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A review by minimicropup
All Hallows by Christopher Golden
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Adventurous, curious, reflective.
We follow several families with POVs from kids, teens, and adults around the neighbourhood over the course of Halloween night in 1984.
πΊπΈ Set in Coventry, Massachussetts, USA
π Halloween night setting - big parties, small hang outs, trick-or-treating!
π§ Narration was good - sometimes the voices of smaller kids was a bit silly sounding but didn't knock me out of the story.
πΊπGrowls, Howls, and Tail Wags:
π€« I had audio only and would say this is def a pay-attention story on audio. The third person omniscient narration is deep in different character's minds and we switch POVs as needed. I loved it, it was done well and worked for the story without being repetitive or confusing, but if I got distracted for a second or two I'd be slightly lost for a bit if we had switched characters or setting.
π«£ Lots of suburban scandals and drama, but it isn't OTT or soap opera, campy style. Pretty realistic family and relationship dynamics.
π There are a lot of characters and families, and when audio only, that can be hard to follow. For me it was excellent because we get a show-not-tell style introduction to each of them and we spend more time with them at the beginning of the book before the action starts up so we can rapidly switch between them later without being lost. It probably also helps that I cared about (or was at least curious about) what happened to all of them.
π«£ Lots of suburban scandals and drama, but it isn't OTT or soap opera, campy style. Pretty realistic family and relationship dynamics.
π There are a lot of characters and families, and when audio only, that can be hard to follow. For me it was excellent because we get a show-not-tell style introduction to each of them and we spend more time with them at the beginning of the book before the action starts up so we can rapidly switch between them later without being lost. It probably also helps that I cared about (or was at least curious about) what happened to all of them.
π€ There are quite a few action-fight-survival type scenes. I find I lose interest in that type of scene mainly because it's hard for me to imagine a fight scene happening quickly when I'm reading it so everything is sort of slow-mo in my imagination. I still enjoyed the overall plot, and if you like action-fight-escapes vs monsters then this could be a huge perk! The story starts off gradually layering the creepy, dark vibes and then proceeds to the faster paced wildness.
π€ Speaking of which, those fight and escape scenes are "if these monsters existed, this is how it would go down" realistic. So...don't get too attached....there are some surprisingly sad scenes.
Mood Reading Match Up:
- Cozy, '80s, fall Halloween trick-or-treat, home-made haunted woods, and block party horrors
- Creepy kids, stay-out-of-the-woods creature feature with action survival suspense
- Suburban behind-closed-doors drama
- Heartwarming and heartbreaking BFF coming-of-age stories
Content Heads-Up: Physical abuse (relationship). Alcohol (enabling, addiction). Infidelity (discovery, separation/divorce). LGBTQ coming-of-age rep (good to excellent; vocally supportive family and friends). Homophobic characters (outing, shaming, verbal and emotional abuse). Kidnapping (insinuated). Child abuse (insinuated).
Format: Scribd Audio
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Outing, and Child abuse