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bickleyhouse's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
I wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading this book, but it definitely was not what I got. The author has a wonderful presence on Facebook, constantly sharing hilarious memes about the realities of life. This book does not mirror those memes at all. There's pretty much nothing at all hilarious about it. Oh, sure, I laughed a few times. But the story itself is both delightful and terrifying.
Imagine if your favorite childhood book/story came to life. Imagine if you got a free trip to visit the estate of its author. Imagine if you discovered what your favorite childhood author was really like and it wasn't at all like you imagined. Imagine if Wind in the Willows was a horror story. Or, even better . . . Winnie the Pooh!!
If you can imagine all of those things, you might have a glimpse of what Winterset Hollow is.
John Eamon Buckley is our hero. He and his two best friends, Mark and Caroline, who are a couple, get a chance to travel to the island estate of Edward Addington, author of Eamon's and Caroline's childhood favorite book, Winterset Hollow. Parts of this book are represented by poems throughout the story. I have to say I really enjoy the meter of the poetry, and the way it tells a tale.
Included in the original tale are Runnymeade Rabbit, Phineas the Fox, Binghamton Bear, and Olivia the Owl. And Flackwell the Frog.
The trip goes fine until our trio find a way through the gate in the fence that surrounds the property, and manage to make their way to Addington's house. Unexpectedly, the door of the house opens, and they come face to face with Runnymeade, himself, a larger than life, human-sized rabbit. He's much older, now, and missing a leg, but he is very much alive and talking. Also present in the house is a frog, Flackwell, who happens to be a gourmet cook, and is preparing a feast for them all to celebrate Barley Day, a "holiday" that is featured in the children's tale.
Everyone else that was on their boat trip to the island also winds up at the house, and they all take part in the feast. Everything is just peach keen. Until it's not. And then the terror begins, as the animals begin hunting the humans.
And that's about as much of the plot as I will give up. There is a totally unexpected (at least by me) plot twist on page 214. This book is amazing. The story is engaging and gripping. I didn't want to put it down. Mr. Durham's writing style is also quite engaging and he really knows how to spin a yarn. This world that he has created is both charming and horrifying all at the same time. How can this be? you may ask. That, I cannot answer. You will have to read it for yourself. At one point, I really liked Finn (Phineas) the Fox. Until I didn't. Again. Read it for yourself.
I highly recommend this book for any lovers of dark fantasy and/or horror. If you like Watership Down, The Wind in the Willows (I hope Mr. Durham does not mind me comparing his tale to that book), and other stories like that, with an added twist of some terrifying horror, you simply must read this book! If you might enjoy the thought of Pooh, Tigger, Rabbit, Kanga, and Eeyore hunting humans through the Hundred Acre Wood, this book is definitely for you!
Imagine if your favorite childhood book/story came to life. Imagine if you got a free trip to visit the estate of its author. Imagine if you discovered what your favorite childhood author was really like and it wasn't at all like you imagined. Imagine if Wind in the Willows was a horror story. Or, even better . . . Winnie the Pooh!!
If you can imagine all of those things, you might have a glimpse of what Winterset Hollow is.
John Eamon Buckley is our hero. He and his two best friends, Mark and Caroline, who are a couple, get a chance to travel to the island estate of Edward Addington, author of Eamon's and Caroline's childhood favorite book, Winterset Hollow. Parts of this book are represented by poems throughout the story. I have to say I really enjoy the meter of the poetry, and the way it tells a tale.
Included in the original tale are Runnymeade Rabbit, Phineas the Fox, Binghamton Bear, and Olivia the Owl. And Flackwell the Frog.
The trip goes fine until our trio find a way through the gate in the fence that surrounds the property, and manage to make their way to Addington's house. Unexpectedly, the door of the house opens, and they come face to face with Runnymeade, himself, a larger than life, human-sized rabbit. He's much older, now, and missing a leg, but he is very much alive and talking. Also present in the house is a frog, Flackwell, who happens to be a gourmet cook, and is preparing a feast for them all to celebrate Barley Day, a "holiday" that is featured in the children's tale.
Everyone else that was on their boat trip to the island also winds up at the house, and they all take part in the feast. Everything is just peach keen. Until it's not. And then the terror begins, as the animals begin hunting the humans.
