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ambeesbookishpages's review
3.0
This review and more can be found at The Book Bratz
".... a gruesome thriller suggested by the events of the Amityville Horror."
I saw the name Amity and the first thing that popped into my head was The Amityville Horror. I live on Long Island. Less then twenty minutes away from the actually Amityville Horror house, so of course anything involving it will catch my attention. I was disappointed that this wasn't a retelling. But besides that I enjoyed the story.
This was another book were I abandoned all my responsibilities and laid on the couch all night to read. It is told in alternate times. Ten years ago and today.
Conner had lived in the house ten years ago. Now, when I first started the book I liked Connor, I really did. Then the book progressed and I found that some things he did were not normal. My biggest question is, was he in love with his sister? There is a part in the book that suggests that, then a dream were she kisses him.
Qwen currently lives in the house. This was her parents latest escape with their family after Qwen's latest mental break down and she is convinced not to screw it up. Then she starts having the dreams, starts referring to Amity as if she were a person and seeing things, just like Connor had.
As much as I liked the book there were things I didn't like. There were many things that were unclear or unanswered. Especially Connor's letter at the end. What exactly did he mean by everything he said? Who was the decomposed girl that Qwen kept seeing? Was it Jules or someone else from Amity's past?
RATING: ★★★
icantcontroltheweather's review
1.0
This book was a COMPLETE rip off of The Shining, just done poorly. The plot of an evil house possessing the male protagonist, down to the burning of the house at the end. I'm so annoyed and disappointed this fabrication even went through publishing. Stephen King would be ashamed of this, more so than the movie of his book.
mehsi's review
3.0
I was really, really looking forward to this book. I always had a fascination for the Amity house and the stories that surround it. Sadly this book was not meant to be.
The house and the details about the murder that took place in the real Amity were all great and I really had goosebumps, reading about the horrors that had happened there, the corruption the house did to its inhabitants, the way it seemed to have a life on its own. A life that meant no intruders.
There was great details on various things from the house. The spooky basement, the creepy attic, the things that went bump in the night (I am so going to check under my bed tonight, yes, yes I am). I was absolutely scared at some parts.
Then we get to the part I didn't like: the characters.
At first they were ok, and I was interested to find out more about them, about their families. However, this soon changed, when they got corrupted (if they got that, or if they were already on the border of breaking into something evil, I guess with Connor that he was already evil, given the reports we saw). I was disgusted, especially at Connor. How he treated humans, how he treated animals, how he treated everything around him. He was like worse version of his dad (and yes his dad was also just horrendous, so you can imagine how bad Connor was). There were various parts that I just skipped or read with wide eyes. Some scenes just disgusted me, making me wish I hadn't read it, wish I could just erase it from memory. Sadly with my mind, I will probably need a lot of fluffy or other less-disturbing books to erase it slightly from my mind. :(
I think I would rather have had Jules as the main protagonist for the first POV, not Connor.
Gwen, I am not even sure what to think of her. She was weird, she was so fragile at times, yet at other times strangely strong. I am still, after all that I read, not sure what to think of her behaviour.
Luke, not really the main character but also a person who turned out to be highly disturbed and I was really disgusted at what he did.
Another thing I didn't like was how the chapters were done. Some chapters were only one sentence, some a paragraph, others a few pages. It was a bit confusing and annoying.
Then we have the constant stuff between (), which at times just distracted me from reading because I had to go back and read the sentence that came before the () again.
The book is split up in 5 parts and we switch between 10 years before and the now. 2 different characters, a boy and a girl.
The last part was absolutely confusing and I had no clue who was talking at times, very annoying since that was the climatic scene and I was looking forward to it. :(
The letter from Connor? Gave me goosebumps all over.
Oh and I should mention that I really liked the cover, it really gives me the creeps, with the blood flowing from the roof, the windows like eyes, and is that a girl in the middle window? *shivers*
All in all a book that was a bit conflicting. It had good things, but also quite a few flaws/bad things. So I will give it 2.5 stars, rounded up to a 3 star.
Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/
The house and the details about the murder that took place in the real Amity were all great and I really had goosebumps, reading about the horrors that had happened there, the corruption the house did to its inhabitants, the way it seemed to have a life on its own. A life that meant no intruders.
There was great details on various things from the house. The spooky basement, the creepy attic, the things that went bump in the night (I am so going to check under my bed tonight, yes, yes I am). I was absolutely scared at some parts.
Then we get to the part I didn't like: the characters.
At first they were ok, and I was interested to find out more about them, about their families. However, this soon changed, when they got corrupted (if they got that, or if they were already on the border of breaking into something evil, I guess with Connor that he was already evil, given the reports we saw). I was disgusted, especially at Connor. How he treated humans, how he treated animals, how he treated everything around him. He was like worse version of his dad (and yes his dad was also just horrendous, so you can imagine how bad Connor was). There were various parts that I just skipped or read with wide eyes. Some scenes just disgusted me, making me wish I hadn't read it, wish I could just erase it from memory. Sadly with my mind, I will probably need a lot of fluffy or other less-disturbing books to erase it slightly from my mind. :(
I think I would rather have had Jules as the main protagonist for the first POV, not Connor.
Gwen, I am not even sure what to think of her. She was weird, she was so fragile at times, yet at other times strangely strong. I am still, after all that I read, not sure what to think of her behaviour.
Luke, not really the main character but also a person who turned out to be highly disturbed and I was really disgusted at what he did.
Another thing I didn't like was how the chapters were done. Some chapters were only one sentence, some a paragraph, others a few pages. It was a bit confusing and annoying.
Then we have the constant stuff between (), which at times just distracted me from reading because I had to go back and read the sentence that came before the () again.
The book is split up in 5 parts and we switch between 10 years before and the now. 2 different characters, a boy and a girl.
The last part was absolutely confusing and I had no clue who was talking at times, very annoying since that was the climatic scene and I was looking forward to it. :(
The letter from Connor? Gave me goosebumps all over.
Oh and I should mention that I really liked the cover, it really gives me the creeps, with the blood flowing from the roof, the windows like eyes, and is that a girl in the middle window? *shivers*
All in all a book that was a bit conflicting. It had good things, but also quite a few flaws/bad things. So I will give it 2.5 stars, rounded up to a 3 star.
Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/
jimmyjamesnickels's review
2.0
This book irritated me. It's Amityville fan fiction, and it's not particularly good fan fiction at that.
I recently read a criticism of fanfic which applies here. IIRC, this criticism was specifically directed toward the Fifty Shades of Grey series as well as the Mortal Instruments books, the authors of which are well known for their body of work starting off as fan fiction of other established works. The problem with turning fanfic into a "real" book is that fan fiction tends to lack in one very crucial element: World building. There's no need to introduce your reader to Hogwarts in your cool Fred/Draco fic because the reader already has the world established in their mind. Explaining the 'rules' and lore of the universe could actually take away from the fanfic, and it's easier/more fun for the fanfic writer to just build upon what's already there.
That's the problem with this book. The author assumes we already know the Amityville story and does absolutely no world building. And man...that's a bold move, considering the original Amityville Horror was published in 1979. Sure, to be fair there have been a ton of remakes since then and this book does pull pretty hard from the 2005 remake. Still, we're talking about an origin story 35 years old, and at best the world previously built is ten years old. Sure, there's a certain sense in making the assumption that everyone already knows the Amityville story because it's become somewhat legendary. But it's just not done well, but perhaps this Amityville fan fiction's reliance on 'source' material could have been forgiven if it had been a good story. It wasn't.
The book jumps between two perspectives, Gwen who is an ambiguously present day girl (further gripe on this in a moment) and Connor an ambiguously from ten years back boy who both lived in the house. Every once in awhile, we are given the perspective of the house herself, the titular Amity...never mind that Amittyville was the name of the town and if the house in fact had a name, it was "High Hopes". The stories go day by day as the families try to settle into their new home and it gets progressively scarier. In theory. In actuality, it's all pretty ho-hum and a little dull.
First off, I am starting to have zero patience with lazy authors unwilling to acknowledge that we live in a technological society. Sure, you want to keep your book ~timeless~...here's the thing, the average person has been using the internet and cell phones for over ten years now. It's a lazy cop out to act like we're still living in a pre-technological age UNLESS your story is set in that time. I wasn't sure if it was meant to imply that this was retelling of the original DeFeo murders, ergo set in the 60s/70s, or if we were in that murky 80s-90s era where cellphones and internet were uncommon in the average household.
