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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
Scream All Night was the 2nd book this month that I read that really wasn’t in my normal genre of what I like to read. I enjoyed it, but I did feel it was lacking something. I was hoping something dark & l twisty would happen at the end. Maybe that’s because I read too many thrillers.
Trigger warning: verbal/physical child abuse.
Trigger warning: verbal/physical child abuse.
This was a lot different than I thought it would be. It was heavier for sure, Dario was severely abused as a child by his parents and ended up in an orphanage to get away from them. When he returned, he went through a lot with his brother Oren, who never defended Dario and is now jealous of him. I did like the love story between Dario and Hayley and Dario's friendship with Jude was sweet too. The narrator did a good job with the audiobook and using different inflections for different characters. The pacing felt off to me. It seemed like there was an ending about 2/3 through, but then kept going for a while still.
Not a bad read, wish I had gotten to this for Halloween!
Not a bad read, wish I had gotten to this for Halloween!
I received an ARC from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
It's been three years since Dario Heyward has been home to Moldavia Studios and he has no plans of ever going back. The iconic castle was the set, studio, and home to the cast and crew of dozens of cult classic B-horror movies. Then Oren, Dario’s older brother, invites him to come back for a mysterious ceremony involving his father and a tribute to his first film, The Curse of the Mummy’s Tongue. Dario doesn't plan on staying long, but this will let him have closure on his past and he'll get to catch up with Hayley, his first love and his costar in Zombie Children of the Harvest Sun, a production fraught with real tragedy. He'll finally get to say goodbye to his old life. Before he knows it, Dario gets sucked right back into the twisted world of Moldavia and everything he left behind. Now that he only has a few months save the failing movie studio, he'll have to confront his past head on along with his future dreams.
Scream All Night by Derek Milman was one of my most anticipated YA debuts and luckily for me it was an absolute delight to read. I can honestly say that this is one of the most original YA novels I've had the opportunity to read - and it was exactly up my alley. If you follow me on Twitter, you might have noticed that I talk quite a bit about the horror host Svengoolie and the movies that he shows on MeTV. Long story short, but I'm a fan of cult classic B-horror movies and it's fun to chat with other fans. Anyway, I've never read a YA novel so prominently featuring these types of movies and the behind scenes work on them, but Milman does a remarkable job of bringing a dose of unsettling and absurdist dark humor to his standalone YA contemporary set in a horror film studio about a very dysfunctional family. The author also does a brilliant job of bringing all of the characters to life from Dario, Oren (a total scene stealer), Jude, Hayley, the crew, and even those that don't have a lot page time still bring a good deal to bear on the story and the core cast. I loved that all of the characters manage to feel incredibly real, if flawed and a little strange. They feel like people you could actually meet who are doing their best to figure out where they truly belong in the world. Dario's arc over the course of the novel is quite rewarding begins to sort out his priorities. Plus, the setting is totally awesome and crucial to the story - I'd don't know about you, but I'd love to explore Moldavia Castle.
Overall, Scream All Night by Derek Milman is a uniquely original must-read YA debut. I couldn't get enough of his brand of contemporary and I couldn't stop turning the pages. I was truly invested in Dario's story and watching him grow and come into his own. Like our cast, I also felt completely immersed in the insular bubble that is the studio. Seriously, this book has everything I love from fantastic characters, the mother of all dysfunctional families, a great setting and excellent world-building, a decent emotional gut punch of a backstory, laugh out loud dark comedy, and plenty of references and tidbits to keep us horror fans satisfied. Basically, you need Derek Milman's debut in your life. I'm dying to see what he'll come up with next!
Thanks again, Edelweiss!
It's been three years since Dario Heyward has been home to Moldavia Studios and he has no plans of ever going back. The iconic castle was the set, studio, and home to the cast and crew of dozens of cult classic B-horror movies. Then Oren, Dario’s older brother, invites him to come back for a mysterious ceremony involving his father and a tribute to his first film, The Curse of the Mummy’s Tongue. Dario doesn't plan on staying long, but this will let him have closure on his past and he'll get to catch up with Hayley, his first love and his costar in Zombie Children of the Harvest Sun, a production fraught with real tragedy. He'll finally get to say goodbye to his old life. Before he knows it, Dario gets sucked right back into the twisted world of Moldavia and everything he left behind. Now that he only has a few months save the failing movie studio, he'll have to confront his past head on along with his future dreams.
