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cooldude's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I don’t like giving low reviews so I put it higher than what I wanted to, but I will say this:
It wasn’t a bad book, I liked the idea. I think taking a supernatural turn is cool and different but I just felt a bit let down. Maybe it’s because I’ve read a lot of true crime stuff that I usually don’t expect that sort of thing, or maybe I just wanted it to be something more. I felt that the characters were bland and predictable. Once the mystery of the story was revealed, I waited for some other twist, only to be disappointed. Some things didn’t really make sense at times, some parts I had to force myself to keep reading. The ‘secrets’ some characters had were just stupid, while others I understood why. While reading, I felt that the concept of the story would actually work well in a video game, like until dawn. You’ve got a set of characters trapped in a creepy place, trying to save them from the end, add in the supernatural stuff and you got yourself a dope game. All in all, i liked the idea, just wish the writing was better(In a plot sense).
It wasn’t a bad book, I liked the idea. I think taking a supernatural turn is cool and different but I just felt a bit let down. Maybe it’s because I’ve read a lot of true crime stuff that I usually don’t expect that sort of thing, or maybe I just wanted it to be something more. I felt that the characters were bland and predictable. Once the mystery of the story was revealed, I waited for some other twist, only to be disappointed. Some things didn’t really make sense at times, some parts I had to force myself to keep reading. The ‘secrets’ some characters had were just stupid, while others I understood why. While reading, I felt that the concept of the story would actually work well in a video game, like until dawn. You’ve got a set of characters trapped in a creepy place, trying to save them from the end, add in the supernatural stuff and you got yourself a dope game. All in all, i liked the idea, just wish the writing was better(In a plot sense).
ireadbookssopleasehelpmebabes's review
3.0
Reading this book, i believe that i would have enjoyed this more if i was younger as the concept of the story is meant to be creepy and illusive but to me it just seemed bland on that front, and the other aspects of the story making me give it the rating i did ( 3.5 stars rounded to 4) but picked it up anyways to try get rid of books on my to be read.
The story follows 10 teenagers, each with a deadly secret who are blackmailed to come to the derelict and possibly haunted peer.
An interesting concept, and the start was good but after it just got a bit annoying. The part of the meant to be spooky thing that kills people was meant to be scary but made me just want to throw my book across the room because it was more like something from a seven year olds youtube channel.
The characters where also incredibly annoying and none of them had any chemistry with each other at all besides the fact they where all b itches.
The story follows 10 teenagers, each with a deadly secret who are blackmailed to come to the derelict and possibly haunted peer.
An interesting concept, and the start was good but after it just got a bit annoying. The part of the meant to be spooky thing that kills people was meant to be scary but made me just want to throw my book across the room because it was more like something from a seven year olds youtube channel.
The characters where also incredibly annoying and none of them had any chemistry with each other at all besides the fact they where all b itches.
kang_lisa's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
skyskydahl's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
rebecca06's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
4.5
maiyapan's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
themermaddie's review
3.0
this is a weird one, because i feel like this would've made a much better screenplay for a 6 episode hbo show or something instead of a novel. the bones of a strong story are absolutely here, there's interesting stuff happening but it's largely overshadowed by a truly enormous (10!) cast of characters and strange behaviour all around. i also didnt realise that this was a supernatural mystery book, which was fine with me but just unexpected. the context of this book makes more sense when you read the acknowledgements and the author cites agatha christie and stephen king as inspirations: this feels like IT x And Then There Were None had a YA baby.
something about the writing in this book made it feel like a script, but like, not enough? i feel like this would have been a great tv show bc foxfield's setting descriptions were not doing enough for me, but i can absolutely see what she was going for. the characters all feel like archetypes; they were better than cliches, but there were unfortunately just so many of them that it gets a little confusing at times. especially when we get introduced to all of them at the same time, i feel like it might've been better to slowly introduce characters over the first quarter of the book instead of info dumping too early. i liked that all of their secrets were actually very bad, but there's not enough time dedicated to actually processing each one; even ava's secret reveal was like "ok thanks for telling me now we should run for our lives."
i wish jolie and ava's friendship had better support, it was SO weird watching ava continuously defend this girl when jolie had literally never been shown to be kind to anyone ever on page. like okay maybe jolie has changed but if you want me to care about her at ALL you need to show me something about her worth being invested in. all she does is be cruel, i don't care that she's traumatised and lashing out, it doesn't make sense that ava is the only one seemingly mourning their friendship, ugh. it just makes it seem like ava has bad taste in friends and jolie is a bad person.
the mystery was, well, eh. once you figure out the "rules" it's interesting to see who will survive and how ppl will die. which i will say! this book is not shy about killing characters off, which can't be said about all YA thrillers. the whole whispers thing frustrates me bc i feel like it would be SO MUCH BETTER if it had been on screen! i think all the imagery that foxfield was trying to get across would've been so slay if visualised; the cage, the ocean, the cavern, the funhouse MIRRORS?!? would've been so atmospheric and cool.
lastly and least importantly, whoever did the US translation of this book did a fucking horrible job. these kids talk like british teenagers but with 90s american high school slang?? the US version took the time to change all the british spellings to american spellings (eg realize instead of realise) but you shouldn't take the time to change "year 6" to "5th grade"?? it was very weird and distracting.
anyway this book was fine ig, good vibes for what it is but really should've been a tv script imo
something about the writing in this book made it feel like a script, but like, not enough? i feel like this would have been a great tv show bc foxfield's setting descriptions were not doing enough for me, but i can absolutely see what she was going for. the characters all feel like archetypes; they were better than cliches, but there were unfortunately just so many of them that it gets a little confusing at times. especially when we get introduced to all of them at the same time, i feel like it might've been better to slowly introduce characters over the first quarter of the book instead of info dumping too early. i liked that all of their secrets were actually very bad, but there's not enough time dedicated to actually processing each one; even ava's secret reveal was like "ok thanks for telling me now we should run for our lives."
i wish jolie and ava's friendship had better support, it was SO weird watching ava continuously defend this girl when jolie had literally never been shown to be kind to anyone ever on page. like okay maybe jolie has changed but if you want me to care about her at ALL you need to show me something about her worth being invested in. all she does is be cruel, i don't care that she's traumatised and lashing out, it doesn't make sense that ava is the only one seemingly mourning their friendship, ugh. it just makes it seem like ava has bad taste in friends and jolie is a bad person.
the mystery was, well, eh. once you figure out the "rules" it's interesting to see who will survive and how ppl will die. which i will say! this book is not shy about killing characters off, which can't be said about all YA thrillers. the whole whispers thing frustrates me bc i feel like it would be SO MUCH BETTER if it had been on screen! i think all the imagery that foxfield was trying to get across would've been so slay if visualised; the cage, the ocean, the cavern, the funhouse MIRRORS?!? would've been so atmospheric and cool.
lastly and least importantly, whoever did the US translation of this book did a fucking horrible job. these kids talk like british teenagers but with 90s american high school slang?? the US version took the time to change all the british spellings to american spellings (eg realize instead of realise) but you shouldn't take the time to change "year 6" to "5th grade"?? it was very weird and distracting.
anyway this book was fine ig, good vibes for what it is but really should've been a tv script imo
mayhem9683's review
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5