Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
Wow. Adam Nevill - when he's scary, he's terrifying. The scale of his work is so gigantic that it took me weeks to get through the first 200 pages, and then I shot through the next 300 in a few hours. That said, this story will be very familiar if you've already visited his new book [b:The Reddening|45718831|The Reddening|Adam Nevill|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1566913256l/45718831._SY75_.jpg|70497929] - or his new book will be very familiar if you've already read this one. In a nutshell, it's a very scary cult story about a very scary cult.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
The first 25% of this book had me seriously spooked but the rest of the book read more as an action book than horror. I really like the author's really descriptive writing style. Took me 2 days to read which I suppose is a good sign, couldn't really put it down. Had to know how it ended.
I DNF’d this book for over a year before coming back to finish it in a mad fury of persistence. This is truly a creative horror book and definitely one of the most unique concepts in modern horror I have come across. The settings are lush and unsettling, and the world building and research that the author had to do to cultivate this kind of rich history and background is nothing short of impressive.
That being said, I was bored for the majority of the story. This is a slow burn in terms of action, and unfortunately the pacing of the plot suffers for it. The main character had no idea what was going on, and we as readers don’t either. I think this was meant to create a sense of unease and maybe a mystique, but all it did was make me not care. The stakes don’t exist if basically the entirety of the book, so the reader really has to be eager for a certain kind of experience to really be driven to keep going. I, unfortunately, am not that kind of reader. I want to understand and be invested in the character’s predicament. By the time I got to the end where the stakes were explained and the action finally picked up, I was in such a mind-numbing state that the only thing keeping me going was the determination to FINISH and I barely registered any of the words I read.
This story has so much potential, and I definitely see where the five star reviews are coming in, but for me what it lacked was a thorough editing and cutting of around 25-30,000 words.
I do plan to check out the author’s other works though. Many of them are much thinner than this volume and I am hoping that will give the author’s concepts the opportunity to shine through. 3/5⭐️
That being said, I was bored for the majority of the story. This is a slow burn in terms of action, and unfortunately the pacing of the plot suffers for it. The main character had no idea what was going on, and we as readers don’t either. I think this was meant to create a sense of unease and maybe a mystique, but all it did was make me not care. The stakes don’t exist if basically the entirety of the book, so the reader really has to be eager for a certain kind of experience to really be driven to keep going. I, unfortunately, am not that kind of reader. I want to understand and be invested in the character’s predicament. By the time I got to the end where the stakes were explained and the action finally picked up, I was in such a mind-numbing state that the only thing keeping me going was the determination to FINISH and I barely registered any of the words I read.
This story has so much potential, and I definitely see where the five star reviews are coming in, but for me what it lacked was a thorough editing and cutting of around 25-30,000 words.
I do plan to check out the author’s other works though. Many of them are much thinner than this volume and I am hoping that will give the author’s concepts the opportunity to shine through. 3/5⭐️
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
No
This book was so bad. Everyone on TikTok raved about how “scary” and good it was, but it was not scary at all and it was BAD!!! Kyle was so annoying, always dismissive, making the worst choices ever. Also, maybe I’m just dumb, but at the end, how were there so many blood friends? I was under the impression that the blood friends were Lorche and his Seven disciples? So how were there… more than seven blood friends? Also the ending was just so dumb and happened so quickly compared to the rest of the book also, there’s too much description and detail. We actually don’t need several pages of detail on rooms of a mansion that will not be relevant to the story in any way, shape, or form. Waste of time read, I’m mad I didn’t DNF this book 3 weeks ago when I took it out of the library.
Good supernatural and cult story that was pretty creepy and well thought out
Liked the story unfolding via main character making a documentary, very visual and descriptive
It felt really, really long… got to be too explain-y toward the end and a bit overdone
Mixed feelings about the characters and ending
Liked the story unfolding via main character making a documentary, very visual and descriptive
It felt really, really long… got to be too explain-y toward the end and a bit overdone
Mixed feelings about the characters and ending
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I will never look at water stains the same way again.
I'm not typically a horror reader and this is the first book I've read by this author.
The first part of the book was pretty good. Sufficiently creepy. Moved maybe a tad slow, but it helped build the tension. Once the book rounded 400 pages or so, I started getting fatigued with the whole bit. I was about as tired of Max and his shenanigans as Kyle was before being shipped off to Antwerp for some morbid art lesson to "make everything clear ". (Uh, ok) It was like an infomercial "But wait... there's more!" I don't know what to make of the more.
I was listening to the audiobook of George Orwell's Animal Farm as I was reading this book, and towards their respective ends both books have pigs dressing up in human clothing . That added a whole creepy vibe as I pictured the audiobook in my mind!
I'm not typically a horror reader and this is the first book I've read by this author.
The first part of the book was pretty good. Sufficiently creepy. Moved maybe a tad slow, but it helped build the tension. Once the book rounded 400 pages or so, I started getting fatigued with the whole bit. I was about as tired of Max and his shenanigans as Kyle was before being shipped off to Antwerp for some morbid art lesson to "make everything clear ". (Uh, ok) It was like an infomercial "But wait... there's more!" I don't know what to make of the more.
I was listening to the audiobook of George Orwell's Animal Farm as I was reading this book, and towards their respective ends both books have pigs dressing up in human clothing . That added a whole creepy vibe as I pictured the audiobook in my mind!