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ambenicole418's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
3.5
So, I want to preface this review by saying I’m not a ghost story/horror person. In fact the only reason I read this book is because I saw a booktuber I enjoy talking about it and I wanted to switch up the genres I read. That being said….I ATE THIS BOOK UP, but also the ending and the characters kinda pissed me off lol.
This story caught me off guard because it’s not told in a traditional format. It’s told exclusively as if we’re watching found footage from a reality show complete with production notes, film footage, journal entries from the cast, emails/texts from cast mates to family members, and emails with producers. When I noticed this, I was originally nervous about how that would impact the storytelling, but I think it actually worked in the story’s and helped with the pacing of the book. It never felt like the story was dragging and I think the storytelling format had a lot to do with that.
Now I do have to say I’m very conflicted with this book, because the story was really interesting, I was having fun with it, and I was ready to give this book 4-4.5 stars, but then it started to fall into the same pitfall that a lot of horror books/movies fall into for me, which is when characters make really stupid decisions so the horror can take place. What I mean by this is, (minor spoilers ahead) we’ll have things like a character deciding to leave after seeing a ghost because they know it’s too dangerous to continue, then they decide to come back just because, and then spend the rest of the book being scared of said ghosts. What was the point of that? Just let the character leave and stay gone I mean it’s not like that would be an unrealistic thing for them to do. Then there’s the stereotypical character that blatantly puts everyone in danger because for some reason they have decided they know what’s best even though they are dealing with things they don’t understand 🤦🏽♀️. Without giving away any more spoilers, it was just a lot of things like that that pissed me off and truly kept me from loving this book.
All that being said I did have a good enough time with this book to motivate me to read more horror books in the future, so I’m calling that a win for Episode 13. 💖
This story caught me off guard because it’s not told in a traditional format. It’s told exclusively as if we’re watching found footage from a reality show complete with production notes, film footage, journal entries from the cast, emails/texts from cast mates to family members, and emails with producers. When I noticed this, I was originally nervous about how that would impact the storytelling, but I think it actually worked in the story’s and helped with the pacing of the book. It never felt like the story was dragging and I think the storytelling format had a lot to do with that.
Now I do have to say I’m very conflicted with this book, because the story was really interesting, I was having fun with it, and I was ready to give this book 4-4.5 stars, but then it started to fall into the same pitfall that a lot of horror books/movies fall into for me, which is when characters make really stupid decisions so the horror can take place. What I mean by this is, (minor spoilers ahead) we’ll have things like a character deciding to leave after seeing a ghost because they know it’s too dangerous to continue, then they decide to come back just because, and then spend the rest of the book being scared of said ghosts. What was the point of that? Just let the character leave and stay gone I mean it’s not like that would be an unrealistic thing for them to do. Then there’s the stereotypical character that blatantly puts everyone in danger because for some reason they have decided they know what’s best even though they are dealing with things they don’t understand 🤦🏽♀️. Without giving away any more spoilers, it was just a lot of things like that that pissed me off and truly kept me from loving this book.
All that being said I did have a good enough time with this book to motivate me to read more horror books in the future, so I’m calling that a win for Episode 13. 💖
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Murder, Death, and Gun violence
Moderate: Cannibalism, Mental illness, and Self harm
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
ohlisaline's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I must preface my review by saying that I expected there to be some kind of twist to this book (as it even says on the back of the book), but there isn't.
Altogether is was a very fast and enjoyable read! I bounced in between liking and hating the various characters. You can probably guess what's going to happen less than halfway into the book but that doesn't make it less enjoyable. It's got Eldritch and cosmic horror vibes more than anything, so if that's your thing, you'll love it.
Altogether is was a very fast and enjoyable read! I bounced in between liking and hating the various characters. You can probably guess what's going to happen less than halfway into the book but that doesn't make it less enjoyable. It's got Eldritch and cosmic horror vibes more than anything, so if that's your thing, you'll love it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence and Death
Moderate: Self harm and Death of parent
Minor: Cannibalism
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