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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
https://cdnbookworm.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-fervor.html
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for sending me a copy in exchange for a review.
I really wanted to love this after devouring (bad pun) The Hunger but this just didn't hit as well; it felt very slow, and although I was interested in the plot, it just didn't keep my attention. I hope to try to read it again when I'm more in the mood for it.
I really wanted to love this after devouring (bad pun) The Hunger but this just didn't hit as well; it felt very slow, and although I was interested in the plot, it just didn't keep my attention. I hope to try to read it again when I'm more in the mood for it.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
2.75 because I can suspend my belief only so much before I ask for better answers and the wrap up on this was weak sauce. Loved the message tho
dark
sad
medium-paced
This could have been an X-Files episode. I mean, it kinda IS! Government conspiracy, skin-crawling horror, no it wasn't an UFO but a weather balloon reflecting the light off of Mars. I felt right at home :)
BUT, it takes place in the 1940s, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and in the Japanese internment camps. America is already on edge, spreading hate, suspicious of neighbors, and angry and racist towards Asians. But do the people of the western U.S. seem a LITTLE too angry? Is this fervent nationalism spreading a little too quickly?
I really love Alma Katsu's historical fictions because there's always a supernatural horror element in it to get me to read it!
BUT, it takes place in the 1940s, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and in the Japanese internment camps. America is already on edge, spreading hate, suspicious of neighbors, and angry and racist towards Asians. But do the people of the western U.S. seem a LITTLE too angry? Is this fervent nationalism spreading a little too quickly?
I really love Alma Katsu's historical fictions because there's always a supernatural horror element in it to get me to read it!
This novel was fine, just maybe not for me. I wanted more spooky horror when it's more "the horror of man". The resolution was a bit too bright eyed optimism for me and for historical fiction, it covered some again topical ground (in terms of racism towards Asian/Asian American populations) which I think contributed to me reading some sections as preachy.
So yeah, not bad. It wasn't a slog to get through, just not really what I wanted.
So yeah, not bad. It wasn't a slog to get through, just not really what I wanted.
I stumbled upon Alma Katsu's work, like many, when The Hunger was released. As someone who's held both a fascination with history and a love of horror, I couldn't pass up a twisted story about the Donner Party. The same was true about her next book, The Deep, which entwined the tragedy of the Titanic with a poignant ghost story.
The Fervor finds Katsu finishing off what is, in genre only, a spiritual trilogy of sorts. But this book is different, and Katsu says so herself in the book's Acknowledgments. The tragedy of this country's internment of Japanese-Americans is a blight on our history -- one of many -- and Katsu does not shy away from this atrocity. In fact, The Fervor is just as much focused on the inhumane treatment of Japanese-Americans as it is on Japanese folklore.
For that reason, The Fervor has a dark and intimate quality. Part of that is because Katsu's in-laws were directly affected by the internment camps. This story clearly is personal to her, and that comes across in the directness of her prose -- prose that navigates everything from fear, to anger, to despair, to hope.
In short, The Fervor isn't just Katsu's best book to date, it's also one of the best horror novels I've read. The mark of a great horror story, in my mind, is something that can authentically and truthfully devastate you. Katsu has done that, and more, with this book.
As always, I can't wait to see what she has in store next.
The Fervor finds Katsu finishing off what is, in genre only, a spiritual trilogy of sorts. But this book is different, and Katsu says so herself in the book's Acknowledgments. The tragedy of this country's internment of Japanese-Americans is a blight on our history -- one of many -- and Katsu does not shy away from this atrocity. In fact, The Fervor is just as much focused on the inhumane treatment of Japanese-Americans as it is on Japanese folklore.
For that reason, The Fervor has a dark and intimate quality. Part of that is because Katsu's in-laws were directly affected by the internment camps. This story clearly is personal to her, and that comes across in the directness of her prose -- prose that navigates everything from fear, to anger, to despair, to hope.
In short, The Fervor isn't just Katsu's best book to date, it's also one of the best horror novels I've read. The mark of a great horror story, in my mind, is something that can authentically and truthfully devastate you. Katsu has done that, and more, with this book.
As always, I can't wait to see what she has in store next.