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angelicprose's review
2.0
this is so cool and so good i just can’t get myself to finish it or really *love* it and that hurts :(
rachwritr2's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
charspages's review
2.0
I am NOT a fan of horror books.
I don't like scary movies, I despise true crime, I stay far away from American Horror Story, and I haven't even seen the newest IT even though I'd totally follow Bill Skarsgard into any dumpster.
And yet, a couple days after Halloween this year, I saw the absolutely sinister, super gorgeous cover for this book in Mira's book shelf and found myself unable to resist. Perhaps, I thought, a spooky read is just what I need.
I was half right. The first 100 pages were so scary, so weird, and so utterly mesmerizing that I tore through them in one sitting. (At a friend's birthday party, no less.) I was hooked. I wanted, no, needed to know what was happening.
And then - I'm not sure what changed - about one-third into the novel, the story loses its fire. The rest of this book was terrifying only in the sense how much it bored me.
No one is more saddened by this than me. I think that this book had so much potential. I loved the concept and the set-up, which felt like a gentle way to introduce a complete horror-newbie to the genre. Not overly confusing, but not at all straightforward, either. Ultimately, though, this fell terribly short of my expectations.
PLOT: 1 / 5
Man, I did like the premise of this. (Except for the medically inaccurate portrayal of DID, which was just a little warped to make it more cool or spooky or whatever.) [b:The Dead House|22396591|The Dead House (The Dead House #1)|Dawn Kurtagich|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1421353573l/22396591._SY75_.jpg|41818801] is told in reports, police interviews, diary entries, and camera transcripts and tells the story of the Johnson Incident.
Or so it makes you believe.
In reality, all this book tells you is I don't know what happened either! You decide for yourself what the true story is here! and let me say that I fucking hated that. I felt so cheated - what did I just read 400 pages of Kaitlyn's insufferable edgy diary for if it doesn't even tell me what the fuck happened?
There were some interesting leads in the beginning - the death of Kaitlyn's parents, her relationship with her alter Carly, the dabbling in Scottish folk magic - that promised to get exciting. Let me make it short and painless for you: these leads did not live up to their promise at all. Instead, it felt like incident piled upon incident piled upon incident until it was all so terribly confusing that it honestly killed my will to find out what happened.
This book was long-winded and very blasé about not having a satisfying ending to tie together all the nonsense that happened over the course of 400 pages. Reading it felt like dragging yourself through knee-deep mud, only to realize you arrived exactly where you started.
CHARACTERS: 1.5 / 5
The second point where this book failed me spectacularly was its characters. I did not, and I mean this in all earnesty, did not enjoy a single one out of them.
"I curse anyone who reads this book.
If you touch it, hell will be waiting.
Screw you, happy reading."
Man, if anyone knew how to get on my fucking nerves, it was KAITLYN JOHNSON. Could've been a member of the Kardashian clan, judged by how unbearable I found her. She was all edgy! and dark! and rebellious! and I literally didn't care about her.
"You are a ray of sunshine at midnight."
CARLY JOHNSON, on the other hand, was someone I could very much get behind. I would have loved to get to know her more, to hear the story from her point of view. I loved her warmth, her dark secrets, everything. I truly wish she had been the narrator of the story.
NAIDA CHOUNAN-DUPRÉ and her brother HAJI were the two characters who I felt had the most depth and, at the same time, the highest annoyance potential out of the entire cast. They were both annoyingly mysterious and super interesting. I couldn't really make up my mind about them, to be honest.
The rest of the cast left such little impression that I don't even remember their names, except for ARI HAIT who can get fucked with his stupid bowler hat.
Don't get me started on the cringe-worthy battery of e-mails exchanged between Kaitlyn and Ari as their so-called "romance" blossoms - or when they start shagging in a graveyard. It made me cringe so hard I probably popped a vein or something.
WORLD BUILDING: 2 / 5
I guess the world building was okay. I don't know, I don't care enough to remember anything from it.
WRITING STYLE: 4 / 5
If [a:Dawn Kurtagich|8288991|Dawn Kurtagich|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1404838865p2/8288991.jpg] can do one thing, it's write. And she writes well. The whole style of this novel is mesmerizing and poignant. Ms. Kurtagich knows exactly how to play the words to make them sing. Her phrasing is gorgeous and wild and crooked and dark and twisted and it is so many things I could write one whole review on that alone.
DIVERSITY: 2 / 5
I guess the DID representation counts as diversity, right? Also a black boy as a side-character who neither dies nor turns out to be a cliché asshole with one line, that was a fun change. I'm honestly too tired to think about the rest.
OVERALL: 1.5 / 5
As much as I adore Dawn Kurtagich's style, and as much as I believe in her ability to tell great stories, I did not like this book. It dragged, it was confusing, it didn't have a solution for anything, and the characters were cringe-worthy at best. Overall, not a pleasant reading experience after the fire from the first seventy pages crackles out.