Scream All Night by Derek Milman was one of my most anticipated YA debuts and luckily for me it was an absolute delight to read. I can honestly say that this is one of the most original YA novels I've had the opportunity to read - and it was exactly up my alley. If you follow me on Twitter, you might have noticed that I talk quite a bit about the horror host Svengoolie and the movies that he shows on MeTV. Long story short, but I'm a fan of cult classic B-horror movies and it's fun to chat with other fans. Anyway, I've never read a YA novel so prominently featuring these types of movies and the behind scenes work on them, but Milman does a remarkable job of bringing a dose of unsettling and absurdist dark humor to his standalone YA contemporary set in a horror film studio about a very dysfunctional family. The author also does a brilliant job of bringing all of the characters to life from Dario, Oren (a total scene stealer), Jude, Hayley, the crew, and even those that don't have a lot page time still bring a good deal to bear on the story and the core cast. I loved that all of the characters manage to feel incredibly real, if flawed and a little strange. They feel like people you could actually meet who are doing their best to figure out where they truly belong in the world. Dario's arc over the course of the novel is quite rewarding begins to sort out his priorities. Plus, the setting is totally awesome and crucial to the story - I'd don't know about you, but I'd love to explore Moldavia Castle.
Overall, Scream All Night by Derek Milman is a uniquely original must-read YA debut. I couldn't get enough of his brand of contemporary and I couldn't stop turning the pages. I was truly invested in Dario's story and watching him grow and come into his own. Like our cast, I also felt completely immersed in the insular bubble that is the studio. Seriously, this book has everything I love from fantastic characters, the mother of all dysfunctional families, a great setting and excellent world-building, a decent emotional gut punch of a backstory, laugh out loud dark comedy, and plenty of references and tidbits to keep us horror fans satisfied. Basically, you need Derek Milman's debut in your life. I'm dying to see what he'll come up with next!
Thanks again, Edelweiss!
3.75 stars.
This book actually made me laugh out loud multiple times (intentionally) and had a lot of very compelling characters. I loved the “behind the scenes” look at Moldavia Studios, and it reaffirmed my belief that working on horror films would just be a blast.
However, I just couldn’t rate this higher because of how rushed the last hundred pages felt. Weeks of important plot and action is condensed to a couple chapters, while earlier in the book much more time was given to a plot line that ultimately went nowhere.
There are also a handful of “mysteries” left pretty ambiguous. This isn’t a novel that would warrant a sequel, but it still left me wanting more. I think if it had been even 50 pages longer I would have been more satisfied.
This book actually made me laugh out loud multiple times (intentionally) and had a lot of very compelling characters. I loved the “behind the scenes” look at Moldavia Studios, and it reaffirmed my belief that working on horror films would just be a blast.
However, I just couldn’t rate this higher because of how rushed the last hundred pages felt. Weeks of important plot and action is condensed to a couple chapters, while earlier in the book much more time was given to a plot line that ultimately went nowhere.
There are also a handful of “mysteries” left pretty ambiguous. This isn’t a novel that would warrant a sequel, but it still left me wanting more. I think if it had been even 50 pages longer I would have been more satisfied.
This book was not what I expected at all, but it was better. I never expected the range of emotions I felt while reading this. It was laugh out loud funny, it was dark, it was heartbreaking, and, at times, just plain ridiculous (in the best way). I really enjoyed this one!
(I received a copy in exchange for an honest review. These opinions are my own.)
(I received a copy in exchange for an honest review. These opinions are my own.)
The only way I can properly describe Scream All Night by Derek Milman, his debut novel, is this: whatever you think should never happen in reality, actually, somehow, happens. It is fantastically chaotic, confusing and hilarious. Scream All Night narrates the story of Dario Heyward, who had made the promise to himself at age eleven, that he was to never set foot in Moldavia Studios ever again. Moldavia Studios is Dario’s family estate and business. He grew up there with his director father, Lucien Heyward and his mother, Isabella Moldavia. Moldavia Studios is a B-horror movie production company who have been responsible for creating the fictional cult horror classics, such as The Curse of the Mummy’s Tongue and Zombie Children of the Harvest Sun. The premise of the story surrounds Dario having to go back to his childhood home for the ‘funeral’ of his father (which, I will not spoil anything for you, but this scene was one of the most hilarious scenes I have ever read), which he decided to go to as a result of his own feelings of guilt and remorse.
