Rockstar Book Tours presents... THE LAST BOOK YOU'LL EVER READ by Cullen Bunn & Leila Leiz - REVIEW + GIVEAWAY!

Hello there!

Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.

Today, we have a post NOT for the kiddos.  Yes, I'm looking at you over there.  This is definitely for ADULTS ONLY, so please...if you're under the age of well, I'm not quite certain, but 18 sounds good...skip to the next post.  If you are of legal age, keep reading...as I'm hosting a spot on the THE LAST BOOK YOU'LL EVER READ by Cullen Bunn & Leila Leiz Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my experience post and make sure to enter the giveaway before you jet off to the other sites participating! 

Title: THE LAST BOOK YOU'LL EVER READ: The Complete Series

Author: Cullen Bunn, Vlad Popov, Leila Leiz (Illustrations), Adrian F. Wassel (Editor), AndWorld Design

Pub. Date: September 20, 2022

Publisher: Vault Comics

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Pages: 192

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org

A supernatural horror thriller for readers of Chuck Palahniuk (Lullaby and Haunted: A Novel),  Marisha Pessl,(Night Film), and Scarlett Thomas (The End of Mr. Y), The Last Book You’ll Ever Read tells the terrifying story of a woman who knows the horrific truth about the past – and future - of humankind, and, when captured in her book SATYR, it becomes the catalyst for worldwide, mind-numbing violence.

Read this book at your own peril.
Olivia Kade wrote the book that ended the world. Now she needs someone who won't read it.

Civilization is a lie. Hidden deep in our genes is the truth. And it is slowly clawing its way to the surface. Olivia Kade knows the truth, and she has become the prophet of the coming collapse. Her book, SATYR, is an international bestseller, and it is being blamed for acts of senseless violence and bloodshed all over the world. Olivia's own life is in danger from those who have read her work. Determined to conduct a book tour, she hires security professional Connor Wilson to act as her bodyguard. She only has one requirement: he cannot read her work.

John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness meets Chuck Palahniuk’s Lullaby in this terrifyingly dangerous tale of the descent of humankind where reality and fantasy collide.

Collects the entire smash 8-issue series.

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Reviews:

"I truly hope this terrific horror comic is in no way prescient or timely."  - Patton Oswalt

“…perfectly disturbing and mysterious.” – The Beat

“It’s creepy stuff… you won’t want to miss it.”  - Kurt Busiek (Eisner Award and Harvey Award-winning comics writer of Astro City, The Avengers, Thor, Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, and more)

 

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Sometimes we try something new and it's a massive success.  We hit the nail on the head and congratulate ourselves on our latest discovery.  Other times stepping outside our chosen boxes results in mixed results, and for me...that was the case here.

I can appreciate the artwork...

...and man is it LOADED with illustrations!  I know, I know, it's a Graphic Novel, so it should be, but even so, the images are quite detailed, while both unique and disturbing in equal measures...the latter part displayed vividly in the facial expressions, and that THING in the forest and abandoned town.  The color scheme is consistent throughout and lends that dirty, gritty air to it that the story seems to demand.  I could have done without the nudity (hence my mention of ADULTS ONLY for the audience suggestion), including when it ranged away from humans, but I get the inclusion.  It was just another way of showing how people were going back to their baser selves, their hunter or prey instincts front and center.

I can appreciate the story...

...although it is certainly TWISTED.  It's a Graphic Novel about an author who wrote a book that is changing people...and not for the better.  It sounds like a wordy nod to man's violence against man and even the world, and yet some are taking the words as a manifesto of sorts to what they should be doing.  The opening scenes alone while the author's reading is acting as a voiceover were enough to creep you out...the older man turning into, well, something we wouldn't equate to human, and finding himself among the remains of those that meant him harm, grinning like a sadistic Cheshire Cat.  Totally shudder inducing, and yet I kept turning pages to see where this was all going, how we were getting there, and what the final end reached would be.  

I can be frustrated by the lack of an ending...

...just like any other reader.  Simply because it wasn't my cup of tea doesn't mean that I didn't want to see it through, and when I reached that pinnacle point, I was left scratching my head.  It could have been me...seriously, it could have...because it's not my usual genre or format, but I can't help but wonder exactly what the next page should have or would have been.  What would one more panel have revealed, if anything?  Perhaps that's why it was left the way it was...it could have been eclipsing how the cycle would start over again, or that the inevitable end would come regardless of who opposed it, and learning to live through the changes and with them was the only way to survive.  There were just a lot of areas I wanted filled in, and perhaps my lack of experience with the story telling style didn't serve me as well.

