Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - These Fleeting Shadows

Hello, new best book ever. Definitely a favourite of this year. Amongst many. I think I’ll have to sort them by age range and category. This for sure would fall under the YA Horror category. And book by an author I’ve read before. I very much recommend it. And all of Marshall’s other books (even though I’ve only read two books now).

Ever since I read Rules for Vanishing some time back (maybe 2019?) I knew that this author would be a firm favourite of mine. She once again proved it with These Fleeting Shadows and will further prove it when I get to her other books.

The blurb for this is The Haunting of Hill House meets Knives Out. I still haven’t watched Knives Out but Hill House is one of my favourite TV series so I had high hopes it would deliver on that – it absolutely did and much more. It actually made me want to rewatch Hill House straight away (which I’ve done now

The writing was absolutely phenomenal. It drew me in, it kept me captivated throughout the entire book. I never felt bored, I never felt like the writing was boring me. I always thank the book thoroughly when the writing doesn’t bore me – you will too when you go from a boring book to an exciting one.

Helen is the main character of the story and I love her so much. There was a moment at the start of the book where I thought I wouldn’t really like her but that quickly turned around and I did love her immensely. She’s a strong character, stronger than she thinks she is. She’s curious (but also how curious do you want to be in a horror story?) and that helps her to be a stronger character. She’s a bit apprehensive when it comes to relationships (who could blame her, though) although she improves at that as the book carries on.

The house is also the other main character in this. Which might not make sense but if you’re familiar with a lot of haunted house stories (or have watched The Haunting of Hill House), you know what I mean. The house has a rich history (albeit bad), there’s a lot of stories that have happened in the house, countless of people who have lived and died in that house. That all makes it as much of a main character as Helen. It has its own agendas, its own story to tell. It has secrets that it reveals to us and to Helen.

The family and the family dynamics that we get in this book was written so well. You get to know the family and (eventually) the secrets, but there’s still so much you don’t know, or could know about the family. All that just adds to the mysteriousness of everything – the book, the house, the plot – so well. Also I would not like to be in this family. Married in, biologically, legally adopted, basically part of the family (like you have your preferred mug and you do chores).

As I did with Rules for Vanishing, I read most of These Fleeting Shadows late at night – as in after midnight. I recommend and I also do not recommend doing that. It’s scary and the writing and the plot just make it so much scarier so maybe don’t read it late at night? But also to me it just elevated the reading experience that much more. I also listened to the Hill House soundtrack while I was reading the book, to further push the vibes of Hill House. That I do recommend – it was quite fun.

Bryony was an absolute delight to meet and get to know. I’m always for the quirky characters, the ones that other people always think of as weird – probably because that that’s me. She knew who she was and she wasn’t afraid to just be herself, plus she encouraged Helen to be more of herself too.

The book is more than just a family and a house and secrets. It’s about knowing yourself. Who you are on the outside versus you on the inside and how you portray yourself to be. It’s about not letting other people decide who you are. It’s about acknowledging who you are.

Content Warnings

More...