from the illustrations, they express a whole lot more than a lot of other comic books. And to be honest – I find it harder to like comics with crap artwork than the one with really good one.

So, if you really like good comic books, I highly recommend the Walking Dead: It’s one of the best comics written today, in my opinion.

The Walking Dead

Book Review: Little Star, by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Little Star - John Ajvide LindqvistLittle Star is written by the very same author who is known from the book, and the film, Let the Right One In. I have read the book in its original language, Swedish, Lilla stjärna, which was released in 2010. The English version is due to be released 29 September 2011.

Little Star starts with the former pop singer Lennart Cederström, who one day finds something in the woods he not at all expected to: Half buried, in a plastic bag, a baby girl. Lennart gives her the kiss of life, and to his surprise, her first cry is a pure, musical note. He takes the baby back to his wife, and persuades her that they should keep this remarkable child. They hide her in a room in the cellar, and keep her secret from the outside world. The girl turns out to be a strange and disturbed. When she reaches puberty, a terrifying scene sees her kill both her parents. Her adopted brother, Jeremy, takes care of her, but she is still a scared and lonely girl.

Not far from Stockholm, another lonely and strange girl lives an unhappy life. Bullied by her fellow school mates, she finds comfort in poetry, trolling the Internet and learning about wolves. After a while, the two girls get in touch, and forms a special and scary friendship. They form a powerful bond and soon they do things most people wouldn’t even dream of doing.

Yet again Linqvist has managed to create a chilling story. It is at times grotesque, and is not for the faint hearted. Since I read it in Swedish, I don’t know how the translation will turn out, but I found it to be well written. At times he used some slang, but in the setting it was used, it worked very well.

There were parts of the books I almost felt like the need to turn away, as it wasn’t pretty, but I kept on reading. It gripped me from the very beginning, and I am already looking forward to read another book written by John Ajvide Lindqvist.