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2.72 AVERAGE
2.72 AVERAGE
I was shocked at how much I enjoyed this book. I typically shy away from horror stories. Guts, gore, and viscera do not disturb me but I despise the jump scare, something peeking out of a darkened room kind of tale.
This is a ghost story. Five friends enter a crumbling Heian-era mansion intending to spend the night celebrating a wedding. They are drawn in by the shadows, dust, gloom, and malevolent atmosphere. Through the night their animosity, rage, jealousy are fueled and fanned by the ghosts around them and their own memories and perceptions of each other. Khaw keeps the tension high as the atmosphere darkens and draws from Japanese myth and legend to populate the house with a magnitude of terrifying creatures.
Highly recommended for any fan of haunted house horror.
I received a free advance copy from Netgalley in exchange for my unbiased review.
This is a ghost story. Five friends enter a crumbling Heian-era mansion intending to spend the night celebrating a wedding. They are drawn in by the shadows, dust, gloom, and malevolent atmosphere. Through the night their animosity, rage, jealousy are fueled and fanned by the ghosts around them and their own memories and perceptions of each other. Khaw keeps the tension high as the atmosphere darkens and draws from Japanese myth and legend to populate the house with a magnitude of terrifying creatures.
Highly recommended for any fan of haunted house horror.
I received a free advance copy from Netgalley in exchange for my unbiased review.
challenging
dark
I liked the story and the style. I wish it was just a little longer so either the characters had more time to develop or the dread had more time to percolate. I'll be looking for their other books.
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a horror book but the narrator is a psychotic English/Japanese lit major and every other word is some convoluted metaphor and it got old real quick. Hard to follow the story around all the simile.
Ohhhh I really don’t think I liked this one. The overuse of the word “fuck” really pulled me so far out of the potentially creepy parts of the story. Characters felt super flat and stereotypical in a not-so-great way. I love the use of yokai for a horror story but everything felt underwhelming. Fun concept, I just think I was not a fan.
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Quick read, wasn’t my favorite but wasn’t the worst
Picked this up on a whim from the library I work at because of the cover and how short it was. I didn't know anything about the author beforehand or what the book was about, so I really didn't have any expectations for this. Well, after finishing it, I'm really not sure what this book is trying to be. Is it a spooky Japanese folk horror story, a slow-burn character-focused horror story, or a satire on horror tropes? I'm genuinely not sure what Khaw was going for here, but the tones clash so much for me and it was hard to enjoy the experience at times.
I think if you're going into this book expecting a scary story that's going to keep you up at night, you should look elsewhere. The ghost figure depicted on the cover was the only thing that felt remotely scary. I'm going to mention the tonal whiplash in this book a lot, but there were some "horror" elements in this that just came across to me as funny and I don't know if that was intentional or not.
Like I said, I'm not sure if this book is meant to be a satirical story commenting on horror cliches or not, but the thing this story seems most focused on is building these characters and their relationships between each other. This brings me to one of the biggest complaints about the book: the characters. I don't think I liked I single one of them. Phillip is constantly described by our protagonist, Cat, as a bit of a tool and a womanizer who has had all of their success handed down to them by his wealthy family. Talia is portrayed as just a constant b*tch throughout the whole book, especially to Cat. Lin is just an annoying comic relief and he even states this himself. Faiz is just there. At least he's a good friend to Cat, who is the only one who feels a bit sympathetic, because she was depressed at some point I guess(?), but she also seems to just butt into people's personal affairs way too much and as the narrator seems to describe most of the other characters in a negative manner. Every character also seems to have some kind of beef with one or more people in the group. Cat hates Talia, Talia hates Cat and Lin, Lin hates everyone except Cat, etc. I'm not sure what the reader is supposed to like about this group of characters. If it's satire, I don't think it came across that way at all.
The satirical moments seem to only be spoutted out in dialogue coming from the self-proclaimed comic relief Lin, who addresses the situation in the "Don't you watch horror movies?" fashion that feels just as cliched as any of the tropes this character mouths off. I'd be ok with a satire on horror cliches if it was actually funny. Most of the attempts at humor in this come off really forced and they just remove you from the scene completely. Satire on story tropes is fine, but I often feel that the best way to address tired tropes is to not do them at all.
Overall, this book just felt unfocused. I really wanted to enjoy it, but it was really hard not to get pulled out of the book through its tonal shifting. I'm glad it was a short read though. I finished it in a little over 2 hours, so if you're still curious about it then I'd say it might be worth a couple hours just to see what you think about it. Although, in that time I could watch a horror movie with these tired cliches and probably enjoy it more.
I think if you're going into this book expecting a scary story that's going to keep you up at night, you should look elsewhere. The ghost figure depicted on the cover was the only thing that felt remotely scary. I'm going to mention the tonal whiplash in this book a lot, but there were some "horror" elements in this that just came across to me as funny and I don't know if that was intentional or not.
Like I said, I'm not sure if this book is meant to be a satirical story commenting on horror cliches or not, but the thing this story seems most focused on is building these characters and their relationships between each other. This brings me to one of the biggest complaints about the book: the characters. I don't think I liked I single one of them. Phillip is constantly described by our protagonist, Cat, as a bit of a tool and a womanizer who has had all of their success handed down to them by his wealthy family. Talia is portrayed as just a constant b*tch throughout the whole book, especially to Cat. Lin is just an annoying comic relief and he even states this himself. Faiz is just there. At least he's a good friend to Cat, who is the only one who feels a bit sympathetic, because she was depressed at some point I guess(?), but she also seems to just butt into people's personal affairs way too much and as the narrator seems to describe most of the other characters in a negative manner. Every character also seems to have some kind of beef with one or more people in the group. Cat hates Talia, Talia hates Cat and Lin, Lin hates everyone except Cat, etc. I'm not sure what the reader is supposed to like about this group of characters. If it's satire, I don't think it came across that way at all.
The satirical moments seem to only be spoutted out in dialogue coming from the self-proclaimed comic relief Lin, who addresses the situation in the "Don't you watch horror movies?" fashion that feels just as cliched as any of the tropes this character mouths off. I'd be ok with a satire on horror cliches if it was actually funny. Most of the attempts at humor in this come off really forced and they just remove you from the scene completely. Satire on story tropes is fine, but I often feel that the best way to address tired tropes is to not do them at all.
Overall, this book just felt unfocused. I really wanted to enjoy it, but it was really hard not to get pulled out of the book through its tonal shifting. I'm glad it was a short read though. I finished it in a little over 2 hours, so if you're still curious about it then I'd say it might be worth a couple hours just to see what you think about it. Although, in that time I could watch a horror movie with these tired cliches and probably enjoy it more.