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angie11290's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Grief, Racism, Xenophobia, Death, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexism, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Violence, Gun violence, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Dysphoria, Toxic friendship, and Blood
blacksphinx's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
As a lover of horror and the epistolary format, this book was a highly anticipated release for me. While it turned out to be a fun ride and would make a GREAT movie, it stumbled a bit at a basic level that constantly nagged at me. See, the two hardest aspects of the epistolary format are "does this sound like an authentic record a person would make?" and "does it make sense that this information is being recorded in this situation?"
A large portion of this book is journal entries. The reasoning behind having the characters journal (excerpts would be pulled from them for blog posts to promote upcoming episodes of the TV show) is great. But, often these "journal entries" felt like regular first-person narration, of the kind that constantly pinged my brain as "someone is making stuff up in a reddit post." (who the hell is out here writing down conversations word-for-word with quotation marks hours after the event??) While these entries bothered me, there are other aspects that truly shined - I loved the text messages between Jessica and her sister in particular.
The closer we get to the end of the novel, the more it cracked my suspension of disbelief that people in threatening, possibly lethal, situations with a ticking clock would stop every couple of feet and write about their feelings. It's okay for there to be gaps the audience gets to puzzle over! I promise!
Overall, it is still an entertaining book and a solid B horror movie, but it didn't set the genre on fire or anything. I will be checking out the author's back catalog in the future. If you are looking for more epistolary horror, may I recommend the short story collection Among the Lilies by Daniel Mills?
A large portion of this book is journal entries. The reasoning behind having the characters journal (excerpts would be pulled from them for blog posts to promote upcoming episodes of the TV show) is great. But, often these "journal entries" felt like regular first-person narration, of the kind that constantly pinged my brain as "someone is making stuff up in a reddit post." (who the hell is out here writing down conversations word-for-word with quotation marks hours after the event??) While these entries bothered me, there are other aspects that truly shined - I loved the text messages between Jessica and her sister in particular.
The closer we get to the end of the novel, the more it cracked my suspension of disbelief that people in threatening, possibly lethal, situations with a ticking clock would stop every couple of feet and write about their feelings. It's okay for there to be gaps the audience gets to puzzle over! I promise!
Overall, it is still an entertaining book and a solid B horror movie, but it didn't set the genre on fire or anything. I will be checking out the author's back catalog in the future. If you are looking for more epistolary horror, may I recommend the short story collection Among the Lilies by Daniel Mills?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Death, Murder, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Police brutality
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, Self harm, Excrement, and Physical abuse
Minor: Death of parent, Cannibalism, Racism, Alcoholism, and Injury/Injury detail
sarrie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Episode Thirteen is what I’ll call ‘Diet House of Leaves’. The story is told in a mixed media format as the ‘definitive account’ of what happened to the paranormal investigation show Fade to Black on their last and most tragic investigation. The crew goes to investigate a haunted institution, where in the 70s a group of researchers attempted to spark paranormal abilities in regular people. Everyone involved in that but one person went missing and was never heard or seen from again. And as we read on in Episode Thirteen we begin to wonder if a similar fate might not befall our investigators.
I actually super enjoyed the first quarter of this book, and got chills from just the ambience and setting Craig DiLouie was making. Then we get our first spooky event early, too early and I was immediately worried. From there the story goes on to explore what that reveal did to our characters and how they slowly get lost in the Foundation house, literally.
The format on this leant itself well to this idea, especially since we got diary entries from everyone all the way until the end. This is where the strongest part of this book was, was the characters. I loved some and hated others - as I think I was meant to. But that was the strongest part for me sadly, and the book ended up lacking the umph I want in a spooky book and honestly the themes he explores are ones I do not enjoy (which was a big reason I hated House of Leaves).
If you enjoyed House of Leaves and like watching characters devolve down into possible madness, and getting lost in a building that is more than it seems - this is going to be one you want to pickup. Otherwise it’s a miss for me.
I actually super enjoyed the first quarter of this book, and got chills from just the ambience and setting Craig DiLouie was making. Then we get our first spooky event early, too early and I was immediately worried. From there the story goes on to explore what that reveal did to our characters and how they slowly get lost in the Foundation house, literally.
The format on this leant itself well to this idea, especially since we got diary entries from everyone all the way until the end. This is where the strongest part of this book was, was the characters. I loved some and hated others - as I think I was meant to. But that was the strongest part for me sadly, and the book ended up lacking the umph I want in a spooky book and honestly the themes he explores are ones I do not enjoy (which was a big reason I hated House of Leaves).
If you enjoyed House of Leaves and like watching characters devolve down into possible madness, and getting lost in a building that is more than it seems - this is going to be one you want to pickup. Otherwise it’s a miss for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence
Moderate: Gun violence, Gore, Racism, and Bullying
Minor: Abandonment
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