Derek Milman writes an engaging story which, although extremely amusing, touches on significant issues concerning mental health and child abuse. Though the narrative itself concentrates on Dario’s mission to save Moldavia Studios in six months, Milman ensures that Dario’s mental health issues and his PTSD surrounding his father and mother, are treated with respect and integrity – his mental health is never sugarcoated, but is represented as real and raw as it needs to be, especially in YA. Dario himself shows incredible strength and courage in going back to the place that was such a traumatic experience for him. I won’t go into detail, but reading it broke my heart into pieces, literally shattered my soul. Milman’s ability to write such raw scenes speaks to his masterful ability to weave such depth of emotion into what are ordinary scenes. In this sense, Scream All Night was more about personal growth and redemption than a romance novel which was intrinsically refreshing for a novel in the Young Adult genre. There is a romantic relationship, but that plotline between Hayley and Dario is more in the background since it does not overtake the overall narrative, which was exactly what made this novel as intriguing and darkly humorous as it was.
I wish I could say all the things I want to say, but honestly, a lot of what I want to say involves spoilers, so I will not write about it. However, I need to spend at least a little time discussing Dario’s brother, Oren. Oren is the most eccentric a person could possibly be. He has his own issues as a result of his past and his relationship (or non-relationship, really) with his father, but he is so impossibly insane in the best possible way. Case in point, Oren’s movie idea to help save Moldavia Studios is the script that he wrote called The Ciller Cauliflowers. It is as terrible and hilarious as you think. Honestly, Milman wrote some of the dialogue of the script as a part of the narrative and it cured me of all my stresses. Though Dario and Oren have significant issues between them as a result of past abuse and trauma, there is a moment in Scream All Night when the past is brought back in the present with a bang (which results in another type of bang, when you read it, you’ll understand), it provides a sort of redemptive arc for Oren and a new beginning for the brothers’ relationship.
I would have to say, though, that my main and only critique of this novel, is the fact that at times, the story itself moved fast. Scenes jumped and thus, time moved forward and I found that it took me a few moments to understand how many months passed and orient myself back to the story itself. It does not detract from the story, but it was the only aspect which slightly annoyed me. However, I do understand why it was needed, if the story detailed every single moment of the process of saving Moldavia Studios and thus, filming the comeback sequel to resurrect Moldavia Studios, the novel would end up being three times its size. So I completely get it from that standpoint, but it was the only thing that I can critique from Scream All Night.
Overall, I would then rate Scream All Night by Derek Milman a 4.5 out of 5 stars. I highly recommend all readers who love YA or who love anything to do with B-horror films, the behind-the-scenes of movie production – you will be a fan of this novel. Although it is constantly hilarious, it deals with dark and traumatic events and significant mental health illnesses. At its core, it is a beautiful story with an ending as hopeful and wonderful as the characters themselves.
Allie
Derek Milman writes an engaging story which, although extremely amusing, touches on significant issues concerning mental health and child abuse. Though the narrative itself concentrates on Dario’s mission to save Moldavia Studios in six months, Milman ensures that Dario’s mental health issues and his PTSD surrounding his father and mother, are treated with respect and integrity – his mental health is never sugarcoated, but is represented as real and raw as it needs to be, especially in YA. Dario himself shows incredible strength and courage in going back to the place that was such a traumatic experience for him. I won’t go into detail, but reading it broke my heart into pieces, literally shattered my soul. Milman’s ability to write such raw scenes speaks to his masterful ability to weave such depth of emotion into what are ordinary scenes. In this sense, Scream All Night was more about personal growth and redemption than a romance novel which was intrinsically refreshing for a novel in the Young Adult genre. There is a romantic relationship, but that plotline between Hayley and Dario is more in the background since it does not overtake the overall narrative, which was exactly what made this novel as intriguing and darkly humorous as it was.
I wish I could say all the things I want to say, but honestly, a lot of what I want to say involves spoilers, so I will not write about it. However, I need to spend at least a little time discussing Dario’s brother, Oren. Oren is the most eccentric a person could possibly be. He has his own issues as a result of his past and his relationship (or non-relationship, really) with his father, but he is so impossibly insane in the best possible way. Case in point, Oren’s movie idea to help save Moldavia Studios is the script that he wrote called The Ciller Cauliflowers. It is as terrible and hilarious as you think. Honestly, Milman wrote some of the dialogue of the script as a part of the narrative and it cured me of all my stresses. Though Dario and Oren have significant issues between them as a result of past abuse and trauma, there is a moment in Scream All Night when the past is brought back in the present with a bang (which results in another type of bang, when you read it, you’ll understand), it provides a sort of redemptive arc for Oren and a new beginning for the brothers’ relationship.
