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sup_demons's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Body horror
Moderate: Child abuse and Alcoholism
Minor: Self harm, Vomit, and Excrement
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
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