Reviews

Stolen Tongues by Felix Blackwell

xeita's review

2.0

Firstly, my positive remark is the beginning part with the Carrot ordeal was awesome and made my skin crawl. Unfortunately, the story continued after.

Premise, awesome. Ending, so unbelievably disappointing. The amount of loose ends makes the story feel like it was written on a whim. The dreamcatcher situation turned out to be nothing and was dragged on for almost the entire story. The stolen wedding ring had no purpose for the plot, even after being found it was like "Oh, ok I have it now"...

The First Nations people served no purpose other than repeating how they have no clue how to help, then dying to scare our main characters.

This relentless, murderous monster who skins and mimics its victims seems to have no mercy. Unless you're Faye who just can't remember she almost had a brother. For some reason, this horrible creature is so interested by this (can't relate) that it spares her for some reason. And once she remembers she almost had a brother, she wants the monster to leave her alone now and ... well ... it just does. Just like that.

I thought it was going to reveal that her unborn brother was tied to this creature somehow, or became part of it somehow... But nope. Just a crazy murderous demon who really wants to make Faye relive something crappy for no reason, because he feels like it. It's like it cares about the whole brother thing, which is entirely out of character. The brother thing came completely out of nowhere. It didn't circle back around to make everything tie together, it was just totally random and so I didn't have any feelings towards it.

She remembers her almost-brother, has an OTT reaction and complete mental breakdown and then the monster dusts himself off like his job is done here. This *monster* cared way more about what Faye was feeling than I did.

A story sprinkled with stupid here and there only to end in a stupid-bomb. I was so excited to read this, too.

niknewx's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

momboy's review against another edition

Very boring and felt like story was going in circles 

hauntedhexgirll's review against another edition

4.0

As a life long horror fan I was so very pleased with this book, the characters felt real and flawed in the right ways. No one had all the right answers, no one had a magical fix, and this book was straight up terrifying to me. The types of creatures discussed in this book is one of my biggest fears ever so it’s kind of specific to me on why I found this so scary, but I think others will find it scary as well. I liked the callback to the prologue in the end and how it mimicked something silly but scary that happened to them in a really dangerous terrifying way. I couldn’t give the book five stars because the ending felt a little lackluster and so did the twist of what five meant, I was a bit disappointed. I also didn’t love that both main Native characters died, it felt like it fell into the horror trope of - if you’re not white, you won’t survive. I think Nathan should’ve lived, his father’s death made more sense at least. Overall this book was terrifying, entertaining, fast paced, and kept me wanting more which is everything I want a horror book to do. I loved it

ashleyajames's review

4.0

4 ⭐️ This book exceeded my expectations in a lot of ways, for sure. Interesting plot, fast paced, smart, and well written. Oh, yeah, and creepy! I feel a little weird calling a book named Stolen Tongues a “fun read”, but it was - I really enjoyed reading this book, even when it made me nervous. This book is kind of what I call a “no nonsense” type book. There isn’t a lot of “filler and fluff” or unnecessary information, which is great for me. It’s well written, without being overly wordy. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes filler and fluff is great, but in this case I think it would have taken away from the story and made the pacing different, so I’m glad for the straightforwardness. The only reason I didn’t rate it a little higher was because I didn’t find it as scary as I wanted it to be. It should be noted that this could be a character defect of my own, rather than any kind of issue with the book, bc I’ve never been truly scared by a book. I’m still looking for the book that will give me nightmares and make me want to get the book out of my house (as I’ve seen some people say about this book and others),but maybe my brain just doesn’t do that. Lol.

jkbjem's review

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

carrimeraviridae's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

An acquaintance mentioned this novel to me, and I was ecstatic when I learned that this was an expanded story from r/nosleep. There are countless creative stories in that subreddit. I can't remember if I have already read the reddit version of this story.

All in all, the plot was straight to the point, and we were immediately placed in the main event. I kept asking myself, "What now?" or "What's about to happen?" This is such a page turner.

kyliesh's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Truly one of the most perfect horror novels I’ve ever read. One of very few books to ever have me terrified to read at night (and to scare me during the day). I rarely say this but I would love to see this done as a film someday. It was brilliant, shocking, and beyond scary.

khall909's review

4.0

This was not as scary as I’d hoped it would be, but it was definitely creepy and still probably the scariest book I’ve read. Maybe if I had read it at night I would’ve been more scared. Either way, I really enjoyed the story and the atmosphere. I appreciated the author acknowledging the controversy and his attempt to write native characters and lore in a respectful way. This would have been 5 stars but it felt a little repetitive at times and I wish there was more build up of dread and intensity. If you want to read something that is basically creepy throughout the whole book, this is a good one. I would definitely recommend reading-especially near Halloween.

joleann's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25