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cepbreed's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I'm a huge fan of horror, the type that can handle gore, jumpscares, you name it, yet this book unsettled me EXTREMELY. The ending has left me more confused than any other book has this year. I cannot explain enough how reading this sleep deprived at 2 in the morning has freaked me out. From the beginning, this image of a looming man dressed in full dancing regalia scared me. I imagined the spirit in the shadows, not exactly a man but not something else either. The tension continued to build even when the ghost wasn't present, and I commend Stephen Graham Jones for that. The scariest thing to me turns out to be suspense and this book is overflowing with it. Some of the most unsettling things for me were the disgusting pulsating nest underneath the house, the image of the father feeding on Dino's energy through his gaping maw, and the scene where those Frankenstein mutts eat him and tear off the regalia that turns out to be a part of his physical body. Chills. I love reading unreliable narrators, I just didn't expect Junior to be speaking in the past tense. I thought the book would be entirely from a child's perspective. Not a problem just something I was surprised about.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Gun violence, Death, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent
Moderate: Gore
Minor: Gaslighting
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