I don't like scary movies, I despise true crime, I stay far away from American Horror Story, and I haven't even seen the newest IT even though I'd totally follow Bill Skarsgard into any dumpster.
And yet, a couple days after Halloween this year, I saw the absolutely sinister, super gorgeous cover for this book in Mira's book shelf and found myself unable to resist. Perhaps, I thought, a spooky read is just what I need.
I was half right. The first 100 pages were so scary, so weird, and so utterly mesmerizing that I tore through them in one sitting. (At a friend's birthday party, no less.) I was hooked. I wanted, no, needed to know what was happening.
And then - I'm not sure what changed - about one-third into the novel, the story loses its fire. The rest of this book was terrifying only in the sense how much it bored me.
No one is more saddened by this than me. I think that this book had so much potential. I loved the concept and the set-up, which felt like a gentle way to introduce a complete horror-newbie to the genre. Not overly confusing, but not at all straightforward, either. Ultimately, though, this fell terribly short of my expectations.
PLOT: 1 / 5
Man, I did like the premise of this. (Except for the medically inaccurate portrayal of DID, which was just a little warped to make it more cool or spooky or whatever.) [b:The Dead House|22396591|The Dead House (The Dead House #1)|Dawn Kurtagich|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1421353573l/22396591._SY75_.jpg|41818801] is told in reports, police interviews, diary entries, and camera transcripts and tells the story of the Johnson Incident.
Or so it makes you believe.
In reality, all this book tells you is I don't know what happened either! You decide for yourself what the true story is here! and let me say that I fucking hated that. I felt so cheated - what did I just read 400 pages of Kaitlyn's insufferable edgy diary for if it doesn't even tell me what the fuck happened?
There were some interesting leads in the beginning - the death of Kaitlyn's parents, her relationship with her alter Carly, the dabbling in Scottish folk magic - that promised to get exciting. Let me make it short and painless for you: these leads did not live up to their promise at all. Instead, it felt like incident piled upon incident piled upon incident until it was all so terribly confusing that it honestly killed my will to find out what happened.
This book was long-winded and very blasé about not having a satisfying ending to tie together all the nonsense that happened over the course of 400 pages. Reading it felt like dragging yourself through knee-deep mud, only to realize you arrived exactly where you started.
CHARACTERS: 1.5 / 5
The second point where this book failed me spectacularly was its characters. I did not, and I mean this in all earnesty, did not enjoy a single one out of them.
"I curse anyone who reads this book.
If you touch it, hell will be waiting.
Screw you, happy reading."
Man, if anyone knew how to get on my fucking nerves, it was KAITLYN JOHNSON. Could've been a member of the Kardashian clan, judged by how unbearable I found her. She was all edgy! and dark! and rebellious! and I literally didn't care about her.
"You are a ray of sunshine at midnight."
CARLY JOHNSON, on the other hand, was someone I could very much get behind. I would have loved to get to know her more, to hear the story from her point of view. I loved her warmth, her dark secrets, everything. I truly wish she had been the narrator of the story.
NAIDA CHOUNAN-DUPRÉ and her brother HAJI were the two characters who I felt had the most depth and, at the same time, the highest annoyance potential out of the entire cast. They were both annoyingly mysterious and super interesting. I couldn't really make up my mind about them, to be honest.
The rest of the cast left such little impression that I don't even remember their names, except for ARI HAIT who can get fucked with his stupid bowler hat.
Don't get me started on the cringe-worthy battery of e-mails exchanged between Kaitlyn and Ari as their so-called "romance" blossoms - or when they start shagging in a graveyard. It made me cringe so hard I probably popped a vein or something.
WORLD BUILDING: 2 / 5
I guess the world building was okay. I don't know, I don't care enough to remember anything from it.
WRITING STYLE: 4 / 5
If [a:Dawn Kurtagich|8288991|Dawn Kurtagich|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1404838865p2/8288991.jpg] can do one thing, it's write. And she writes well. The whole style of this novel is mesmerizing and poignant. Ms. Kurtagich knows exactly how to play the words to make them sing. Her phrasing is gorgeous and wild and crooked and dark and twisted and it is so many things I could write one whole review on that alone.
DIVERSITY: 2 / 5
I guess the DID representation counts as diversity, right? Also a black boy as a side-character who neither dies nor turns out to be a cliché asshole with one line, that was a fun change. I'm honestly too tired to think about the rest.
OVERALL: 1.5 / 5
As much as I adore Dawn Kurtagich's style, and as much as I believe in her ability to tell great stories, I did not like this book. It dragged, it was confusing, it didn't have a solution for anything, and the characters were cringe-worthy at best. Overall, not a pleasant reading experience after the fire from the first seventy pages crackles out.
sumeyrad's review
dark
mysterious
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? Yes
3.75
norahs_books's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The Dead House is a creepy story with an incredible format. The drawings and the very journal-like books is drawing me in and kept me engaged for a while. Dawn did an amazing job at creating this scary vibe and tension through out the book.
Unfortunately for me I lost interest about half way through. I devoured the first 200 pages but for some reason it slowed down for me a lot after that. I really don't know why but it didn't do it for me anymore.
If you'd like to try this book be my guest. I'm sure a lot of people would really enjoy this one.
Unfortunately for me I lost interest about half way through. I devoured the first 200 pages but for some reason it slowed down for me a lot after that. I really don't know why but it didn't do it for me anymore.
If you'd like to try this book be my guest. I'm sure a lot of people would really enjoy this one.
belle_meri's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
the_lawyer_librarian's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
chuskeyreads's review
2.0
It took entirely too long to get to the “incident,” and I’m left with no resolution or answers to the questions raised by the “evidence” presented in the book.
I liked the premise of the book: Carly/Kaitlyn - dissociative identity disorder or twin souls inhabiting one body. The set up of the book was interesting and quite clever. However, the delivery of the story was repetitive and annoyingly so. I kept shouting out loud to just “spit it out, already!” during many of the scenes. That same convoluted and deliberately confusing story could have been told in half the pages and still left all the questions unanswered.
Frustrating!
I liked the premise of the book: Carly/Kaitlyn - dissociative identity disorder or twin souls inhabiting one body. The set up of the book was interesting and quite clever. However, the delivery of the story was repetitive and annoyingly so. I kept shouting out loud to just “spit it out, already!” during many of the scenes. That same convoluted and deliberately confusing story could have been told in half the pages and still left all the questions unanswered.
Frustrating!
marieintheraw's review against another edition
2.0
I love books that are uniquely formatted. This was creepy, but I feel like the blurb wasn't clear.
Spoiler
it should have mentioned "mental illness" because the book heavily focused on it instead of slightly mentioning it.ambeesbookishpages's review against another edition
5.0
The full review can be found at The Book Bratz
No book has given me goose bumps, or freaked me out as much as The Dead House did. This book is a complete mind trip, making you second guess every single thing you read. Dawn writes in a way that left me as a reader dying to know more about the Johnson Incident.
The story is told through diary entries, interviews, and video tapes that are organized as a police file with footnotes to guide you through it. The Johnson Incident took place in 2004/2005 and the case is reopened twenty years later for investigation. Each reader is presented with documents that describe the events leading up to the incident and after, and ultimately in the end it is the matter of perception on what is wrong with Carly. Was she possessed? Or was she mentally ill? I see the argument from both ends and it is hard for me to actually choose, but I believe it was a bit of both things that ended up causing the fire.
The book has a diverse set of characters that grow on you through out the story. I loved seeing how Nadia and Kaitlyn's friendship developed through out the second half of the book. When the book started Kaitlyn felt like Nadia was taking Carly away from her, she was on the defense and constantly rude to Nadia until Carly suddenly goes missing. In The Dead House no one is who they say they are, Kaitlyn eventually learns that one of her friends is out to get her, with a form of vodoo magic.
As much as I loved The Dead House I do wish the magic was clarified a little more. There were moments I was completely lost in what was going on at certain moments. But in the format of the story it makes sense that not all the pieces are their for you to put together in the first place. It is a matter of making them fit. Overall I really enjoyed this one and will be looking out for my of Dawn's work in the future.
Thank you so much to The NOVL for sending me and ARC of The Dead House!
No book has given me goose bumps, or freaked me out as much as The Dead House did. This book is a complete mind trip, making you second guess every single thing you read. Dawn writes in a way that left me as a reader dying to know more about the Johnson Incident.
The story is told through diary entries, interviews, and video tapes that are organized as a police file with footnotes to guide you through it. The Johnson Incident took place in 2004/2005 and the case is reopened twenty years later for investigation. Each reader is presented with documents that describe the events leading up to the incident and after, and ultimately in the end it is the matter of perception on what is wrong with Carly. Was she possessed? Or was she mentally ill? I see the argument from both ends and it is hard for me to actually choose, but I believe it was a bit of both things that ended up causing the fire.
The book has a diverse set of characters that grow on you through out the story. I loved seeing how Nadia and Kaitlyn's friendship developed through out the second half of the book. When the book started Kaitlyn felt like Nadia was taking Carly away from her, she was on the defense and constantly rude to Nadia until Carly suddenly goes missing. In The Dead House no one is who they say they are, Kaitlyn eventually learns that one of her friends is out to get her, with a form of vodoo magic.
As much as I loved The Dead House I do wish the magic was clarified a little more. There were moments I was completely lost in what was going on at certain moments. But in the format of the story it makes sense that not all the pieces are their for you to put together in the first place. It is a matter of making them fit. Overall I really enjoyed this one and will be looking out for my of Dawn's work in the future.
Thank you so much to The NOVL for sending me and ARC of The Dead House!