checkitout'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
baileyclose's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Animal death, Injury/injury detail, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Fatphobia, Ableism, and Death of parent
Moderate: Kidnapping
michaellouisdixon's review against another edition
5.0
What more could I add. This book was a lot of fun. I couldn't get enough.
yeahjaclynn's review against another edition
3.0
TLDR; 3.5/5
For a book about a vampiric Santa character stealing children and taking them to Christmasland, this book was surprisingly and pleasantly restrained. It was scary in places, though not as truly terrifying as I might have liked, and the action sequences and body horror was fun to read. That said, Christmas will never be quite the same again.
Likes:
- Hands down the best part of reading this was the audiobook narrator. Whatever the equivalent for audiobooks there is of Emmy for TV or Oscar for film is, Kate Mulgrew has earned it tenfold.
- If there's one thing I've learned Joe Hill can do, it's write a compelling and spine-chilling villain character. Bing Partridge was downright disgusting and yet I still empathized with the poor bastard. The parts from his perspective were often my favorite.
- Character development on point. Victoria was a well-rounded, complex female character whose gender I only notice as I'm writing this because I'm doing a paper about bad female characters. Vic is a great character, AND a great female character/
- I love me some Easter eggs. The mentions of tidbits from Stephen King's books were fun.
- Most children are inherently creepy. This book uses that creepiness well.
Dislikes:
- Roughly half of the book I considered exposition. Generally. the first half is about Vic as a kid and the latter half is about Vic as an adult. The exposition was super interesting, don't get me wrong, but I would have liked more of the "current" stuff
-
- It did drag on at times. None of the book was necessarily bad, but I think it could have benefited from some cuts.
For a book about a vampiric Santa character stealing children and taking them to Christmasland, this book was surprisingly and pleasantly restrained. It was scary in places, though not as truly terrifying as I might have liked, and the action sequences and body horror was fun to read. That said, Christmas will never be quite the same again.
Likes:
- Hands down the best part of reading this was the audiobook narrator. Whatever the equivalent for audiobooks there is of Emmy for TV or Oscar for film is, Kate Mulgrew has earned it tenfold.
- If there's one thing I've learned Joe Hill can do, it's write a compelling and spine-chilling villain character. Bing Partridge was downright disgusting and yet I still empathized with the poor bastard. The parts from his perspective were often my favorite.
- Character development on point. Victoria was a well-rounded, complex female character whose gender I only notice as I'm writing this because I'm doing a paper about bad female characters. Vic is a great character, AND a great female character/
- I love me some Easter eggs. The mentions of tidbits from Stephen King's books were fun.
- Most children are inherently creepy. This book uses that creepiness well.
Dislikes:
- Roughly half of the book I considered exposition. Generally. the first half is about Vic as a kid and the latter half is about Vic as an adult. The exposition was super interesting, don't get me wrong, but I would have liked more of the "current" stuff
-
Spoiler
Really wish Vic hadn't died. The ending was still satisfactory but man, she deserved to end up with Lou and her kid. And Tabitha Hutter can fuck right off.- It did drag on at times. None of the book was necessarily bad, but I think it could have benefited from some cuts.
lemopolis's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
enbyemu's review against another edition
3.5
As far as retellings of Dracula go, this is quite a fun ride. A lot of the characters are likeable and well written and it's a fascinating world that has been created by Hill.
Where the book suffers is in the villains (they weren't bad villains, per se...just didn't impress me much) and the meticulous plot construction getting in the way of the characters. What I mean by that is that there were several points throughout the book where characters (most notably the protagonist) do things because the plot dictates that they need to in order to hit certain plot points - as opposed to the characters taking actions that seem to naturally flow from the person that has been created.
I'm also not a fan of Christmas motifs in 99% of books, but that's just a personal preference.
I still enjoyed the read, but will not likely be going out of my way to find any other Joe Hill books.
Where the book suffers is in the villains (they weren't bad villains, per se...just didn't impress me much) and the meticulous plot construction getting in the way of the characters. What I mean by that is that there were several points throughout the book where characters (most notably the protagonist) do things because the plot dictates that they need to in order to hit certain plot points - as opposed to the characters taking actions that seem to naturally flow from the person that has been created.
I'm also not a fan of Christmas motifs in 99% of books, but that's just a personal preference.
I still enjoyed the read, but will not likely be going out of my way to find any other Joe Hill books.
hoosgracie's review against another edition
4.0
This was entertaining. I enjoyed the premise and setting. Well done.
ronsos's review against another edition
2.0
Creepy, kept me turning all the pages, and the 2nd half was pretty solid. Otherwise, eh.
chmccann's review against another edition
3.0
This was diverting, but not great. I think Joe Hill's pacing is just not for me - every time I read a novel by him, I feel like it would have been fabulous if edited down to about 70% of its actual length.