I would have to say, though, that my main and only critique of this novel, is the fact that at times, the story itself moved fast. Scenes jumped and thus, time moved forward and I found that it took me a few moments to understand how many months passed and orient myself back to the story itself. It does not detract from the story, but it was the only aspect which slightly annoyed me. However, I do understand why it was needed, if the story detailed every single moment of the process of saving Moldavia Studios and thus, filming the comeback sequel to resurrect Moldavia Studios, the novel would end up being three times its size. So I completely get it from that standpoint, but it was the only thing that I can critique from Scream All Night.
Overall, I would then rate Scream All Night by Derek Milman a 4.5 out of 5 stars. I highly recommend all readers who love YA or who love anything to do with B-horror films, the behind-the-scenes of movie production – you will be a fan of this novel. Although it is constantly hilarious, it deals with dark and traumatic events and significant mental health illnesses. At its core, it is a beautiful story with an ending as hopeful and wonderful as the characters themselves.
Allie
Warnings: depictions of child abuse, drugging without consent, implied sexual assault, mistreatment of a mentally ill person.
This book is one of the few instances in which it wasn't exactly what the blurb suggested, and I still loved it. Going in, I thought it was a dark comedy with a bit of horror thrown in, like maybe, you know, pranks and stuff. But about a quarter into the book, and after a few jumpscares, the book leaves behind the comedy and sticks with dark. The story is about Dario, a previous child actor who is emancipated from his family (that owns and runs Moldavia studios), going back home one last time as a means of closure from his family, who has PTSD from his childhood home and still goes to say goodbye to his ailing father. Things take a turn for him when his father puts him as the studio chief in his will and essentially makes him responsible for the people there.
The focus of the story is Dario getting closure from the abuse and neglect he suffered as a child in a house which was essentially an adjustable horror movie set. There were various points in his childhood that he wasn't cared well for by his parents, and his much older brother never stepped in to check this. But the most of his abuse occurred when his father (the studio chief) casts him in a zombie horror movie, exploiting his pain and pushing him to deliver a haunting performance. That, as well as the death of a father figure drove Dario to leaving his home and choosing to live in a group home, forever eschewing the concept of family. However, it becomes quickly apparent that his old home still has a hold on him, and that becomes more and more evident when he describes each part of the house according to which movie it featured in, rather than what memories he had of it. Most of his childhood memories are tainted by an abusive father who people didn't oppose because he was considered a 'genius' in his field - a nod to how society lets people, especially men, get away with terrible behaviour because of the 'art' they create. When he comes back, he realizes he wasn't the only victim of his father's cruelty, and that changes the way he looks at this house.
The other theme this story revolves around is growing up, having responsibilities, and doing what is right while also taking care of yourself. Dario is put into a difficult situation, being asked to save the very house that has given him terrible memories, but he sets aside his anger for his father, and chooses to save the house's occupants, to let them have this one safe space away from the world. He has to also fight against his middle-aged brother, who is trying to manipulate him into doing what the latter wants. Oren is a bag of dicks, to be honest, and I wouldn't have forgiven him for all the bullying, the inaction, the drugging, the shooting, but hey, I never pretended to be a mature adult, so... Still Dario works to repair even that relationship, as well the one with his mother (which was heartbreaking because his dick of a father had ruined that one too, just for his damned art) and gets to a place where he is not haunted by his past completely. He reworks his father's legacy in an amazing move, choosing to take the best parts of their business and moving forward with that, while also looking out for his own future.
On a technical aspect, I loved the amount of details put into this. There were frequent references to actual horror films but also a lot of these made-up films, and Dario speaks of them as if they exist in pop culture, making for a smooth transitions from fact to fiction. Also, even with the amount of description put into the film-making process, it doesn't usually feel like it is over-riding the plot, or being extraneous material. Additionally, Dario's snark adds a bit of hilarity to the whole proceedings, to give a sense of reality and normalcy to the bizarre traditions in Moldavia house.
The relationships in this book were interesting. You had these horrible family relationships, but you also had people like Hugo and Aida, who tried to do the right thing. You had Jude, whose bond with Dario is more brotherly than Oren could ever imagine. His romance with Hayley - well, that felt underdeveloped to me, but they had the emotional structure of their past to build on, so I'll allow it. The one thing I felt lacking in the book was the development of the other characters - they mostly felt like they only orbited around Dario and weren't fleshed out well. Oren is the eccentric older brother, Hayley is the sweet girl; there are other such characters in the background, like the little boy Gavin (by the way, why was he still working as a butler/attendant until the end - someone adopt that poor baby! He's still like 11 FFS) who are barely given much of pagetime despite what they mean for the plot.
