A review by andi
Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow by Christina Henry

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

 
“horseman: a tale of sleepy hollow” was a fun addition to the original tale of the headless horseman. i really like christina henry’s take on this urban legend – it’s was an interesting follow-up to the myth, set after crane’s encounter with the horseman. 

the atmosphere of the novel has the same eerie vibe that the sleepy hollow movie has – the author did an amazingly well job at crafting the small town feeling. i loved how subtly magic was woven into this town, how people accepted its existence and yet they denied the horseman’s existence. the build-up was done so, so well – the sudden appearance of headless corpses of both animals and children. i was so intrigued by the first part of this novel. however, the ending chapter made me completely lose my interest as it felt a bit unnecessary and dragged-out. 

i adored how the book handled family and the unconditional love between people that share the same blood. the portrayal of grief in this novel was spot-on and i quite appreciated the commentary on losing loved ones. another thing horseman does well is ben’s character arc – we watch ben’s process of self-discovery. 

i feel like the book has a tendency to get repetitive after a while. there’s a lot of back-and-forth between brom and ben about the woods and how ben should stay away from the forest – he doesn’t and then we’re back to watching these two argue again. another complain i have is the reveal – i found it lacking and not suspenseful at all. the book builds up to this big ending and then it’s not what you’d expect. maybe it’s the pacing and how the book’s structured but it didn’t work for me at all. should’ve went without that last chapter set 10 years after. 

i still haven’t got the new horseman thing – how exactly did it came to be? and also why would the other creature be chill for so many years if it’s as powerful as the book made it to be? truthfully i think the book tried to do too many things at the same time with how many villains there were. 


the writing was beautiful, some parts were so lyrical that i could vividly picture the scene – especially those in which ben sees the horseman and the other creatures. i read two other books by this author and i can clearly tell she has improved a lot. 

overall, horseman was an enjoyable read – perfect for the spooky month! christina’s a good writer and, even if this novel didn’t work for me, i’ll definitely pick up some of her previous works. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings