Scan barcode
colorfulleo92's review
2.0
This was a chilling horror story but wasn't my cup of tea. It wasn't bad written but the story didn't grasp me.
seang81's review
4.0
Really enjoyed this novel - interesting premise and had me riveted for most of it. However, once it went a little metaphysical it started to lose me, personally feel it would have been better as a horror/thriller rather than the horror/metaphysical horror it tried to be! I'd still read another novel by the author, I just hope it's all as good as the start to this one was!
zarco_j's review against another edition
4.0
My thanks to Flame Tree Press and Netgalley.
I need to read more by this author! I clicked on this because of the cover and the interesting blurb.
Bloody, gruesome and scary this was the perfect read for long winter nights.
I need to read more by this author! I clicked on this because of the cover and the interesting blurb.
Bloody, gruesome and scary this was the perfect read for long winter nights.
readbydanni's review
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Really enjoyed this! Creepy, mysterious, nightmare-ish fun! I'll never look at a snowman the same way again...
jayfr's review against another edition
4.0
My thanks to Flame Tree Press and Netgalley.
I need to read more by this author! I clicked on this because of the cover and the interesting blurb.
Bloody, gruesome and scary this was the perfect read for long winter nights.
I need to read more by this author! I clicked on this because of the cover and the interesting blurb.
Bloody, gruesome and scary this was the perfect read for long winter nights.
the_coycaterpillar_reads's review
5.0
Flame Tree Press are quickly becoming my go-to purveyor of horror. Snowball is seeping in a creeping dread with amazingly strong characterisation. The snow provides the perfect backdrop in this heart attack inducing horror story. It limits your vision, your senses intensified and on red alert. The eerie quiet closes in around you, impacts your psyche and delusions start to take precedence in your mind. They take a seat and makes itself comfy, you aren’t going to make it to the end without being unscathed. Prepare to feel as broken as the characters by the closing of the last page.
It’s Christmas Eve in New Hampshire. A terrifying, blizzard creating snow is starting to fall. Travellers are unaware of the disastrous effects this will cause to their travel plans. We are also introduced to the snow plough driver and we see first-hand just how the snow can play tricks with your vision and your mind. Was that a deer in the road or just a figure conjured up by an overactive imagination? He took a snap decision. He came to a stop and got stuck in the snow, right up to the plough blade. The cold is going to seep into the driver’s pores, rip them open and reveal a fear most palpable. It is this scene building that makes Snowball such a winner.
The cold is seeping into his bones, but he doesn’t fail to notice the figure in the snow. A Snowman. A completely benign figure that represents no threat to anyone, right? Well, when did you last see a snowman with rows of razor-sharp teeth. The malice is evident, like an omen that will end your days here on earth. The scene had my stomach churning, my heart thumping at a staccato beat and my vision blurry with the nightmarish images that were flashing before my eyes.
The book title is perfect. It’s poetic. It made the synapses in my brain fire quicker; my imagination was a fertile breeding ground for imagining what would happen next. As a snowball it starts small and as events take multiple turns it gathers speed, it gets bigger until it takes things out. It’s unstoppable, and it will turn on you if you try. This is an immediate author I will be reading more of. He knows how to cut to the quick and his words inject icy cold fluid into every nerve ending.
Snowball is dark, claustrophobic and full of soul breaking suspense. This book blew my mind to fragments that I struggled to gather afterwards. An altogether triumphant book of original horror.
It’s Christmas Eve in New Hampshire. A terrifying, blizzard creating snow is starting to fall. Travellers are unaware of the disastrous effects this will cause to their travel plans. We are also introduced to the snow plough driver and we see first-hand just how the snow can play tricks with your vision and your mind. Was that a deer in the road or just a figure conjured up by an overactive imagination? He took a snap decision. He came to a stop and got stuck in the snow, right up to the plough blade. The cold is going to seep into the driver’s pores, rip them open and reveal a fear most palpable. It is this scene building that makes Snowball such a winner.
The cold is seeping into his bones, but he doesn’t fail to notice the figure in the snow. A Snowman. A completely benign figure that represents no threat to anyone, right? Well, when did you last see a snowman with rows of razor-sharp teeth. The malice is evident, like an omen that will end your days here on earth. The scene had my stomach churning, my heart thumping at a staccato beat and my vision blurry with the nightmarish images that were flashing before my eyes.
The book title is perfect. It’s poetic. It made the synapses in my brain fire quicker; my imagination was a fertile breeding ground for imagining what would happen next. As a snowball it starts small and as events take multiple turns it gathers speed, it gets bigger until it takes things out. It’s unstoppable, and it will turn on you if you try. This is an immediate author I will be reading more of. He knows how to cut to the quick and his words inject icy cold fluid into every nerve ending.
Snowball is dark, claustrophobic and full of soul breaking suspense. This book blew my mind to fragments that I struggled to gather afterwards. An altogether triumphant book of original horror.
casey_zi's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this Christmas-horror-cum-dark-fairytale by a surprise hidden gem of an author I've never heard of before, but whose work I'm now looking forward to exploring more of.
After an explosive opening scene, the first half of the book is kind of slow as it largely revolves around the cast of people stuck in their cars on the highway, telling stories of the winters of their youth as they gather in one of their RVs for warmth. When two of them go to chase a light in the woods, the plot kicks off and we follow them as they battle various monsters from myth and legend.
It reads more like a dark fairytale than a horror novel, but that works just fine. Krampus and evil Whomping Willows and diabolical snowmen? Hecking yes. If that sounds good to you, then I recommend it.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC for review. All opinions are my own.
