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A review by lori85
This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer
2.0
Author Jenny Kiefer is the owner of Butcher Cabin Books, a bookstore in Kentucky that specializes in horror and has a cool blood-dripping paint job, so I wanted very much to love this. Unfortunately:
1. Extremely shallow characters. Dylan is a popular rock climbing influencer whose inner monologue is all Imposter Syndrome. Luke is literally just her boyfriend who will be accompanying them with his dog. That's it. No backstory, no sense of who he is otherwise or even any real reason given as to why a civilian is tagging along on an extended research trip. Sylvia knows about plants and stuff. Clay is an ambitious rich guy, which is the only characterization that actually goes anywhere, as . There is no reason to care about any of these people.
2. Supernatural element that's basically a melding of two incompatible types of horror. The result is the in-your-face absurdity of b-horror without the kitsch or camp that excuses the ridiculousness.
3. Pointless gross-outs and gore. Do we really need eight pages (I listened to the audiobook but this is the Kindle length another reviewer gave) of the perspective of someone being slowly cut open and torn apart?
4. Lastly: foreshadowing that's supposed to be ominous but is really just silly (e.g. quips about the diner being their "last meal"); forced, unnatural dialogue; spooky mystery setup that doesn't deliver on the spooky (nothing but here); and, most frustratingly, the 18th-century settlers seeking the Promised Land and failing because they didn't understand said land, the outsiders who laugh and dismiss the warnings of the locals, Dylan's desire to claim and name the rock formation - there is SO MUCH here that very blatantly ties into themes of colonization and the forced displacement of Native Americans but it is never, ever followed up on. I don't know, maybe there was Native folklore about this valley? Seriously, how does an author introduce and then ignore such an obvious tangent?
That being said, I did appreciate how Kiefer restrained herself on going overboard on the rock climbing and bogging the story down in too many technical details. She's a Kentucky rock climber writing about rock climbers in Kentucky, so that must have been tempting. There were also moments of genuine action and suspense. So in the end I do give this an extra star and hope to be able to visit her bookstore someday. Better luck on the next book.
1. Extremely shallow characters. Dylan is a popular rock climbing influencer whose inner monologue is all Imposter Syndrome. Luke is literally just her boyfriend who will be accompanying them with his dog
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who survivesSpoiler
the valley preys on his arrogance and entitlement2. Supernatural element that's basically a melding of two incompatible types of horror.
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The valley is a sapient entity that induces hallucinations, including repeating patterns, to disorient and manipulate its victims until it fully possesses them. Those are the ingredients of an [b:Annihilation|17934530|Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1)|Jeff VanderMeer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403941587l/17934530._SX50_.jpg|24946895]-style tale of the weird that slowly builds, as the malevolent forest twists the characters' desires and insecurities until they violently turn on one another. (Which is what happened with Clay and why he's the most developed of any of them.) But then Kiefer also wanted cannibal ghost slashers for some reason, and they completely take over the plot.3. Pointless gross-outs and gore. Do we really need eight pages (I listened to the audiobook but this is the Kindle length another reviewer gave) of the perspective of someone being slowly cut open and torn apart?
4. Lastly: foreshadowing that's supposed to be ominous but is really just silly (e.g. quips about the diner being their "last meal"); forced, unnatural dialogue; spooky mystery setup that doesn't deliver on the spooky (nothing but
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ghost slashingSpoiler
Maybe some of the ghosts could be Native?That being said, I did appreciate how Kiefer restrained herself on going overboard on the rock climbing and bogging the story down in too many technical details. She's a Kentucky rock climber writing about rock climbers in Kentucky, so that must have been tempting. There were also moments of genuine action and suspense. So in the end I do give this an extra star and hope to be able to visit her bookstore someday. Better luck on the next book.