BROM: Darkwerks features images from the artist's two books, Darkwerks and Offerings, as well as insightful commentary that allows us a glimpse into the soul and mind of this fantasy master. In a shadowy world of make-believe, Jack and his box are stuck beneath the bed with other castaway toys, until the Plucker, a malevolent spirit, is unleashed on the world and threatens Thomas, the child who had abandoned Jack, and Jack is Discarded as a child's toy, Jack finds himself forgotten underneath the bed, but when the Plucker, a malevolent spirit, is set loose upon the world, Jack must defend Thomas, the very child who abandoned him.
The art book field was strong once again in , especially notable for the many good retrospective art collections Undead Cole McGee serves the Devil by hunting down escapees from Hell, in order to win freedom to search for his beloved Rose, and now he has a chance at immediate freedom if he returns just one more escapee, the mysterious Rath.
Oil on board. Brom's punk - influenced. He began to draw as a hobby. By age twenty , he was a commercial illustrator and soon acquired national art representation. Jealousies arose , than Brom Bones himself. Let us climb over this stile by the corner of the old church , into the yard Strange stories of ghosts in Sleepy The work covers the most compelling gothic art across various media, from paintings and illustrations to photography, sculpture, and digital art. After all, you are in the Art Department.
Don't ask me, John. Hackett and I are hardly bosom pals. Piggy looking away making his topic of conversation Benjamin Robert Haydon. The art book field was strong once again in , especially notable for the many good retrospective art Nederland' was launched.
Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page.
Preview — The Plucker by Brom. The Plucker by Brom Goodreads Author. The Plucker is a dark and twisted tale about a Jack-in-the-Box, aptly named Jack, who must fight for the life of his human boy owner against an evil force, called the Plucker because he plucks your eyeballs out and sucks out your life force. Get A Copy. Hardcover , pages. More Details Original Title. Other Editions 4. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
To ask other readers questions about The Plucker , please sign up. Is this a novel with illustrations or more of a graphic novel kind of deal with the whole story told comic book style? Laura The best way to describe it in my opinion is a picture book for adults. There are lots of illustrations, but it is definitely not a comic style as the …more The best way to describe it in my opinion is a picture book for adults.
There are lots of illustrations, but it is definitely not a comic style as the pictures and story are seperate less. See 1 question about The Plucker…. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4.
Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Start your review of The Plucker. Jan 06, Hasina Aby rated it really liked it Shelves: author-illustrator , author-illustrated-cover , horror , great-paintings. I loved the arts. This is my first time reading Brom's books. I saw the author's art on Twitter and wondered if I am the only who never read a single book by Brom.
I found the book on my cousin's shelf and I thought it's time I delve into grim dark tales. To say honestly it has amazing paintings. I liked the story, but I also thought I needed more. Jul 08, Jonathan rated it it was ok. They have such pretty, dark covers; such pretty, dark illustrations; hell, even when there's no actual "picture" on a page, the background is probably still dark and pretty. Brom also has a way of coming up with fairly cool ideas and images; in this case, the concept of a demented version of Toy Story, in which the toys of a child's bedroom--in particular, our hero Jack, of Jack in the Box--must battle for their lives against a wicked spirit who intends to kill them in order to possess their child.
It's a cool enough concept. The problem is, Brom can't write for beans, and "The Plucker" is no exception. You have all the usual roles taken care of: the main reluctant hero; the villain who is sadistic, but too much of a wisecracking eccentric to be taken entirely seriously; the love interest, the Snow Angel, who of course ends up in great peril and must be saved; her ex who she can't really stand but still provides a thorn in our hero's side how many times have we seen THAT before?
In animated movies, this is that one character voiced by Queen Latiffa or Chris Rock or someone else who can make some CGI animal seem as stereotypically "black" as possible. Verrrry racially sensitive, Brom. It's written in a cheesy, immature fashion; there's a ton of stupid juvinille humor that I can't imagine anyone over the age of 10 would find funny; and there are constant, cartoonish references to beaten characters "seeing stars" honestly, Brom, aren't there other ways to describe a character's pain and confusion in battle?
It's all so very childish that an adult reader can't help but feel they are reading something that is below them. Then the titular villain starts dropping F-bombs. Not long after that there start being a few twisted, mildly violent images; one even shows the snow angel crucified, one of her breasts exposed. Yet even throughout all of this, "The Plucker" is simply not well written enough to be taken entirely seriously or to come across as appropriate for adults.
