Scan barcode
dembury's review against another edition
3.0
Actual Rating: 3.50 / 3.75.
The first half of my review is spoiler free, but the second half (clearly labeled) contains spoilers!
So here's the thing: "The Supernatural Enhancements" is a good book. A REALLY good book, in fact. I picked this up looking for something spooky, autumnal, and fresh, and this book provided all of that! The characters are quirky and interesting; the plot grabbed (and held) my attention thoroughly; the format is super cool- the story is told through audio recording transcripts, a diary, book excerpts, and more. There's even some "X-Files" references (did you hear that? That's the sound of me falling in love with Edgar Cantero).
The thing that really made me feel not-good thoughts about "The Supernatural Enhancements" was actually two things:
One- The ENDING?? I'm still a bit confused. I'm going to detail this confusion a bit more at the end of this review in a "spoilers" paragraph, but right now I'll just say that about the last 50 pages or so really starting spiraling out of my reading grasp a bit. I understand about 75% of what happened...but...that last 25% made me go, "HUH?!?" Also, I think the ghost part of the book was a bit lost in the fray. I wanted more closure with that.
Two- The book excerpts/ciphers. Okay, actually, the excerpts/ciphers were pretty cool... in MODERATION. This book contains excerpts from other "books" (all fictional books, I believe) that are part of the main character's research. But some of the excerpts were (s0rry!) boring. With a capital "B". It was mostly the ones later in the novel, but I felt like Cantero was replacing too much actual dialouge and characters interaction with these excerpts. Then there was the cipher. Oh my gosh, was it COOL...but it was again, difficult to follow at times! When A is cracking the main cipher, I really tried to learn along with him, but I felt as if I needed to take notes to even grasp it! I think this aspect would have been better executed if Cantero had used more "laymans" terms, or used a different way to explain how to crack the code.
So overall, it was a good book, and I think I'd even read this one again. I really enjoyed the mix of supernatual, cult, and Scooby-Doo-ish themes!
I'd highly recommend this as a Halloween read, too.
SPOILERS BELOW!!!
The ending: Okay. Wait. Who exactly is Betty?? Their aunt?? How old is she? What is Betty's connection to the Juggernaut again? Is Aunt Liza ANOTHER cult leader? Wait, she's connected to the Eye, too?!? WHAT? Can someone please explain the whole Betty thing to me??
This part confused me, and I feel a bit cheated. Like there was a cipher right in front of me, but Cantero refused to give me any bit of clues to work on decoding it!
Also, the murders that happen the night of the 21st and the ensuing chaos was, well, chaotic! I had some real difficulty following what was happening.
Lastly, I think there were FAR too many names to remember! There are 20 Eye members (and their respective code names!), the neighboors, the townsfolk, the lawyer, the psychatrist, the snowplow driver, the butler, and ALL THE PEOPLE IN THE DREAMS (granted, the latter didn't actually have names, but there were SO many of them!).
I kept confusing Caleb and Curtis. I didn't remember who the butler was until someone said their name AND the word "butler". I also forgot who the lawyer was when he showed up at the end and had to flip back in the book to find his name again.
The first half of my review is spoiler free, but the second half (clearly labeled) contains spoilers!
So here's the thing: "The Supernatural Enhancements" is a good book. A REALLY good book, in fact. I picked this up looking for something spooky, autumnal, and fresh, and this book provided all of that! The characters are quirky and interesting; the plot grabbed (and held) my attention thoroughly; the format is super cool- the story is told through audio recording transcripts, a diary, book excerpts, and more. There's even some "X-Files" references (did you hear that? That's the sound of me falling in love with Edgar Cantero).
The thing that really made me feel not-good thoughts about "The Supernatural Enhancements" was actually two things:
One- The ENDING?? I'm still a bit confused. I'm going to detail this confusion a bit more at the end of this review in a "spoilers" paragraph, but right now I'll just say that about the last 50 pages or so really starting spiraling out of my reading grasp a bit. I understand about 75% of what happened...but...that last 25% made me go, "HUH?!?" Also, I think the ghost part of the book was a bit lost in the fray. I wanted more closure with that.
