The Digital Renaissance: Review: Cursed Objects: Strange but True Stories of the World's Most Infamous Items

Thursday, August 25, 2022

Review: Cursed Objects: Strange but True Stories of the World's Most Infamous Items

Cursed Objects: Strange but True Stories of the World's Most Infamous Items by J.W. Ocker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Narration: Mr. Campbell does an awesome job here; reminds me of narrators from similar unexplained mysteries TV shows and was quite enjoyable to listen to. The tone and cadence are perfect for this topic. Of course, he doesn't have to do a cast of characters (which would be the only reason he doesn't get a 5* performance).

The book was a fun survey of some famous cursed objects (Hope diamond, Tuts Tomb, et. al) and many of the fantastic stories that come with them (and where they are now in case you want to live life dangerously) ... all delivered with an irreverent sense of humor that made it extremely entertaining. After looking 'under glass' (museums), he heads into the crypt for some ghoulish fun before continuing on to grandma's attic for some more modern curses. He also covers how some of these things 'become' cursed (or at least how they get their reputation). The closest he gets to any scientific inquiry was when he picked up a 'cursed object' on eBay for a year long experiment ... which is to say that None of this is very scientific ... so check your skepticism at the door and just enjoy the trip ... which finishes up talking about weird objects that should be cursed ... but aren't.

Oh ... and don't steal this book ... it's cursed :-)

I was given this free advance review copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#CursedObjects #NetGalley #TimCampbell

View all my reviews

No comments:

Post a Comment

My Ratings Explained ...

[ ***** ] Amazing Read - Perfect story, exciting, engrossing, well developed complex characters, solid plot with few to no holes, descriptive environments and place settings, great mystery elements, realistic dialogue, believable reactions and behaviors; a favorite that I can re-read many times.
[ **** ] Great Read - Highly entertaining and enjoyable, exciting storyline, well developed characters and settings, a few discrepancies but nothing that can’t be overlooked. Some aspect of the story was new/refreshing to me and/or intriguing. Recommended for everyone.
[ *** ] Good Read - Solid story with a 'good' ending, or has some other redeeming feature. Limited character development and/or over reliance on tropes. Noticeable discrepancies in world building and/or dialog/behavior that were distracting. I connected enough with the characters/world to read the entire series. Most of the books I read for fun are here. Recommended for fans of the genre.
[ ** ] Okay Read - Suitable for a brief, afternoon escape … flat or shallow characters with little to no development. Over the top character dialog and/or behavior. Poor world building with significant issues and/or mistakes indicating poor research. Excessive use of trivial detail, info dumps and/or pontification. Any issues with the story/characters are offset by some other aspect that I enjoyed. Not very memorable. May only appeal to a niche group of readers. Recommended for some (YMMV).
[ * ] Bad Read - Awkward and/or confusing writing style. Poor world building and/or unbelievable (or unlikeable) characters. Victimization, gaslighting, blatant abuse, unnecessary violence, child endangerment, or any other highly objectionable behaviors by Main characters. I didn't connect with the story at all; significant aspects of this story irritated me enough that I struggled to finished it. Series was abandoned. Not recommended.