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3.13 AVERAGE
3.13 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
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
Christopher Golden is one of my favorite authors, but unfortunately, The House of Last Resort didn't land for me. ðŸ˜
It's a book about a couple that moved in to an older neighborhood in Italy- one of those 1 euro houses to update and refurbish. Tommy's grandparents live in the neighborhood and Kate was looking for a change. The change they find in their new house is much more terrifying than they expected.
For some reason the 3rd person narrative really felt weird with this book and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because it's omniscient but you spend longer periods of time in each characters head? A big part of that also impacted the characters. Our main characters were so flat that I literally couldn't remember their names just now.
Now despite this weird writing choice, there are some really good scenes, where I see the Golden I know and love: creepy shadow figures on the landing, manic rats scurrying in the floor, or crazy geriatrics in some.. . Interesting scenes.
It's a fine book, but I wanted more. I don't think I would recommend it in casual conversation.
It's a book about a couple that moved in to an older neighborhood in Italy- one of those 1 euro houses to update and refurbish. Tommy's grandparents live in the neighborhood and Kate was looking for a change. The change they find in their new house is much more terrifying than they expected.
For some reason the 3rd person narrative really felt weird with this book and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because it's omniscient but you spend longer periods of time in each characters head? A big part of that also impacted the characters. Our main characters were so flat that I literally couldn't remember their names just now.
Now despite this weird writing choice, there are some really good scenes, where I see the Golden I know and love: creepy shadow figures on the landing, manic rats scurrying in the floor, or crazy geriatrics in some.. . Interesting scenes.
It's a fine book, but I wanted more. I don't think I would recommend it in casual conversation.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
slow-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
dark
tense
slow-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
Boring, couldn’t get into it. Skipped to the end and I’m glad I didn’t try.
3 stars
Wrapped up with an extremely effective last act, but that doesn't make up for the tedium leading up to it, I'm conflicted with The House of Last Resort, because on one end it's extremely atmospheric — the earthquake-prone, historic European small town setting provides a lot of contextual nuances. However, its critical undoings are the character and plot, which are thinly-drawn and unfocused; the absence of an emotional connection really hinders my overall engagement beyond scenes of horror and tension (which are expertly crafted).
For a story pivoting itself around the committed love between its protagonists, at no point do I actually 'feel' it; switching between two POVs, each character constantly proclaims their feeling through extended internal monologues. The overuse of telling, instead of showing, renders the emotional journey hollow and superficial. In a domino effect, not able to relate to the protagonists also impacts greatly in instances when readers need to tolerate some dumb character decisions for 'horror story reason' (so many things could've been Googled ahead of time, and the novel never provides a convincing reason why they chose to remain in the house).
(On a side note, it irks me how often the characters talk to themselves in this book — as if the author fears without this additional commentary, the readers would not grasp the 'point' of the situation. But in practice it is extremely immersion-breaking.)
The House of Last Resort should've been a short story, even though I love the how chilling and 'un-Hollywood' it concludes, in retrospect the lengthy human story is passively told and superficial, and the horror aspect is allocated to a very dull plot line (too much focus on restoration). While it has the vibe nailed down (reminds me of the horror film The Sentinel from the 70s), overall it doesn't quite scratch my horror itch until the very end.
**This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated!**
Wrapped up with an extremely effective last act, but that doesn't make up for the tedium leading up to it, I'm conflicted with The House of Last Resort, because on one end it's extremely atmospheric — the earthquake-prone, historic European small town setting provides a lot of contextual nuances. However, its critical undoings are the character and plot, which are thinly-drawn and unfocused; the absence of an emotional connection really hinders my overall engagement beyond scenes of horror and tension (which are expertly crafted).
For a story pivoting itself around the committed love between its protagonists, at no point do I actually 'feel' it; switching between two POVs, each character constantly proclaims their feeling through extended internal monologues. The overuse of telling, instead of showing, renders the emotional journey hollow and superficial. In a domino effect, not able to relate to the protagonists also impacts greatly in instances when readers need to tolerate some dumb character decisions for 'horror story reason' (so many things could've been Googled ahead of time, and the novel never provides a convincing reason why they chose to remain in the house).
(On a side note, it irks me how often the characters talk to themselves in this book — as if the author fears without this additional commentary, the readers would not grasp the 'point' of the situation. But in practice it is extremely immersion-breaking.)
The House of Last Resort should've been a short story, even though I love the how chilling and 'un-Hollywood' it concludes, in retrospect the lengthy human story is passively told and superficial, and the horror aspect is allocated to a very dull plot line (too much focus on restoration). While it has the vibe nailed down (reminds me of the horror film The Sentinel from the 70s), overall it doesn't quite scratch my horror itch until the very end.
**This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated!**
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLGHFK6G/
The House of Last Resort by Christopher Golden
3.75 stars
This one was hard for me to rate as I’m typically drawn to a character driven story and this one is definitely more setting and plot driven.
The set up being that an American couple takes advantage of a program to get a house in Italy for one euro. Which apparently is a real thing to try and help boost struggle economies. This happens to be the town where his grandparents are from so they move there with plans on starting a new life, as you can probably guess things do not go as planned when the locals start whispering about the house they’ve chosen.
I think Golden does an excellent job with the setting he really brings you into the house and the small town it’s in. The plot does take a minute to get going but it never felt like a slog because I was engrossed in the worldbuilding.
The characters are definitely the weakest part of this work in my opinion. They mostly felt like they were there to fill one exaggerated trait without a lot of dimension.
This would normally be a huge problem for me, but somehow I still found myself highly engaged in the story. I finished it in one day so that says something about it.
It’s really hard to say more without getting into spoilers, but if you you like atmospheric horror I’d say it’s worth reading just curb your expectations that it’s not to the level typically expected from Christopher Golden in my opinion.
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this book early; I received this ARC in exchange for review, however this does not affect the outcome of my review in any way.
The House of Last Resort by Christopher Golden
3.75 stars
This one was hard for me to rate as I’m typically drawn to a character driven story and this one is definitely more setting and plot driven.
The set up being that an American couple takes advantage of a program to get a house in Italy for one euro. Which apparently is a real thing to try and help boost struggle economies. This happens to be the town where his grandparents are from so they move there with plans on starting a new life, as you can probably guess things do not go as planned when the locals start whispering about the house they’ve chosen.
I think Golden does an excellent job with the setting he really brings you into the house and the small town it’s in. The plot does take a minute to get going but it never felt like a slog because I was engrossed in the worldbuilding.
The characters are definitely the weakest part of this work in my opinion. They mostly felt like they were there to fill one exaggerated trait without a lot of dimension.
This would normally be a huge problem for me, but somehow I still found myself highly engaged in the story. I finished it in one day so that says something about it.
It’s really hard to say more without getting into spoilers, but if you you like atmospheric horror I’d say it’s worth reading just curb your expectations that it’s not to the level typically expected from Christopher Golden in my opinion.
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this book early; I received this ARC in exchange for review, however this does not affect the outcome of my review in any way.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
medium-paced