Cover Image: Shaula

Shaula

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I wanted to enjoy this book but unfortunately I got bored halfway through. The first half is slow and developing characters that I'm not interested in. The second half reveals the monster and maybe a cult? But I feel like it's just a missed opportunity.

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This was a novel that I found hard to put down. Sci-fi, Horror, paranormal… this seemed to have it all. The plot was very interesting and dark. I now must read the first book in the series.
Many thanks to A M Kherbash and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

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Horror and thriller are two of my favorite genre and so I was very quick to request an eARC of "Shaula", since the synopsis and premise promised both. I started reading it just a bit before the pub date to really have it fresh in my mind in order to talk to people about. The beginning was promising, I think the small town where the novel happens was well built.
However I soon realized I didn't know anything about the characters - neither how they looked like nor what their personalities were. I understand this is the sequel to another novel, but the beginning of the book states that it can also be read as a stand-alone, and even books that need to be read in order spend a bit more of its pages reminding the reader about the protagonists. Unfortunately, I never got to properly know them. The company they worked for also remained a mystery to me, and I am not sure if this is on purpose or not.
Then I came across a cult-like group and my attention was grabbed again. However I felt like it was not fully explored to its potential. Again, I didn't know much about any character so I wasn't very invested in the plot.
Overall the premise of the book was very good, but I felt like the author couldn't explore the setting or characters very well.

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The author is certainly good at creating a creepy atmosphere which kept me on edge.

Although the publisher does say that the book can be read as a standalone, I do feel that I would have engaged better with the story if I'd have read Lesath, the prequel, as I felt a little confused in parts whilst reading.

Thanks to Netgalley and the Author for a copy of the ARC in return for my honest review.

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Two men are sent to make a delivery to a reclusive specialist residing in a lakeside cabin. It was a straightforward assignment: take the sealed cargo, a container roughly the size of a child’s casket, and see to it that no-one knows. But things don't go as planned and get more and more complicated. The complications involve a lot of secrets, a monster on the loose, an uncooperative cult leader and a dead specialist.

Shaula by A.M. Kherbash is the sequel to Lesath, but even though it references some things from the previous book I would say you can read it as a stand-alone. I was confused a lot while reading because there are quite a few twists and turns and heaps of details to pick up on. The story is thrilling and even though it took some time to get to know the characters, they were interesting. There are many layers and you never know who or what to trust. Scary and a bit supernatural. I would highly recommend this book to all thriller fans.

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This was written well and i liked the premise but this just missed the mark for me overall. There were a few things i was confused by that may have been explained better if i had read the one before as it was a little too vague. I liked the horror and mystery aspect and thought it was thrilling but it just wasn't for me.

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I received an ARC from NetGalley and publishers and I'm leaving a voluntary review.

The story sucked me in and didn't let go until the end. The only thing that I didn't like was the long, adjective-filled descriptions at places which were not needed.

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Grim and Ben are dispatched to deliver a sealed container to a reclusive specialist residing in a lakeside cabin. They don't know the content of the container or what the specialist is working on. But because they noticed that he's not working alone (as he should), their employers ask them to keep an eye on his and on the people who visit him. A simply task that quickly turns in a very complicated and dangerous mission...

Shaula is the second book of The Stinger series but it can be read as a standalone without any problems. Compared to its predecessor Lesath, this novel is easier to read, less confusing and... more fun. I really enjoyed the relationship between our two protagonists, so different from each other but deep down with the same sense of duty and justice. Their chemistry is the first thing I noticed and what made the story easy to follow and fun: Grim is an old man, grouchy and shady sometimes, while Ben is young and still learning how to act in complicated situations. Between snarky comments and suspicious suggestions, it was a pleasure to follow these two men trying to sneak into a cult, helping each other out but also hiding things.
When we discover what's inside the box, everything changes and things become... pretty crazy! I won't reveal what it is, of course, but I really didn't expect THAT!

