Reviews - Chopping Spree | The StoryGraph

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83 reviews for:

Chopping Spree

Angela Sylvaine

3.37 AVERAGE

ryrymovieguy's review

2.5

dark sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Set up to be a cool 80s slasher in a neat setting, but has a plot twist and message that I found to be a bit on the nose and just didn't quite work for me.

hmf5089's review against another edition

4.0

dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

drakaina16's review

3.5

dark mysterious tense fast-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: No

Thank you to BookSirens for providing a review copy.

I had a really good time with this novella. What starts as a typical slasher morphs into culty weirdness. This was the author's first stand-alone novella, expanded and re-edited. Having read Frost Bite earlier in the year, I can definitely say Sylvaine's writing has matured since then. Chopping Spree is a bit predictable, but it is a lot of fun to read. 3.5 stars

devynreadsnovels's review

3.0

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

sustainablyspooky's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

mindysbookjourney's review

4.0

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

16 year old Penny works at Thredz in the Eden Hills Mall that her father owns. When someone starts some mischief killing people off Penny and her friends will need to stop the killer before disaster strikes.

This is a fun 80s style mall slasher that is completely unpredictable. There is some great commentary on consumerism and greed as is appropriate in a mall. Penny makes a great final girl to rout for. If you like slashers with 80s vibes and YA protagonists than I would recommend checking this one out.

Thank you to the author for a copy for review.

arockinsamsara's review

3.0

A contemporary slasher set in an ‘80s themed mall with just a hint of conspiracy and cults? Sounds like fun to me! And, sure enough, this novella was a lot of fun. The pacing was strong, the story did a good job of moving, and the language felt natural. I liked the range of characters, but I do wish we got to spend more time with them. They fit the typical slasher archetypes, and that is fine, but I think the story would have been well served with a few more scenes with the whole group together before the deaths started happening, it would have made me more emotionally invested. I think the whole story could have been fleshed out a little more, actually. I wouldn’t have minded spending more time in this world. Sometimes it felt like there was a bullet-point list of story beats and we were just checking them off but never reveling in any of them. Still, the premise and ideas in the story balanced nostalgia with a modern feel, and it was a fun read.

NOTE: I read the original publication of this novella. A new version is being released a little more than a month from the time of my writing this, and there new version supposedly contains an additional 35 or so pages. So, there is a good chance that the things I found a little lacking here are improved upon in the new version.