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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
3.5 stars, what an unsettling read! I love the tone this book sets, I wouldn't say that it's 'scary' or 'shocking' at all, but written in an eerily atmospheric way. The author is wonderful at describing that vague feeling of terror; the terror that crawls just beneath your skin and is felt in the very back of your eyeballs - before you can even realize it's there. That looming feeling of dread, without knowing where exactly it's coming from, but it's still there nonetheless. I enjoyed the sway of the characters as well, the gruff 'Swede' eventually becomes the only consciously sane voice on the island whereas the main character struggles by deflecting the horrors, acting as they don't exist while struggling internally with bouts of fear, anxiety, and even insanity. I was sort of hoping for more of an explanation in the end but I know that some of the best horror stories don't give it. This is a wonderful example of the classic tall-tale and it was a treat to read/learn about the areas of the Danube on the way to Hungary. I just hope that the two characters were able to make it out in the end!
I read this in tandem with Blackwood’s The Wendigo, and while they both were amazing in terms of creating a tense environment and building a horror-filled atmosphere, I think The Wendigo has an edge on this front. I felt the vast majority of this novella was spent describing how nature itself was vast and horrific, and spent too little time on the “other beings” themselves. However, I appreciated the open ending of this one more than in The Wendigo, I thought the call back to the otter was a nice nod to the horror from earlier in the novella and allowed the reader to come to their own conclusions.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This novella lives from the eerie atmosphere and the personified landscape. The storytelling is tense and the reader can feel the terror of the protagonist, even if many aspects of it remain vague. Beautiful language.
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was a nice break from all the cookie cutter "horrors" out there. If you are looking for the same old twilight type book, this is not a book you will like. This author really knows how to translate the fear of the characters to the readers. I haven't read a book this unique in a while and now I am sorry I read it so fast. It is a very short book...
Not quite what I was hoping for, but it was good. Eerie, lots of good environmental and atmospheric descriptions, but once the explanations started I lost all tension.
That very last section was precisely the feeling of being trapped inside a terrible nightmare. I found the beginning slow and kind of strained, but it paid off big time!
I see why Lovecraft considered this man an influence to his own writing! The "multi-dimensional beings" angle just screamed Lovecraft.
As a work of horror, I must confess this didn't really do it for me; but I was raised in the era of TERRIFYING movie special effects, so there is that. I'm sure this was quite frightening before television; it certainly builds slowly, gradually suspenseful in its unfolding.
As a work of horror, I must confess this didn't really do it for me; but I was raised in the era of TERRIFYING movie special effects, so there is that. I'm sure this was quite frightening before television; it certainly builds slowly, gradually suspenseful in its unfolding.