Seriously, there were times when this was even more poorly written than a Darren Shan book--an author who also injects arguably-explicit material mostly tons of blood and gore into material that is otherwise too childisly written to appeal to most people who are past puberty.
I'd say then that the only real audience for this book can be younger teens, tweens, etc. Or just people who can't tell the difference between a well-written book and a poorly-written book. Here's the test: do you think "Twilight" is well written? If you answered "Yes," then you fall into this category. If nothing else, the pictures are pretty, and that's got to count for something. On a side note, I must admit that I'm curious about Brom's "The Child Thief," which relies less on pictures; but after stumbling through "The Plucker" and "The Devil's Rose," I'm not convinced it's worth it to try it out--especially given that everything Brom writes tends to be given five stars by the masses, regardless of how formulaic the story is or how clumsy or cheesy the prose is, just because the pictures are pretty and the concepts interesting.
I guess that's to be expected these days. View all 4 comments. Nov 05, Emily May rated it liked it Shelves: fairy-tales , I absolutely loved Brom's The Child Thief and I've been so excited to get my hands on his other illustrated novels. Dark, twisted fairy tales are kinda my thing. But, though this book is full of gorgeous artwork, I found the story lacking. Especially when compared to his Peter Pan retelling.
I liked it enough and it was suitably dark, though there are literally no characters really worth caring about in my opinion, anyway. Maybe because the principal characters are toys?
In something like a dark version of Toy Story, this book is about what happens when Thomas's father brings home an African doll that is possessed by evil spirits. These evil spirits want Thomas's soul and the only ones who can save him are his toys - namely, Jack aka Jack-in-a-box. It's definitely an adult story and contains both curse words and violence, but it never quite reached the darkness I expected from the author.
The arc of the story, and the characters themselves, were all too simplistic. View all 3 comments. Dec 30, Karissa rated it it was amazing Shelves: favorites.
This is an illustrated novel by Brom. Brom both tells the story and illustrates it. His artwork is both extremely creepy and hauntingly beautiful. This is the story of Jack, a Jack in the Box toy who belongs to Thomas. Jack is a forgotten toy and has been dwelling in the Underbed.
When Thomas's father brings the boy a new toy, Thomas's soul as well as all of the toys are in grave danger. It is left to Jack and Thomas's nanny Mirabel to defeat the evil being and save Thomas. This book pulls no punc This is an illustrated novel by Brom. This book pulls no punches where visciousness and gore comes in. The Plucker is evil incarnate, granted he is torturing toys, but the torture scenes are no less disturbing for the lack of blood.
It is a well-written story; a morbid twist on the timeless tale of what happens to the toys when they are forgotten. Think Toy Story meets Stephen King. The artwork is beautiful.
I really enjoyed the book. I was going to sit down and read it with my son but decided to read it on my own first. I am glad I did. While there is no blood, so to speak, there is a lot of torture and toy disembermant. The Plucker has a fowl mouth and swears something awful; we're talking real swearing here.
This is a scary book, I am 30 and I thought it was scary. I can't imagine what my boy would have thought. I disagree with the editorial review that says this is Grade 5 and up for reading level; I agree more with the review that says Grade 9 and up. This is some pretty adult stuff and one of the pictures, while artistic, does have some disturbing toy nudity :- Definitely not a children's fairy tale; this story emits darkness that is more typical of your original Grimm Brothers fairy tales.
The book sends a good message and ends in a very hopeful way. As I mentioned I was impressed with both the artwork and the story; I am excited to see and read more work by Brom. Apr 04, Amanda rated it it was amazing. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
I absolutely loved this book. A few years ago I read The Child Thief and fell in love with his twist on the Peter Pan story and also the fact that he had his own illustrations of the characters throughout the book. This story is about toys who get mauled by bad spirits gunning after the toys' owner's soul.
Starting out I thought it was a little too similar to the movie Toy Story because when the child gets bored with a toy, he pushes it under the bed as opposed to going on the top shelf, but it I absolutely loved this book. Starting out I thought it was a little too similar to the movie Toy Story because when the child gets bored with a toy, he pushes it under the bed as opposed to going on the top shelf, but it's the same idea , but that quickly changed as the story progressed.
