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A review by rachelunabridged
Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
thanks to netgalley for the arc!
not gonna lie, i read the first few chapters of this and thought i was going to have a bad time. the beginning felt really jumbled and confusing. paired with my immediate dislike of one of the main characters, i thought i was setting myself up for a rough read; or worse, a dnf. that ended up not being the case as the story snatched my attention around the 20% mark and would not let me go until the end.
this story has three primary characters: nick (a journalist and outdoorsman), sam (nick's city slicker boyfriend), and the maudit (a mountain with a sinister will of its own). after a climb with fellow mountaineer augustin goes south, nick barely escapes with his life. now heavily disfigured and haunted by his memories of the doomed climb, nick begins to suspect that he didn't return from the mountain alone.
i'm a huge fan of folk horror, and this book really scratched that itch for me. it was incredibly atmospheric (after the mess that was the beginning) and full of some great moments that left me chilled.
i should go ahead and warn that this book has a heavy romance subplot. as someone that doesn't enjoy reading romance, i was worried that this would be a deal breaker for me, but it ended up being significant thematically and fit in the plot enough that it didn't feel out of place. (though there were some bits toward the beginning that really had me wanting to throw sam off a cliff, tbh.)
overall, i was surprised by how much i enjoyed this read. i was so invested once the plot picked up and started moving. it definitely could've benefited from an extra editing session or two since it's quite long for what it is, but it wasn't distractingly so. definitely give it a read if you enjoy folk horror!
not gonna lie, i read the first few chapters of this and thought i was going to have a bad time. the beginning felt really jumbled and confusing. paired with my immediate dislike of one of the main characters, i thought i was setting myself up for a rough read; or worse, a dnf. that ended up not being the case as the story snatched my attention around the 20% mark and would not let me go until the end.
this story has three primary characters: nick (a journalist and outdoorsman), sam (nick's city slicker boyfriend), and the maudit (a mountain with a sinister will of its own). after a climb with fellow mountaineer augustin goes south, nick barely escapes with his life. now heavily disfigured and haunted by his memories of the doomed climb, nick begins to suspect that he didn't return from the mountain alone.
i'm a huge fan of folk horror, and this book really scratched that itch for me. it was incredibly atmospheric (after the mess that was the beginning) and full of some great moments that left me chilled.
i should go ahead and warn that this book has a heavy romance subplot. as someone that doesn't enjoy reading romance, i was worried that this would be a deal breaker for me, but it ended up being significant thematically and fit in the plot enough that it didn't feel out of place. (though there were some bits toward the beginning that really had me wanting to throw sam off a cliff, tbh.)
overall, i was surprised by how much i enjoyed this read. i was so invested once the plot picked up and started moving. it definitely could've benefited from an extra editing session or two since it's quite long for what it is, but it wasn't distractingly so. definitely give it a read if you enjoy folk horror!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Child death