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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
Late to the game with this one but loved it. A modern fairytale and, true to the genre, it's not a sweet tale. An urban, deep forest, monsters-come-calling tale. If you don't like strong women, you might not connect with this ;)
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.5 stars
This is definitely the best thing I have read by LaValle. As ever I struggle to call it "horror" even though it clearly draws on horror tropes, and part of that is because it's also so much about society and people being people and all these things I didn't notice when I was cooing over murderGabe, although granted I haven't read Pet Sematary since I was 13, so, well.
This is definitely the best thing I have read by LaValle. As ever I struggle to call it "horror" even though it clearly draws on horror tropes, and part of that is because it's also so much about society and people being people and all these things I didn't notice when I was cooing over murderGabe, although granted I haven't read Pet Sematary since I was 13, so, well.
Overly depressing and took to long to get into the story.
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
After the first two hours of listening, I began to wonder if I hadn't been tricked and if this wasn't a family drama. A couple of hours later, I was wide-eyed with horror, then rage. This book does so much, and reading it really feels like you're taking the journey with Apollo. Despite the wide range of genres this spans, I was genuinely hooked, hanging on every word. LaValle is just a stunning storyteller, capturing such mood and emotion with careful word choices and simple, yet powerful descriptions of characters and their surroundings.
And Victor LaValle does a dang good readaloud as well.
And Victor LaValle does a dang good readaloud as well.
This novel was a refreshing read; it wasn't full of shocking plot twists, but it kept me wondering where the story would take us next. A fairytale for adults, it had many horror elements without being scary. It has more tense and creepy scenarios. I had no intention of reading it because I am a Halloweenie, but then I saw the trailer for the TV show adaptation and became more interested. And then someone said it's not scary, so I gave it a shot, and I am happy I did. Except for one slow moment in the book where I was impatient for the plot to pick up. This book was a solid, good read, and I'll check out Victor Lavelle's other works.