Gareth

Reviews

• The Way of Shadows reviewed by @grimdarkgareth

  9/ 109 out of 10

  Nine. Durzo Blint is one of the great grim old bastards — the wetboy stuff is properly nasty!

  The Way of Shadows

• The Way of Kings reviewed by @grimdarkgareth

  4/ 104 out of 10

  Four. FOUR. Nobody in it does a single unforgivable thing.

  The Way of Kings

• Shadow's Edge reviewed by @grimdarkgareth

  7/ 107 out of 10

  Middle book problems.

  Shadow's Edge

• Mistborn reviewed by @grimdarkgareth

  5/ 105 out of 10

  Five. Everyone loses their minds over this and I just find it tidy. The heist is decent! Then the magic gets explained at me for an hour and nobody I care about stays dead at any real cost.

  Mistborn

• Mystic River reviewed by @grimdarkgareth

  7/ 107 out of 10

  High 7. Three blokes, one wrong decision at ten years old, everybody paying for it forever.

  Mystic River

• The Silence of the Lambs reviewed by @grimdarkgareth

  9/ 109 out of 10

  Nine. Every scene with Lecter is tight as a drum and Clarice is one of the few protagonists I'd follow anywhere. Harris shows you a clever man being clever instead of telling you he is. Gumb's basement, mate. Mental.

  The Silence of the Lambs

• And Then There Were None reviewed by @grimdarkgareth

  8/ 108 out of 10

  Eight, and I did not expect to be handing Agatha Christie an eight. Everybody dies. Everybody!

  And Then There Were None

• The Haunting of Hill House reviewed by @grimdarkgareth

  8/ 108 out of 10

  Not my genre. Eight anyway.

  The Haunting of Hill House

• A Game of Thrones reviewed by @grimdarkgareth

  9/ 109 out of 10

  Nine. First book I read where the bloke you assume is the story dies in the middle and the world just carries on without him! Everything I like started here. Bran chapters are a five and I'm not docking the whole book for Bran.

  A Game of Thrones

• The Blade Itself reviewed by @grimdarkgareth

  8/ 108 out of 10

  Glokta's chapters are a ten and the rest is a seven, so: eight. It's all setup, nothing resolves — and I didn't mind, because the setup is people being appalling to each other in lovely weather. Logen's a liar and it's brilliant.

  The Blade Itself

• The Shining reviewed by @grimdarkgareth

  8/ 108 out of 10

  Eight. Hedge animals beat the maze, fight me!

  The Shining

• The Hunger Games reviewed by @grimdarkgareth

  6/ 106 out of 10

  High 6. Pulls its punches right at the finish.

  The Hunger Games

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• Watchmen reviewed by @grimdarkgareth

  9/ 109 out of 10

  Nine. Rorschach isn't meant to be the hero and it took me two goes to twig that. Veidt wins, everybody knows, nobody says. Bleakest ending in comics and it's earned. The Mars chapter is mental.

  Watchmen

• No Country for Old Men reviewed by @grimdarkgareth

  8/ 108 out of 10

  Chigurh's a brilliant lump of nothing and the coin works right up until it becomes the entire character. Eight. The big death happening offstage annoyed me for a week and then I decided it was the best bit, which is how you know it's good.

  No Country for Old Men

• The Road reviewed by @grimdarkgareth

  9/ 109 out of 10

  Nine. Bleak all the way down — and the bunker chapter is the cruellest bit because it's nice.

  The Road

• It reviewed by @grimdarkgareth

  6/ 106 out of 10

  Six and I feel bad about it. The kids are class, the adults are a slog, and there's a scene near the end that should not be in a book. Pennywise is great as a clown and rubbish once he's explained.

  It

• A Clash of Kings reviewed by @grimdarkgareth

  8/ 108 out of 10

  Eight. Blackwater is the best battle chapter anyone's written.

  A Clash of Kings

• The Only Good Indians reviewed by @grimdarkgareth

  8/ 108 out of 10

  Mental! Loved it.

  The Only Good Indians

• The Fifth Season reviewed by @grimdarkgareth

  8/ 108 out of 10

  Eight. Properly grim and never once edgy about it. Opens by telling you the world's ending and then makes you care about a schoolteacher anyway — how? Second person did my head in for fifty pages and then I stopped noticing it entirely.

  The Fifth Season

• Blood Meridian reviewed by @grimdarkgareth

  10/ 1010 out of 10

  Ten. This is my ceiling now.

  Blood Meridian