And that's about as much of the plot as I will give up. There is a totally unexpected (at least by me) plot twist on page 214. This book is amazing. The story is engaging and gripping. I didn't want to put it down. Mr. Durham's writing style is also quite engaging and he really knows how to spin a yarn. This world that he has created is both charming and horrifying all at the same time. How can this be? you may ask. That, I cannot answer. You will have to read it for yourself. At one point, I really liked Finn (Phineas) the Fox. Until I didn't. Again. Read it for yourself.
I highly recommend this book for any lovers of dark fantasy and/or horror. If you like Watership Down, The Wind in the Willows (I hope Mr. Durham does not mind me comparing his tale to that book), and other stories like that, with an added twist of some terrifying horror, you simply must read this book! If you might enjoy the thought of Pooh, Tigger, Rabbit, Kanga, and Eeyore hunting humans through the Hundred Acre Wood, this book is definitely for you!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Violence
ohnoitscoco's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm
graveyardray's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.5
confidenterr0r's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
The first quarter of the book was fantastic to me. The atmosphere and world building with the growing sense of “something isn’t quite right here” really pulled me in. That’s why I think the entire rest of the book disappointed me so much and fell flat. The 3 main characters were so very dull and dense. At first I thought it was on purpose since the animals are very full of personality by comparison but as the book went on…nope. They’re just dull and dense. They’ll get major context clues that something horrible happened to the animals and they’re all just kinda like “welp. that’s wild.” and keep going. It took them until pretty late story to even fully recognize they’d been brought there against their will, like come on. I didn’t feel like any of the MCs truly acknowledged how their favorite little book was written and either continued idolizing it or just kinda…didn’t say much about it until the very end when Eamon suddenly realizes it in the final showdown with Bing for no particular reason, when he felt seemingly no remorse for the other 3 animals the whole book. By the end of the book I actually couldn’t stand Eamon with his high level plot armor and Christopher Columbus ancestry and watching him win by locking Finn in the same cage his ancestor did was infuriating. I was rooting hard for Eamon to die but that’s neither here nor there lol
I wish the entire middle of the book would’ve been cut down a bit and added more focus on the lore since that’s where the book really seemed to shine. I found the action parts became repetitive and very quickly realizedthe 3 MCs were not actually in danger of dying which made that portion drag on for me. They would just run through their major injuries without much hindrance while the animals stood 5 feet away missing every shot.
I do still recommend reading this since the concept itself was unique and the storybook characters were very enjoyable and vibrant. This is definitely an Eamon hate page but I seem to be in the minority so he may not bother you as much lol. The overall story was interesting enough to deal with his mary sue-ness and where Eamon and friends fall flat the storybook characters pick up the slack (ironically).
I wish the entire middle of the book would’ve been cut down a bit and added more focus on the lore since that’s where the book really seemed to shine. I found the action parts became repetitive and very quickly realized
I do still recommend reading this since the concept itself was unique and the storybook characters were very enjoyable and vibrant. This is definitely an Eamon hate page but I seem to be in the minority so he may not bother you as much lol. The overall story was interesting enough to deal with his mary sue-ness and where Eamon and friends fall flat the storybook characters pick up the slack (ironically).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Genocide, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, and Animal death
shrewdbard's review against another edition
DNF 9 pages in. I’m sorry. I can’t read a whole book if I spend literally every single sentence COPY EDITING!!! Stop with the adverbs!! Learn how commas work!! HIRE AN EDITOR FOR YOUR NEXT SELF PUBLISHING VENTURE 😭😭😭
siriuslyloopy's review against another edition
dark
sad
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? It's complicated
3.0
melmmh's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely phenomenal.
This is definitely going to be one of my favourite reads of 2022.
Super creepy, atmospheric, gripping (not me crying towards the end of the book…)
I’m selfishly wishing for a prequel, but I’m not sure my heart could take it!
This is definitely going to be one of my favourite reads of 2022.
Super creepy, atmospheric, gripping (not me crying towards the end of the book…)
I’m selfishly wishing for a prequel, but I’m not sure my heart could take it!
anastasia1373's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
asktheletters's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0