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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
dnf. opening chapter was so so good, but got bored afterward.
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-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:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
2.75 stars - I really enjoyed the opening chapter and found parts throughout the book very creepy however I found the story a bit long and repetitive and while I appreciate the amount of research and respect the author put into the Native American myth used in the book, I still don’t think a non-Native American writer should appropriate it for their use.
This is easily the worst book I've read all year, and almost certainly the worst book I *will* read all year. Based on a r/nosleep post (already setting the horror bar pretty low), Stolen Tongues is a 200+ page read that could have had at least half the pages chopped and left on the floor, and nothing of value would be lost. The main character is an insufferable misogynist whose behaviors would have seemed outdated in the 1950s; we're talking chaperoning his fiancée to doctor's appointments and forcing her to take sedatives for his own convenience, describing her to another person *while she is sitting right beside him* and allegedly doing it better than Faye herself (because of course the woman can't find the right words to describe herself, obviously), even asking his friends to watch her when he travels out of town like she's a housecat that needs to be checked on.
The author is not funny, but unfortunately he thinks he is. Stolen Tongues is replete with boomer humor jokes that feature characters in-universe laughing at them to let you know when the punchline hit, featuring such novel humor as "girlfriend hates boyfriend's cooking" or "young people can't clean up after themselves." It's the sort of writing that would be best served as a script for some mid-tier 90s sitcom with a studio audience trained to laugh on cue.
The horror comes across like Blackwell has seen multiple horror movies, probably watched a few X-files episodes, but hasn't read a horror book. The scenes are written like stage directions, with the author failing to realize that the sort of shock that translates well on screen does not necessarily work in print. Moments of possession seem lifted directly from the Exorcist, and the contorted poses Faye pretzels herself into or the weird noises she makes feel copied from films like The Grudge or the later entries of the Conjuring universe. Worse yet is the repetition; nothing surprises you because the book is a constant cycle of go to bed, wake up because creepy thing happened, cut to next day when tired characters complain about creepy thing, repeat.
Stolen Tongues also has the worn out (and frankly racist) magic Native American trope, featuring members of an unnamed tribe helping our main boy for no clear reason other than to further the plot. It's fine, though, because Blackwell has the characters reiterate over and over to the basic white boy that it's fine for him to go poking around in their culture, they trust him, blah blah blah. It's like the author knew this was a terrible idea but wanted to pad himself with enough in-universe absolution (and again, carefully avoiding the connection to any real Native American cultures that might litigate against him) to make it seem less gross. It didn't work.
This is a wretched book, I wouldn't have read it were it not for book club, and this book being selected has forever diminished my opinion of the reading tastes of the lady who picked it for us.
The author is not funny, but unfortunately he thinks he is. Stolen Tongues is replete with boomer humor jokes that feature characters in-universe laughing at them to let you know when the punchline hit, featuring such novel humor as "girlfriend hates boyfriend's cooking" or "young people can't clean up after themselves." It's the sort of writing that would be best served as a script for some mid-tier 90s sitcom with a studio audience trained to laugh on cue.
The horror comes across like Blackwell has seen multiple horror movies, probably watched a few X-files episodes, but hasn't read a horror book. The scenes are written like stage directions, with the author failing to realize that the sort of shock that translates well on screen does not necessarily work in print. Moments of possession seem lifted directly from the Exorcist, and the contorted poses Faye pretzels herself into or the weird noises she makes feel copied from films like The Grudge or the later entries of the Conjuring universe. Worse yet is the repetition; nothing surprises you because the book is a constant cycle of go to bed, wake up because creepy thing happened, cut to next day when tired characters complain about creepy thing, repeat.
Stolen Tongues also has the worn out (and frankly racist) magic Native American trope, featuring members of an unnamed tribe helping our main boy for no clear reason other than to further the plot. It's fine, though, because Blackwell has the characters reiterate over and over to the basic white boy that it's fine for him to go poking around in their culture, they trust him, blah blah blah. It's like the author knew this was a terrible idea but wanted to pad himself with enough in-universe absolution (and again, carefully avoiding the connection to any real Native American cultures that might litigate against him) to make it seem less gross. It didn't work.
This is a wretched book, I wouldn't have read it were it not for book club, and this book being selected has forever diminished my opinion of the reading tastes of the lady who picked it for us.
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes