Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - This Wretched Valley

Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer

9 reviews

woodsybookworm's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

This book felt like I was reading an episode of Tales From The Crypt!

I'm not usually a fan of a book that's opening chapter gives away the ending. How are we supposed to get invested in a story when we already know the dates of the main characters? But I stuck with it and wow did this book deliver!

It's too bad this book is probably a standalone because I was left with a lot of unanswered questions but I still found it to be an enjoyable read overall.

Content Warnings

chainsawheartbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I’m never going hiking in the wilderness again! ⛰️

That was something else. Truly. I don’t think any words I can come up with would be able to describe the horror I felt reading some of that, and the utter fear I felt for the characters.

I’m going to be completely honest and say that I didn’t like Dylan at the start; I thought she was so well-written and felt so real that I genuinely didn’t care for her, especially when she was so dismissive to Luke (and yes I’m aware that the valley probably had a big part to do with that), but she made me angry.
Yet, by the end, I was routing for her.

There were moments when I forgot I wasn’t in the Kentucky wilderness, and I honestly gripped this book as hard as Dylan gripped that rock face.

I can’t wait to read the next thing Jenny Kiefer releases cause damn!

Content Warnings

birdieex's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I'm not a rock climber by any means, so this wasn't a book I could relate to in that way, but I still enjoyed it, even when the lingo flew over my head.

The spook factor deserves 2 stars at least. I'm a sucker for spooky places where people go and don't return or return absolutely traumatized. A trope I can never get enough of, even when we never figure out the mystery to why the environment is hostile. It's just that sense of danger and mystery!

The detail was absolutely engrossing. The description of the environment was gorgeous. The horror was written in a way that made me physically recoil and look away from the book in some cases. (Bugs! Bugs get me!) Every line about the forest was chilling.

I liked the opening telling us immediately that our characters die because it gave the whole journey a sense of dread. As I read, I was constantly attempting to pick up pieces of the puzzle and put it together. I'm also fond of sweary narration, especially if it showcases character personality, so the beginning was amusing to me.
(Examples:

The very first line of this book is "Fucking finally". It adds spice to the character thoughts if they swear and you're adding that to your normal narration.
"He'd only managed to become a slightly above-average climber, never having the skills or luck to climb the hard shit-"
"So he'd spend the fall inside this cramped, cold-as-fuck, single-engine plane,"

I think you get the idea. It isn't overdone, but it's nicely peppered in there.)

However, as much as I enjoyed all of those elements, there are cons.

One petty thing that nagged me was when Sylvia, who had a basic medical background, when assessing an ankle and wrist injury said it was "likely fractured, if not broken." Those are synonymous. Though, I'm putting that down to the fact her medical experience was limited to "an emergency first aid course" as she said.

Also why was Dylan's the only phone to get signal? Maybe I missed it, but it was like she was chosen. Is this simply because she was

final girl?

Possibly.

Not a con, but a spoiler alert for the dog living or dying for those who need to know before going in:

We are led to believe at first that the dog, Slade, is dead, but eventually is revealed to be alive.

Overall, thoroughly enjoyed the fear factor in this book!

Content Warnings

wyntrrose's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I so felt The Ruins and The Descent movies in this book. Others have mentioned The Blair Witch as well but for me I didn't see it as much. This is book follows 4 friends. The main person Clay Foster who is doing this for his graduate, his fellow classmate Sylvia Burnett who is a graduate of native plants and geology, his good friend and rock climbing friend Dylan Prescott who just signed her first climbing deal with a company. Her boyfriend and climbing partner Luke Woodhaven and his dog Slade. The first chapter does go into descriptive details on everybody's body that was found. Missing though is Dylan and the dog Slade. Great gorey and supernatural story that'll keep you on your toes.

Content Warnings

beersbooksandbooos's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I have to say that I picked up the book because of the cover before even reading the synopsis. Once I read the synopsis I knew this was a book for me. Dyatlov Pass has always fascinated me and all the lore that surrounds it. I read some of the reviews as I read the book and I do agree with them saying they were getting The Ruins and As Above So Below vides. I enjoyed most of the book, then it took a turn in the last quarter. That was when it lost me and I got a little bored that it didn't feel like picking it back up. I felt a little cheated out of a better ending and it also felt a little rushed. This is Jenny Kiefer's debut novel and I can see her writing going up from here. I will pick up her other books if/when she writes them.

Content Warnings

randiofborg's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

2.5

I picked up this novel based on a random recommendation. I wasn't surprised to learn it was the author's debut—the hook is interesting if flimsy, and the writing was occasionally clumsy. Every human in the novel, and a couple of objects, all "pitch forward" at some point.

The premise: four young adults (Clay, Sylvia, Luke, and Dylan) go to a newly discovered rock wall in the wilderness of Kentucky. Clay had discovered the wall using LiDAR technology. He is writing his dissertation on geology and LiDAR, and believes he can create a method to discover new locations for climbing and hiking tourism. He enlists the help of Sylvia, another PhD student, as well as Dylan, a up-and-coming climbing influencer, and Luke, Dylan's boyfriend and belayer. Joining the gang is Luke's dog, Slade. Spoiler: Slade is the smartest of them.

