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We decided that it wasn't great but could have been worse.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
ill read anything this author writes
Anne. Youngest. Most precious.
Pamela. The middle sister. Wildest.
Catherine. Eldest. Most Sensible.
The Jewel.
The Adventurer.
The Protector.
Three little girls did a very bad thing.
This is definitely not a book to read late at night with all the lights off (except your reading lamp of course). Kurtagich wrote another masterfully written horror novel full of twists and turns that has you questioning everything that you have read up to that point! I am not one to read much horror (I don't even watch horror movies!), but I really enjoyed this book and her debut novel The Dead House.
Rotting in your skin
rotting in your mind
you are rotting in this house
in this house you'll die.
This book starts off with a flashback to 1980 when everything first started in Python Woods. Skip ahead 20 something years and now Silla and her sister are traveling through the same woods to find her Aunt Cath and hopefully safety. As soon as they arrive, their aunt tells them to never go into the woods. At first everything seems to be going very well, but then little things start to happen that make you question your sanity. Cath goes into the attic and doesn't ever come back down. So it is up to Silla to provide for Nori and to keep her safe.
Things can stay safe for long
they can pretend to fit
but then you hear Discord's song
and things crack bit by bit.
As soon as you start reading you get a creepy vibe and the creepiness never goes away. Even when you think that it's all sunshine and rainbows for a few chapters, there is still an undercurrent of creepy. Especially when Aunt Cath tells them the story of the Creeper Man, which basically starts Sillas slow and growing fear about the woods and the manor. You begin to question her mental health and whether or not she is a reliable narrator.
Once the trees start creeping closer towards the manor is when Silla gets more and more frantic trying to keep Nori safe. It isn't until near the end that Silla starts to try to figure out how the Creeper Man started and why he was terrorizing her family. The ending I never saw coming a mile away! This book was so full of twists and turns that it was hard to keep track of them. It wasn't until basically the very end when everything is finally explained that everything makes sense. Kurtagich did a superb job of weaving all the tiny details together to create such a masterful ending. My only problem is that now that I know it's kind of like The Village, once you know the secret it's hard to watch it again and feel creeped out. I think after some time passes this will be a great book to read again and try to see if I could pick up on any of the clues that I missed the first time.
I also really liked the format the book was in. Kurtagich told this story not only from Sillas point of view, but she included broken book entries from Sillas journal, diary entries from Nori, and even little snippets from Aunt Cath. These little extras to the narrative just add to creep factor and the inner workings to Sillas mind. The writing style was great in The Dead House, but I think Kurtagich outdid herself in this one!
Overall, I really loved this book! Kurtagich might be the only author where I can read her horror books with little to no problem. Although, this one was creepy it wasn't as scary as I thought it could have been. So if you are like me and get scared easily, this book will be fine for you to read!
Pamela. The middle sister. Wildest.
Catherine. Eldest. Most Sensible.
The Jewel.
The Adventurer.
The Protector.
Three little girls did a very bad thing.
This is definitely not a book to read late at night with all the lights off (except your reading lamp of course). Kurtagich wrote another masterfully written horror novel full of twists and turns that has you questioning everything that you have read up to that point! I am not one to read much horror (I don't even watch horror movies!), but I really enjoyed this book and her debut novel The Dead House.
Rotting in your skin
rotting in your mind
you are rotting in this house
in this house you'll die.
This book starts off with a flashback to 1980 when everything first started in Python Woods. Skip ahead 20 something years and now Silla and her sister are traveling through the same woods to find her Aunt Cath and hopefully safety. As soon as they arrive, their aunt tells them to never go into the woods. At first everything seems to be going very well, but then little things start to happen that make you question your sanity. Cath goes into the attic and doesn't ever come back down. So it is up to Silla to provide for Nori and to keep her safe.
Things can stay safe for long
they can pretend to fit
but then you hear Discord's song
and things crack bit by bit.
