Book Review by Lilia Tombs- Dark Water by Koji Suzuki

Final thing from Lilia! Send her big thanks for the excellent reviews this month, and go enter her really cute giveaway!

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Dark Water by Koji Suzuki (author of Ring and Spiral) is a collection of short stories that are all connected to the theme of water in some way. You might recognise the title, as the film, Dark Water directed by Hideo Nakata, was based on the first story Floating Water. The book was originally released in 1996 in Japanese as Honogurai mizu no soko kara (Translation: From the Depths of Dark Water), which I think makes more sense in the context of the theme, but it's not really important.

The book opens with a prologue and closes with an epilogue, both of which are half of a story about a grandmother weaving eerie plots to entertain her granddaughter. These frame the collection of tales well, although only the last story Forest Under the Sea seems to be directly linked to them. I'm not sure if the other stories are supposed to be the ones which the grandmother is telling, but they don't really seem like something you'd tell a little girl, so I assume not.

Koji Suzuki's writing style is fantastic! Admittedly, I haven't read the original Japanese version, but the translation manages to make a detailed account of a man fixing a tap (in Watercolors) really interesting. I'm not sure how that's even possible, but Suzuki managed it. He's also extremely talented at building up tension and creating creepy scenes, which makes Dark Water a lot of fun to read.

However, there are two big problems with this book: the characters and the endings. For the most part, Suzuki portrays the female characters as neurotic or annoying and the male characters as violent and cold, but doesn't really add anyone with a personality that makes you care what happens to them. Adrift, Forest Under the Sea and, to a certain extent, Dream Cruise had somewhat likable characters in, but the endings were predictable.

In fact all of the stories had predictable or unsatisfying endings to them and that, more than the characters, was the disappointing aspect to the book. Some felt unfinished, whilst others just made very little sense. I don't mind open-ended plots or fantasy / paranormal-based tales, but it often seemed like Suzuki had begun writing a full-length novel, couldn't think of a good ending and so turned it into a short story instead.

Overall, while I did enjoy Dark Water and Suzuki's way with words is wonderful, the endings ultimately let the book down. It's worth reading, but it's not, by any means, Koji Suzuki's best work.

Book Review- Birthday

Title: Birthday

 Author:  Meimu, based on the Ring series by Koji Suzuki, and Hiroshi Takahashi

Series:  N/A

Published:  3 November 2004

Length: 160 pages

Source: Library

Other info: Based on the Ring series, one of which is reviewed here.

Summary : Based on a series of novels by Suzuki Koji, The Ringbecame a media franchise in Japan with its fascinatingly creepy, yet scientific and otherworldly subject matter. Not to mention its very scary "monster," the spirit of a girl whose body was dropped in a well many years past. As you'll find reading through Dark Horse's series of Ring manga, this story is rich with an undergrowth of science and hatred, of strong will behind the murderous ghost of Sadako.
"Birthday," the fourth in a series of five Ring manga, is a trilogy of stories, each enriching the main storyline of the Ring series. "The Casket Floating in the Sky" centers on Mai Takano, and how she becomes wrapped deeper into Sadako's grasp. "Lemon Heart" tells of one of Sadako's early loves, and eerily wraps itself back into the plotline of Mai Takano. And finally the "Sadako" story goes into the depths of both Sadako's death and her rebirth. Slowly, the details of how The Ring truly works are trickling out into the daylight.

Review: So...this is a collection of three short manga stories with the intention of furthering the understanding of the world of Ring (review here). The first one, Coffin in the Sky, follows Mei, after unknowingly allowing the next Sadako to take over her body. I never understood this whole concept in Ring, Spiral or Loop, so I didn’t understand it here either. Therefore, in relativity to the novel trilogy, I’m going to ignore it. On its own, it’s a story about a young girl who knows she’s going to die soon, and thinking about it for a long time. it’s done nicely, with a literal coffin coming from the sky.

Next up is Lemon Heart, following Toyama, the boy who Sadako fell in love with.  This story, and Sadako, make a bit more sense to me, because they follow Sadako, her young love, and what made her so upset that when she died she did what she did so she could carry on in the world.

I really liked the first Ring story. So I always find it interesting when you get spin offs. Yay for extended universes! This does help you understand the reasoning and motives behind many characters, new and minor and major. This spin off collection of manga is good for building character, and it’s very interesting to anyone who has read or seen the originals.

