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2.97 AVERAGE
2.97 AVERAGE
Christopher Rice could be the next Stephen King. The writing style and story were very well written. I got lost a few times so I won't give it four or five stars because it was not "amazing", but it's a very well-written book
Copy provided by publisher/author via NetGalley for honest review.
I wanted to love this book so much.
I don't think it was a case of haveing high expectations, I just didn't like the story.
The mysteries kept getting solved before I even thought there was a mystery. This seems to be a product of not enough character development.
Who was Virginie? She seems like the most intiresting character in the whole story but you never get more than a glimps of her.
Blake? His lover died. It was appartently a big mystery who did it. I didn't really realize this until I was told who did it.
Oh.
Nova? I still don't know anything about her character and frankly....I don't much care to.
Caitlin. The 'main character'. I don't have much more to say about her than she was very bland.
It wasn't scary. It was kinda grose but that is about it.
I liked the writing style. I will try another book by Christopher Rice but this one was certainly a miss for me.
I wanted to love this book so much.
I don't think it was a case of haveing high expectations, I just didn't like the story.
The mysteries kept getting solved before I even thought there was a mystery. This seems to be a product of not enough character development.
Who was Virginie? She seems like the most intiresting character in the whole story but you never get more than a glimps of her.
Spoiler
The story is about the vines or the bugs or something trying to resurrect her. As you find out in the last chapter. It made sense but at the same time it made no sense or maybe...I just didn't care.Blake? His lover died. It was appartently a big mystery who did it. I didn't really realize this until I was told who did it.
Oh.
Nova? I still don't know anything about her character and frankly....I don't much care to.
Caitlin. The 'main character'. I don't have much more to say about her than she was very bland.
It wasn't scary. It was kinda grose but that is about it.
I liked the writing style. I will try another book by Christopher Rice but this one was certainly a miss for me.
I’m not too sure how I feel about THE VINES. The concept was okay and kind of unique (in a Stephen King getting consumed by moss in Creepshow/Audrey II kind of way) but it left me wanting more.
I never felt too concerned about the characters. Caitlin goes from a simpering husk to vengeful bitch in a span of a few paragraphs but even the little bit of backstory provided about her wasn’t enough to have me sympathizing for her. She had a crappy time growing up in the sense that people were very vocal about her being ugly and even her dad was so afraid she wouldn’t find anyone to marry that he bribed her gay friend Blake to marry her when they were fourteen. Either a dick move or good intentions buried in an asshole, however you look at it she didn’t have the best time growing up. She married a stud and it was obvious to everyone except her that he was in it for the money and was rampantly cheating on her. She shunned Blake when he tried to bring proof to her of her husband’s indiscretions and then we meet the isolated bitch she became. I don’t believe our pasts excuse us from being crappy people in the present and I don’t sympathize with people who don’t see the forest for the trees so 0 for 2 here.
Blake was the most sympathetic of the bunch and I won’t say he was unlikeable but he’s rather one-dimensional. He is the embodiment of the pain of his past and there really isn’t anything beyond that in any regard and for that he’s a rather stock character. Nova is an angry, black (and I only bring up her skin color because it’s really emphasized in the book), college student who hates Caitlin for holding her father back (or so she sees, this is proven not the case later in the book) and being the embodiment of rich white people who held her people down in the past (again, really emphasized in the book). Willie, Nova’s dad, also brings a single dimensional character to the story in the shape of a subservient black man with a backwoods accent (yet again, super emphasized in the book). I’m not up to speed about the accents of Louisiana outside of True Blood and who knows how authentic Anna Paquin’s accent was but Willie and Nova just didn’t ring authentic to me. I don’t like phonetic accents in books anyway (I’d much rather just be told the accent and let my head do the rest of the work) but here it seems really forced and like there were POINTS being made with the characters. It all rang very inauthentic to me and it just didn’t sit right. That’s not to say Rice doesn’t know area accents since, I’m guessing, he grew up in New Orleans because that’s where his mom does live but considering he’s a rich white guy from New Orleans I think it adds to Nova and Willie’s lack of authenticity. They’re stereotypical and come across as what someone would THINK of a black person from New Orleans as opposed to being genuine to the reality of those people.
The plot itself was disjointed and clunky. Bits and pieces to the puzzle weren’t very seamlessly put together and a lot of the time weren’t made relevant until much later in the story. Caitlin’s made to appear as the main character but about halfway through it switches to Blake and ends with him. Blake’s past is really hammered home and it doesn’t come together until the very end but it’s not done in a very fluid way. There’s a lot of POV-hopping and I think that takes away from the fluidity of the story even more. It was all just really jerky. Scene transition wasn’t easy and the pacing was like riding a really old roller coaster with its ups and downs and taking corners way too hard and throwing you into the side of the car in a going-to-leave-bruises sort of way instead of anything fun.
