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A review by apalershadeofwhite
Camp Lenape by Timothy R. Baldwin
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
This book only started getting interesting in the last few chapters of part 1. The first part wasn't AWFUL in the beginning, but it wasn't good either... Overall, it was a bit boring, to be honest. I wasn't excited to carry on reading, I just did because I hate not finishing books. I wasn't engaged in the narrative or feel like I had to know what happened. The mystery element was introduced quite early on, but it wasn't done in a gripping way. I was just like 'oh, I think a couple people have got their stories mixed up, so something fishy must be going on'. Why did it have to take so long? It was such a slow build up. This text overall is quite middle-of-the-road and not really a memorable one. I can see myself forgetting that I've read this quite quickly...
Any interesting part of the novel came from the plot and not the writing. The plot points are what created any interest because the writing was just not great... For example, when Marcus and Alissa are trying to open to the door to the cottage, there could have been some really great tension created, but it only got interesting when we found out that someone saw them. The interest should have been in the suspense of being seen! It was just... meh. It felt like the author was spoon-feeding su the plot. I know the author has to write and take the reader through it, but the way anything was told to us was through the characters telling each other / the reader. Instead of being implicit, hinting, and letting us build up our own ideas before giving anything away to us, everything was juse explicitly told to the reader. Really, imagination is your best bet as a writer as that's what will help to build tensions and suspense because the mind can come up with some crazy things. But sometimes even the spoon-feeding didn't make sense! Alissa says at one point "I think they're going to burn down to cottage with us inside" but?? HOW would you know that?! There was nothing to explain how she drew that conclusion!
Something that didn't help either was the stereotypes pushed onto the characters. We were given these two men - one of whom is goofy, and one is calm - along with two women - one who wear low-cut tops, short shorts, makeup, and perfume while the other wears basketball shorts, a sports jersey, and no makeup. And there was the cliche 'I don't think he likes all that girly stuff anyway' from Alissa when she thought her friend possibly fancied one of the boys and the 'how do you know they're men' when seeing some creepy people on the campgrounds. WHY? They're just badly done stereotypes with no reason for them being used. I think stereotypes can be used in interesting and effective ways sometimes, but this was just done like a badly. It felt like the book equivalent of a bad 80s movie that you watch when you're ill and need something that won't challenge your brain or require you to think; something that just tells you what's going on.
Any interesting part of the novel came from the plot and not the writing. The plot points are what created any interest because the writing was just not great... For example, when Marcus and Alissa are trying to open to the door to the cottage, there could have been some really great tension created, but it only got interesting when we found out that someone saw them. The interest should have been in the suspense of being seen! It was just... meh. It felt like the author was spoon-feeding su the plot. I know the author has to write and take the reader through it, but the way anything was told to us was through the characters telling each other / the reader. Instead of being implicit, hinting, and letting us build up our own ideas before giving anything away to us, everything was juse explicitly told to the reader. Really, imagination is your best bet as a writer as that's what will help to build tensions and suspense because the mind can come up with some crazy things. But sometimes even the spoon-feeding didn't make sense! Alissa says at one point "I think they're going to burn down to cottage with us inside" but?? HOW would you know that?! There was nothing to explain how she drew that conclusion!
Something that didn't help either was the stereotypes pushed onto the characters. We were given these two men - one of whom is goofy, and one is calm - along with two women - one who wear low-cut tops, short shorts, makeup, and perfume while the other wears basketball shorts, a sports jersey, and no makeup. And there was the cliche 'I don't think he likes all that girly stuff anyway' from Alissa when she thought her friend possibly fancied one of the boys and the 'how do you know they're men' when seeing some creepy people on the campgrounds. WHY? They're just badly done stereotypes with no reason for them being used. I think stereotypes can be used in interesting and effective ways sometimes, but this was just done like a badly. It felt like the book equivalent of a bad 80s movie that you watch when you're ill and need something that won't challenge your brain or require you to think; something that just tells you what's going on.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Kidnapping