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jesssicawho's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Mental illness, Death, and Dementia
muireebrown's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
I found this book because I enjoyed What Moves the Dead. While this book wasn’t quite as good, I found it engaging all the same. There is sort of a mystery element that makes it compelling. It also sort of reminded me of The Old Gods of Appalachia meets a story by H.P. Lovecraft. I also enjoy any story with a prominent dog character, so bonus points for that.
Spoilers:
The dog lives!
Spoilers:
The dog lives!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Pregnancy, Mental illness, and Murder
traa's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Slavery, and Violence
Minor: Car accident
readwithbells's review against another edition
4.0
Then I made faces like the faces on the rocks, and I twisted myself around like the twisted ones, and I lay down flat on the ground like the dead ones.
That made my skin crawl. Folk horror (and turns out a pulp horror retelling, thanks authors note) done absolutely right. Sometimes the humour felt a little too much and there was a point between 60-80% where so many reveals were happening the storyline got totally convoluted for me. I took a six hour break and finished the book this afternoon and I’m so glad I did because that climax was fantastic. I haven’t had a horror book make me physically shudder in a long time and this was exactly what I was looking for: something spooky and horror-feeling where I’ll still be able to sleep at night. Potentially a bit long and certainly a bit repetitive, the atmosphere wasn’t great but the body horror was; I liked it. Never gonna look at rocks the same though.
That made my skin crawl. Folk horror (and turns out a pulp horror retelling, thanks authors note) done absolutely right. Sometimes the humour felt a little too much and there was a point between 60-80% where so many reveals were happening the storyline got totally convoluted for me. I took a six hour break and finished the book this afternoon and I’m so glad I did because that climax was fantastic. I haven’t had a horror book make me physically shudder in a long time and this was exactly what I was looking for: something spooky and horror-feeling where I’ll still be able to sleep at night. Potentially a bit long and certainly a bit repetitive, the atmosphere wasn’t great but the body horror was; I liked it. Never gonna look at rocks the same though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Chronic illness and Mental illness
Minor: Child death and Death of parent
Moderate:nouveaudragon's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
This book, like many of Kingfisher's books, absolutely changed my worldview. Similar in content to the audio drama podcast, Old Gods of Appalachia (if you're looking for other haunted Appalachian tales). The book felt fast-paced because something stressful was always happening, but we are still left with more mysteries than explanations in the end. I feel this is a fitting end to a horror book, and was right up my alley.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Mental illness, and Body horror
megwilli's review against another edition
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Violence
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
horizonous's review against another edition
After two chapters it became clear that this just wouldn't work for me. It's way too conversational and casual and I can't stand it when an animal is a character of its own but doesn't talk but instead I have to read passages like:
„Hwuaaaafffforrrroooo!“ he said, or words to that effect. […] „Wuuuaaaaoorrroo-rooo!“
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness and Death
Minor: Death of parent
◦ Death = Grandparent◦ Mental illness = Hoarding
anna_hepworth's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This is creepy, and dark, both in the real world and the fantasy world sections of the story. And yet it never made it over the line to horror for me, and I'm feeling a little bit let down by that.
In the real world sections, our protagonist--Melissa, known as Mouse--is dealing with the house of a recently deceased family member. Said family member was nasty through and through in their dealings with other people, and the house turns out to be a hoarding nightmare. I found myself repeatedly baffled by sections of this, which I think just come down to the reality that other people's families are weird. I did rather love the bit part player, Enid, who is the barista in the nearest town, and who seems rather unflappable. And the nearby household of Skip, Foxy, and Tomas, who are integral to the story. So, Vernon has done very well (as ever) with bringing together a fabulous cast.
In the fantasy sections, there are any number of nasty body horror things going on, although for a long time Mouse writes them off as either dementia (their grandfather's writing) or suggestibility (their own observations). Which should bring with it a creeping sense of dread for the reader, but I found that Mouse was overly analytical about the horror tropes, and so kept throwing me out of the feeling. No idea whether that was the plan.
The author's note discusses other texts that this is in dialogue with -- I wasn't familiar with the primary one, and possibly if I had been this might have worked better.
But as ever in Vernon's work, solid writing, fascinating premise, good world-building and character development, and a generally good story.
In the real world sections, our protagonist--Melissa, known as Mouse--is dealing with the house of a recently deceased family member. Said family member was nasty through and through in their dealings with other people, and the house turns out to be a hoarding nightmare. I found myself repeatedly baffled by sections of this, which I think just come down to the reality that other people's families are weird. I did rather love the bit part player, Enid, who is the barista in the nearest town, and who seems rather unflappable. And the nearby household of Skip, Foxy, and Tomas, who are integral to the story. So, Vernon has done very well (as ever) with bringing together a fabulous cast.
In the fantasy sections, there are any number of nasty body horror things going on, although for a long time Mouse writes them off as either dementia (their grandfather's writing) or suggestibility (their own observations). Which should bring with it a creeping sense of dread for the reader, but I found that Mouse was overly analytical about the horror tropes, and so kept throwing me out of the feeling. No idea whether that was the plan.
The author's note discusses other texts that this is in dialogue with -- I wasn't familiar with the primary one, and possibly if I had been this might have worked better.
But as ever in Vernon's work, solid writing, fascinating premise, good world-building and character development, and a generally good story.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse
Minor: Mental illness
There are two individuals with explicitly mentioned mental illness; the stories of both are handled well by my standards.ghostams's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Absolutely loved this book! It was an insanely amazing mix of folklore, family history, isolating energy, small town vibes, and childhood-level fear. Definitely a book I wish I could forget, just to read again, even though it was terrifying in the best way. Plus, the characters are so unique while being regular folk. Also, the dog doesn't die and is arguably the hero!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
Moderate: Mental illness and Grief
Minor: Racism, Emotional abuse, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Confinement, Child death, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, and Death
booksthatburn's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
THE TWISTED ONES combines the mundane drudgery and strangeness of cleaning out a hoarder's house with the fantastical creepiness of a technically-not-haunted forest with twisted rocks and strange effigies.
I appreciate the way that the framing clearly situates this as a story being told after the narrator and her dog have survived the events in question, it would be a monumentally more stressful story if I'd had to wonder whether the dog dies. The dread lies instead in the very large gap between surviving and escaping unscathed, and in the pages upon pages of descriptions of what was in this particular hoarder's house. It ratcheted up the tension by inches, as the intensity of the supernatural events increased periodically while the sheer volume and detail of the house's contents were a steady drip of very plausible weirdness.
The main character, Mouse, is a great narrator, with the quirkiness of specificity bringing a great style to her asides and characterizations. Bongo (the dog) comes through so well in her descriptions, doing things that make sense for who he is as a dog, even (or perhaps especially) when such actions complement the narrative as a thriller. The secondary characters are detailed enough to feel like full people without distracting from the main events, and I like the group who helps her out towards the end (Foxy's my favorite).
There's a particular litany, both read and thought by Mouse, which gradually turned into an earworm in my own thoughts in a way that makes the horror even more effective. It made it feel like the book was escaping its confines, or at the very least it makes it alarmingly plausible that Mouse could be just the latest in a line of people who became stuck on that refrain.
The ending is terrifying, bringing together the more mundane horror of a hoarder's house together with the supernatural elements in a fantastically scary climax. It had felt like the collection of stuff and the creepy things outside were two separate worlds but the meeting between them was one of the scariest things I've read in a while. The final scenes at the house are absolutely chilling, leading to an resolution that feels just as right as it is weird and sad.
I appreciate the way that the framing clearly situates this as a story being told after the narrator and her dog have survived the events in question, it would be a monumentally more stressful story if I'd had to wonder whether the dog dies. The dread lies instead in the very large gap between surviving and escaping unscathed, and in the pages upon pages of descriptions of what was in this particular hoarder's house. It ratcheted up the tension by inches, as the intensity of the supernatural events increased periodically while the sheer volume and detail of the house's contents were a steady drip of very plausible weirdness.
The main character, Mouse, is a great narrator, with the quirkiness of specificity bringing a great style to her asides and characterizations. Bongo (the dog) comes through so well in her descriptions, doing things that make sense for who he is as a dog, even (or perhaps especially) when such actions complement the narrative as a thriller. The secondary characters are detailed enough to feel like full people without distracting from the main events, and I like the group who helps her out towards the end (Foxy's my favorite).
There's a particular litany, both read and thought by Mouse, which gradually turned into an earworm in my own thoughts in a way that makes the horror even more effective. It made it feel like the book was escaping its confines, or at the very least it makes it alarmingly plausible that Mouse could be just the latest in a line of people who became stuck on that refrain.
The ending is terrifying, bringing together the more mundane horror of a hoarder's house together with the supernatural elements in a fantastically scary climax. It had felt like the collection of stuff and the creepy things outside were two separate worlds but the meeting between them was one of the scariest things I've read in a while. The final scenes at the house are absolutely chilling, leading to an resolution that feels just as right as it is weird and sad.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Animal death, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, and Death of parent
Minor: Child death