Halloween Creatures 2.0 Book Tag

Things didn’t go according to plan. The plan was to post Halloween-themed book tags in the last few days leading up to Halloween, on which I’d post this Halloween book tag. But though my Halloween began in a spectacular fashion (which, unfortunately, I can’t share the details of), I was so exhausted the night before that I was unable to draft this post. That exhaustion continued through Halloween, so I spent most of the day sleeping, unable to watch any of the scary movies I’d planned to see.

But the day after Halloween is just as good for this tag, so tuck in for Halloween Creatures 2.0.

Halloween Creatures 2.0 Book Tag

This tag has been making the rounds lately. It was created by Anthony at Keep Reading Forward. He reworked the Halloween Creatures Book Tag he created last year to make an updated version with “new creatures, better prompts, and more fun.” I was tagged for this by the Orangutan Librarian.

Witch
A Magical Character or Book

Merlin

I went with a magical character and for that I chose the wizard Merlin from T.A. Barron’s middle-grade fantasy series The Lost Years of Merlin, which is about the wizard as a boy trying to learn more about his identity and his powers. I enjoyed reading these books when I was younger and am long overdue for a reread of them.

Werewolf
The Perfect Book to Read at Night

Wytches, Vol. 1 by Scott Snyder, illus. by Jock

Wytches is a horror comic book series. This first volume is about a girl who moves to a new town in New Hampshire with her family but is having a difficult time adjusting to the new place because something in the woods seems to be haunting them.

It’s a freaky, crazy story, but I liked it and was drawn to the illustrations, especially the colors. I’d suggest reading this one at night, preferably in a house that’s close to a wooded area to enhance the atmosphere of the story and really scare yourself, lol! And right after reading it you should watch Robert Eggers’s horror movie The Witch. I think that movie and this comic would pair well.

Frankenstein
A Book that Truly Shocked You

The Witch

I chose a movie, the one mentioned above — The Witch, which is a horror flick about a family in New England way back in the day that’s tormented by….something in the woods. The beginning with the baby shocked me. I didn’t expect that to happen. Actually, I wasn’t paying much attention and had to rewind that part because I was like “I know what I thought just happened did not just happen. No, no, no.”

The Devil
A Dark, Evil Character

the Dark One

Can’t get much darker or eviler than something called “the Dark One” that has no redeeming qualities. The Dark One is the antagonist in Robert Jordan’s epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time, which begins with The Eye of the World. In this first book, we are introduced to the main characters, which include three boys, one of whom is destined to defeat the Dark One and….probably destroy the world again while doing it.

Grim Reaper
A Character that Should Never Have Died

Sirius Black

My answer is a total cop-out. But I went with a character from the Harry Potter series because the books and characters are mentioned so many times everywhere that the story is probably spoiled for everyone who hasn’t read the books or seen the movies. But, yea: I wish Sirius hadn’t died and the way he died too was so damn sudden. Like Harry, I kept expecting him to reappear. I still do.

Zombie
A Book that Made You “Hungry” for More

the Fairwick Chronicles by Juliet Dark

I enjoyed these paranormal romance novels that are about a young woman who moves to upstate New York to teach at a small college filled with fairies and descendants of such folk. I sped through the books. I liked the writing and the story was entertaining. The Angel Stone is the third, and seems to be the last, in the series, but I hope the author will write more books set at Fairwick College.

Gargoyle
A Character that You Would Protect at All Cost

Sylve

Not that she needs my protection, but I’d protect Sylve. 🙂 She’s a character from Robin Hobb’s Rain Wild Chronicles, which is part of the larger epic fantasy series called Realm of the Elderlings. Sylve is a dragon keeper. She’s the youngest and smallest of the dragon keepers; she has her strengths and a great relationship with her dragon (well, so it seems).

Dragon Haven is the second novel in the Rain Wild Chronicles, which is about a group of youngsters escorting a group of underdeveloped dragons to a new area of the Rain Wilds, an inhospitable rain forest, to live. These books are so great! I’m a fan and I highly recommend them. If you choose to, I recommend starting with Assassin’s Apprentice, which is the first book in the larger series.

Vampire
A Book that Sucked the Life Out of You

Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb

That’s how it felt reading Ship of Magic, the first novel in the Liveship Traders series, which is part of Robin Hobb’s larger epic fantasy series, the Realm of the Elderlings. The Liveship Traders series is set in Bingtown and is about merchants whose ships can come alive after a certain number of their captains have died on the ship’s deck. The writing in this first book made it a slog to get through, but thanks to my buddy-read with Emily from Embuhlee liest, I made it through and have continued with this amazing story.

Ghost
A Book that Still Haunts You

Gossip Girl

I guess this is an unexpected answer, especially since I’m referring to the TV show here and not the book, which I’ve never read (tried it but didn’t like it). Gossip Girl is haunting me because I can’t get it off my mind. After featuring it in a post a week or so ago, I started reminiscing about episodes I liked, which led me to rewatching the first season. Now I’m hooked on it again. I missed the characters — mainly Blair and Chuck, which are the only two who matter. Rewatching it made me realize just how much mobile technology, cellphones, have developed and improved in the past few years.

Demon
A Book that Really Scared You

Sleepy Hollow

The paranormal mystery TV show that aired on Fox. I watched the first episode of the first season, got scared and never watched it again though I really, really want to. I might marathon it at some point when I get over my fright, but after that first episode, for weeks I’d leave all the lights on when home alone at night. I was told by others that the episode wasn’t THAT scary, but whatever. I was spooked.

Skeleton
A Character You Have a Bone to Pick With

Sedric Meldar

Yes, I’m showing Dragon Haven again. It’s the book I’m currently reading and I’m so hooked! Sedric… smh. I bounce between disliking him and pitying him because of what he has done and how he has hurt one of my favorite characters. I’m so upset with him, but I like the development his character has gotten in this book.

Mummy
A Book You Would Preserve Throughout Time

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

This is a great book and I consider it a modern classic so yes, I’d preserve it and I hope it will be preserved. It’s a historical fiction novel about the two sisters born in different villages in 18th-century Ghana. One sister is thrown into slavery and another becomes the wife of an English man who trades in slaves. The story follows these women’s descendants over the years. Homegoing is a great story and an important one. I highly recommend the book.

Creepy Doll
A Cover too Scary to Look At

The Vivisector by Patrick White

Aaahhh!!! This cover!! I can’t look at it for long. I came by it when I checked out this tag over on Mel to the Any and oh man! I had to steal her answer because THAT is a disturbing image.