This book is classified as horror, but for me it's more a thriller with a few horror elements: very dark, interesting plot, the ending is a bit predictable but still it's a great book that I enjoyed a lot and finished in a couple of sittings.
4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.

* I'd like to thank A.M. Kherbash and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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More of a 2.5 for me, but since half stars aren't allowed, I rounded up.

Shaula is the sequel to horror novel Lesath, but it would also function decently as a standalone. Like Shaula, I received Lesath through Netgalley when it came out and reviewed it, also settling on a score of 3/5. Unlike Lesath, this sequel ended up striking more of a "sci-fi thriller" tone than horror which was a bit of a surprise considering how it was billed on Netgalley. Lesath was an interesting experiment insofar as it never held the reader's hand and left tons of questions. It was an entertaining if frustrating read. Shaula can be descried in a similar vein.

The majority of the problems I had personally with Lesath continued in Shaula, namely world building and prose style. While I understand the author is purposely going for an "unconventional narrative, rife with uncertainty" as stated on his review posted on Lesath, the world building simply makes it difficult for me to get completely invested. We are unsure where this takes place, what timeframe we are in, and vague terms such as "HQ" and "the organization" are tossed out without enough background context to really allow readers to fully grasp the stakes that the characters are thrust into. We understand that main characters Grim and Ben are tasked with a very important mission by their "HQ" but we don't fully empathize with their plight when things go awry as the consequences and ramifications in the book-world to this are unclear.

Regarding the prose, I described it in Lesath as being "dreamlike and surreal", which of course behooves a horror novel that doesn't reveal much to the reader. At times it was a bit verbose but mostly worked. Shaula seems to take that to the next level, and while I am impressed by the sheer vocabulary page by page I didn't feel that it was authentic or realistic for either of the main characters as they were presented which tended to take me out of the immersion while reading. Grim in particular seemed to me at times to be a cartoonish and brutish figure which clashed with the thesaurus-grabbing dialogue and prose his sections contained.

It most likely seems that this review is full of complaints, but despite what I've written above, this is an entertaining book. It's the type of book that if it were adapted would make for a fun thriller on the SyFy channel, complete with a cult, secret experiments, a mysterious creature, and an action hero protagonist (Grim) wearing enough plot armor to allow him to survive at least three seemingly impossible situations. Kherbash also does answer some questions from Lesath, and balances that out by leaving some more questions at the end of Shaula.

**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to
Netgalley and the author**

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What will you do when you must choose between survival and duty?

Two delightful characters, a spooky town, and a mythical creature what else one can need into a horror-thriller book. Shaula is a perfect blend of thrill and horror.
The story revolves around two agents Grim and Ben, they have a task to deliver the mysterious cargo to a man in the mysterious town, where most residents have left the town. The things getting uncanny soon after they arrive in the town.

Though it is a second book of the series, you can read it as a standalone, as the character development and story are woven together very well. I love the way the author develops and the relationship of Grin and Ben, it was fun and sympathetic at the same time. the sci-fi elements and punch of thrills make this an interesting read.
Overall! I find this an interesting read. I will definitely recommend this book who like thrillers with cults.

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i was really interested in this book because it was really in line with my interests and it seemed like a slam dunk for me. The first half of the book was awesome. I really enjoyed getting to sort of know Grim and Ben. I came to picture Grim in my face as this older man who everyone in the neighborhood is afraid of, but that quality made him kind of endearing. The balance between amount of detail given and mystery was perfect and I loved the creepy small town with a cult on the outskirts of town. About halfway through there is a shift when Ben and Grim figure out what they were delivering that knocked me off course. It changed the book for me and I struggled to get through it. I would classify this more as a Thriller/Fantasy novel or a Mystery with hints of Fantasy in it instead of the way it was currently categorized. The writing was amazing and the imagery was so strong so I did really enjoy that part of it. It was just not a book for me.

