Sanrock Reviews

looking at things from a literary viewpoint

Novels

Let’s Talk About The Necronomicon

The book title Necronomicon not only conjures up visions of someone reading from a book of spells written in a foreign language used to summon demons, but it also conjured the many, many movies, books, TV shows, video games and comics that have some form of this book. In fact, this book has some crazy backstory to it. This book is believed to have been written in Damascas by the […]

Continue Reading →

Three Skeleton Key Review

I’m one of those weird people who has a few favorite stories/novels that they first read in school and loved. While I’ve gone on and on about The Giver and its sequels, let me introduce to a short story that my fourth-grade class read and I still read it to this day: Three Skeleton Key by George G. Toudouze. The story is about three lighthouse workers on an island called […]

Continue Reading →

Let’s Talk About The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Ever Since Washington Irving published The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in 1820 his iconic monster The Headless Horseman has been a major part of American folklore. In fact, the town of Sleepy Hollow New York (which used to be called North Tarrytown but changed it to Sleepy Hollow in 1996) makes a ton of money every Halloween from that legend. They’re very proud of it. There are a few things […]

Continue Reading →

Demonata Series Review

Back in 2014, I reviewed the book series, movie and manga of Cirque Du Freak by Darren Shan. Five years later, and I can’t believe I haven’t touched upon his followup series Demonata. So for my little Halloween marathon, I’m reviewing the series. Grubbs Grady is just a normal teenager who day his parents drop him off to his aunt unceremoniously. Sneaking out to go back home, he finds his […]

Continue Reading →

Legally Correct Fairy Tales Review

Have you ever wanted to read classic fairy tales in legalese? No? Too bad, David Fisher did just that. Legally Correct Comics takes classic fairy tales and writes them in either a legal document, a lawyer’s closing argument or as defendant testimony. This has to be the most original take on fairy tales I have ever seen. Jack and Jill suing the company that made the bucket they were using, […]

Continue Reading →

Ubu Roi Review

Have you ever wanted to read/watch something because of the controversy it caused? That’s the only reason I decided to read the 19th Century French play Ubu Roi by Alfred Jarry. For those who don’t know, what happened on opening night was the very first line of the play is “SHIT!” which caused the French gentry to lose it immediately. Top that off with tons of violence and satirizing modern […]

Continue Reading →

Chu Ju’s House Review

Many kids throughout mankind’s history have thought about running away from home for one reason or another. Sometimes that reason can be that kid is being abused, their family has major financial trouble or even as petty as not getting that one toy. Gloria Whelan has a story like that called Chu Ju’s house. Chu Ju is just a normal girl living in a tiny village somewhere in China. Her […]

Continue Reading →

The Boxcar Children (book) Review

You know the story about me: I find out about a movie that’s based off a book that I may find interesting, read it and post a review here. The Boxcar Children by Gertrude C. Warner is yet another one of those. Four children become orphans after both of their parents and they refuse to live with their uncle who they view as a cruel man. They find an abandoned […]

Continue Reading →

The Breadwinner (Novel) Review

Full disclosure: yes, I did see the movie and then the book because it was nominated for Best Animated Feature (alongside Boss Baby of all things.) Call me a filthy casual shill, but this is one of many ways I discover new books and will discover them in the future. Anyway, The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis is about Parvana, a young Afghan girl whose father was taken by the Taliban […]

Continue Reading →