Overall, it's quite a story, and certainly not something I'll be able to forget any time soon. I think readers of the genre, fans of the format, will flock to it, while appreciating some of the same aspects I found interesting, and expanding on that interest by becoming engrossed in the tale...though I wouldn't recommend it be read just before bed.  Sweeter dreams and all...

 

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About Cullen Bunn:

Cullen Bunn is a New York Times bestselling author and prolific writer of horror/supernatural comics series and graphic novels including THE SIXTH GUN, HARROW COUNTY, BONE PARISH, THE DAMNED, THE EMPTY MAN, THE GHOUL NEXT DOOR, BASILISK, SHADOWMAN, and many other titles including The Last Book You'll Ever Read for Vault Comics. He has fought for his life against mountain lions and performed on stage as the World’s Youngest Hypnotist.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | Goodreads | Amazon  | BookBub

 

About Leila Leiz:

Born and raised in France now living in Italy, Leila Leiz is a self-taught artist who worked for several years at European publishers including Soleil and Sergio Bonelli before fulfilling her lifelong dream of making the leap to American comics. Best known for her work on Paul Jenkins’ ALTERS for AfterShock and Horde with Marguerite Bennet, she has also worked on 451 Media’s NVRLND and was a contributor to AfterShock’s SHOCK anthology. She is working on M.O.M with Emila Clark (from Game of Thrones) and Marguerite Bennet for Image Comics and The Last Book You’ll Ever Read with Cullen Bunn for Vault Comics.

Leila has a HUGE Instagram following: 77,200 followers (!) and 9.2K Facebook followers

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | Goodreads

 

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~~~   GIVEAWAY   ~~~

2 winners will receive a finished copy of THE LAST BOOK YOU'LL EVER READ, US Only.

Ends October 7th, midnight EST.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Special thanks to the Rockstar Book Tours team for the chance to bring this tour to you and to the publisher for the copy for review. (THANKS!) For more information on this title, the author, the publisher, this tour, or those on the horizon, feel free to click through the links provided above. This title is available now, wherever books are sold. Catch the rest of the tour for more!

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

9/1/2022	Two Chicks on Books	Guest Post
9/2/2022	@jaimerockstarbooktours	IG Post
9/3/2022	#BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog	Guest Post

Week Two:

9/4/2022	Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers	Review/IG Post
9/5/2022	@bookstagramofmin	Review/IG Post
9/6/2022	Review Thick And Thin	Review/IG Post
9/7/2022	@allyluvsbooksalatte	IG Post
9/8/2022	Brandi Danielle Davis	Excerpt/IG Post
9/9/2022	Sadie's Spotlight	Guest Post/IG Post
9/10/2022	BookHounds	Guest Post/IG Post

Week Three:

9/11/2022	@just_another_mother_with_books	IG Review
9/12/2022	Fire & Ice	Review/IG Post
9/13/2022	RavenzReviewz	Review/IG Post
9/14/2022	Lifestyle of Me	Review/IG Post
9/15/2022	The Momma Spot	Review/IG Post
9/16/2022	Forthenovellovers	Review/IG Post
9/17/2022	@lexijava	Review/IG Post

Week Four:

9/18/2022	Lady Hawkeye	Guest Post/IG Post
9/19/2022	Laurenreads._	Review/IG Post
9/20/2022	GryffindorBookishNerd	Review/IG Post
9/21/2022	A Dream Within A Dream	Guest Post/IG Post
9/22/2022	@enjoyingbooksagain	IG Review
9/23/2022	The Real World According to Sam	Review/IG Post
9/24/2022	@thebookishfoxwitch	IG Review

Week Five:

9/25/2022	See Sadie Read	Review/IG Post
9/26/2022	Wanderingwitchreads	Tik Tok Review/IG Post
9/27/2022	Two Points of Interest	Review/IG Post
9/28/2022	Nerdophiles	Review/IG Post
9/29/2022	brittyoreads	Review/IG Post
9/30/2022	hodophile_z	Review/IG Post

Until next time, remember....if it looks good, READ IT!