After an explosive opening scene, the first half of the book is kind of slow as it largely revolves around the cast of people stuck in their cars on the highway, telling stories of the winters of their youth as they gather in one of their RVs for warmth. When two of them go to chase a light in the woods, the plot kicks off and we follow them as they battle various monsters from myth and legend.
It reads more like a dark fairytale than a horror novel, but that works just fine. Krampus and evil Whomping Willows and diabolical snowmen? Hecking yes. If that sounds good to you, then I recommend it.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC for review. All opinions are my own.
mpr2000's review
5.0
I’ll start saying that I don’t read horror, never, so if you are an horror book lover and after reading it you don’t find it scary, sorry, I was so scared that I couldn’t read some of the parts! I’ll admit that I am an easy to scare woman and if in a movie there’s a scary part I hide behind the duvet! So I am really proud of myself to have read this book and loved it!
Snowball is a story around winter and tragic memories from the cold and iced winter… the worst memories you can remember! After one of the worst snow storms in New Hampshire during Christmas Eve some people are stranded on the highway. It could seem more or less normal, the problem will start when people start dying and some ‘weird’ things start to happen. They will discover that they have a connection, but how is it possible? It’s fate that they are all at the same place at the same moment and without any possibility to leave? Of course you’ll have to read the book if you want to know all the answers!
I liked how all the characters have a connection and their part on the story, it was reading a lot of stories inside one book, like a puzzle, where every part have a special position. Even the scary characters have a special part in it. I’ll have to admit that I would had loved to know more about each character and their stories, the eager to always know more, but I can understand that then the book would have 1000 pages!
There’s a very interesting moral at the chore of the story, that everything that happens throughout our lives will have a deep impact in who we will become, even a simple snowball fight… I always knew that everything makes who we become, but it’s interesting reading about it, a way to open our eyes on how we interact with the people on our surroundings no matter if they are friends or strangers.
I was so interested in how everything ended that I didn’t go to sleep till I finished the book, so don’t worry if you are not a fan of horror books, I am sure you’ll love this story! From now on you’ll only become scared of snow and snowmen… ;P
Ready to discover the Snowball?
Snowball is a story around winter and tragic memories from the cold and iced winter… the worst memories you can remember! After one of the worst snow storms in New Hampshire during Christmas Eve some people are stranded on the highway. It could seem more or less normal, the problem will start when people start dying and some ‘weird’ things start to happen. They will discover that they have a connection, but how is it possible? It’s fate that they are all at the same place at the same moment and without any possibility to leave? Of course you’ll have to read the book if you want to know all the answers!
I liked how all the characters have a connection and their part on the story, it was reading a lot of stories inside one book, like a puzzle, where every part have a special position. Even the scary characters have a special part in it. I’ll have to admit that I would had loved to know more about each character and their stories, the eager to always know more, but I can understand that then the book would have 1000 pages!
There’s a very interesting moral at the chore of the story, that everything that happens throughout our lives will have a deep impact in who we will become, even a simple snowball fight… I always knew that everything makes who we become, but it’s interesting reading about it, a way to open our eyes on how we interact with the people on our surroundings no matter if they are friends or strangers.
I was so interested in how everything ended that I didn’t go to sleep till I finished the book, so don’t worry if you are not a fan of horror books, I am sure you’ll love this story! From now on you’ll only become scared of snow and snowmen… ;P
Ready to discover the Snowball?
jarichan's review
4.0
Schneemänner sind die neuen Clowns!
Eine solide Horrorgeschichte, die man am besten dick eingemummelt mit einem warmen Getränk in der Hand geniesst.
Bastianelli arbeitet verschiedene Erzähltechniken und -elemente in sein Buch ein, die aber sehr gut zusammengesetzt sind. Auf diese Weise wird auch das Lesen nicht langweilig und zumindest ich blieb immer bei der Stange. Vielleicht hätte man das Element des Spiels noch ein wenig mehr ausarbeiten können, doch es funktioniert dennoch sehr gut.
Wie im Horrorgenre üblich, gibt es zu Beginn ziemlich viele Figuren. Die meisten werden aber gut eingeführt, sodass noch nicht einmal ich Mühe hatte, sie zu unterscheiden. Sehr gut gemacht. Vor allem hätte ich nicht erwartet, dass ein bestimmter Charakter schlussendlich immer präsenter wird.
Für mich ein perfektes Winterbuch, das sich schön von den sonstigen Weihnachtskitschbüchern abhebt. Ich mag Horror und Bastianelli scheint dieses Genre gut im Griff zu haben.
Eine solide Horrorgeschichte, die man am besten dick eingemummelt mit einem warmen Getränk in der Hand geniesst.
Bastianelli arbeitet verschiedene Erzähltechniken und -elemente in sein Buch ein, die aber sehr gut zusammengesetzt sind. Auf diese Weise wird auch das Lesen nicht langweilig und zumindest ich blieb immer bei der Stange. Vielleicht hätte man das Element des Spiels noch ein wenig mehr ausarbeiten können, doch es funktioniert dennoch sehr gut.
Wie im Horrorgenre üblich, gibt es zu Beginn ziemlich viele Figuren. Die meisten werden aber gut eingeführt, sodass noch nicht einmal ich Mühe hatte, sie zu unterscheiden. Sehr gut gemacht. Vor allem hätte ich nicht erwartet, dass ein bestimmter Charakter schlussendlich immer präsenter wird.
Für mich ein perfektes Winterbuch, das sich schön von den sonstigen Weihnachtskitschbüchern abhebt. Ich mag Horror und Bastianelli scheint dieses Genre gut im Griff zu haben.
tiasy97's review against another edition
3.0
Was a good read but the ending really didn’t make any sense to me at all