The vines and the bugs were creepy and it’s a neat concept but the execution was lackluster for me. Underdeveloped, cardboard characters, a jerky plot and thinly threaded devices to fuel the story just let me wanting something more fulfilling. I didn’t even feel like the setting, in all its rich scenery and history, was made much use of. Sure, the Spring House was there but aside from a stock plantation house with lush gardens, it wasn’t the presence the blurb made it out to be. The gazebo in its backyard is more solid in my mind than the house itself. It’s all just really thin.
2.5
I never felt too concerned about the characters. Caitlin goes from a simpering husk to vengeful bitch in a span of a few paragraphs but even the little bit of backstory provided about her wasn’t enough to have me sympathizing for her. She had a crappy time growing up in the sense that people were very vocal about her being ugly and even her dad was so afraid she wouldn’t find anyone to marry that he bribed her gay friend Blake to marry her when they were fourteen. Either a dick move or good intentions buried in an asshole, however you look at it she didn’t have the best time growing up. She married a stud and it was obvious to everyone except her that he was in it for the money and was rampantly cheating on her. She shunned Blake when he tried to bring proof to her of her husband’s indiscretions and then we meet the isolated bitch she became. I don’t believe our pasts excuse us from being crappy people in the present and I don’t sympathize with people who don’t see the forest for the trees so 0 for 2 here.
Blake was the most sympathetic of the bunch and I won’t say he was unlikeable but he’s rather one-dimensional. He is the embodiment of the pain of his past and there really isn’t anything beyond that in any regard and for that he’s a rather stock character. Nova is an angry, black (and I only bring up her skin color because it’s really emphasized in the book), college student who hates Caitlin for holding her father back (or so she sees, this is proven not the case later in the book) and being the embodiment of rich white people who held her people down in the past (again, really emphasized in the book). Willie, Nova’s dad, also brings a single dimensional character to the story in the shape of a subservient black man with a backwoods accent (yet again, super emphasized in the book). I’m not up to speed about the accents of Louisiana outside of True Blood and who knows how authentic Anna Paquin’s accent was but Willie and Nova just didn’t ring authentic to me. I don’t like phonetic accents in books anyway (I’d much rather just be told the accent and let my head do the rest of the work) but here it seems really forced and like there were POINTS being made with the characters. It all rang very inauthentic to me and it just didn’t sit right. That’s not to say Rice doesn’t know area accents since, I’m guessing, he grew up in New Orleans because that’s where his mom does live but considering he’s a rich white guy from New Orleans I think it adds to Nova and Willie’s lack of authenticity. They’re stereotypical and come across as what someone would THINK of a black person from New Orleans as opposed to being genuine to the reality of those people.
The plot itself was disjointed and clunky. Bits and pieces to the puzzle weren’t very seamlessly put together and a lot of the time weren’t made relevant until much later in the story. Caitlin’s made to appear as the main character but about halfway through it switches to Blake and ends with him. Blake’s past is really hammered home and it doesn’t come together until the very end but it’s not done in a very fluid way. There’s a lot of POV-hopping and I think that takes away from the fluidity of the story even more. It was all just really jerky. Scene transition wasn’t easy and the pacing was like riding a really old roller coaster with its ups and downs and taking corners way too hard and throwing you into the side of the car in a going-to-leave-bruises sort of way instead of anything fun.
The vines and the bugs were creepy and it’s a neat concept but the execution was lackluster for me. Underdeveloped, cardboard characters, a jerky plot and thinly threaded devices to fuel the story just let me wanting something more fulfilling. I didn’t even feel like the setting, in all its rich scenery and history, was made much use of. Sure, the Spring House was there but aside from a stock plantation house with lush gardens, it wasn’t the presence the blurb made it out to be. The gazebo in its backyard is more solid in my mind than the house itself. It’s all just really thin.
2.5
This is a very fast paced horror story featuring man eating plants and insects set in Louisiana on a plantation. I found the pacing to be so fast that the characters did not have time to be fully developed. The story begins with Caitlin, but once she is gone, the focus shifts to Blake as the main character. It is then up to Blake, gay ex-best friend of Caitlin, along with Nova, a bitter young black woman whose father is the groundskeeper, to deal with the supernatural vines and insects. I received this book free to review from Netgalley.
I wanted to like this book, but I couldn't get past some of the ridiculous dialogue. It has major potential, but veers wildly off course. The narrator for the audiobook is pretty good, though.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I love Christopher Rice's ability to hook you in, and while this book is somewhat different to the previous titles of his that I've read - in that there are supernatural elements involved, and perhaps more horror, I suppose you'd say (although I didn't find it so) - he still had me intrigued.
