A review by bluejayreads
The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor by Shaenon K. Garrity

adventurous funny
  • Strong character development? Yes

3.0

This book is quite silly in concept but also very fun. The idea is that Haley, the protagonist obsessed with Gothic romances, ends up in the pocket dimension that protects our universe from a universe of evil - and this pocket dimension is inexplicably Gothic romance-themed. It makes fun of Gothic romance tropes a lot, and thought I got the major ideas, I'm not huge into Gothic romances so I'm sure I missed a lot of the trope-based jokes. The art was fun (although the extreme lack of detail on the faces compared to everything else felt a bit off to me), and I even laughed out loud a few times. Despite the purported seriousness of the plot (pocket dimension being attacked by an evil force that will consume our universe if it succeeds), none of it feels all that dangerous or impactful. Perhaps it's because Haley's obsession with Gothic literature makes this story feel fictional even within itself. But everything feels very fake and relentlessly silly. Not necessarily in a bad way - it was fun and I enjoyed it. But it was really hard to get actually emotionally invested because I just couldn't manage to forget it's just a silly little story. 
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