Two- The book excerpts/ciphers. Okay, actually, the excerpts/ciphers were pretty cool... in MODERATION. This book contains excerpts from other "books" (all fictional books, I believe) that are part of the main character's research. But some of the excerpts were (s0rry!) boring. With a capital "B". It was mostly the ones later in the novel, but I felt like Cantero was replacing too much actual dialouge and characters interaction with these excerpts. Then there was the cipher. Oh my gosh, was it COOL...but it was again, difficult to follow at times! When A is cracking the main cipher, I really tried to learn along with him, but I felt as if I needed to take notes to even grasp it! I think this aspect would have been better executed if Cantero had used more "laymans" terms, or used a different way to explain how to crack the code.
So overall, it was a good book, and I think I'd even read this one again. I really enjoyed the mix of supernatual, cult, and Scooby-Doo-ish themes!
I'd highly recommend this as a Halloween read, too.
SPOILERS BELOW!!!
The ending: Okay. Wait. Who exactly is Betty?? Their aunt?? How old is she? What is Betty's connection to the Juggernaut again? Is Aunt Liza ANOTHER cult leader? Wait, she's connected to the Eye, too?!? WHAT? Can someone please explain the whole Betty thing to me??
This part confused me, and I feel a bit cheated. Like there was a cipher right in front of me, but Cantero refused to give me any bit of clues to work on decoding it!
Also, the murders that happen the night of the 21st and the ensuing chaos was, well, chaotic! I had some real difficulty following what was happening.
Lastly, I think there were FAR too many names to remember! There are 20 Eye members (and their respective code names!), the neighboors, the townsfolk, the lawyer, the psychatrist, the snowplow driver, the butler, and ALL THE PEOPLE IN THE DREAMS (granted, the latter didn't actually have names, but there were SO many of them!).
I kept confusing Caleb and Curtis. I didn't remember who the butler was until someone said their name AND the word "butler". I also forgot who the lawyer was when he showed up at the end and had to flip back in the book to find his name again.
ailishsreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
cahoki's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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
3.25
subparcupcake's review against another edition
3.0
I was a little lost in the beginning.. Then it hooked me. Then it lost me again. Then it hooked me again... And then I was slightly lost again right at the end. Overall I liked it though. Just didn't love it or anything. Good read.
alexarose19's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.75
maryinthegarden's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
3.5
arcaneoddity's review against another edition
3.5
really cool premise, and loved the mixed media style. the first half felt too vague and was difficult to get into but once the pieces started clicking into place i enjoyed it a lot! the ending felt a little rushed but the final reveal was fantastic.
ljutavidra's review against another edition
2.0
Two stars only because of the interesting beginning. I literally skimmed the second half and that was even a chore. Mishmash of video and audio recordings, notes, diary entries, interviews, historical entries, but the story went from ok to a snorefest. Not for me.
lilymurph's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Sexual assault, Gore, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Sexual violence, Slavery, Rape, and Adult/minor relationship
mair_mcc's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
(Virginia) Finished this and then sound out loud to an empty room "well that was wacky". Don't know exactly what that means, but it feels like a 3.25 star experience for me.
I liked the concept, and a lot of the execution but I did have some big problems that held me back from rating it higher. The sexual relationship between the 20-something year old character and the teenager, for example?! It was vague enough, but it made me super uncomfy. Also don't give a shit about codebreaking and definitely didn't need multiple pages explaining it - just give me the letter reveal and move on.
I did like the way it ended, but felt that it was rushed. The 2 biggest twists took place in the last 5% of the book. And I only liked the Aunt Liza reveal, not the whole gun play/attempted sexual assault/mass murder reveal.
All that being said, this author has one more book he's written in English that I haven't read and I probably will add that to my Want to Read list.
I liked the concept, and a lot of the execution but I did have some big problems that held me back from rating it higher. The sexual relationship between the 20-something year old character and the teenager, for example?! It was vague enough, but it made me super uncomfy. Also don't give a shit about codebreaking and definitely didn't need multiple pages explaining it - just give me the letter reveal and move on.
All that being said, this author has one more book he's written in English that I haven't read and I probably will add that to my Want to Read list.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Self harm, and Sexual assault