The group hikes to the newly discovered rockface so Dylan can climb it and they can determine whether it would make a good tourist spot. Everything quickly goes south. Sylvia, the group's botanist, notices that the foliage in the area is largely poisonous, and some of the plants are non-native to Kentucky (she also mis-describes a fungus as a plant, but whatever). Luke notices Slade is panicked during their hike to the rock face, and Clay seems immediately out of it. Dylan also finds herself drawn to taking risks while climbing, which she initially attributes to her desire to impress her new corporate sponsor.

The plot meanders from there. Tragedy befalls the group quickly, with Slade disappearing and Luke ending up grievously injured. Clay begins to lose his mind, while Sylvia and Dylan care of Luke. I found myself struggling to get through much of the "scary" material. The author, Jenny Keifer, is comfortable describing gore, which I know many readers enjoy, but I found it was underwhelming without a threat I was personally frightened of. There is a supernatural presence in the novel that I found underdeveloped, but some readers may enjoy. The first chapter makes it clear who will survive and who won't, and while it was an interesting narrative choice, I think it undercut Keifer's use of gore. The idea of a character being stalked isn't scary when the reader knows that character is dead already.

What I like about this novel: there are consistent themes about what we owe nature v. what nature owes us. A driving point of the novel seems to be we can care about the outdoors, but Mother Nature isn't kind. Keifer also makes clever use of the common hiking/camping wisdom "take only pictures and leave only footprints." Dylan, who emerges as the protagonist, has moments of success where she achieves something great while knowing she'll never be acknowledged for it—a pain many women know.

I also appreciated this about Dylan:

Dylan is the only person whose body isn't discovered in the first chapter, which takes place a few months after the events of the rest of the novel. A few times, it's suggested she may be the Final Girl. Her full name is Dylan Prescott, reminiscent of famous Final Girl from the Scream franchise, Sydney Prescott. But Dylan doesn't make it. Her only success is she dies on her terms instead of on the terms of the monsters who are stalking her and her friends. It was a nice inversion of expectations.

I would recommend this novel to some of my friends who climb, and I'll definitely keep an eye on the author's future work.

Oh, and about the dog:

the dog lives, because he's the only one who is smart enough to run away when he's scared.

Content Warnings

celina246's review

Go to review page

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.25

so this book was disgusting, very much gore and horror (not a bad thing if you're a lover of that!). It read to me like a teen scream, but there wasn’t any…satisfaction? the author was really great with description (as awful as the things she was describing were), but almost all of the characters were unlikeable and the general backstory was eh. the end was pretty disappointing to me. idk I feel like it had potential, but it lacked anything really special.

I almost wish we didn’t know what happened to them in the beginning, because it made Dylan’s end kind of anticlimactic

Content Warnings

holly_pop's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Set in Rockcastle County, KY, this story of climbers who have scaled routes in Red River Gorge and PhD candidates from the University of Kentucky really appealed to me as a lifelong Kentuckian who has spent time hiking (not a climber!) in the area. It was fun to see references to the Gorge and Muir Valley, and to Miguel's and their delicious pizza. Even the dog's name (Slade) is a local reference. But you don't have to be a local to appreciate this book, which is filled with a pervasive sense of dread that escalates into terror and madness. I think humans as a species have an innate fear of the forest, no matter how much many of us might enjoy a fun camping trip or other outdoor recreation in the woods. Who knows what is really lurking among the trees? Who knows what is waiting for us in that dark and bloody ground? This Wretched Valley provides plenty of spine-tingling possibilities.

Content Warnings

ryreadsreviews's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Title: This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer

Publication Date- 01/16/24
Publisher- Quirk Books
Overall Rating- 5 out of 5 stars

This Wretched Valley was my choice for episode 5 of season 2 of my booktube series titled “what the bleep did I just read.” This was the most fitting book I have chosen to date. What an effed up book in all the right ways. This book pushed me out of my comfort zone and though at times I thought I was going to puke I loved every second of it (I think that says something about me and my entry into horror). I recommend anyone coming into this check out the triggers because there are quite a few and some that people may change their minds about reading. With that being said, my biggest trigger was in here and I managed it fine. Though I did find myself reading those parts quicker to get through it, I never felt that I needed to put the book down.

I really enjoyed the way this book wove in elements of the land and it’s past. I also described this as “dizzying,” at times I wasn’t sure which way was up. I can’t really expand on that element without going into spoiler territory but if you read it you will see what I mean.

Let’s move into some things I made note of. The body horror is no joke, at least for someone who is newish in the horror genre. I used to be an EMT and still found myself ready to puke and I LOVED IT. I would say I read 60 percent of this story with my hand covering my mouth. A plot device I am learning that I really enjoy is going into a story knowing some or all characters are dead then going back in time, getting to know them and their parts in the story knowing all along they are going to die. This Wretched Valley nails this element.

I think the only people who may end up disappointed could be those who read the description and think this will be more in the vein of a true crime/ thriller story.

Solid horror, loved it, will read from the author again. Thanks Jenny, for building my tolerance to body horror and effed up scenes. I loved it.

Content Warnings

More...