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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I have to tell you, when this book first mentions the cicadas screaming in the woods, I was hooked.
This was EERIE. I have been incredibly addicted to gothic novels lately, and this felt really on par with that.
“The devil went down to Georgia…”
It is not lost on me that the name of this town is Carrion, and Carrion is “dead and decaying meat”. Novels often use Carrion as a way to describe raw, red meat. The lake of the town, is Lake Clearwater. (Clear water being transparent material).
So, the first clue that this novel will not be what you expect is the intricately picked names.
“There’s the devil you know, the devil you don’t know, and the devil you wish you’d never met.”
This book is a wild ride, and by the epilogue you are wondering if it was all some sort of fever dream.
The cicadas, the crow, the eerie vibes. This was beautifully done, and this felt all too real.
“What can I do when the whole world is watching?”
The way this story unfolded was like yarn unspooling. It felt slow at first and then suddenly there is so much happening. There’s yarn tangled in your hair, there’s yarn in your shoe, you cannot walk for tripping over yarn, and you’re wondering where the dang end is.
I loved how they swapped POV throughout the story, that it was not just one person. You got the same story from multiple POVS, and you got to put the story together yourself. This is not a sanitized tale, this is a haunting story.
When the cicadas appear, people go missing. This is paranormal, and this is amazing.
I highly recommend this story.
This was EERIE. I have been incredibly addicted to gothic novels lately, and this felt really on par with that.
“The devil went down to Georgia…”
It is not lost on me that the name of this town is Carrion, and Carrion is “dead and decaying meat”. Novels often use Carrion as a way to describe raw, red meat. The lake of the town, is Lake Clearwater. (Clear water being transparent material).
So, the first clue that this novel will not be what you expect is the intricately picked names.
“There’s the devil you know, the devil you don’t know, and the devil you wish you’d never met.”
This book is a wild ride, and by the epilogue you are wondering if it was all some sort of fever dream.
The cicadas, the crow, the eerie vibes. This was beautifully done, and this felt all too real.
“What can I do when the whole world is watching?”
The way this story unfolded was like yarn unspooling. It felt slow at first and then suddenly there is so much happening. There’s yarn tangled in your hair, there’s yarn in your shoe, you cannot walk for tripping over yarn, and you’re wondering where the dang end is.
I loved how they swapped POV throughout the story, that it was not just one person. You got the same story from multiple POVS, and you got to put the story together yourself. This is not a sanitized tale, this is a haunting story.
When the cicadas appear, people go missing. This is paranormal, and this is amazing.
I highly recommend this story.
Might pick up as a physical book but couldn’t focus on audio
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Young Adult horror novel set in Southwest Georgia town. Fallowing four characters, Isaiah and Reid who are part of the rich Clearwater community and Neera and Sam are part of the poor Carrion community. They come together to look into the disapperance of Dawson and the town odd cicada festival every 13 years. The characters felt real with individual struggles and personalities. The atmosphere was like you were in a rural Georgia town in the heat of summer. The horror element was more suttle leaving the class divide and pains of day to day life with all that entails to be the focus.
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was a really good summer horror, but I do feel that the pacing of the second half of the book was rushed and the final horrific sequence was a bit overdone. Besides that, I really loved the inclusion of the podcast and the multiple perspectives, and I did enjoy the themes surrounding the tension between the rich and poor neighborhoods in this area. By the end it was very much giving cult vibes, which I always love reading about.
As a Midwest girlie, I love the gross descriptions of the cicadas. Reading this during the height of the summer while I can hear them outside screaming added to the ambiance of the reading experience.
My one giant gripe is that I feel the marketing of this book gave away the twist and I kept waiting for some sort of subversion, but nope. Exactly what you think you're getting is what you're getting. It didn't necessarily take away from the story, but it left me expecting something else.
As a Midwest girlie, I love the gross descriptions of the cicadas. Reading this during the height of the summer while I can hear them outside screaming added to the ambiance of the reading experience.
My one giant gripe is that I feel the marketing of this book gave away the twist and I kept waiting for some sort of subversion, but nope. Exactly what you think you're getting is what you're getting. It didn't necessarily take away from the story, but it left me expecting something else.
adventurous
dark
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It had GA, Waffle House, devils, crossroads, cicadas, crows, etc. loved this story telling, felt like home in the Deep South
I’m not interested in any of the characters. The start had me hooked but the rest of the pacing after the first chapter is so terribly slow. Why do I care about any of these other side characters? Their stories are minuscule in comparison to the first story.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
I was entranced with this book from the beginning. The writing was absolutely gorgeous. You can tell that Xan put thought into every single sentence she wrote. I didn’t know what to expect when going into this book, but it was a bit of horror, thriller, and southern gothic all wrapped up in one. I loved this complicated depiction of the South and the people who live there. This book was incredibly timely, especially with the way that the current administration is amassing wealth at the expense of everyday people. This book is so necessary.
