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A review by lasolady
Girls of Little Hope by Sam Beckbessinger, Dale Halvorsen
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
The writing style in this reminds me of Stephen King. Well, if he wrote YA. Because this is essentially what this is: A YA horror novel. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not conflating Stephen King with Horror, it just is very evident that the authors are influenced by King: the way we circle through POVs, and the way (I personally feel) none of the characters are entirely sympathetic, that's what King is to me.
Anyway. The YA-ness stems from, I think, the use of the present tense, or the way all of the POVs are basically from someone with a teenager's mind(Yes, Marybeth, you're not mature, no matter how much trauma you have gone through) .
I did like the mixed-media approach, even though it is a bit annoying to read on a kindle-for annotations and readability, I feel a physical copy might work better. I tested it on my phone, and yeah, the readability of those pages just sucks on an e-ink display. So if you want to read it, I would recommend not doing so on a kindle.
Now the plot... its very intriguing to me, and it really picks up in the second half. It is a very readable book, but unfortunately, towards the end, it kind of relies on clichés too much for me:creepy children moving in unison, the hivemind, love conquering everything, and finally, the government cover-up. I would have preferred more grotesque body horror, less reliance on clichés.
I did like getting thePOV of the monster , and the question the novel brings up: If I take someone's body and their memories, am I them? How much of them would I have to take before I am more than just a copy?
Overall, I enjoyed the book, but to me its a little too much YA and cliché. I would recommend this book to teens who would like to read their first horror novel.
Anyway. The YA-ness stems from, I think, the use of the present tense, or the way all of the POVs are basically from someone with a teenager's mind
I did like the mixed-media approach, even though it is a bit annoying to read on a kindle-for annotations and readability, I feel a physical copy might work better. I tested it on my phone, and yeah, the readability of those pages just sucks on an e-ink display. So if you want to read it, I would recommend not doing so on a kindle.
Now the plot... its very intriguing to me, and it really picks up in the second half. It is a very readable book, but unfortunately, towards the end, it kind of relies on clichés too much for me:
I did like getting the
Overall, I enjoyed the book, but to me its a little too much YA and cliché. I would recommend this book to teens who would like to read their first horror novel.