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jcalprlnt's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
sjwhi's review
5.0
Oh man, I am so happy and I have the biggest book hangover because holy moly, what a story. Writer goals, you guys. This story is everything. Characters, plot, twists, the ending!! I'm so happy *heart eyes*. I am so in love with this book, I was flying through it and had to take a three hour break in the middle to recover from all the emotion. This is one of my favourite reads. Yay YA!
babyleo's review
4.0
I loved this book. I love how Ferris can make the simplest real life things turn into something creepy and unsettling. I love that she highlights these real life disturbing situations and turns them into something worthy of a horror story. My favourite thing is that with all the monsters invented over history, 'it's just people' is often the scariest thing out there and Ferris knows how to bring these hidden real life monsters out from the shadows.
This is of course helped by having a character like Black. Her voice, her manner, her personality is perfect for this story, the right mix of everything. She isn't a snob or some wild, social outcast who shuns people and they dislike her because she rebels. She has built a wall around herself to protect herself after life continues to torment her. I think Black is to be commended for her strength and the fact that she doesn't let it change who she is, the fact her defences are there for her own sanity, is something I commend.
Ferris is always wonderful at creating strong family dynamics, and like Risk before, Black has a wonderful mother/daughter relationship. It was one I enjoyed seeing, the realistic love and protection and fierceness in both of them made them come to life. It wasn't just two characters on a page that happened to be related, Ferris highlights their relationship well making them complex and genuine and they could easily be real people.
I loved the creepy nature of this story, Ferris makes it so vivid; I was there with Black with the uncertainty and the fear. I was drawn into the story by the subtleness and how the evil sneaks up on you, how the peculiarities of people suddenly snap and chaos unfolds. The tension and heightened emotion works well and Ferris paces it perfectly and makes you wait and wonder, and makes you wonder what will happen and marvel at the fact it is happening at all.
This review was also published on my blog http://wp.me/p3x8rS-1nE
This is of course helped by having a character like Black. Her voice, her manner, her personality is perfect for this story, the right mix of everything. She isn't a snob or some wild, social outcast who shuns people and they dislike her because she rebels. She has built a wall around herself to protect herself after life continues to torment her. I think Black is to be commended for her strength and the fact that she doesn't let it change who she is, the fact her defences are there for her own sanity, is something I commend.
Ferris is always wonderful at creating strong family dynamics, and like Risk before, Black has a wonderful mother/daughter relationship. It was one I enjoyed seeing, the realistic love and protection and fierceness in both of them made them come to life. It wasn't just two characters on a page that happened to be related, Ferris highlights their relationship well making them complex and genuine and they could easily be real people.
I loved the creepy nature of this story, Ferris makes it so vivid; I was there with Black with the uncertainty and the fear. I was drawn into the story by the subtleness and how the evil sneaks up on you, how the peculiarities of people suddenly snap and chaos unfolds. The tension and heightened emotion works well and Ferris paces it perfectly and makes you wait and wonder, and makes you wonder what will happen and marvel at the fact it is happening at all.
This review was also published on my blog http://wp.me/p3x8rS-1nE
samanthalee_'s review
3.0
I really wanted to love this book. I'm a huge fan of the thriller/mystery genre and expected great things from this book - but it just didn't meet the mark for me. I finished it in about a day and it held my interest along the way for the most part, but started to make me laugh by the end. I won't go into detail because I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but I just feel like it could have gone deeper than what it did. There was such potential, but it fell short upon execution. There were slight twists along the way, but they were all predicable. Things just felt rushed and the ideas weren't solid enough in the end. I wanted for this book to get under my skin and keep me up at night, but it did neither.
fr1dge's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
ksturgess's review
4.0
When I started this book, I genuinely thought it was set in the USA; a bleak, backwater town with isolated families, a scary fundamentalist church with entirely too much influence on the community and a young woman attempting to navigate her final schooling year after losing her friends in tragic circumstances. I was reminded of The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and Robin Klein's Careful They Might Hear you at points, and the implied science vs religion message was intriguing. Despite continuing to feel that this was either edited by / aimed at a US market, it's an arresting read. Great as YA teen read for young women.
readingbunny_'s review
5.0
Loved this book, couldn't put it down. On one hand I couldn't stop reading because I was enjoying it so much and on the other I wanted to savour it and make it last longer!
roxyc's review
5.0
Perfectly dark, perfectly wonderful. Loved every word. Fleur created a compelling tale with some intriguing characters that had me hooked from the first moment until the very last word. Wonderfully crafted with an engaging plot and well paced throughout. I'll definitely be looking out for more from this author.