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2.72 AVERAGE
2.72 AVERAGE
Concept is super cool and I enjoyed parts of the writing. Unfortunate flop about this book, though, is that every single character is so mf annoying and insufferable.. if we had like 1 likeable character it would have been better (Lin was the best imo but still annoying as all hell). Truly about the horrors of having a friend group where everyone is sleeping together/has slept together/has unnamed tension with each other.
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Best part of the book was it's brevity. Some descriptions were excellent and there were great turns of phrase but the book dragged in the small amount of time it took to reach the ending.
Giving this a 2 star. Fans of horror will find elements in this novella that are fun- some ideas are interesting but annoyingly spare. The chemistry of the characters is lacking and strange, there is an unspoken past event that is remarked upon but not revealed; sadly in this instance the remaining mystery results in the appearance of slipshod ideas tossed at the wall. Quick read but leaves me wondering if that hour and a half was worth it.
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wish this book had art to go along with the story. I found myself lost for a mental picture most of the time because I didn’t know the Japanese references that were being made.
dark
mysterious
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:
Yes
This reads like a very dumb horror movie. I love dumb horror movies.
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
1/5 and that's being generous, I think.
As a premise, this book sounded ... alright, admittedly. Classic 'five friends go to a haunted house and ghost-related hijinks ensue', focusing on a wedding party of 5 ... friends? They all seemed to hate each other and the book was filled with petty arguing more than anything else, but they at least knew each other.
On the topic of the petty arguing, it really killed any sort of tension that you'd expect from a horror story of any length. I'm sure part of the plot falling short is due to this being a novella, but it also just lacked what makes horror stories Work.... ghost included? There was certainly a ghost, but the way the characters reacted to her first appearance felt incredibly out of place and her second? appearance seemed to go unnoticed by the characters. All that to say there wasn't really anything making this a horror story.
I feel like anything else I could say has already been said in many other reviews in better ways than I can put it. This book just fell incredibly short of any expectations that I had, basically.
As a premise, this book sounded ... alright, admittedly. Classic 'five friends go to a haunted house and ghost-related hijinks ensue', focusing on a wedding party of 5 ... friends? They all seemed to hate each other and the book was filled with petty arguing more than anything else, but they at least knew each other.
On the topic of the petty arguing, it really killed any sort of tension that you'd expect from a horror story of any length. I'm sure part of the plot falling short is due to this being a novella, but it also just lacked what makes horror stories Work.... ghost included? There was certainly a ghost, but the way the characters reacted to her first appearance felt incredibly out of place and her second? appearance seemed to go unnoticed by the characters. All that to say there wasn't really anything making this a horror story.
I feel like anything else I could say has already been said in many other reviews in better ways than I can put it. This book just fell incredibly short of any expectations that I had, basically.
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Grief
Brown people exist in this book and are written intentionally. (No Black people mentioned).
dark
tense
fast-paced