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A review by entanglednovels
The Shuddering by Ania Ahlborn
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
A satisfyingly creepy read. Unfortunately for this book, one of my favourite video games is <i>very</i> similar to it in both plot and characters. I'm not going to name the video game since that will give away <i>so much</i> of this book - that's how similar some of it is. But if you know, you know.
<i>The Shuddering</i> was published a few years before the video game was released, so it's suffering the unfortunate reality that I read it second, and thus compared it heavily to the game. There are definitely some major differences. <i>The Shuddering</i> doesn't name this enemy that hunts our heroes of the story. The characters are also older, and there's less of them. The video game has another couple of subplots that are resolved halfway to a third of the way through. None of them are present in this book. The ending is also vastly different - depending on how you play the game. So I still enjoyed this, but it did feel like the same story in a different form for the first 50-60%. I've actually tried to find out if the game developer took inspiration from this book, or if Ahlborn worked on the project at all, but nothing that I can see.
I have to say, I was satisfied with the uncertain ending Ahlborn gives us. So many questions left unanswered but in a good way. I loved the characters and think they were well done overall. I'd be happy to read some more from Ahlborn.
<i>The Shuddering</i> was published a few years before the video game was released, so it's suffering the unfortunate reality that I read it second, and thus compared it heavily to the game. There are definitely some major differences. <i>The Shuddering</i> doesn't name this enemy that hunts our heroes of the story. The characters are also older, and there's less of them. The video game has another couple of subplots that are resolved halfway to a third of the way through. None of them are present in this book. The ending is also vastly different - depending on how you play the game. So I still enjoyed this, but it did feel like the same story in a different form for the first 50-60%. I've actually tried to find out if the game developer took inspiration from this book, or if Ahlborn worked on the project at all, but nothing that I can see.
I have to say, I was satisfied with the uncertain ending Ahlborn gives us. So many questions left unanswered but in a good way. I loved the characters and think they were well done overall. I'd be happy to read some more from Ahlborn.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Sexual content