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A review by silenttwg
How to Create A Monster by John Ward
adventurous
challenging
funny
lighthearted
slow-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? Yes
3.5
Emily is a die-hard Halloween fan. It's all about the scares, the candy, the thrill of the spooky season for her, but somewhere along the lines, she became jaded by others enjoying the less spooky side of it. This is where her dreams of bygone days takes its toll on the entire town.
I really, really wanted to like this book. I grew up on Goosebumps, have shared that love to other young ones I know, so liked this concept a lot. And this feels like with some polishing, it could reach that level too, but it needs some more editing TLC and character/plot development.
I started counting the number of run-on sentences using "as", "before", "while" and other connector words. It was unfortunately very common. There were other distracting styles with the writing that would be caught with more polishing.
I also had a hard time with Emily. She struck me as a preteen but her attitude alternated between hating people having fun without being just in the spooky side, complaining that people didn't understand scary anymore, while simultaneously being startled by her bullies, her friends, her parents, her creation, the hayride, and being envious of her neighbors' impressively spooky setup. It made it very difficult to relate to. How can this kid be so jaded about things not being scary when she's practically jumping at her own shadow?
This is where I think some of the character development needs to be focused on. She gets so whiny and repetitive but it's not needed. She can feel underwhelmed by the silliness of halloween without it becoming her personality. It made her difficult to like though I think the teeny bopper is in there. Her whining was also too much of the focus of the plot.
Would have liked to see instead more of her creation's mischief, more investigation and bonding with her Scooby gang, more focus on the end scene and how they pulled together. Would have liked more and less all at once.
I really, really wanted to like this book. I grew up on Goosebumps, have shared that love to other young ones I know, so liked this concept a lot. And this feels like with some polishing, it could reach that level too, but it needs some more editing TLC and character/plot development.
I started counting the number of run-on sentences using "as", "before", "while" and other connector words. It was unfortunately very common. There were other distracting styles with the writing that would be caught with more polishing.
I also had a hard time with Emily. She struck me as a preteen but her attitude alternated between hating people having fun without being just in the spooky side, complaining that people didn't understand scary anymore, while simultaneously being startled by her bullies, her friends, her parents, her creation, the hayride, and being envious of her neighbors' impressively spooky setup. It made it very difficult to relate to. How can this kid be so jaded about things not being scary when she's practically jumping at her own shadow?
This is where I think some of the character development needs to be focused on. She gets so whiny and repetitive but it's not needed. She can feel underwhelmed by the silliness of halloween without it becoming her personality. It made her difficult to like though I think the teeny bopper is in there. Her whining was also too much of the focus of the plot.
Would have liked to see instead more of her creation's mischief, more investigation and bonding with her Scooby gang, more focus on the end scene and how they pulled together. Would have liked more and less all at once.