New Series from a Favorite!

I loved Madeline Roux's Asylum series so I was really excited to see House of Furies available as an audiobook and even more excited when I went to log it on goodreads and saw that it is first in a series!  I didn't give it a 5 star, but it would be a 4.5.  The only thing I didn't LOVE about it was that it isn't set in the US and I have a hard time with accents while listening to books and again, that is on me.  But this is a very interesting premise and one that seems really unique to me.  I am really interested to see where this goes.

What We Think and What We Know

Back when I read The Catacombs by Roux I said that I probably wouldn't go back and read the novellas I had missed.  But then yesterday I saw The Bone Artists available for download and I borrowed it and listened to it today and I am REALLY glad I did!  It is Asylum 2.5,  This was just a teasing, creepy, sinister story that I really, really enjoyed!  And that was even more I got a good look at the cover, which is AWESOME.  I am looking forward to reading more from Roux and I hope that the other novellas end up being available for a listen as well.  This one is set in New Orleans.

Misleading (but maybe only if you are I)

Escape from Asylum is labeled .5 on goodreads.com and to me, I think that would mean it is 1/2 a book.  But it's really a prequel, a full book and I really good one to read if you enjoy this series!  Just like this one!
I have really enjoyed this series, but have found it confusing at times or maybe I just wanted to know more about what was going on and I feel like this book really helped a lot!  Fans of the series won't want to miss it, set back in the late 1960s when Dr. Crawford started all of this mess!

New Orleans

Catacomb by Madeleine Roux is the third in the Asylum series.  Just looking up the series now I see that I have missed the novellas.  Thing is, while I was just going to write that I really enjoyed this book and the series in general, and I really did!  I think that these novellas are good and bad.  There are a lot of books with the whole novella thing going on:  Delirium, Divergent, Selection, and a lot more.  And even for kids, like Wonder.  Even with a book like Wonder, which I loved, loved, loved, I still haven't read the latest novella. I think that some of the novellas I have read were really good for holding me over until the next one, or a nice surprise when I thought that was the end.  But more and more I kinda think they are just money-making deals, you know?  And while I did really, really enjoy this series.  It is believable with likable characters and creepy, I just don't think that I am drawn enough to the story that I will go back and read the novellas I have missed in this series.  Still, the three main books are worth reading, for sure, if you like creepy and paranormal. I liked that this book was set in New Orleans, a favorite city of mine.  I have only been there once!  But I mean it is also a favorite city for a book setting!  I wish there would have been more focus on the New Orleanishness, that the city was tied into the book even more, but still, it was cool.

Inner Sanctum

is not related to Sanctum, the second of the Asylum novels.  I have only ever heard the Inner Sanctum radio dramas, not seen the television show nor have I seen any of the low-budget movies.  You know, it wasn't until I read this book that I knew the definition of sanctum.  I guess that I could have thought about it being from the Latin sanctus and all, and that would have made me think it meant something good instead of something sinister, but I always assumed it had a sinister meaning because of the radio show.
Let me admit that I was a hypocrite for listening to this book, after having criticized books that take a sensational approach to mental illness.  I wanted to see if there was some redemption in this book, if it continued to address the maltreatment of those suffering from mental illness.  It didn't, instead it took on more of a paranormal and fantasy approach than the first.  This one didn't really deal with mental illness, but with hauntings.  It was okay.  It really wasn't anything to write home about or buy.  I listened to it on my library account.

I have always had an interest in mental health hospitals.  The mentally ill in the United States have been through it.  I don't know anything about the care of the mentally ill in other countries.  People who are experiencing a mental illness need the best in care, the same quality of care that we would hope those who are experiencing a physical illness receive.  But that isn't always the case.  This is a good site from PBS that gives the world-wide history.
I remember this article from years back, about Universal Studio's Halloween Horror Nights which had a very controversial ad campaign.  Here is some related information here.  And here. 
Right away I admit have been a hypocrite.  I have toured Dixmont after it was closed.  I have toured the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum and also done their Halloween Haunted Asylum attraction.  I have given money to TALA in the form of paying for these tours and so contributing to the profit they make off of their ventures.
The thing is, and I don't know if this is any kind of defense of my participation.  Certainly, I can't condone going to the commercial attraction part of TALA, but when I walked through Dixmont, when I toured TALA, I was thinking about the horrors of those who were abused while living there.  After my experiences I spoke out loudly about how poorly individuals were treated in these "hospitals" and I was sickened by how closely the rooms at TALA for the sick resembled the cells of the prisoners at Moundsville.  Not that prisoners should be treated inhumanely!  And certainty many prisoners are mentally ill.  But I think you get what I mean.  A hospital that is more like a prison?  Shouldn't a prison be more like a hospital?  That is the best way to look at it.
As far as the book Asylum goes, I do think that, while capitalizing on the macabre details that attract people like me, Madeleine Roux does make it very clear that what went on at this particular "hospital" was wrong and inhumane.  I can see where this would be a good discussion starter.  A sneaky way to get to the root of how we treat the ill.
Project 17 was a much more interesting book, as far as entertainment goes.  If I can even call it that. Ugh.   But I can't recall it did that.  The thing is, I am living proof that reading expands your mind and your heart.  I am so much more aware of offenses that I have committed in the past, such as dropping my own contribution in the bucket of a business that mocks those who are mentally ill.  And I won't commit them again.