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allisonsmith120's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Cancer, Misogyny, and Vomit
missbreathing's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I wanted to like this. I like the author’s last novel, Eat Your Heart Out, and was expecting a fun thriller/YA slasher. But this didn’t live up to my expectations. It’s way too slow paced for a thriller. The characters are not compelling and we never learn to care about them. The prose wasn’t great. It reads as young YA, which is totally valid, but maybe doesn’t fit the tone of the story.
I did appreciate the themes of sexism in Hollywood, though I wish they were better fleshed out. And I did like the Romanian castle setting! The student film set stuff was very accurate and reminded me of my days in film school.
I wasn’t loving it by the end, but I was prepared to give it maybe 3⭐️ and accept that I am just not its target audience. But that ending. I won’t spoil anything, but, in order for the twist at the end to work, there needed to be major changes to the narration, voice, and POV. As it is, it’s ineffective and makes the ending hard to believe.
This one was just a miss for me :/
I did appreciate the themes of sexism in Hollywood, though I wish they were better fleshed out. And I did like the Romanian castle setting! The student film set stuff was very accurate and reminded me of my days in film school.
I wasn’t loving it by the end, but I was prepared to give it maybe 3⭐️ and accept that I am just not its target audience. But that ending. I won’t spoil anything, but, in order for the twist at the end to work, there needed to be major changes to the narration, voice, and POV. As it is, it’s ineffective and makes the ending hard to believe.
This one was just a miss for me :/
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Cancer and Gore
nixieba25f's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.75
I found the pacing to be a slog, the characters flimsy, stupid, and obnoxious, and the writing to be tortured. Every turn was telegraphed entirely too hard. Felt like the author was just doing a poor novelization of a movie we’ve seen a dozen times. Did not work for me on any level.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gore, Kidnapping, Sexism, Toxic friendship, and Violence
Minor: Abandonment, Classism, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, and Terminal illness
melaniereadsbooks's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Teen for an arc of this book.
After being waitlisted at her dream college for filmmaking, Alex and her friends come up with the idea to create her short film in Prahova at the castle of Vlad Dracul. With the help of an actress, they make their way to the castle...but everything turns out wrong when the power goes out, the adults disappear, and her friends start going missing.
I would say the best part about this book is the interplay of "scene descriptions" between chapters, including information from the script, the investigation, and other elements. The rest of it was a little boring and predictable, but still fun to read. This is the book equivalent of a slasher film. I think this would have been better if the ending hadn't been so predictable and the main character hadn't been described one way for most of the plot, then changed at the end. The end part of the character was interesting, but the way Alex was depicted for the majority of the book was just bland and sad.
Also...none of the side characters were interesting. So that was sad.
After being waitlisted at her dream college for filmmaking, Alex and her friends come up with the idea to create her short film in Prahova at the castle of Vlad Dracul. With the help of an actress, they make their way to the castle...but everything turns out wrong when the power goes out, the adults disappear, and her friends start going missing.
I would say the best part about this book is the interplay of "scene descriptions" between chapters, including information from the script, the investigation, and other elements. The rest of it was a little boring and predictable, but still fun to read. This is the book equivalent of a slasher film. I think this would have been better if the ending hadn't been so predictable and the main character hadn't been described one way for most of the plot, then changed at the end. The end part of the character was interesting, but the way Alex was depicted for the majority of the book was just bland and sad.
Also...none of the side characters were interesting. So that was sad.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Sexism, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Drug use
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