 Of course, I mentioned that it's beanie weather and all of a sudden Alabama has a heatwave Whatever hello everybody. Yee here. Welcome back to another review today. I'm gonna be reviewing autumn crow By Cameron Cheney. This has a terrific cover by Cameron Rubik I think is how you pronounce it. I'm gonna read it one more time. I Think it's Cameron Rubik. I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing that wrong. I do apologize Cameron Cheney Was nice enough to send me a copy of this and I am acknowledged in the acknowledgments Because I sent him some some issues. I had with there are monsters here when I first read it If I can find my review my video review, I'll leave that link down there in the doobly-doo also, if you don't know Cameron Cheney runs the The YouTube channel book movie guy He was one of my first Inspirations to start my own booktube channel at him Todd the librarian and Adam Cesar Those three guys were my main inspiration for starting this so you can thank them for that if you're a fan of the channel This is a terrific Halloween read and I'm going to start with my very minor Criticisms and go on to the more positive stuff if you want to read a story by story review I will leave my goodreads review down there in the doobly-doo. Let's jump into it in the first story follow me in Cameron goes full Leland gaunt Needful things here with a with a talking to the reader breaking the fourth wall of that that kind of you've Been here before kind of deal. I thought it was a very cool way to open up the collection There's not much meat to the story It's just a few pages leaving you into what? What you're going to be experiencing which is a good spooky Halloween time. I like the way it opened I'm giving that story. I believe on Goodreads I gave it three stars because there's not much to it, but it is a good opening for the Collection itself next. I'm gonna this is where we get into the criticisms I'm gonna talk about the two stories that were complete misses for me different reasons for both of them The first one is a sec is a second story pumpkin light the more I think about this story the more I It's not that the more I don't like it the more I understand why it didn't it didn't hit for me One of the reasons is I think the main reason is it doesn't have the personality that all the rest of the stories in this collection has it's told in a very ambiguous way It there's not much to it. It's another one of the I think it's the second shortest story in the collection I may be wrong about that But that it didn't do anything for me. I didn't connect with it at all I think I said that in my Goodreads review There's nothing wrong with the story. It's just I could have done without it and not missed it I think and I'm sorry if that sounds flippant or dismissive, but that's how I feel about that story I can only be honest here Yes, I I did help with it's very minor stuff Cameron It was very kind putting me in the acknowledgments, but it's very minor stuff I mentioned for the novella at the end of this collection when he released it Alone what I'm getting at is I I'm not going to be biased here I'm going to tell you what I like and what I didn't like in this This is one of those stories that I didn't like. Okay. The next story is the Is a sixth story in this is the other one that was a miss for me with this one I was having a great time until the other arrived I don't know what it was about that, but what I said in my Goodreads review was it felt hokey It felt extremely out of place with the rest of the story The problem with it is the entire story relies on that aspect I'm not sure if you could just get away with I'm not I'm not saying go back and edit it That's not what I'm saying, but I just feel like it was it wasn't too much. It was just unneeded I think the the one horror element by itself was good But adding that other aspect to it just added a whole bunch of questions that I never got the answers to I don't want to go into spoilers If you've read it and want to discuss it with me hit me up on Twitter We'll talk about it, but it's it's just one of those things where it was fine up until a point and then it got to The other that's what I'm gonna call it the other and is this it fell flat for me It didn't work for me. So the those are my only criticisms those two stories and yes I know this video is out of order but I want to make sure that You know that there's very there's I have very small problems here every single collection anthology They all have a handful of misses and this collection is no different where this collection shines Is what we're gonna get to next which are the really really good good stories? Okay? This next one burnt brownies, which is the third story in It's not one of my favorites But there was a lot of heart in this story the like the relationship between the brother and sister was pitch-perfect the descriptions of certain scenes and Characters was spot-on fantastic Cameron Really nailed the descriptions in this one You can see I'm not sure what order he wrote these in But it feels like this one is kind of like in the midway to where he got to with some of the later stories in the Collection, I could be completely wrong. I don't know but this felt like Cameron coming into his own There was a lot of really good description But there was also some of that hesitation that I noticed in the original version of there are monsters here Where he was on the verge of something brilliant and it seemed like he held back I'm not sure test the case or not if stuff was cut I don't know that's just how it felt But I'm giving this one three and a half stars just simply because of the descriptions He really made me see everything and I thought that was awesome. Now. Here's the story I'm ashamed to say I forgot about completely. I like this one a lot. I'm gonna give it four stars I need to go back and edit my Goodreads review to add this one and that is saving face It was a very very creepy story. There are certain parts where the main character of the story is Kind of whispering and talking to people, you know that he cannot connect with and I The way it the way it read it was very very spooky I I know that's cliche to say is not maybe the best terminology to use but it was it was very spooky I enjoyed reading this one simply for that reason. It's a good story The ending who was far more graphic than I expected, which was a good thing. I'm not complaining It is probably the only Story in this collection that I would say goes more into the adult other than there are monsters here Which is Cameron easily Cameron's most mature work We'll talk about that next and then I'll go into my favorites, but saving face is a is a great story It's one of the shorter ones And I think I'm leaning more toward the longer stuff Which makes me feel like I would absolutely love a Cameron Cheney novel So Cameron if you're watching this get on that next we're going to talk about the novella at the end of the collection Which doesn't really tie too much into Autumn crow. I don't think it ties in at all if I miss something. I apologize I did read this one rather fast because I've read it before But the first time I read this I did notice some issues with editing all those issues are gone The new revised story is fantastic. It still has a hell of a killer of a last line It's a great way to end the collection I'm not sure what the rating was I gave it first time but this time I'm giving it all five stars because I loved every minute of it It was especially a pleasure to reread after having read the original one. There isn't a whole lot of difference here I did notice some things, but I read it so long ago. I can't really tell you what I remember what I don't remember I do know that nothing stood out to me like it did the first time I read it So I'm going to give this one the five stars as well next up We're talking about my second favorite story of the collection and that is frost This is one of the best for all ages horror stories. I've read it's one of them It's fantastic It's creep me out and it made me feel like I was back at the Scholastic Book Fair as a kid Picking up scary stories to tell in the dark picking up goosebumps picking up You know these horror and these horror books that are were around when I was a kid It really brought back that sense and it wasn't the cheesy sense of nostalgia It wasn't forced or anything like that It just it was just enough to make me feel like you know that it made me really relive my childhood Now don't think I'm saying there's nostalgia in the story. That's just what it how it made me feel it gave me a legit reaction That brought me back to my childhood and I mean what more can you ask for? It's a it's a fantastic story. It's something that I will probably end up reading to my kids This Halloween because it does work for all ages I feel if you if you if you disagree with me, maybe leave a comment down there in the doobly-doo I don't want people to go out and grab this thinking it's for kids or young adults or it was for young adults easily But middle grade and below I don't people to go run out because there are there are stories in this with some very graphic Depictions, but Cameron Cheney also wears his inspirations on his sleeve the book is full of Easter eggs Full edit they're not forced at all whatsoever It's just things popped in here and there in fact going back to I have no mouth and I must feed There's a crib There's a creep show reference that I cackled out loud about that. I absolutely love good job there Cameron Anyway, so frost if you have kids I suggest Giving giving in a read reading it to them I think it works really well as a story that can be told out loud like a campfire story and last But certainly not least this final story is Second is the second of the last story in this collection It is easily now in my top five Halloween theme short stories up there with the Riggle twins by Gregor Zane But they are two completely different sides of the spectrum Gregor Zane story is gnarly. It's this role This one is more of an homage It is a perfect homage because it doesn't feel like a rip-off You know what Cameron is going for and he does it spectacularly There's just so much in this one that I want to tell you but I don't want to spoil it for you because I even with The title I did not expect what I got going in. I thought for sure I was getting something completely different and even the ending I the whole thing I just had a lot of fun with it really invokes evokes. I'm not sure. I'm a writer It really brings that feeling of Halloween That feeling of fall, you know that feeling of the spooky season that that kind of thing It really brings that to the forefront and lets you enjoy it And there's all these little nuances to the story that I enjoyed once again I don't want to give any spoilers, but if you'd like to talk to me about it hit me up on Twitter I'm I don't use YouTube messages met messaging anyways. I don't even know if it's still around. Is it still around? I don't know, but yeah hit me up on Twitter and we'll talk about it But this one Cameron nailed it. This is easily my favorite of the autumn crow stories There are monsters here is just a favorite beyond this because it was released You know by itself as a standalone, but of the of the strict autumn crow stories This one crypt TV is the best of the bunch So that's all I have for today I'm I hope it didn't go on too long and bore anybody Cameron if you're watching this man at fantastic outing I really really want a novel from you I would love to see a novel set in autumn crow bringing back These characters in like maybe a kind of a mosaic novel kind of thing. I don't know do whatever you want man I'm gonna read whatever you publish from here on out Consider me a fan. Well done. I was a fan of your channel now. I'm a fan of your writing But I think I think you knew that already because I love there are monsters here so much the first time I read it But anyways, have you read autumn crow? I'm giving the whole collection as a whole four stars Maybe 4.5. I don't know. I really want to give it 4.5 Actually, I want to give it five stars because of the the two stories that I love so well three stories that I love so much But I think that would be kind of disingenuous To say that I love the entire thing and the entire thing was perfect when I didn't actually feel that way You know what I mean? But have you read it if you liked it? Let me know why you liked it if you hated it I mean, you know why you hated it so we can have a discussion down there in the doodly-doo But until next time I have any you've been you this has been another book review. I'll talk to you guys later. Bye. Bye