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emiiandstuff's review against another edition
2.0
Okay so it took me a while to figure out what my damage with this book is but I figured it out.
The premise is phenomenal, I immediately wanted to be invested in a group of strangers playing murder-go-seek in an abandoned amusement park. Instead what I got can be summed up as if a Disney adult wrote a short story with /every close friend they’ve had since high school/ as the main characters, with too many attempts to make the horror deeper than it is. Then, at some point, the plot got away from them and they tried to wrangle it up in the final act only to get lost in trying to justify the mess that happened chapters earlier.
At its surface even the writing just falls too flat and jumbled to be cohesive- too many characters, too many things happening at once, everything listed in the other reviews- but beyond that I pushed through to the ending because I desperately had to know where it was going.
You know where it went? Spoiler free?
Kinda nowhere.
Colossal swing for a huge miss.
The premise is phenomenal, I immediately wanted to be invested in a group of strangers playing murder-go-seek in an abandoned amusement park. Instead what I got can be summed up as if a Disney adult wrote a short story with /every close friend they’ve had since high school/ as the main characters, with too many attempts to make the horror deeper than it is. Then, at some point, the plot got away from them and they tried to wrangle it up in the final act only to get lost in trying to justify the mess that happened chapters earlier.
At its surface even the writing just falls too flat and jumbled to be cohesive- too many characters, too many things happening at once, everything listed in the other reviews- but beyond that I pushed through to the ending because I desperately had to know where it was going.
You know where it went? Spoiler free?
Kinda nowhere.
Colossal swing for a huge miss.
emzhay's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Cool concept. Poor execution. It was paced way too slow, and there’s no atmosphere or sense of fear. For a death game story, there’s very little gore. Most of the death are off screen. The characters are so vague that many of them blur together.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Child death, Sexism, and Racism
chloelmd's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
hollywouldread's review against another edition
3.0
Ah, so much potential but no real follow through. The whole book felt like it was always on the verge of getting really good - and while I liked the concept and story it felt as if it always lacked a certain something. The writing is wonky, often inconsistent (especially when it came to character details), and the whole thing feels like a YA paranormal thriller.
It might make a good movie one day.
It might make a good movie one day.
lfitzmaurice's review against another edition
2.0
Good concept, but never connected with the characters enough to make it matter.
laelyn's review against another edition
2.0
Kiersten White is a new author to me, despite her Conqueror's Saga trilogy sitting on my shelf, waiting for me to stop buying new books and finally read all the ones I already own. For that reason I went into this new novel of hers completely blind. Now, I'm not the biggest reader of horror thrillers, but the description reminded me of films I enjoyed watching so I was really intrigued.
"Hide" turned out to be an okay-ish read for me, with a thrilling premise and a hook that drew me right in from the very beginning. I was excited to find out more. It's solidly written and the whole atmosphere of this old amusement park turned horror show is great. The underlying mystery is nothing new, but if done well it always works. And the main character, Mack, is definitely interesting too, what with her horrifying backstory.
Sadly, the characters are probably one of the biggest issues I had with the book. See, if I don't care about them then I don't care about what happens to them, and in a novel based on characters getting killed off one by one that's just... not good. The deaths were meh, mostly happened off screen and while all the characters had really short interwoven pov parts (which, I understand why they're there but they are really disruptive), none of these people were in any way fleshed out. They weren't actual characters. They were random backstories with a name attached. Mack herself was barely a full person, and she's our main heroine. Now, I did like Mack and Ava's relationship, but because the focus kept skipping from one character to another character whose names I can't even remember, they didn't have enough time to actually develop into something that made me care much. Also, keeping the time frame of the events in the novel in mind, it was all very instalovey - and that in itself felt a little out of place with what we know of these two and their traumas.
The pacing is also very very slow and there is never actually a feeling of dread. I was never once scared or really excited. The worldbuilding is poor and shallow, and a lot of times I felt like it didn't make much sense either.
Again, I'm not one who reads a lot of horror or horror thrillers, so take my review with a grain of salt. The first chapter or so was perfectly done and drew me right in, but the rest of the book was more of a slog to get through because I simply couldn't care less about anything that happened. But for avid genre readers this might still be a cool read.
Many thanks to Random House, Del Rey and Netgalley for the arc!
"Hide" turned out to be an okay-ish read for me, with a thrilling premise and a hook that drew me right in from the very beginning. I was excited to find out more. It's solidly written and the whole atmosphere of this old amusement park turned horror show is great. The underlying mystery is nothing new, but if done well it always works. And the main character, Mack, is definitely interesting too, what with her horrifying backstory.
Sadly, the characters are probably one of the biggest issues I had with the book. See, if I don't care about them then I don't care about what happens to them, and in a novel based on characters getting killed off one by one that's just... not good. The deaths were meh, mostly happened off screen and while all the characters had really short interwoven pov parts (which, I understand why they're there but they are really disruptive), none of these people were in any way fleshed out. They weren't actual characters. They were random backstories with a name attached. Mack herself was barely a full person, and she's our main heroine. Now, I did like Mack and Ava's relationship, but because the focus kept skipping from one character to another character whose names I can't even remember, they didn't have enough time to actually develop into something that made me care much. Also, keeping the time frame of the events in the novel in mind, it was all very instalovey - and that in itself felt a little out of place with what we know of these two and their traumas.
The pacing is also very very slow and there is never actually a feeling of dread. I was never once scared or really excited. The worldbuilding is poor and shallow, and a lot of times I felt like it didn't make much sense either.
Again, I'm not one who reads a lot of horror or horror thrillers, so take my review with a grain of salt. The first chapter or so was perfectly done and drew me right in, but the rest of the book was more of a slog to get through because I simply couldn't care less about anything that happened. But for avid genre readers this might still be a cool read.
Many thanks to Random House, Del Rey and Netgalley for the arc!
kaelaceleste's review against another edition
2.0
I did not like this :)
I think the premise of this book was super interesting and the setup is pretty good. I enjoyed the various characters and their backstories and the hide and seek element is obviously really intriguing. I appreciate the queer rep and I did enjoy Mack’s backstory a lot in particular.
Unfortunately, around the halfway mark or so it really started to go off the rails and not in a good way. There were too many throwaway characters that I feel like I was supposed to be more invested in than I was, but they were killed off so quickly that I really felt no attachment to them. The constantly shifting POVs did not help either…it maybe would have been better if there were actual chapters and each one was from a different person but the way it was I frequently couldn’t tell whose head we were in and it got so confusing. Also still waiting for the explanation as to why there were two characters with the same name…for seemingly no reason… still waiting… I just have a lot of questions that I genuinely can’t tell if they are plot holes or if I misunderstood amidst all the narrator shifting lol
Overall I can’t recommend this. It’s a really cool concept but I was expecting so much more in terms of how it all developed.
I think the premise of this book was super interesting and the setup is pretty good. I enjoyed the various characters and their backstories and the hide and seek element is obviously really intriguing. I appreciate the queer rep and I did enjoy Mack’s backstory a lot in particular.
Unfortunately, around the halfway mark or so it really started to go off the rails and not in a good way. There were too many throwaway characters that I feel like I was supposed to be more invested in than I was, but they were killed off so quickly that I really felt no attachment to them.
Spoiler
Even Brandon who is clearly supposed to be the little cinnamon roll – when he died I was like oh ok.Overall I can’t recommend this. It’s a really cool concept but I was expecting so much more in terms of how it all developed.
michelle_mightbereading's review against another edition
3.0
Cabin In The Woods but set in an abandoned amusement park
mylittllibrary's review against another edition
2.0
2.5
Le livre manque d’une réelle ambiance. Le synopsis est intéressant mais pas forcément bien mené et la fin est décevante. Et pour le coup la traduction française laisse vraiment à désirer.
Le livre manque d’une réelle ambiance. Le synopsis est intéressant mais pas forcément bien mené et la fin est décevante. Et pour le coup la traduction française laisse vraiment à désirer.
npatterson's review
challenging
dark
tense
medium-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
4.5