Plotwise, not that much happened. Actually, it wasn’t really tense or really epic. As standalones, they work quite well. If you didn’t know what happens in Ring, and the mythology, then you might not get some of the things in Birthday, specifically one man’s horror when he sees Sadako naked,

I liked Toyama for some reason. Maybe because we see him most of all in the three of these stories. Or maybe because he treats Sadako so well. You feel so bad for Sadako!

Overall:  Strength 3 tea to a good book extending the back stories of the major characters from Ring.

Links: | Goodreads | Publishers website| 

Halloween Book Review- Ring by Koji Suzuki

Title:Ring

 Author: Koji Suzuki

Series:  Ring #1

Published:  1991

Length: 392 pages

Warnings: references rape, violence, profanity

Source: Library

Other info: Films have been produced. A Japanese one directed by Hideo Nakata, and a sequel, and Ring 0:Birthday.  On the American remake side is The Ring and The Ring Two, featuring ghost Samara. Also in the book series are Loop, Spiral and The Birthday. There is manga called Volume 0-Birthday, and apparently there’s a couple of video games. All films are 15s.

Summary : A mysterious videotape warns that the viewer will die in one week unless a certain, unspecified act is performed. Exactly one week after watching the tape, four teenagers die one after another of heart failure.

Asakawa, a hardworking journalist, is intrigued by his niece's inexplicable death. His investigation leads him from a metropolitan Tokyo teeming with modern society's fears to a rural Japan--a mountain resort, a volcanic island, and a countryside clinic--haunted by the past. His attempt to solve the tape's mystery before it's too late--for everyone--assumes an increasingly deadly urgency. Ring is a chillingly told horror story, a masterfully suspenseful mystery, and post-modern trip.

Review: This book jumps straight into the action, with two teenagers dying in very mysterious ways, at the same time. in the second chapter, we meet journalist Asakawa, whose niece died in Chapter 1. in a taxi, he learns about the second mysterious death from the driver, and after doing some more digging, he finds two more teenagers died the same time from possibly the same thing (as they don't know what caused the deaths, they can't say it was the same thing.) It turns out they all stayed at a lodge one week before their deaths, and together they watched a video tape. Yes, that video tape that causes viewers to die in exactly a week after they watch the video unless...er...adverts...static...a chat show...er that's not right. Someone's taped over this at the vital part, and there's no way to recover it. So Asakawa and Ryuji plan to work out how to break the curse, brining up the vengeful spirit of Sakako Yamamura along the way. And they've only got a week to do it...

I like the way it starts quickly, but i think the scare with the boy at the junction was much more powerful than Tomoko's death, probably because it was written as seen from a bystander, not just looking over the victim's shoulder. The pacing is really fast, but is also just slow enough for you to not keep losing your place. You really have to be reading closely to follow at every turn.

The characters and their reactions are very believable. Ryuji and Asakawa were well fleshed out throughout, but the best character development came right at the very end. Yes, that's when one of them dead. And?

The writing was excellent. The tension grips you from the start, and doesn't let you go. Even then, it still doesn't let you go. The cliff-hanger is extreme-life, death and a little family morals come in to it. This (as far as I remember. I read it a long time ago) is NOT resolved in book two, Loop, so your imagination is left to work overtime.

And work overtime it does. Of all the books I've ever read, including a few Stephen Kings and classics like Frankenstein, THIS has been the only one to scare me to the point of keeping me awake, not wanting to go to bed. Sadako and her power is creepy. Fact.

Overall:  Strength 5 tea to the best ghost story you will ever find.

Book Hop #16

I'm back!
Thank you for getting her through some way or another. I'm guessing that you got here via Crazy for Books, but if you didn't, that doesn't matter. You're here now!

Here at Death Books and Tea, Katy and I review all kinds of young adult books, such as dystopians, fantasies, horrors and manga.

At the moment, we've got a giveaway running of Megan Curd's Bridger. As this is part of the blog tour, there's also many more copies of Bridger to be won all round the blogoverse. Click here to enter my giveaway and to find out where else you can win a copy of this great book.

This weeks question...
“What is your favorite spooky book (i.e. mystery/suspense, thriller, ghost story, etc.)?”


For this, I'd absolutely have to say Ring by Koji Suzuki. You may have heard of the films, it's the one where you watch a videotape and you're cursed to die in a week. It's a bit of all the above genres, and the only book that has ever left me awake at night. Is it odd that I liked being scared? Oh well....

The full review of Ring, and many other things, will be posted sometime during our Halloween Week, with a giveaway at the end. Come back on 24 October and for the rest of the week for some fun!

What's your favourite book? I'd love some recommendations!  Link back to your blog and I'll come back to you soon.