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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Wow. This has probably become one of my favorite authors. This book was a wild ride, written just like a horror movie. The ending was just FUCKED. Everything was fucked. Great book and perfect for the snowy weather.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I´m really disappointed in The Shuddering, since I enjoyed another book from Ania Ahlborn quite a bit (In These Walls, for anyone who´s interested). But I just hated all the characters in The Shuddering. Every single one of them. I´m gonna out the rest of this review under a spoiler cut because I don´t care enough to give a spoiler free review. (Just... don´t read it. Watch a good horror movie instead. I only finished this because I had eye surgery yesterday and can´t properly read right now, so I have to rely on audio books for the next few days. And I started with a shitty one.)
BUT: There was just SO MUCH relationship drama. I didn´t care for the fucking love triangle. Who gets a girl pregnant, proposes to her and THEN decides to go on a snowboarding trip with their best friend and his twin sister, when they´re still in love with the sister? Sawyer is basically a dick. And the only reason he griefed for his fianceé (April, btw, she did have a name) was because she had been pregnant. Also: Why did you let your pregnant fianceé go outside into the woods, in the middle of winter when you´re snowed in, like an hour before sun down, ALONE?! How stupid are you Sawyer? Well at least you died too.
April herself was annoying too, but out of all the characters she had every right to be pissed. (Because she realised that Sawyer wanted the twin sister. She freaked and wanted to get out of the cabin.) But generally she only seemed to be there as canon fodder for the monsters.
Then we have Lauren. She is Jane´s best friend (the twin sister) and is instantly head over heals for Ryan (the brother) and he instantly loves her too. I don´t like insta-love anyway much less so in a HORROR novel. UGH! Otherwise she is just boring. She died. I didn´t care.
Jane was also annoying. Always pining after Sawyer, whining all the time and being the worst final girl ever.
Ryan was the only one who was pretty useful in dealing with the creatures that wanted to eat them. He also had a cute Husky (Una) so he gets one sympathy point from me. Otherwise he too, was boring and annoying.
There were also some stupid ass mistakes the characters made that made me mad. Like forgetting to lock the kitchen door (which led outside, so one of the monsters could just stroll in), letting their torches burn out (the only thing the monsters where vulnerable to because of their light sensitive eyes), letting your PREGNANT FINACEE WALK OUT INTO THE COLD... It was just annoying and I only kept listening to the audio book because I wanted to see all of them die. The narrator was alright with all the male voices but I hated how he did the female characters. Most of them just sounded whiny and/or hysterical.
This book would´ve worked better as a movie because then you might´ve have good actors who make dickish characters a bit more likable. But it isn´t a movie so it basically sucked.
There were some cool parts, especially ones that involved the monsters. But the realtionship drama made up abot 50% of the story, so... this book still sucked.
So, this review is probably rambly but these are my current thoughts.
Spoiler
The premise itself sounded good. 5 friends on a trip, snowed in in a cabin and no neighbors for miles. Then monsters appear and people die. Sounds awesome.BUT: There was just SO MUCH relationship drama. I didn´t care for the fucking love triangle. Who gets a girl pregnant, proposes to her and THEN decides to go on a snowboarding trip with their best friend and his twin sister, when they´re still in love with the sister? Sawyer is basically a dick. And the only reason he griefed for his fianceé (April, btw, she did have a name) was because she had been pregnant. Also: Why did you let your pregnant fianceé go outside into the woods, in the middle of winter when you´re snowed in, like an hour before sun down, ALONE?! How stupid are you Sawyer? Well at least you died too.
April herself was annoying too, but out of all the characters she had every right to be pissed. (Because she realised that Sawyer wanted the twin sister. She freaked and wanted to get out of the cabin.) But generally she only seemed to be there as canon fodder for the monsters.
Then we have Lauren. She is Jane´s best friend (the twin sister) and is instantly head over heals for Ryan (the brother) and he instantly loves her too. I don´t like insta-love anyway much less so in a HORROR novel. UGH! Otherwise she is just boring. She died. I didn´t care.
Jane was also annoying. Always pining after Sawyer, whining all the time and being the worst final girl ever.
Ryan was the only one who was pretty useful in dealing with the creatures that wanted to eat them. He also had a cute Husky (Una) so he gets one sympathy point from me. Otherwise he too, was boring and annoying.
There were also some stupid ass mistakes the characters made that made me mad. Like forgetting to lock the kitchen door (which led outside, so one of the monsters could just stroll in), letting their torches burn out (the only thing the monsters where vulnerable to because of their light sensitive eyes), letting your PREGNANT FINACEE WALK OUT INTO THE COLD... It was just annoying and I only kept listening to the audio book because I wanted to see all of them die. The narrator was alright with all the male voices but I hated how he did the female characters. Most of them just sounded whiny and/or hysterical.
This book would´ve worked better as a movie because then you might´ve have good actors who make dickish characters a bit more likable. But it isn´t a movie so it basically sucked.
There were some cool parts, especially ones that involved the monsters. But the realtionship drama made up abot 50% of the story, so... this book still sucked.
So, this review is probably rambly but these are my current thoughts.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Fucking hold that.
challenging
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