Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
I received this book free from the Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
‘That’s what it’s like to be a prisoner of anything. You want your freedom until you get it, then you feel bare without your chains.’
Senna Richards leads a life of solitary. Her novels have been on the bestseller’s list but she doesn’t wish to be famous, she’d rather be left alone. She awakes on the morning of her thirty-third birthday unable to recognize the walls around her and outside her windows all she can see is snow for miles. Enough food has been stockpiled to last her months upon months which she considers fortunate seeing as she’s unable to leave the locked cabin. In each of the rooms lies the evidence to who her captor is and private details of her life that she’s told few. Will the food last long enough for Senna to determine how to break out of this mind game someone is playing on her?
‘Fear, light footed, dances around me. She whispers seductively in my ear. We are lovers, fear and I. She calls to me, and I let her in.’
Mud Vein is an intense psychological thriller that I found to be quite fascinating. The story opens with Senna finding herself locked in a cabin in the middle of nowhere and the author slowly gives out details of Senna’s past in order to determine who exactly has done this to her. Senna, a recluse that rarely ventures out in public for anything other than the basic necessities, was a strange yet interesting character. After a brutal attack leaves her irrevocably changed she chances upon a man who nurses her back to health and inadvertently becomes an integral part of her life. Senna’s behavior after the attack was completely understandable and heartbreaking. No one should have to go through the mental trauma that she experienced in such a short time. While her behavior after the attack was conceivable, I had a bit of difficulty understanding how prior incidents caused her to separate herself completely from the world. I think more details on her past would have been helpful to show the emotional impact it had on her.
I don’t typically read a lot of indie because the writing isn’t as polished as I expect from books. Mud Vein was for the most part well-done and while there were several sections that were missed in editing it wasn’t enough to diminish my enjoyment of the book. The story itself was written in such a way as to keep the pages turning, only giving you small snippets of information and always leaving you wanting more. I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump as of late and I read this book faster than any in recent weeks. The conclusion was surprising yet did leave me with questions on the motivation behind it all. I feel that I was so wrapped up in Senna’s confusion that I never took a step back to evaluate what was happening to her. It seems to me now that the answer could have and should have been obvious but I was kept oblivious in the dark until the final reveal.
There are many other details of this book that impressed me greatly but it would be careless of me to share. This is definitely a story that is much more enjoyable knowing as little as possible so as to experience the shock firsthand. Mud Vein is going to be a good read to those that enjoy psychological thrillers.
I received this book free from the Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
‘That’s what it’s like to be a prisoner of anything. You want your freedom until you get it, then you feel bare without your chains.’
Senna Richards leads a life of solitary. Her novels have been on the bestseller’s list but she doesn’t wish to be famous, she’d rather be left alone. She awakes on the morning of her thirty-third birthday unable to recognize the walls around her and outside her windows all she can see is snow for miles. Enough food has been stockpiled to last her months upon months which she considers fortunate seeing as she’s unable to leave the locked cabin. In each of the rooms lies the evidence to who her captor is and private details of her life that she’s told few. Will the food last long enough for Senna to determine how to break out of this mind game someone is playing on her?
‘Fear, light footed, dances around me. She whispers seductively in my ear. We are lovers, fear and I. She calls to me, and I let her in.’
Mud Vein is an intense psychological thriller that I found to be quite fascinating. The story opens with Senna finding herself locked in a cabin in the middle of nowhere and the author slowly gives out details of Senna’s past in order to determine who exactly has done this to her. Senna, a recluse that rarely ventures out in public for anything other than the basic necessities, was a strange yet interesting character. After a brutal attack leaves her irrevocably changed she chances upon a man who nurses her back to health and inadvertently becomes an integral part of her life. Senna’s behavior after the attack was completely understandable and heartbreaking. No one should have to go through the mental trauma that she experienced in such a short time. While her behavior after the attack was conceivable, I had a bit of difficulty understanding how prior incidents caused her to separate herself completely from the world. I think more details on her past would have been helpful to show the emotional impact it had on her.
I don’t typically read a lot of indie because the writing isn’t as polished as I expect from books. Mud Vein was for the most part well-done and while there were several sections that were missed in editing it wasn’t enough to diminish my enjoyment of the book. The story itself was written in such a way as to keep the pages turning, only giving you small snippets of information and always leaving you wanting more. I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump as of late and I read this book faster than any in recent weeks. The conclusion was surprising yet did leave me with questions on the motivation behind it all. I feel that I was so wrapped up in Senna’s confusion that I never took a step back to evaluate what was happening to her. It seems to me now that the answer could have and should have been obvious but I was kept oblivious in the dark until the final reveal.
There are many other details of this book that impressed me greatly but it would be careless of me to share. This is definitely a story that is much more enjoyable knowing as little as possible so as to experience the shock firsthand. Mud Vein is going to be a good read to those that enjoy psychological thrillers.
Well this book was a mind-fuck from beginning to end. It was fabulous though. It's my first book by Tarryn Fisher, and I was not disappointed.
I'm stunned. This book is so unlike anything I've ever read. The writing, descriptions, lack of dialouge... it all just blended really well together and created the ambiance within the story. This is one I won't ever forget.
it's not my usual reading... with that said, it was well written but different def different
This book was a rollercoaster from start to finish. I was hooked from the beginning and it left me with an unsettling feeling. I had so many unanswered questions. The middle was kinda dry, but then it also helped to put the pieces of the puzzle together. There are some wild, unexpected turns that made me gasp in shock. Honestly, kinda a twisted novel and a twisted person, but Senna was able to find her truth and her true love. I liked that almost all of the loose ends of the book were tied by the end of it. There probably is some deeper meaning to the book that I don’t get but it was really good. The end result, I wouldn’t have picture it was who it was or what happened. In my mind that makes a great book. You really have to think which i enjoyed.
*There may be spoilers from the first half of the book*
Man I have no idea how this book received such praise from some people. I would think the reviews are all fake or something, but I have read rants on how amazing this book is from people I trust, people who wouldn't just say they loved it when they didn't. I don't get it. I really cannot wrap my head around it. It was not a good book. I have a really hard time not finishing a book once I start, even if it is terrible, but I just couldn't. I read half of it and couldn't make it any farther. I told myself I had to give it at least half way before giving up, hoping it would get better. If anything it got worse.
So I was very excited to start reading this because the synopsis sounds amazing. Girl locked away in a house all by herself needing to figure out how her past can set her free. Amazing. Only that is not really this story. It is a great synopsis for a different book. One where this fits the story (or at least the first half of the story). Yes she is locked up in a house, but not by herself. A guy is there. So they are locked up together. I know that is little, but she finds the guy in the house pretty quick so it is not like she thought she was alone then later after some time someone else was added to the mix. Anyways the first part of the book, Shock and Denial, I thought I had lost my ability to comprehend the written word. I kept being like what is going on? Did I go crazy? Can I just not read anymore? What is happening (and not in a cool! What is going on? I can't wait to find out!! way but in a what is wrong with me that I cannot understand this kind of way)? There were just lots of little things that I couldn't wrap my head around. There is a trap door in the floor that is locked. The girl had already found a key so she gets it and then stares at the key for a while and gets really freaked out because the key is old and just almost melts down because of the key. Um..okay. What is going on? It was such a strange reaction and I couldn't figure out why she would react that way to an old key. She didn't make any sense. Another example? She is exploring the house and thinks maybe she can break a window to get out. So what does she do? Try to hit it with the butt of her knife? Trying to break it with a pot? No she looks for a bench or some large piece of furniture she can throw at it. Sure. That is the first think I would do when I was trying to escape somewhere. Lift all the heavy furniture. And when I find the heavy furniture is bolted down think well there goes that idea. There are no other ways to break a window. Everyone knows that is the only way glass will break....it was just so strange her reactions to everything. I didn't get her or how she thought. Maybe it is explained in the second half of the book.
Then she is on the second floor. She goes down a flight of stairs and then she says how she sees something down the next flight of stairs. So she was on the 3rd floor? There are 3 doors on the second/first/whatever floor she is on until she is exploring them then there are only 2. What happened to the third door? Is this house magic and can make things appear and disappear? What is happening? Can I just not comprehend the words on the page? Well after going back and re-reading to make sure I didn't just imagine the first description it is just like okay so the author either has continuity issues or there is some magical element to the place where she is being held. Either would make sense, but I don't think it is supposed to be a magical book.
So the first part, with all the confusing sections, was well rather boring. Senna and Isaac are locked up together with food and water and heat and clothes and whatever they need. They don't really talk, but when they do the conversation is a little strange and some of it is also confusing. At one point Senna asks Isaac about his flying red bike and it was so out of the blue and just like what is going on?!? I don't understand. Well later, in the second part, that flying red bike gets explained, but man it was just...the conversations were not good. They just seemed to do nothing all day except eat when they were hungry and sit around. Sounds great.