Moving right along, the voice between the two characters was indistinguishable, occasionally making it difficult to tell which character was leading which chapter. Sure, one becomes ~evil~ about 200 pages in, but that makes for a long 200 pages of "Who the eff is narrating at me now?" It seemed pointless to even have two separate narrators if they were going to have what amounted to the same voice.
There's a call out on the cover of my book, comparing this work to Stephen King. The reason for this is because the author takes inspiration from or directly rips off specific iconic scenes from King's body of work such as. Again, keeping with the idea that this is fan fiction, it's bold. Pulling from and/or copying from one of the most famous and influential horror authors, and then having the cojones to put on the cover "Just like Stephen King!" ...the expression about how it's a thin line between brave and stupid definitely comes to mind.
The way I see it, anything compelling or interesting in this book was interesting or compelling the first time someone else did it. There's nothing new here. This ground has all been covered before. I personally don't give it the "Oh, it's just YA! You have to expect YA horror to be tepid!" because that same source material is readily available to people in high school. Who doesn't read Stephen King's early horror in high school?
What I found grudgingly appealing in this book was the author's writing style. It's very poetic, reminiscent of Ellen Hopkins' books. The author is very found of easy word play and alliteration. Sometimes it works, sometimes it's really irritating.
Taken altogether, this is boring fan fiction and that's it.
I recently read a criticism of fanfic which applies here. IIRC, this criticism was specifically directed toward the Fifty Shades of Grey series as well as the Mortal Instruments books, the authors of which are well known for their body of work starting off as fan fiction of other established works. The problem with turning fanfic into a "real" book is that fan fiction tends to lack in one very crucial element: World building. There's no need to introduce your reader to Hogwarts in your cool Fred/Draco fic because the reader already has the world established in their mind. Explaining the 'rules' and lore of the universe could actually take away from the fanfic, and it's easier/more fun for the fanfic writer to just build upon what's already there.
That's the problem with this book. The author assumes we already know the Amityville story and does absolutely no world building. And man...that's a bold move, considering the original Amityville Horror was published in 1979. Sure, to be fair there have been a ton of remakes since then and this book does pull pretty hard from the 2005 remake. Still, we're talking about an origin story 35 years old, and at best the world previously built is ten years old. Sure, there's a certain sense in making the assumption that everyone already knows the Amityville story because it's become somewhat legendary. But it's just not done well, but perhaps this Amityville fan fiction's reliance on 'source' material could have been forgiven if it had been a good story. It wasn't.
The book jumps between two perspectives, Gwen who is an ambiguously present day girl (further gripe on this in a moment) and Connor an ambiguously from ten years back boy who both lived in the house. Every once in awhile, we are given the perspective of the house herself, the titular Amity...never mind that Amittyville was the name of the town and if the house in fact had a name, it was "High Hopes". The stories go day by day as the families try to settle into their new home and it gets progressively scarier. In theory. In actuality, it's all pretty ho-hum and a little dull.
First off, I am starting to have zero patience with lazy authors unwilling to acknowledge that we live in a technological society. Sure, you want to keep your book ~timeless~...here's the thing, the average person has been using the internet and cell phones for over ten years now. It's a lazy cop out to act like we're still living in a pre-technological age UNLESS your story is set in that time. I wasn't sure if it was meant to imply that this was retelling of the original DeFeo murders, ergo set in the 60s/70s, or if we were in that murky 80s-90s era where cellphones and internet were uncommon in the average household.
Moving right along, the voice between the two characters was indistinguishable, occasionally making it difficult to tell which character was leading which chapter. Sure, one becomes ~evil~ about 200 pages in, but that makes for a long 200 pages of "Who the eff is narrating at me now?" It seemed pointless to even have two separate narrators if they were going to have what amounted to the same voice.
There's a call out on the cover of my book, comparing this work to Stephen King. The reason for this is because the author takes inspiration from or directly rips off specific iconic scenes from King's body of work such as
Spoiler
there is a ton inspired by Carrie, but specifically the rain of stones from Carrie and the bloody sink from It.The way I see it, anything compelling or interesting in this book was interesting or compelling the first time someone else did it. There's nothing new here. This ground has all been covered before. I personally don't give it the "Oh, it's just YA! You have to expect YA horror to be tepid!" because that same source material is readily available to people in high school. Who doesn't read Stephen King's early horror in high school?
What I found grudgingly appealing in this book was the author's writing style. It's very poetic, reminiscent of Ellen Hopkins' books. The author is very found of easy word play and alliteration. Sometimes it works, sometimes it's really irritating.
Taken altogether, this is boring fan fiction and that's it.
caitlinxreads's review
4.0
This novel is centered around two families. The Webb family lived in Amity (a super creepy house) ten years in the past. The Hall family lives in it currently. The POVs feature Connor Webb (who has serious mental issues, as in he is horrible and enjoys death and bloodshed and all of that) and Gwen Hall (a girl who may or may not manipulate particles when upset.
This was reminiscent of Stephen King in the fact that there was a pebble rain scene much like in Carrie. Also, the house reminded me slightly of Salem's Lot, but still quite different which was nice.
I pretty much flew through this book. I read it in 2 days. The novel is broken up into 5 parts, each part switches between Connor and Gwen's experiences living in Amity. The parts are broken down into days (similar to chapters). Then the story is broken down even more into scenes. Most scenes were only about a page, so I found myself tearing through the pages to get to the next one. There are many parallels throughout their stories that left me intrigued. About halfway through, I had already predicted what would happen in the end. But that's okay with me because getting to it was still disturbing.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel even though I was creeped out and appalled by Connor while reading it.
This was reminiscent of Stephen King in the fact that there was a pebble rain scene much like in Carrie. Also, the house reminded me slightly of Salem's Lot, but still quite different which was nice.
I pretty much flew through this book. I read it in 2 days. The novel is broken up into 5 parts, each part switches between Connor and Gwen's experiences living in Amity. The parts are broken down into days (similar to chapters). Then the story is broken down even more into scenes. Most scenes were only about a page, so I found myself tearing through the pages to get to the next one. There are many parallels throughout their stories that left me intrigued. About halfway through, I had already predicted what would happen in the end. But that's okay with me because getting to it was still disturbing.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel even though I was creeped out and appalled by Connor while reading it.
justlily's review
I have an extremely low tolerance for shitty teenage boys. DNF at 50 pages, fuck this kid lol
mellabella's review
3.0
So, OK. If you are looking fro scares and chills? Don't read this. If you are looking for slight creepy and a small bit of dread, then read on.
We alternate between Connor and Gwens pov's. They move into Amity with their families a decade apart. Amity is alive. It's run down and there is a verbal sense of foreboding, creepiness lingering. It takes a hold of Conor and then Gwens twin brother Luke. Slowly making them into the murderous demons that the house wants them to be.
I wish aunt Ro had taken Gwen and the dog away. I actually kept reading to see who would survive. What would happen. The last few chapters were easily the best for me.
It was a slow and not really tense build up for me. I had initially started this as an October Halloween read. It's now December and I picked it back up just to finish it.
2.5 stars
We alternate between Connor and Gwens pov's. They move into Amity with their families a decade apart. Amity is alive. It's run down and there is a verbal sense of foreboding, creepiness lingering. It takes a hold of Conor and then Gwens twin brother Luke. Slowly making them into the murderous demons that the house wants them to be.
I wish aunt Ro had taken Gwen and the dog away. I actually kept reading to see who would survive. What would happen. The last few chapters were easily the best for me.
It was a slow and not really tense build up for me. I had initially started this as an October Halloween read. It's now December and I picked it back up just to finish it.
2.5 stars
thepaperreels's review
3.0
YOU CAN ALSO READ MY REVIEW HERE.
I don't know why I haven't heard of this classic movie/novel called Amityille before (actually I know) but apparently, this is where the novel was based from. I haven't read it, and I honestly don't plan on reading it. (Unless, is it good?)
I really want to LOVE this The book wasn't bad. It's just, it's... slightly boring. Is boring bad? All I know is that it doesn't deserve a 2 or 1 star from ME.
Here's the gist. Two Families. 10 years gap. One house that somehow conects their story.
It's a past and present narration. Connor's POV in the past and Gwen's POV in present. And like I said, their stories are intertwined.
Look/read that blurb. Do you understand why I do not want to just ignore this book? Even though I'm not a big fan of Horror genre, I cannot miss that storyline. The first time I've read it, I was instantly intrigued and I just know that I have to read it. There were chapters where I got goosebumps. There was even some chapters where I have to stop because every darn noise in my environment is making me jump. I know, I know... I'M A SCAREDY CAT. The writing is unbelievably vivid. You want the bloody, gory details? You're gonna get that! You want to be inside a strange and slightly disturbed character? You're gonna get that as well. The author doesn't hold back when it comes to details.
The storyline really appealed to me and from the first few chapters, I was scared and excited. I was actually excited to be scared! Does that even make sense. Anyway, the first part were captivating. Creepy phonecalls and all that. Seeing people who were really not there and all that. And then, I don't know what happened, but it became dull. The author has this thing. She's doing little things that will get you excited for what will happen in the next chapter and then... and then... when you FINALLY get to that chapter where you will SCREAM...
flop.
meh.
Intriguing plotline and Creative writing, what's not to like? I'll tell you what. The characters. They're not annoying or frustrating or anything like that. Honestly, they are not anything at all. They're too... bland. Weak, if you ask me. Not powerful enough to keep me interested. I did not even connect, to any of them, even for a second. Like I mentioned above, they are kind of disturbing and strange but I don't know about you, but that is not an excuse. I'm actually a little strange too, so.. I wonder why. Maybe because I'm the good and adorable (lol, who's gonna compliment me but me) kind of strange.
Amity lacked... something. I didn't get the trembling and creepy read that I was expecting BUT I was enthralled at some parts. Amity may have boring characters and I may have struggled because of it, but the storytelling was a little spine chilling. If you're one of those people who LOVE scary and creepy stuff, maybe you should just hold off reading this. Because I'm pretty sure you'll just laugh at this. But if you're like me who get scared easily, like even your own shadow scares you, then have at it!
I don't know why I haven't heard of this classic movie/novel called Amityille before (actually I know) but apparently, this is where the novel was based from. I haven't read it, and I honestly don't plan on reading it. (Unless, is it good?)
I really want to LOVE this The book wasn't bad. It's just, it's... slightly boring. Is boring bad? All I know is that it doesn't deserve a 2 or 1 star from ME.
Here's the gist. Two Families. 10 years gap. One house that somehow conects their story.
It's a past and present narration. Connor's POV in the past and Gwen's POV in present. And like I said, their stories are intertwined.
Look/read that blurb. Do you understand why I do not want to just ignore this book? Even though I'm not a big fan of Horror genre, I cannot miss that storyline. The first time I've read it, I was instantly intrigued and I just know that I have to read it. There were chapters where I got goosebumps. There was even some chapters where I have to stop because every darn noise in my environment is making me jump. I know, I know... I'M A SCAREDY CAT. The writing is unbelievably vivid. You want the bloody, gory details? You're gonna get that! You want to be inside a strange and slightly disturbed character? You're gonna get that as well. The author doesn't hold back when it comes to details.
The storyline really appealed to me and from the first few chapters, I was scared and excited. I was actually excited to be scared! Does that even make sense. Anyway, the first part were captivating. Creepy phonecalls and all that. Seeing people who were really not there and all that. And then, I don't know what happened, but it became dull. The author has this thing. She's doing little things that will get you excited for what will happen in the next chapter and then... and then... when you FINALLY get to that chapter where you will SCREAM...
flop.
meh.
Intriguing plotline and Creative writing, what's not to like? I'll tell you what. The characters. They're not annoying or frustrating or anything like that. Honestly, they are not anything at all. They're too... bland. Weak, if you ask me. Not powerful enough to keep me interested. I did not even connect, to any of them, even for a second. Like I mentioned above, they are kind of disturbing and strange but I don't know about you, but that is not an excuse. I'm actually a little strange too, so.. I wonder why. Maybe because I'm the good and adorable (lol, who's gonna compliment me but me) kind of strange.
Amity lacked... something. I didn't get the trembling and creepy read that I was expecting BUT I was enthralled at some parts. Amity may have boring characters and I may have struggled because of it, but the storytelling was a little spine chilling. If you're one of those people who LOVE scary and creepy stuff, maybe you should just hold off reading this. Because I'm pretty sure you'll just laugh at this. But if you're like me who get scared easily, like even your own shadow scares you, then have at it!
megz88's review
5.0
glGood creepy read. Liked reading the point of view of people living in Amity. True or not it was awesome.