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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Dark Harvest is one of those books I had been meaning to get to for years. It always seemed like the perfect October read, so this autumn I took the plunge. I had no idea that I would be reading another stylized version of The Purge...
***SPOILERS***
Okay, so while this book did come out several years before the infamous film franchise, I'm willing to bet one inspired the other. The overall concept is that teenage boys go out hunting a mystical being called The October Boy every Halloween on a night called "The Run," what they don't realize is that The October Boy is the reanimated corpse of whoever won The Run the previous year. It's basically a way to appease the safety of the town (supposedly) but also get rid of kids the townsfolk don't like. So, small town purging with a bit of the supernatural thrown in.
But the rules of The Run are where this book loses me. Apparently no one is ever allowed to actually leave the town unless they win The Run (but obviously even the winners can't leave). Girls aren't supposed to participate, and when they do they have the crap beaten out of them. Oh, and let's give teenagers weapons and no enforcement for a full night out and hope everything ends well. The saddest (and most unrealistic) part of The Run is that all of the parents are knowingly letting this happen. And then if their son loses, his parents are forced to kill him so that he can turn into the next October Boy. So right there, there are a lot of common sense plot problems that really grinded my gears, but I would have looked beyond that initially since I did like the concept of The October Boy.
However, it was the actual writing style that put the last few nails in the coffin for this one. The perspective of this story makes absolutely no sense. I have no idea who the narrator is. He seems to be a prior October Boy, but all the previous ones were murdered, so I'm completely unsure of how that would work. The book is also constantly changing from third person to second person, sometimes making me think I am supposed to be the narrator of the story. (Now I'm even more confused.) I left this book with so many unanswered questions about a town with a hidden secret and some deep rooted lore, but the book only barely scratched the surface to explain exactly what was going on. Maybe it was implied somewhere between the lines, but I wasn't able to dissect it. It would have been nice to understand what and why things were happening instead of being forced to read as a narrator who supposedly has an in-depth internal knowledge of everting going on, and therefore doesn't need to explain anything.
I gave this book three stars for pre-Purge originality, but only three because I have absolutely no idea what any of the logistics of this plot were actually supposed to mean or lead me to think about. That being said, if this does get turned into some kind of cheesy Blumhouse movie, I'll probably watch it...once.
***SPOILERS***
Okay, so while this book did come out several years before the infamous film franchise, I'm willing to bet one inspired the other. The overall concept is that teenage boys go out hunting a mystical being called The October Boy every Halloween on a night called "The Run," what they don't realize is that The October Boy is the reanimated corpse of whoever won The Run the previous year. It's basically a way to appease the safety of the town (supposedly) but also get rid of kids the townsfolk don't like. So, small town purging with a bit of the supernatural thrown in.
But the rules of The Run are where this book loses me. Apparently no one is ever allowed to actually leave the town unless they win The Run (but obviously even the winners can't leave). Girls aren't supposed to participate, and when they do they have the crap beaten out of them. Oh, and let's give teenagers weapons and no enforcement for a full night out and hope everything ends well. The saddest (and most unrealistic) part of The Run is that all of the parents are knowingly letting this happen. And then if their son loses, his parents are forced to kill him so that he can turn into the next October Boy. So right there, there are a lot of common sense plot problems that really grinded my gears, but I would have looked beyond that initially since I did like the concept of The October Boy.
However, it was the actual writing style that put the last few nails in the coffin for this one. The perspective of this story makes absolutely no sense. I have no idea who the narrator is. He seems to be a prior October Boy, but all the previous ones were murdered, so I'm completely unsure of how that would work. The book is also constantly changing from third person to second person, sometimes making me think I am supposed to be the narrator of the story. (Now I'm even more confused.) I left this book with so many unanswered questions about a town with a hidden secret and some deep rooted lore, but the book only barely scratched the surface to explain exactly what was going on. Maybe it was implied somewhere between the lines, but I wasn't able to dissect it. It would have been nice to understand what and why things were happening instead of being forced to read as a narrator who supposedly has an in-depth internal knowledge of everting going on, and therefore doesn't need to explain anything.
I gave this book three stars for pre-Purge originality, but only three because I have absolutely no idea what any of the logistics of this plot were actually supposed to mean or lead me to think about. That being said, if this does get turned into some kind of cheesy Blumhouse movie, I'll probably watch it...once.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Jolly good little book!
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Pretty good. I enjoyed the read. Would have liked it more if some of the plot points had been answered instead of being left as unknowns. Nonetheless, it's a fun short read for spooky season.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot