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casuallyreadingx's review
2.0
Unpopular opinion.
The premise of this sounded so excited: paranormal twists, mysterious, creepy, and historical aspects. Sounds amazing!! But somehow I ended up not enjoying this. The atmosphere was the best part while reading this book. You could feel the tense, chilly moments.
My main complaints are that there was little to no character development. They were the plainest characters I’ve ever read. It was so slow. Random. And I was bored. Truthfully and brutally bored. I tried to read this as an audio and as a physical. I don’t think this was a bad book but in the end it did nothing for me.
The premise of this sounded so excited: paranormal twists, mysterious, creepy, and historical aspects. Sounds amazing!! But somehow I ended up not enjoying this. The atmosphere was the best part while reading this book. You could feel the tense, chilly moments.
My main complaints are that there was little to no character development. They were the plainest characters I’ve ever read. It was so slow. Random. And I was bored. Truthfully and brutally bored. I tried to read this as an audio and as a physical. I don’t think this was a bad book but in the end it did nothing for me.
knitsynails's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
4.0
xmacabre's review
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
debrudreads's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
moerod's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
4.0
Pretty good read, like the way he writes, you can feel the cold in this book, very interesting read, good story, Siberia forest and ghosts
danireyne's review
3.5
This was okay. I''m not sure Christopher Golden is the author for me. I likely won't read another of his books.
a_mae13's review
3.0
“Only tragedies arrived with such urgency in the small hours before dawn.”
I'm really on a roll here with books I didn't like very much 😂 I definitely put this one off because it had mixed reviews but I'm glad I read it. It was fascinating and gripping...just not what the blurb promised. Road of Bones follows Teig and Prentiss, two men who are best friends and are interested in filming some spooky places for a new reality TV show. Teig has been in the business for a while but doesn't manage to have many successful show pitches. Prentiss is his cameraman. The two head to Siberia, in the dead of winter, to tour the Kolyma Highway, aka the Road of Bones. The highway was built under the Stalin regime and MANY, MANY people died during the construction and were left there, paved under the road. But because they were prisoners, no one cared.
So, we have plunging temperatures, desolate towns, and a highway that is quite literally built on the backs of people. It's a great setup for a spooky, paranormal read. But, we get more of a folklore-esque story than a horror book. Once the pair get to the highway, they pick up their tour guide, Kaskill. He directs the men to a small town to refuel and settle for the night. But once they get there, the town is completely abandoned, except for one little girl, Ariuna. She's Kaskill's niece, and he's panicking that everyone is gone. Doors open, stoves on, footprints leading out to the frigid forest...and now the howling of wolves fills the air. Cue the "we must go out into the dark and investigate!" scene.
They scoop up the girl in hopes of saving her from whatever is going on. Quickly, the wolves close in on them, severely wounding Prentiss and killing Kaskill. Another woman, Nari, from the next town over, was also visiting. Now it's just her, Teig, Prentiss, and this mysterious little girl. The wolves are following this man...who seems more beast than man...who vanishes in thin air. The gang is trying to outrun whatever is hunting them when they notice that Ariuna has been HORRIBLY quiet the entire time. She doesn't speak. She doesn't move. She's all sorts of creepy. But they're determined to save her because she literally just saw her family ripped from her.
As the book progresses, we meet Ludmilla. She's a shaman who's blessing the souls buried under the road of bones. She feels she must give them peace...but she has lost digits from frostbite and is losing a battle with her health. Her POV is quite short and really is only there to mention the highway. These creatures that are chasing the others aren't even bothered by her. Teig and Nari take turns driving the truck and eventually make it back to Nari's hometown to stay the night with her friends, Timir and Sayaara. And then, more chaos strikes.
The town is infested with wolves from the other village and now the streets are filled with these half-human half-antlered creatures. And they're vicious. They kill Timir and stab Sayaara with their antlers. The group flees again hoping to make it to the hospital for treatment...they do not. Sayaara starts to morph into one of those antler creatures and Teig shoots her. The only words ever uttered by Ariuna were to Teig, in perfect English, and she says "Please Felix help me". Creepy? YES. The gang can't keep outrunning these creatures because they're clearly after them...until Nari figures out that they're after Ariuna. Why? Because she's been possessed by some evil forest spirit. They ultimately have to stop running when Prentiss is kidnapped (AND KILLED. I ALMOST CRIED) and plan to hand over Ariuna. Nari turns into one of the antler creatures, too, and Teig vows to take Ariuna's place. The forest spirits that have been chasing them can put the evil in him instead, to spare her life. And that's it 🤷🏻♀️
Here's why I didn't love this book:it's called Road of Bones, but it hardly touches on the actual highway. It's focused on the folklore, which is an incredible tale! But not what the book promised. I really thought that the shadow wolves and all the creatures were the ghosts of the road. That would have been very interesting because it's like they're protecting the territory. Instead, we get this freaky shaman character who has no problem murdering EVERYONE IN HIS WAKE to secure this evil spirit inside Ariuna, and now all of these towns are vacant. He lured them all to the forest, where they froze to death, searching for the spirit. The book ends with everyone dead, besides Ariuna and Nari. Nari takes Ariuna to her great-grandmother and runs off, enjoying her life as a woodland creature...and we don't know what happened to Teig.
I really liked reading this because it kept me guessing and I was really, really rooting for them to make it to the hospital and survive. And I'm usually against that trope! But here we are 😂
I'm really on a roll here with books I didn't like very much 😂 I definitely put this one off because it had mixed reviews but I'm glad I read it. It was fascinating and gripping...just not what the blurb promised. Road of Bones follows Teig and Prentiss, two men who are best friends and are interested in filming some spooky places for a new reality TV show. Teig has been in the business for a while but doesn't manage to have many successful show pitches. Prentiss is his cameraman. The two head to Siberia, in the dead of winter, to tour the Kolyma Highway, aka the Road of Bones. The highway was built under the Stalin regime and MANY, MANY people died during the construction and were left there, paved under the road. But because they were prisoners, no one cared.
So, we have plunging temperatures, desolate towns, and a highway that is quite literally built on the backs of people. It's a great setup for a spooky, paranormal read. But, we get more of a folklore-esque story than a horror book. Once the pair get to the highway, they pick up their tour guide, Kaskill. He directs the men to a small town to refuel and settle for the night. But once they get there, the town is completely abandoned, except for one little girl, Ariuna. She's Kaskill's niece, and he's panicking that everyone is gone. Doors open, stoves on, footprints leading out to the frigid forest...and now the howling of wolves fills the air. Cue the "we must go out into the dark and investigate!" scene.
They scoop up the girl in hopes of saving her from whatever is going on. Quickly, the wolves close in on them, severely wounding Prentiss and killing Kaskill. Another woman, Nari, from the next town over, was also visiting. Now it's just her, Teig, Prentiss, and this mysterious little girl. The wolves are following this man...who seems more beast than man...who vanishes in thin air. The gang is trying to outrun whatever is hunting them when they notice that Ariuna has been HORRIBLY quiet the entire time. She doesn't speak. She doesn't move. She's all sorts of creepy. But they're determined to save her because she literally just saw her family ripped from her.
As the book progresses, we meet Ludmilla. She's a shaman who's blessing the souls buried under the road of bones. She feels she must give them peace...but she has lost digits from frostbite and is losing a battle with her health. Her POV is quite short and really is only there to mention the highway. These creatures that are chasing the others aren't even bothered by her. Teig and Nari take turns driving the truck and eventually make it back to Nari's hometown to stay the night with her friends, Timir and Sayaara. And then, more chaos strikes.
Here's why I didn't love this book:
I really liked reading this because it kept me guessing and I was really, really rooting for them to make it to the hospital and survive. And I'm usually against that trope! But here we are 😂
eliza009's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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