As soon as you start reading you get a creepy vibe and the creepiness never goes away. Even when you think that it's all sunshine and rainbows for a few chapters, there is still an undercurrent of creepy. Especially when Aunt Cath tells them the story of the Creeper Man, which basically starts Sillas slow and growing fear about the woods and the manor. You begin to question her mental health and whether or not she is a reliable narrator.
A tree. It's a tree. I convince myself of this, almost fully. Until the thing steps forward, his head turning a fraction in my direction. I can almost hear the tiny creeeeeeeeeeak as his head rotates. It is a tall, long-limbed, bulbous-headed shadow.
I blink again.
Closer.
And again.
Closer.
Closer each time. Like the trees. Tall, thin. Eerily silent. Still and watchful. A man. Something like a man.
But he has no eyes.
I notice this right away. He has no face. Wait . . . is that. . . is that-
There's a mouth.
A long gash of a mouth, thin and smiling. A jagged line. Until it falls open, revealing teeth and an endless blackness.
Grinnnnnning.
And then it falls forward on all fours, long and thin and impossible, scuttling back into the woods, head cocked up to me, until he is nothing but a tree shadow and I don't know if I've seen it at all.
The Creeper Man.
Once the trees start creeping closer towards the manor is when Silla gets more and more frantic trying to keep Nori safe. It isn't until near the end that Silla starts to try to figure out how the Creeper Man started and why he was terrorizing her family. The ending I never saw coming a mile away! This book was so full of twists and turns that it was hard to keep track of them. It wasn't until basically the very end when everything is finally explained that everything makes sense. Kurtagich did a superb job of weaving all the tiny details together to create such a masterful ending. My only problem is that now that I know it's kind of like The Village, once you know the secret it's hard to watch it again and feel creeped out. I think after some time passes this will be a great book to read again and try to see if I could pick up on any of the clues that I missed the first time.
I also really liked the format the book was in. Kurtagich told this story not only from Sillas point of view, but she included broken book entries from Sillas journal, diary entries from Nori, and even little snippets from Aunt Cath. These little extras to the narrative just add to creep factor and the inner workings to Sillas mind. The writing style was great in The Dead House, but I think Kurtagich outdid herself in this one!
Overall, I really loved this book! Kurtagich might be the only author where I can read her horror books with little to no problem. Although, this one was creepy it wasn't as scary as I thought it could have been. So if you are like me and get scared easily, this book will be fine for you to read!
This book is super creepy, exactly what I like. I actually couldn't put it down and read half of it in one night. Unfortunately, the rest of the book is repetitive and underwhelming, even the reveal at the end is a letdown. I am also not a huge fan of format manipulation (larger and smaller font sizes, slanting words down the page, extra spaces between letters, etc). It does nothing for me. I just want to read the words, thank you. No need to be artsy about it.
I like, completely forgot I read this book until we were discussing horror novels in my Reading for Recreation class and I remembered it being really good but I couldn’t remember the name. SO glad I found it and ready to read it again, incredibly chilling read with a twist I definitely didn’t predict.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is 'The Yellow Wallpaper' meets 'House of Leaves'. The use interesting use of text and page space was not as well executed as with 'House of Leaves' (srsly, turning pages in that book filled me with anxiety let alone what was written on them) but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I enjoyed the slow creeping, dreamlike desecnt into madness. The house itself is it's own character, it's own antagonist. My biggest criticism is the big plot reveal at the end honestly felt like an afterthought.
#halloweenreads
#halloweenreads
My fiancé gifted me with both of Dawn Kurtagich's books for Christmas and I have since devoured them both. And The Trees Crept In is a fantastic follow up to The Dead House, possessing a story that is just as evocative and even more heart-wrenching.
This story takes the reader on a journey that is, at times, so deliberate in the way it leaves you feeling Silla's pain brutally and with supreme honesty. And The Trees Crept In will leave you wanting more the entire time you're reading, and you won't be able to put it down until you reach an ending you just may not see coming.
This story takes the reader on a journey that is, at times, so deliberate in the way it leaves you feeling Silla's pain brutally and with supreme honesty. And The Trees Crept In will leave you wanting more the entire time you're reading, and you won't be able to put it down until you reach an ending you just may not see coming.
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes