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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I've been interested lately in trying to find my horror niche- it's a genre I really want to explore more as a reader- but sadly, I can conclude that this book is not it. For most of the time I read it, I was going to go for a pretty run-of-the-mill 3 stars; sometimes I was a little more bored, sometimes a little more interested, but never too far in any one direction. But by the time I reached the end, I felt unsatisfied and lowered my rating to 2.5 stars.
In fairness, I did have a feeling that whatever my horror taste is, a bloody, gory slasher narrative probably wouldn't be something I'd love. So I wasn't really going into this expecting to bestow a glowing 5-star review. But I found that instead of either traumatizing or engaging me, I just became entirely desensitized to the graphic violence very quickly. Even the deaths of the animals, which normally would have my anxiety spiking, I read with very little emotion, because the more it happened the less effect it had overall. There's a pretty high level of death across all demographics in this book, but I was disappointed at the number of both dogs and women who are killed. I think it was supposed to show the indiscriminate nature of the killer's victims (the monster in question was killed in a moment of gratuitous bloodshed on the part of some characters, so she kills their loved ones disproportionately in return), but while it accomplishes that point well, it meant that I stopped caring about anybody within the first third of the book and just never really started to care again. Out of the more central characters that died, I feel like half of them didn't even know that this monster was pursuing them, which also made the body count feel very gratuitous.
The book is also relatively slow paced for a horror novel, and didn't get as much into character as I would have liked. I think perhaps there are some indigenous cultural resonances I didn't get, but normally in those cases I can see what references I don't have the cultural background to understand, and I didn't get that here. It just felt like something was missing and I wasn't pulled in by it. Take my review with a grain of salt since I was reading well outside of my genre comfort zone, but if you (like me) dislike slashers but thought that the diverse voice of the novel would override the elements you're not fond of, this novel might not necessarily do that.
In fairness, I did have a feeling that whatever my horror taste is, a bloody, gory slasher narrative probably wouldn't be something I'd love. So I wasn't really going into this expecting to bestow a glowing 5-star review. But I found that instead of either traumatizing or engaging me, I just became entirely desensitized to the graphic violence very quickly. Even the deaths of the animals, which normally would have my anxiety spiking, I read with very little emotion, because the more it happened the less effect it had overall. There's a pretty high level of death across all demographics in this book, but I was disappointed at the number of both dogs and women who are killed. I think it was supposed to show the indiscriminate nature of the killer's victims (the monster in question was killed in a moment of gratuitous bloodshed on the part of some characters, so she kills their loved ones disproportionately in return), but while it accomplishes that point well, it meant that I stopped caring about anybody within the first third of the book and just never really started to care again. Out of the more central characters that died, I feel like half of them didn't even know that this monster was pursuing them, which also made the body count feel very gratuitous.
The book is also relatively slow paced for a horror novel, and didn't get as much into character as I would have liked. I think perhaps there are some indigenous cultural resonances I didn't get, but normally in those cases I can see what references I don't have the cultural background to understand, and I didn't get that here. It just felt like something was missing and I wasn't pulled in by it. Take my review with a grain of salt since I was reading well outside of my genre comfort zone, but if you (like me) dislike slashers but thought that the diverse voice of the novel would override the elements you're not fond of, this novel might not necessarily do that.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.5 stars. An excellent novel that is a combination of horror and American native lore. It’s excellent in audiobook form—-like a movie for your ears .
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really enjoyed this book!
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
I struggled with this one because the heavy focus on basketball pulled me out of the story more than it drew me in. It follows a group of friends haunted by a past transgression as something vengeful and terrifying begins to close in on their lives.
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
challenging
tense