I really loved the fact that this was basically a children's book for adults. I would definitely not let the younger ages read this one as there is a lot of swear words, and particularly if the young ones are sensitive to horror themes as I was at a younger age, this would've terrified me because toys are getting mauled and tortured, and the fact that there actually IS a monster under the bed. The story was very unique, unlike anything I've read, and it was great that Brom tied in some actual folklore on the ancient culture of Gullah.
I read another review where someone criticized the fact that Brom used an African-American woman as the hoodoo preistess that saves the boy because it's stereotypical and that's a reason to dislike the book, but I think that person is missing the fact that this story is based in , and that the generation before her was probably taken from Africa, where the Gullah culture came from.
Her Aunt practiced the belief, and at that point in time, it really wouldn't make sense for any other race to practice hoodoo. I felt a strong urge to point that out. Anyway, this is a great, quick read and has great illustrations. I continue to be a huge Brom fan! View 1 comment. Nov 28, Patrick rated it really liked it Shelves: horror , fantasy. This was actually unique and refreshing!
But of course Brom never really disappoints. He is left there and forgotten by Thomas and some of the other toys. Jack is up and ready to help the boy who once loved him. Unique, fun, sad, and with a little hint of myth, this book will take you on one dark adventure! I really enjoyed this novel. Like duh! Pure awesomeness! Brom is a phenomenal artist and each page is beautifully done. An adult dark toy story with awesome illustrations! Really enjoyed this one. One of Brom's first fiction works instead of just illustration , 'The Plucker' is quite succesful.
It's an illustrated novella laid in a form that would appeal to older children large print, lots of pictures , but which contains plenty of dark and gruesome motifs to make it more something for adults.
That said, the setting of this one is a child's world: toys have a life of their own, animated by the 'gusto' of children, and toyland is invaded by a dark spirit - The Plucker itself - from the depths of mythological Africa, out to displace the souls of children to take over their bodies.
Main antagonists are Jack - the one in the box - and Mabelle, the sterotypical southern US 'mammy', who deals in voodoo charms as well as basic nanny skills.
The portrayal of aforementioned Mabelle is a fair bit on the traditional side, erring on the side of positive African-American sterotyping, but if you're willing to look past that, 'The Plucker' is a highly enjoyable work, lovingly illustrated by a graphic artist who happens to posess talent for storytelling as well.
Recommended for fantasy lovers of all ages, provided they can stomach the dark and gritty. Brom's stories always leave me feeling inspired and refreshed. He's got a way of spinning tails so real that they play like a real movie inside your mind's eye. I've been watching Brom effortlessly create some of the most beautiful, provocative covers in the fantasy genre for decades now.
He's a storyteller with his artwork, and in a very elite class. Now he decided to invade my turf with "Lost Gods," a novel that winds into surprises and unexpected triumphs as much as the corners of his artwork.
Salvatore , New York Times best selling author. A hell of a read! In Lost Gods , he drops a flawed but worthy hero into a mythological maelstrom, then sets him fighting for stakes that only grow more desperate and personal with each victory. One Christmas Eve in a small hollow in Boone County, West Virginia, struggling songwriter Jesse Walker witnesses a strange spectacle: seven devilish figures chasing a man in a red suit toward a sleigh and eight reindeer.
When the reindeer leap skyward taking the sleigh, devil men, and Santa into the clouds, screams follow. Moments later, a large sack plummets earthward, a magical sack that will thrust the down-on-his luck singer into the clutches of the terrifying Yule Lord, Krampus.
If Jesse can survive this ancient feud, he might have the chance to redeem himself to his family, to save his own broken dreams Krampus, the Yule Lord, can be purchased online from these outlets:. Santa Claus How vile your name upon my tongue.
Like acid, hard to utter without spitting. Yet I find myself capable of speaking little else. It has become my malediction, my profane mantra. Santa Claus. That name, like you, like your Christmas and all its perversions, is a lie. But then you have always lived in a house of lies, and now that house has become a castle, a fortress. So many lies that you have forgotten the truth, forgotten who you are I have not forgotten.
Santa Claus is but one more of your masquerades, one more brick in your fortress. I will not speak your true name. No, not here. Not so long as I sit rotting in this black pit. To hear your name echo off the dead walls of this prison, why that That name must wait until I again see the wolves chase Sol and Mani across the heavens.
0コメント