Overall, though, this is a pretty good book about growing up, getting closure, and moving on.
Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review from Balzer & Bray, via Edelweiss.
This book is one of the few instances in which it wasn't exactly what the blurb suggested, and I still loved it. Going in, I thought it was a dark comedy with a bit of horror thrown in, like maybe, you know, pranks and stuff. But about a quarter into the book, and after a few jumpscares, the book leaves behind the comedy and sticks with dark. The story is about Dario, a previous child actor who is emancipated from his family (that owns and runs Moldavia studios), going back home one last time as a means of closure from his family, who has PTSD from his childhood home and still goes to say goodbye to his ailing father. Things take a turn for him when his father puts him as the studio chief in his will and essentially makes him responsible for the people there.
The focus of the story is Dario getting closure from the abuse and neglect he suffered as a child in a house which was essentially an adjustable horror movie set. There were various points in his childhood that he wasn't cared well for by his parents, and his much older brother never stepped in to check this. But the most of his abuse occurred when his father (the studio chief) casts him in a zombie horror movie, exploiting his pain and pushing him to deliver a haunting performance. That, as well as the death of a father figure drove Dario to leaving his home and choosing to live in a group home, forever eschewing the concept of family. However, it becomes quickly apparent that his old home still has a hold on him, and that becomes more and more evident when he describes each part of the house according to which movie it featured in, rather than what memories he had of it. Most of his childhood memories are tainted by an abusive father who people didn't oppose because he was considered a 'genius' in his field - a nod to how society lets people, especially men, get away with terrible behaviour because of the 'art' they create. When he comes back, he realizes he wasn't the only victim of his father's cruelty, and that changes the way he looks at this house.
The other theme this story revolves around is growing up, having responsibilities, and doing what is right while also taking care of yourself. Dario is put into a difficult situation, being asked to save the very house that has given him terrible memories, but he sets aside his anger for his father, and chooses to save the house's occupants, to let them have this one safe space away from the world. He has to also fight against his middle-aged brother, who is trying to manipulate him into doing what the latter wants. Oren is a bag of dicks, to be honest, and I wouldn't have forgiven him for all the bullying, the inaction, the drugging, the shooting, but hey, I never pretended to be a mature adult, so... Still Dario works to repair even that relationship, as well the one with his mother (which was heartbreaking because his dick of a father had ruined that one too, just for his damned art) and gets to a place where he is not haunted by his past completely. He reworks his father's legacy in an amazing move, choosing to take the best parts of their business and moving forward with that, while also looking out for his own future.
On a technical aspect, I loved the amount of details put into this. There were frequent references to actual horror films but also a lot of these made-up films, and Dario speaks of them as if they exist in pop culture, making for a smooth transitions from fact to fiction. Also, even with the amount of description put into the film-making process, it doesn't usually feel like it is over-riding the plot, or being extraneous material. Additionally, Dario's snark adds a bit of hilarity to the whole proceedings, to give a sense of reality and normalcy to the bizarre traditions in Moldavia house.
The relationships in this book were interesting. You had these horrible family relationships, but you also had people like Hugo and Aida, who tried to do the right thing. You had Jude, whose bond with Dario is more brotherly than Oren could ever imagine. His romance with Hayley - well, that felt underdeveloped to me, but they had the emotional structure of their past to build on, so I'll allow it. The one thing I felt lacking in the book was the development of the other characters - they mostly felt like they only orbited around Dario and weren't fleshed out well. Oren is the eccentric older brother, Hayley is the sweet girl; there are other such characters in the background, like the little boy Gavin (by the way, why was he still working as a butler/attendant until the end - someone adopt that poor baby! He's still like 11 FFS) who are barely given much of pagetime despite what they mean for the plot.
Overall, though, this is a pretty good book about growing up, getting closure, and moving on.
Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review from Balzer & Bray, via Edelweiss.
I didn’t like the ending. I get it, it has a beautiful meaning and everything and it was a really GREAT BOOK, like really funny and enjoyable and I loved every character but I really wanted Dario and Hayley to stay together okay?
If the League of Gentlemen were American and wrote YA, this would be the result :D
A coming of age story with lots of dark comedy and Hammer Horror-ish setting. Loved it.
A coming of age story with lots of dark comedy and Hammer Horror-ish setting. Loved it.