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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
There were many moments I absolutely loved this book. The audiobook narrator was amazing, especially with reading the distorted child voices and singing human to demonic songs but honestly I was really really let down with the last 20% to maybe even 30% of the book. The twists weren’t that twisty, the horror of it all was left to your imagination instead of described with gruesome details like I expected. Idk, I kept hearing this is the best horror book people have read over and over again and it was good sure but nothing special. I enjoyed it but probably wouldn’t read it again or think about it.
I loved this book for the creep factor. I got goosebumps several times while listening to the audiobook, doing chores around my house. I binged it all in one evening. The character were a little flat… not much personality to them… but I still thought it was good for a horror book. It would have been 5 stars if the characters had more character (lol) and if the ending was better. I was disappointed in the end— by how easily their nightmare ended.
The opening chapter is really promising, but then the book just devolves into a series of vaguely creepy set pieces that are repeated over and over. Also, Felix's writing style is absolutely hillarious. It's like he's trying to mimic Lovecraft or something without realizing how silly it sounds in the modern setting. I made it about a third of the way through this book and then decided that it simply wasn't worth my time. Life's too short to waste it on agressively mid horror.
This wasn’t scary while reading, it was definitely good, and it freaking kept me up at night just thinking about this thing sitting under my window. I was too afraid to get up and pull the blinds down like a little baby.
I listened to this audiobook and I thought I was going to lose my mind 99% of the time. I don’t know if it was the guys voice or the story or both but I was FREAKED. I read outside mostly and I read at night the first half of the book and let me tell you. I started it in the light or I would’ve DNF’d reading through the prologue. My jaw was dropped the whole goddamn time.
That being said I was disappointed there wasn’t much of a callback to the prologue in the meat of the story. The terror of hearing that parrot in the middle of the woods. I was waiting for it the whole time and I did feel a little let down at that. Other than that I really really liked it. I think this was my first true horror book and I don’t do a lot of critical reading and I am not able to picture things in my head well very often but I saw this book vividly; the doors being knocked on, the dark, the shapes in them, the dreamcatcher that wasn’t and was, her crawling and running around unnaturally… I saw all of it and it was terrifying.
There were a couple times I just had to pause the audio and go inside and do something in the light because it was just too much. My family has lived in this house for decades and my windows have been unlocked since the dawn of time and I really had to fight not to lock them over this book. I am a horror movie girlie. I go to conventions and the whole nine. I don’t know why I haven’t read horror like this before. It was such a different experience.
Reading the reviews after did make me realize I am a white piece of shit 0/5 stars for me and it did make me glad that I read it for free and didn’t pay money for it. While I will not turn into a critical reader, I will make a conscious effort in future books to watch how the underrepresented are being represented and not just that they are there to be slaughtered as they usually are in horror. Im always the first to say this isn’t a white country and then this kind of cultural abuse frankly just goes right over my head. Jesus. There’s always room to grow and always room to fall. I’m sure the author has grown with this experience as well.
C 9
Would’ve been a 10 if the parrot would’ve come back.
A 10
Was freaked out of my gourd
W 9
I wish there would’ve been more in the cabin and there was a lot so not too much. I wish I knew native people to know if they are offended by this or not.
P 8
Lots of things fell flat in the end but it was such a wild ride to get there.
I 10
I think about this book more often than any other book I’ve read in years.
L 6
Eh. Why not? Again. I don’t know any native people to know if it makes sense or not but if it does make sense it’s still and eh.
E 10
Eerie fun.
That being said I was disappointed there wasn’t much of a callback to the prologue in the meat of the story. The terror of hearing that parrot in the middle of the woods. I was waiting for it the whole time and I did feel a little let down at that. Other than that I really really liked it. I think this was my first true horror book and I don’t do a lot of critical reading and I am not able to picture things in my head well very often but I saw this book vividly; the doors being knocked on, the dark, the shapes in them, the dreamcatcher that wasn’t and was, her crawling and running around unnaturally… I saw all of it and it was terrifying.
There were a couple times I just had to pause the audio and go inside and do something in the light because it was just too much. My family has lived in this house for decades and my windows have been unlocked since the dawn of time and I really had to fight not to lock them over this book. I am a horror movie girlie. I go to conventions and the whole nine. I don’t know why I haven’t read horror like this before. It was such a different experience.
Reading the reviews after did make me realize I am a white piece of shit 0/5 stars for me and it did make me glad that I read it for free and didn’t pay money for it. While I will not turn into a critical reader, I will make a conscious effort in future books to watch how the underrepresented are being represented and not just that they are there to be slaughtered as they usually are in horror. Im always the first to say this isn’t a white country and then this kind of cultural abuse frankly just goes right over my head. Jesus. There’s always room to grow and always room to fall. I’m sure the author has grown with this experience as well.
C 9
Would’ve been a 10 if the parrot would’ve come back.
A 10
Was freaked out of my gourd
W 9
I wish there would’ve been more in the cabin and there was a lot so not too much. I wish I knew native people to know if they are offended by this or not.
P 8
Lots of things fell flat in the end but it was such a wild ride to get there.
I 10
I think about this book more often than any other book I’ve read in years.
L 6
Eh. Why not? Again. I don’t know any native people to know if it makes sense or not but if it does make sense it’s still and eh.
E 10
Eerie fun.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
What starts out quite effectively creepy quickly becomes repetitive, unfortunately. The main characters get freaked out in the cabin, twice, then at home, then at home with extra vomit, and it starts to all feel the same. And however much Blackwell might try to stave off criticism of cultural appropriation of Native American lore by (a) writing sympathetic but boring Native characters into the story and (b) including his afterword, he has still created a story in which white main characters are terrorised by an indigenous monster.
This book honestly scared me! It was creepy and terrifying. I agree with some reviewers and didn’t like how it ended but 90% of this book was so on point! I never really reread books but I am buying a copy of this one for my shelf and will reread eventually. If you like horror this is a MUST read! So creepy!
The narrator was corny and too breathy.
dark
tense
medium-paced