So the first part of the book was pretty boring and confusing. The second part I thought yey! Now we get the back story. Now I can figure out what happened. Well part two is even more boring than the first part! I just barely made it through it. Senna gets raped at the beginning, then shortly thereafter she finds out she has breast cancer. How can you take these two events that should make me feel sympathy for the main character and make me just apathetic towards her? How is that possible? How can I not really care that she was raped or had cancer besides the concern that I have for anyone who I hear had something horrible happen to them. And then how did the author make me so bored that I just didn't care at all anymore? I didn't get Isaac and why he kept showing up. I didn't get what was happening. The Nick book chapters...oh my goodness if that was a real book I wouldn't have made it halfway through. I had a hard time getting through those chapters and ended up skimming them just so I could move it along. They were bad. I'm guessing there would be more of it later in the book since it didn't really tell much of the Senna/Nick story but I hope not. Maybe she could just tell someone what happened or something. I don't know and I don't really care what happened.
I didn't understand Senna at all. You get bits and pieces of her past pre-rape/cancer but she doesn't seem to have changed much after those events. She was still closed off before hand. Her mom left her when she was young leaving her with a father who didn't care. He was never abusive to her or anything she said at one point, he just didn't care. Poor her...I kept waiting for the super horrible terrible awful thing that happened to make her so...lethargic and boring and cut off from everyone. Maybe there is something and you find out in the second half. I guess I will never know.
So this has been my rant for just the first 50% of the book. I can't imagine what the second half would entail.
Update: So I held this review a few days to see if I would go back and finish this book. I really do have a hard time not finishing a book once I start. I keep thinking maybe it gets better. So I did go back and skim the rest of Mud Vein and...it did not get better. When I found out who had done this, who was behind everything and why...it was just...no. I still don't understand Senna or Isaac or how they would go together. They just...nothing really made sense to me. I couldn't identify with either of them or why they would do the things they did. It was not good. And the Carousel, what happened there, so disappointing. It was built up so much with the room and everything I expected something to happen. Instead it was another time where I didn't really understand the characters.
This review was originally posted to Jen in Bookland
Man I have no idea how this book received such praise from some people. I would think the reviews are all fake or something, but I have read rants on how amazing this book is from people I trust, people who wouldn't just say they loved it when they didn't. I don't get it. I really cannot wrap my head around it. It was not a good book. I have a really hard time not finishing a book once I start, even if it is terrible, but I just couldn't. I read half of it and couldn't make it any farther. I told myself I had to give it at least half way before giving up, hoping it would get better. If anything it got worse.
So I was very excited to start reading this because the synopsis sounds amazing. Girl locked away in a house all by herself needing to figure out how her past can set her free. Amazing. Only that is not really this story. It is a great synopsis for a different book. One where this fits the story (or at least the first half of the story). Yes she is locked up in a house, but not by herself. A guy is there. So they are locked up together. I know that is little, but she finds the guy in the house pretty quick so it is not like she thought she was alone then later after some time someone else was added to the mix. Anyways the first part of the book, Shock and Denial, I thought I had lost my ability to comprehend the written word. I kept being like what is going on? Did I go crazy? Can I just not read anymore? What is happening (and not in a cool! What is going on? I can't wait to find out!! way but in a what is wrong with me that I cannot understand this kind of way)? There were just lots of little things that I couldn't wrap my head around. There is a trap door in the floor that is locked. The girl had already found a key so she gets it and then stares at the key for a while and gets really freaked out because the key is old and just almost melts down because of the key. Um..okay. What is going on? It was such a strange reaction and I couldn't figure out why she would react that way to an old key. She didn't make any sense. Another example? She is exploring the house and thinks maybe she can break a window to get out. So what does she do? Try to hit it with the butt of her knife? Trying to break it with a pot? No she looks for a bench or some large piece of furniture she can throw at it. Sure. That is the first think I would do when I was trying to escape somewhere. Lift all the heavy furniture. And when I find the heavy furniture is bolted down think well there goes that idea. There are no other ways to break a window. Everyone knows that is the only way glass will break....it was just so strange her reactions to everything. I didn't get her or how she thought. Maybe it is explained in the second half of the book.
