Okay so I have a lot of religious trauma and I'm sure that made me dislike this more than perhaps I would have but frankly? This is abelist AF. The way so many mental health issues are handled? Nope. One part of the ending felt predictable and the other completely unrealistic. Also the main character felt really flat and beyond irritating. The pacing was really odd to, so slow and then way too fast and without explaining why things went the way they did.

Spoiler

If you are going to give me a cult you better give me a believable one, they don't just magically happen because the pastor is charming. That needed explaining far more, more fleshing out.

Content Warnings

courtofcatsandcoffee's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

▫️genre: horror
▫️trope: ghost town, documentary crew
▫️format: audio

↠ Well-written but SO SLOW
↠ Liked the concept as the story unraveled, but I wasn’t scared as promised
↠ Flashbacks to the past were creepy and the best parts of the book
↠ If you liked 𝙈𝙞𝙙𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙈𝙖𝙨𝙨 on Netflix this is for you
↠ If you make it to 57% it gets wild
↠ Great voice actress for the audio!
↠ I added a 1/4 star because I was having trouble focusing at this time and think I could appreciate the details more with a more engaged mind

Content Warnings

mangosugar's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

the synopsis of this book definitely grabbed me, i think the concept and idea behind this was so inventive. i enjoyed the characters quite a lot; they all had glaring flaws that only made them more human and realistic, if not irritating at times.

alice, our protagonist, is a struggling filmmaker who’s been dreaming about figuring out the mystery of silvertjarn, “the lost village.” she’s got quite a lot of emotional attachment to it, seeing as her grandmother’s entire family disappeared along with the other residents and alice grew up with tales of the town and its descent into evil.

on her own, alice is not a particularly interesting or captivating character, but what does make her stand out is her dynamics with the other characters and her involvement in the mystery itself. she’s often overly emotional, though it’s understandable, and she’s just a walking “i’m trying the best i can” meme. my favourite thing about her is how honest she is with herself. usually, characters (and people) try to spin their mistakes and flaws around in order to justify them, but alice is really self-aware and i like her sincerity.

the other (arguably more present) protagonist is elsa, alice’s great-grandmother. the story moves between alice’s point of view in the present in certain chapters and elsa’s life sixty years ago, when silvertjarn began its own demise. those were honestly my favourite parts of the book.

unfortunately, the pacing is extremely slow. like i almost stopped reading many times bc i was so bored of the drawn-out tension. the last hundred or some pages fix that though, the action picks up and a very well-done sense of dread and panic sets in, it was very moving.

the plot-twist is pretty obvious, i don’t think it can shock many people, but it was coherent with the rest of the story so i still appreciated it. i was surprised at the very end though when an identity is revealed. it was actually pretty terrifying lmao the author did a great job as i said in creating an atmosphere of just pure frenzy, i finished the book on a crowded bus in the early afternoon and i was still scared shitless.

the secondary characters are alright lmao. with the exception of tonne, alice’s friend with her own connection to the town, i didn’t really care for them. i liked robert but we’re not given much from him, i just ended up with a lil crush 🧍🏽‍♀️

overall it was mildly entertaining though frustrating until the last 100 pages when things finally started happening, so i have it 3.5 stars, but i understand why some reviewers gave it less.

Content Warnings

burnourhistory's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Content Warnings

dylpickles's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

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