blackcatkai's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-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
4.0
potentially a full RTC~ but I do want to note some specific CWs that bugged me which is why this is a 4☆ and not a 5☆ read:
ableism, fatphobia, depictions/phrases that feel at least a smidge racist. these were just a bit too constant throughout and I wish they weren't. otherwise, just wow. I loved this, I was hooked.
I don't hate religious leaning horror at all, honestly, despite being non-religious and critical of Christianity (especially evangelicalism/fundamentalist sects) myself. though that aspect of this story will absolutely not be for everyone so im not surprised some people aren't liking it for that aspect.
ableism, fatphobia, depictions/phrases that feel at least a smidge racist. these were just a bit too constant throughout and I wish they weren't. otherwise, just wow. I loved this, I was hooked.
I don't hate religious leaning horror at all, honestly, despite being non-religious and critical of Christianity (especially evangelicalism/fundamentalist sects) myself. though that aspect of this story will absolutely not be for everyone so im not surprised some people aren't liking it for that aspect.
mims_is_reading's review against another edition
4.0
I expected a creepy horror story, but this... It was very different from anything I've ever read. I didn't give it five stars bcs I think it was too slow paced at times (especially in the middle) and it was kind of all over the place, so my focus took a hit. However, it is a great book and I do recommend it, but maybe not to horror junkies per se. If you are into grimdark or dark fantasy definitely give it a go.
constantcatreader's review
5.0
Where to even begin? This book was a roller coaster of CONSTANT ACTION! I was exhausted after reading this one. It is a LOOONNNGGG read with a lot of details, but I feel like it was worth it all!
I love this book because it connects so much with Christianity and our battle against Satan. It really stresses how manipulative and evil Satan truly is and how he will do anything to turn the tables and make us think God doesn’t love us. The author does a great job of connecting the story to the Bible. Just look at the names of the characters David and Christopher: they symbolize King David and Christ. The tree in the clearing where the tree house is built represents the tree of knowledge. There are other references, but I don’t want to spoil anything.
The characters were very well fleshed out. I fell in love with Kate, Christopher and his friends, Ambrose, the sherif, and even Mary Katherine. The author did a great job of building up backstories and showing us just what each character was thinking and feeling. Kate and her son Christopher are such pure characters, you can’t help but love them, cry, and root for them every step along the way. Christopher loves his mom and tries to always do what’s best for those around him. His mother is a BAD ASS, who fights for her son constantly. Then, we have Ambrose who is a grouchy, but honest old man who just wants to find peace in the death of his brother, David. We also have the sheriff who is kind and protecting, yet angry at God because he doesn’t understand death. I also like Mary Katherine who is worried that God won’t love her if she isn’t perfect. All of these characters are so realistic and breathe such life into the story.
The story itself is detailed with Chbosky’s beautiful writing. He uses figurative language and sensory details to really bring the story to life. He creates a strong mood with the voices of the devil speaking to everyone in town and manipulating them to think evil thoughts about themselves, others, and God himself. He also convinced them to do evil things. The book is flat out creepy, gruesome, and scary throughout the entire run of the book. I laughed, cried, and gasped while reading this book. All the emotions are there and it’s so hard to put it down. Chbosky does a nice job of writing in small bursts where many of the endings of the chapters leave you wanting more. Many last sentences of chapters leave you with that suspenseful, tingling feeling of super creeped out vibes.
There are so many lessons to be learned through this amazing adventure of good v evil. The big theme would be to love others and forgive everyone, no matter what. Satan does a nice job of taking bad events and making us want to blame it all on God. The devil does a great job of twisting words and stories, and making the truth seem like death when in reality, the light destroys the darkness.
Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:
“You cannot fail...it was his promise. He looked at his mother and thought, I will protect you.”
“She said that the world can try to take anything from you. But you have to give it your pride.”
“What if they were all alone? And there were no stars except the sun? And what would happen if the sun burned out? And our shooting star could be seen millions of years from now? By a little boy with his friends building a tree house. And eating cold Oreo cookies or whatever it was the people out in the universe ate. Do all stars and souls go to the same place in the end?”
“We can swallow our fear or let our fear swallow us.”
“The nice man was in a grey suit. He looked flawless. Not a mark on his skin. Not a scar on his body. He smiled a kind smile, his teeth perfectly intact. He wore a bow tie. And he had green eyes—sometimes.”
“Adults are bad at remembering how powerful they can be because somewhere along the line, they were shamed for their imagination.”
“God loves everyone, so you can’t be God. You’re the devil.”
“And I’m not the Virgin Mary...I’m Job.”
“I’m not afraid anymore because heaven and hell are not destinations. They are decisions.”
“She felt at peace because she would believe in Him for the rest of her life. Not out of fear. But out of love. Mary Katherine was free.”
“They were holding themselves. The mailbox people weren’t the nice man’s soldiers. They were his slaves.”
“They were inside the valley of the shadow of death, but the valley was not a place outside of them. It was inside. The valley is us.”
“God is not a murderer, daddy.”
“She felt the world’s madness. The evil that made God cry at night.”
“The power of God was love. ‘I forgive you,’ he repeated.”
“It doesn’t take violence to kill evil. It takes good.”
“He wasn’t a God. He was a coward.”
I love this book because it connects so much with Christianity and our battle against Satan. It really stresses how manipulative and evil Satan truly is and how he will do anything to turn the tables and make us think God doesn’t love us. The author does a great job of connecting the story to the Bible. Just look at the names of the characters David and Christopher: they symbolize King David and Christ. The tree in the clearing where the tree house is built represents the tree of knowledge. There are other references, but I don’t want to spoil anything.
The characters were very well fleshed out. I fell in love with Kate, Christopher and his friends, Ambrose, the sherif, and even Mary Katherine. The author did a great job of building up backstories and showing us just what each character was thinking and feeling. Kate and her son Christopher are such pure characters, you can’t help but love them, cry, and root for them every step along the way. Christopher loves his mom and tries to always do what’s best for those around him. His mother is a BAD ASS, who fights for her son constantly. Then, we have Ambrose who is a grouchy, but honest old man who just wants to find peace in the death of his brother, David. We also have the sheriff who is kind and protecting, yet angry at God because he doesn’t understand death. I also like Mary Katherine who is worried that God won’t love her if she isn’t perfect. All of these characters are so realistic and breathe such life into the story.
The story itself is detailed with Chbosky’s beautiful writing. He uses figurative language and sensory details to really bring the story to life. He creates a strong mood with the voices of the devil speaking to everyone in town and manipulating them to think evil thoughts about themselves, others, and God himself. He also convinced them to do evil things. The book is flat out creepy, gruesome, and scary throughout the entire run of the book. I laughed, cried, and gasped while reading this book. All the emotions are there and it’s so hard to put it down. Chbosky does a nice job of writing in small bursts where many of the endings of the chapters leave you wanting more. Many last sentences of chapters leave you with that suspenseful, tingling feeling of super creeped out vibes.
There are so many lessons to be learned through this amazing adventure of good v evil. The big theme would be to love others and forgive everyone, no matter what. Satan does a nice job of taking bad events and making us want to blame it all on God. The devil does a great job of twisting words and stories, and making the truth seem like death when in reality, the light destroys the darkness.
Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:
“You cannot fail...it was his promise. He looked at his mother and thought, I will protect you.”
“She said that the world can try to take anything from you. But you have to give it your pride.”
“What if they were all alone? And there were no stars except the sun? And what would happen if the sun burned out? And our shooting star could be seen millions of years from now? By a little boy with his friends building a tree house. And eating cold Oreo cookies or whatever it was the people out in the universe ate. Do all stars and souls go to the same place in the end?”
“We can swallow our fear or let our fear swallow us.”
“The nice man was in a grey suit. He looked flawless. Not a mark on his skin. Not a scar on his body. He smiled a kind smile, his teeth perfectly intact. He wore a bow tie. And he had green eyes—sometimes.”
“Adults are bad at remembering how powerful they can be because somewhere along the line, they were shamed for their imagination.”
“God loves everyone, so you can’t be God. You’re the devil.”
“And I’m not the Virgin Mary...I’m Job.”
“I’m not afraid anymore because heaven and hell are not destinations. They are decisions.”
“She felt at peace because she would believe in Him for the rest of her life. Not out of fear. But out of love. Mary Katherine was free.”
“They were holding themselves. The mailbox people weren’t the nice man’s soldiers. They were his slaves.”
“They were inside the valley of the shadow of death, but the valley was not a place outside of them. It was inside. The valley is us.”
“God is not a murderer, daddy.”
“She felt the world’s madness. The evil that made God cry at night.”
“The power of God was love. ‘I forgive you,’ he repeated.”
“It doesn’t take violence to kill evil. It takes good.”
“He wasn’t a God. He was a coward.”
gingerspooks's review
The Christian undertones with the imaginary friend made me disinterested and the book was way too long.
amyisabookworm's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
wendyt's review against another edition
1.0
Pffff.
This was a slog. Halfway through I already detested it, but then you are already 300+ pages in and the sunk cost fallacy is real.
The children are supposed to be 7 to 8 years old but read as teenagers. I understand that they were given a gift, but even before that all of them read older than they are. The characters are flat. I did not care much. But the thing that killed this book for me was all the white noise. Pages upon pages of repetition, running and fighting and going into the light and out of the light, into the treehouse and out of it, sewing pples eyes shut and snipping the sutures … and SO MANY FREAKING DEER … make it stop.
The plot or message gets completely lost in the plethora of unnecessary words. Also, the rules of the worldbuilding are so convoluted that nothing really makes sense. Why are there deer? Why are the mailbox people called mailbox people? What’s with the key buried in throats? Why can’t a certain character walk on the road? It’s fine to create a fantasy world, but if there isn’t at least some semblance of rules to adhere to, to make things make sense, then you throw suspension of disbelief out of the window.
Also, sometimes there are seemless crossovers from one pov into another. It feels as if you go from third person limited to omniscient narrator to yet another third person limited and back again, which is confusing. At times it’s difficult to gather from which point of view the narrative is being told. This book desperately needs a ruthless editor. Stat. Cut out at least a quarter, if not more.
I hated it. I put Audible on 1,5 speed somewhere at the 70% mark to blast through it. It read as a modern crossover between IT, The Stand and Needful Things with a blatantly obvious religious message poured over it … gone wrong. Do not recommend.
This was a slog. Halfway through I already detested it, but then you are already 300+ pages in and the sunk cost fallacy is real.
The children are supposed to be 7 to 8 years old but read as teenagers. I understand that they were given a gift, but even before that all of them read older than they are. The characters are flat. I did not care much. But the thing that killed this book for me was all the white noise. Pages upon pages of repetition, running and fighting and going into the light and out of the light, into the treehouse and out of it, sewing pples eyes shut and snipping the sutures … and SO MANY FREAKING DEER … make it stop.
The plot or message gets completely lost in the plethora of unnecessary words. Also, the rules of the worldbuilding are so convoluted that nothing really makes sense. Why are there deer? Why are the mailbox people called mailbox people? What’s with the key buried in throats? Why can’t a certain character walk on the road? It’s fine to create a fantasy world, but if there isn’t at least some semblance of rules to adhere to, to make things make sense, then you throw suspension of disbelief out of the window.
Also, sometimes there are seemless crossovers from one pov into another. It feels as if you go from third person limited to omniscient narrator to yet another third person limited and back again, which is confusing. At times it’s difficult to gather from which point of view the narrative is being told. This book desperately needs a ruthless editor. Stat. Cut out at least a quarter, if not more.
I hated it. I put Audible on 1,5 speed somewhere at the 70% mark to blast through it. It read as a modern crossover between IT, The Stand and Needful Things with a blatantly obvious religious message poured over it … gone wrong. Do not recommend.
megbontrag's review
2.0
If you loved Perks of Being a Wallflower this is NOTHING like it. It’s horrific and graphic and over the top with nasty imagery and ideas. It’s one shock factor moment after another and there are about 30 climaxes and it is so stressful for the entire second half. If you love horror then be my guest.
I don’t mean to rag on a book just because I don’t like the genre but the writing style is also so obnoxious. A paragraph will build up then he will start a new line with be the shocking reveal, written in an incomplete sentence usually. And towards the end one character spEaks EntirErly LikE thiS and iT is sO exhaustinG and annoYinG.
The last quarter of the book just drags on and on and on and the same thing keeps happening over and over and over and there are many almost there, no way out, end of it all moments, one after the other. I just ended up skimming and skipping entire paragraphs just to get it over with.
I don’t mean to rag on a book just because I don’t like the genre but the writing style is also so obnoxious. A paragraph will build up then he will start a new line with be the shocking reveal, written in an incomplete sentence usually. And towards the end one character spEaks EntirErly LikE thiS and iT is sO exhaustinG and annoYinG.
The last quarter of the book just drags on and on and on and the same thing keeps happening over and over and over and there are many almost there, no way out, end of it all moments, one after the other. I just ended up skimming and skipping entire paragraphs just to get it over with.
jessileemiller's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
thauge's review
dark
sad
tense
3.75
I enjoyed aspects of this, and I was engaged for a good part of it, but it was entirely too long and became too abstract and allegorical in the latter half, for my tastes.
moozyxox's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0