Then she is on the second floor. She goes down a flight of stairs and then she says how she sees something down the next flight of stairs. So she was on the 3rd floor? There are 3 doors on the second/first/whatever floor she is on until she is exploring them then there are only 2. What happened to the third door? Is this house magic and can make things appear and disappear? What is happening? Can I just not comprehend the words on the page? Well after going back and re-reading to make sure I didn't just imagine the first description it is just like okay so the author either has continuity issues or there is some magical element to the place where she is being held. Either would make sense, but I don't think it is supposed to be a magical book.
So the first part, with all the confusing sections, was well rather boring. Senna and Isaac are locked up together with food and water and heat and clothes and whatever they need. They don't really talk, but when they do the conversation is a little strange and some of it is also confusing. At one point Senna asks Isaac about his flying red bike and it was so out of the blue and just like what is going on?!? I don't understand. Well later, in the second part, that flying red bike gets explained, but man it was just...the conversations were not good. They just seemed to do nothing all day except eat when they were hungry and sit around. Sounds great.
So the first part of the book was pretty boring and confusing. The second part I thought yey! Now we get the back story. Now I can figure out what happened. Well part two is even more boring than the first part! I just barely made it through it. Senna gets raped at the beginning, then shortly thereafter she finds out she has breast cancer. How can you take these two events that should make me feel sympathy for the main character and make me just apathetic towards her? How is that possible? How can I not really care that she was raped or had cancer besides the concern that I have for anyone who I hear had something horrible happen to them. And then how did the author make me so bored that I just didn't care at all anymore? I didn't get Isaac and why he kept showing up. I didn't get what was happening. The Nick book chapters...oh my goodness if that was a real book I wouldn't have made it halfway through. I had a hard time getting through those chapters and ended up skimming them just so I could move it along. They were bad. I'm guessing there would be more of it later in the book since it didn't really tell much of the Senna/Nick story but I hope not. Maybe she could just tell someone what happened or something. I don't know and I don't really care what happened.
I didn't understand Senna at all. You get bits and pieces of her past pre-rape/cancer but she doesn't seem to have changed much after those events. She was still closed off before hand. Her mom left her when she was young leaving her with a father who didn't care. He was never abusive to her or anything she said at one point, he just didn't care. Poor her...I kept waiting for the super horrible terrible awful thing that happened to make her so...lethargic and boring and cut off from everyone. Maybe there is something and you find out in the second half. I guess I will never know.
So this has been my rant for just the first 50% of the book. I can't imagine what the second half would entail.
Update: So I held this review a few days to see if I would go back and finish this book. I really do have a hard time not finishing a book once I start. I keep thinking maybe it gets better. So I did go back and skim the rest of Mud Vein and...it did not get better. When I found out who had done this, who was behind everything and why...it was just...no. I still don't understand Senna or Isaac or how they would go together. They just...nothing really made sense to me. I couldn't identify with either of them or why they would do the things they did. It was not good. And the Carousel, what happened there, so disappointing. It was built up so much with the room and everything I expected something to happen. Instead it was another time where I didn't really understand the characters.
This review was originally posted to Jen in Bookland
I am WRECKED. I’ve never read anything quite like Mud Vein. It’s darkness reminded me of Verity, which makes sense because Colleen Hoover’s BFF is this author so I’m sure she influenced her. However this darkness was shrouded in hope and in the final pages of the book I just lost it. The tears didn’t stop for a while. How can a book be so disturbing and make me feel so much emotionally all at once? This is a genius piece of work that deal with our mental, physical and emotional wounds as humans in a way I haven’t seen before. I read it in one sitting and am now obsessed. I feel the need to read everything Tarryn has written before. Thank you Tasha for recommending this to me a YEAR ago and to Brittney for loaning me the book so I could finally have an excuse to read it. I was not disappointed even a little in the book only with myself for waiting so long to read it.
Stellar writing
Fisher knocks it out of the park in the writing department with this one! Seriously a really big wow. Unique!
Fisher knocks it out of the park in the writing department with this one! Seriously a really big wow. Unique!
Thrilling! Scary! Raw! Emotional! Captivating! This book had me at the edge of me seat from the start. The story flows very well between the scenes. It is suspenseful and intriguing leaving you guessing throughout the story just what is happening. This is like James Patterson meets Norah Roberts and this is their love child...seriously! I cried and felt ill and couldn't stop reading. Absolutely a must read!