It starts off as if it's about Caitlin, a rich but plain girl who's husband is a player and unfaithful to boot, but it soon becomes clear she's not the main focus. Her BFF Blake and Nova, the daughter of Caitlin's black groundsman Willie almost play bigger parts in the story, but the real stars are the Vines themselves.
If you like a story of revenge/justice for past wrongs tied in with a strange phenomenon almost at someone's beck and call, then this is probably a good book for you. I ran through it in a few days; it's not long, but it's my kind of page-turner.
It starts off as if it's about Caitlin, a rich but plain girl who's husband is a player and unfaithful to boot, but it soon becomes clear she's not the main focus. Her BFF Blake and Nova, the daughter of Caitlin's black groundsman Willie almost play bigger parts in the story, but the real stars are the Vines themselves.
If you like a story of revenge/justice for past wrongs tied in with a strange phenomenon almost at someone's beck and call, then this is probably a good book for you. I ran through it in a few days; it's not long, but it's my kind of page-turner.
Yeesh. This book was tough.
I read a few books by Christopher Rice about 7 (?) years ago and remember really enjoying them, so when I saw The Vines up for review on NetGalley I requested it immediately. I read the description, so I knew it was quite unlike his previous books, but it still surprised me by how different (and not in a good way) it was.
At the beginning of the story, we're introduced to Caitlyn Chaisson on the night of her birthday party at her family's plantation. She stumbles upon her husband in a liaison with one of the girls from the catering company, and this causes her so much heartache she tries to commit suicide by slicing her wrists in the gazebo. Unbeknownst to her, however, an ancient evil plant system (LOL) answers her blood call, leaving a missing husband and the girl he was with out of her mind. Her childhood friend, Blake, and the daughter of her caretaker, Nora, investigate to see what actually happened that night.
I knew that this was supposed to be horror and there were times that the plants got a little creepy, but mostly I giggled. The phrase "snakes of darkness" was used to describe the vines and there were little glowy flowers that waved. I have no idea. Anyway, if it was meant to be campy that would have been one thing, but the story was all mysterious and dark. Then it just turned weird when Caitlyn experiences a sort of sexual awakening with the vines.
Also, there were swarms of bugs that enjoyed flesh, so that put me firmly on the NOPE train.
The characters were well-written and the writing was evocative, as is the case with most of Rice's work. Also, there was a tragic backstory and Blake was awesome. That's the only reason I gave it two stars.
Look, it wasn't HORRIBLE (except for the vine parts-that was ridiculous). It just definitely wasn't my thing. It may be your thing.
This eARC was provided free from the Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I read a few books by Christopher Rice about 7 (?) years ago and remember really enjoying them, so when I saw The Vines up for review on NetGalley I requested it immediately. I read the description, so I knew it was quite unlike his previous books, but it still surprised me by how different (and not in a good way) it was.
At the beginning of the story, we're introduced to Caitlyn Chaisson on the night of her birthday party at her family's plantation. She stumbles upon her husband in a liaison with one of the girls from the catering company, and this causes her so much heartache she tries to commit suicide by slicing her wrists in the gazebo. Unbeknownst to her, however, an ancient evil plant system (LOL) answers her blood call, leaving a missing husband and the girl he was with out of her mind. Her childhood friend, Blake, and the daughter of her caretaker, Nora, investigate to see what actually happened that night.
I knew that this was supposed to be horror and there were times that the plants got a little creepy, but mostly I giggled. The phrase "snakes of darkness" was used to describe the vines and there were little glowy flowers that waved. I have no idea. Anyway, if it was meant to be campy that would have been one thing, but the story was all mysterious and dark. Then it just turned weird when Caitlyn experiences a sort of sexual awakening with the vines.
Also, there were swarms of bugs that enjoyed flesh, so that put me firmly on the NOPE train.
The characters were well-written and the writing was evocative, as is the case with most of Rice's work. Also, there was a tragic backstory and Blake was awesome. That's the only reason I gave it two stars.
Look, it wasn't HORRIBLE (except for the vine parts-that was ridiculous). It just definitely wasn't my thing. It may be your thing.
This eARC was provided free from the Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Holy hell can Christopher Rice spin a tale! The Vines will inspire you to never look at foliage the same way again. When Caitlin Chaisson, the wealthy owner of Spring House, a plantation mansion on the outskirts of New Orleans, is dreadfully wronged by her husband, she decides to commit suicide in the gazebo behind the house. Caitlin's spilled blood isn't enough to claim her life, but it does awakens a dark evil in the soil of Spring House. The terrifying events that follow unearth the violent history of the plantation home--and the lives of everyone who is close to Caitlin. Rice's command of language is beautiful. His imagery is terrifying. His characters are complex and interesting. It's horror done the right way. Read this!