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2.72 AVERAGE
2.72 AVERAGE
The Salt Grows Heavy was one of my favourite reads last year. Alas, this one definitely can’t compare. It has the same gorgeous writing but it doesn’t match the story at all.
One of the biggest complaints people seem to have is that none of the characters are sympathetic. I don’t care about that (if anything, it made me hope I’d enjoy the book all the better despite the low ratings). It’s the story that falls completely flat, plus the setting just couldn’t convince me (which was always going to be a risk).
A group of friends stays in a haunted house for a wedding. Over the course of the night, fun quickly turns to terror.
I was looking specifically for short horror novels when I came across this book. It turns out it was already on my TBR, so I grabbed it. The cover is incredibly creepy and I was really hoping that vibe would carry on throughout the book. And it did, to a certain extent. The book is a spin on the classic haunted house story so of course there's creepiness. But it was just kind of meh for me. The past few horror novels I have read have been really amazing so this one was a bit of a let down.
The characters are all very unlikable, which honestly doesn't bother me much in this kind of story. But then the story itself was just lackluster and predictable. The author did have some clever writing, in my opinion, but I just wanted so much more from the story.
Overall, I feel very meh about this book, but I enjoyed the spooky vibes. 2.5/5 stars!
I was looking specifically for short horror novels when I came across this book. It turns out it was already on my TBR, so I grabbed it. The cover is incredibly creepy and I was really hoping that vibe would carry on throughout the book. And it did, to a certain extent. The book is a spin on the classic haunted house story so of course there's creepiness. But it was just kind of meh for me. The past few horror novels I have read have been really amazing so this one was a bit of a let down.
The characters are all very unlikable, which honestly doesn't bother me much in this kind of story. But then the story itself was just lackluster and predictable. The author did have some clever writing, in my opinion, but I just wanted so much more from the story.
Overall, I feel very meh about this book, but I enjoyed the spooky vibes. 2.5/5 stars!
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
dark
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
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
With friends like this, who needs enemies? The ohaguro bettari was honestly the most reasonable creature at the party.
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-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:
Yes
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
This is a very obvious debut novel which nevertheless managed to be quite charming despite being mightily confusing and a bit incompetent.
The interpersonal relations between the characters were very convoluted and difficult to follow, and their reasons for staying in the house didn’t make much sense in-universe to me. The biggest shame was the lack of detail in the ritual at the end (and absolutely no information about where they got cum from lol) which was a very obvious missed opportunity to me.
I still think this little book shows a lot of promise, especially in its historical and folklore details and observations - and there are some truly cracking quotes throughout - so I will be interested to see what the author writes next. I’d still recommend this one for a fun, quick read.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I have no idea why the author made this a novella instead of a full length book. This was so short and the characters were so undeveloped that I couldn’t tell the characters apart and I also just didn’t care about them.