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This was an awesome read. All the fix-ins of a good sci-fi thriller. Was a little slow at some parts but the fast parts made up for that.

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Sadly a DNF for me. I felt it was slow moving and just generally quite boring for my reading tastes.

I appreciate literature and the skill it takes to craft books but sadly this just wasn't the book for me. I like horror and mystery books which is what I thought this would be. I turned off when it was more sci-fi, I just don't care for that genre.

From the bits I did read before it turned into sci-fi, I still found it quite slow going and boring.

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“The more I learn, the less I feel like I understand what the hell is happening.”

2.5 stars, rounded up.

This quote explains how I felt about this book as a whole. It’s hard to pinpoint my feelings in this review because the pacing was fast, and I finished it to know what was happening. But- I still don’t know what was happening. Perhaps it was just me and my struggle with the writing style, or perhaps it was the plot itself. It wasn’t that I disliked the book – it was that I didn’t care. The writing style was somewhat jarring. Other reviews seem to praise the style of the prose, however, I struggled with it. There were many times I had no idea who was talking, or who was being referred to. The plot summary that we are given also doesn’t explain much at all about the story. This plot summary is, in fact, not at all what the book is about.

I left with more questions than answers, and that’s not my favorite thing.

Full review will be posted on September 6th, 2021.

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Government conspiracy, secrets, and an out of the ordinary creature all make for an interesting ride. This is a sequel, but no problem as a stand alone. Characters are interesting, and plot keeps you interested and guessing.

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Although the description does say that this novel can be read as a stand-alone, because I did not read the first book, I felt extremely lost. This book is confusing and I honestly only finished it because I hate getting to the halfway point of any book and not finishing.

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This was labelled as horror on Netgalley where I requested a copy for review and, for me, it’s more thriller than horror - just a heads up for those of you expecting horror so as not to be disappointed! Not that I was disappointed, more just a little meh about this novel. I hadn’t read the first in the series, however, the author states that you don’t have to have read the first to understand the second.

So, it’s a cult novel, with a mystery surrounding an abandoned town and the two protagonists brought into this by way of a package. So far, so interesting. Which is to say, I enjoyed the first half of the novel and then didn’t enjoy the second half. It’s weird, I can’t quite work out what bugged me - the characters were there, the plot was trundling along and then something happened that flips the plot on its head and made me go ‘oh’. Typos throughout didn’t help but hey, it’s a review copy. All in all, an okay book. Probably more recommended if you’ve read the first and want some more from the characters but an okay read.

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Two men are tasked to deliver a mysterious cargo to a man in the middle of no where... what could go wrong?

Hmm... EVERYTHING!

Do you like novels with cults, sea monsters, deserted towns or maybe all three?

Even if you are a little bit interested... run and get this book.

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I read Lesath before reading Shaula - the latter I received as an advance copy from NetGalley.

I hate being negative about books, but I really found this a tough read.

I love horror, thriller and mystery usually, but for me the structure of this book made it so hard for me to follow that I just felt lost. I had to keep turning pages back thinking, wait what just happened? Which is exactly what happened with Lesath.

The first half of the story is quite dull, then when it begins to pick up later on it’s almost so fast that o struggled to comprehend it. There are also characters introduced, plot lines and plot twists touched on that are never revisited. Some of the complex language used also feels like it’s been put in there unnecessarily and doesn’t add anything to the overall effect.

The characters are somewhat likeable. However, the world of the book isn’t elaborated enough for me. I don’t even know where it took place, despite having read both books, I assume it’s America? But I really don’t know.

I really wanted to like this book more than Lesath, and I’ve seen so many good reviews, but it’s not the one for me unfortunately.

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This is more of a 3.5 or 3.75 but rounding up for simplicity sake.

It was an interesting plot and the writing was well done. While it states it can be read as a stand-alone, I would have preferred reading the first one first.

Overall, I do have a few people in mind to recommend this book to, as it’s right up their alley, so it’s definitely recommendable.

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