Reviews with content warning for Murder - You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight

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Reviews tagging 'Murder'

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron

251 reviews

mgdmcc's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

YNSDT is a fast paced and interesting addition to the horror genre. Following Charity and the haphazard group of teens trying to survive the night, at first for fun and then for survival, this book creates a vivid, visceral story. The characters each have strong voices and overpowering motivations that revive a very specific image of horror many are familiar with from the cult classics horror fans will always go back to. While the end in my opinion works harder to set up a sequel than to give a satisfying conclusion, this is unsurprising in a horror novel inspired by films like Friday the 13th. Overall, it’s easy to fall in love with these characters and enjoy the twists that come. If the Fear Street trilogy and classics like Halloween and Friday the 13th speak to you, this book is a great summer read.

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somelesbianwriter's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I'm a big fan of Kalynn Bayron's other books, but this one fell a little flat for me. I thought elements of the story were effective, and I actually enjoyed the ending

for the way it subverted the 'Bury Your Gays' trope by having Bezi kill the killer to bring Charity back.

I'm also always here for diverse books, across all genres! But overall, I struggled to enjoy a lot of this.

The first half was a little slow, but generally very solid - the suspense, the groundwork being laid. The second half I enjoyed a lot less. I didn't really feel the emotions of the characters or feel particularly attached to them, even during what should've been visceral moments, and I thought they took a lot of illogical courses of action (especially as they kept touting the fact that they knew about horror movie tropes and wanted to avoid them). I also thought there were a lot of times they behaved strangely -

like Charity sitting down for tea in the house without seeming afraid for Kyle, even though as far as she knew, he was missing with a killer on the loose

. The whole 'owl' thing felt a little random and hard to take seriously, too.

Still, this had some good elements of suspense, some cool characters, a diverse cast, and

turned the Bury Your Gays trope around

, so it's far from all bad. And generally I think the author is great!

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cloreadsbooks1364's review

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4.25

A horror novel set at a summer camp where people are being m*rdered left right and centre? I really enjoyed this one!

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight
By Kalynn Bayron
4.25/5⭐️

This might be my favourite of Bayron's novels, it only took me a single day to read and the ending shocked me.

This book stars Charity, a teenage girl who works at a full-contact horror simulator every summer. She plays the Final Girl, and leads guests through the camp while a serial k!ller terrifies them. As the season nears it's end, employees begin to disappear. Charity, along with her girlfriend Bezi, try to outsmart the very real k!ller as they unravel the startling hidden past of Camp Mirror Lake.

This is quite a short book, and it's extremely fast paced. One brutal scene follows another, my eyes couldn't leave the pages because of the endless action.
The plot twists weren't really guessable for us readers, but they were still entertaining to watch Charity uncover. The slight fantasy aspect didn't fit right for me, hence the .75 star deduction in my rating. However, it all ran so smoothly that I can't wrap my head around what actually happened at what point in the book.
By the way, if you don't like reading about death then stay far far away from this one! And if you are reading it, don't become attached to the characters :)

TWs: m*rder, gore, death, animal death, gun violence, blood

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pitchafitz's review against another edition

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dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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sage_alexandra's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

It had me in the first half, but the, motive, didn't work for me.

Don't get me wrong, it was interesting, but I wasn't expecting cult sacrifice. The movie featuring a supernatural killer was a rip off that it wouldn't be your regular neighborhood serial killer. When talk of the Owl Man got brought up, I was expecting some Mothman shit (but, evil, Mothman is a good little dude). I wasn't pleased by the turn of events but oh well. But when it wasn't that, and was just a cult, I was disappointed.

All in all, I appreciated the representation in the book. I read "Cinderella is Dead" a couple of years ago and enjoyed both books. I wish it had gone more into the horror simulation, but I understand that wasn't the focus

even though it would've been nice to balance out the future insanity.

I'm glad I clocked Kyle from the beginning. The bodies being discovered under the couch (when they were supposed to have been ambulanced away), and the "I called the police" from Mr. Dumont were both red flags that I wish Charity had seen immediately.

Also, what the fuck was up with the sheriff?? He was just never brought up again? He had to have been in on it, right? I was expecting a cloaked figure reveal.

And the epilogue had me more freaked out than anything else. Girl, you just raised your dead girlfriend from the lake, and you AREN'T OPENING YOUR EYES?!?! As your hear the most unnerving sounds of water dripping from a person, and footsteps??? Like, I know you were expecting it, but aren't you a little concerned that she's going to be a rotting corpse?? I'm imagining some "Haunting of Bly Manor" lady of the lake grabbing your throat shit. My skin was CRAWLING

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juliiitschka's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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awesome_archaeology's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

“I’ve been playing the part of a girl who escapes a serial killer every night for months. It’s not a game this time. The consequences are real, but we still have to play” (p.181).

This book was an amazingly original read and an excellent ode to the final girl trope. The plot twists and turns like a trail through the forest.

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marmaladereads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

5.0

Lots of edge of your seat slasher gore. This book really doesn't pull any punches, I gasped and cried out multiple times at all the twists and turns. Definitely don't get too attached to anyone because no one is safe and keep your eyes open for the big twist.

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fengxin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

i'm so conflicted about this book. the second the action picked up, i was hooked but the ending made me so mad? i get what it was doing, and the plot twists did make my jaw drop but that very last part was just unnecessary. i think it could've been better if

she'd killed kyle for revenge and that's it, no fantasy paranormal business.

eh, i still had a fun time for over 60% of the book so overall not bad. could've been a 4 stars if it wasn't for the narrator's voice which i didn't like at all (the first 30% if the book is narrated in such a monotone and irritating way, thank goodness it got better when the plot kicked in).

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lauren_lovestoread's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

3.0

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