A review by whatellisreadnext
Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I love Chuck. He's one of the good guys, and this really does still shine in Black River Orchard. I mean the inclusivity alone was 🙌 but sadly, there was something missing for me. I really wanted this to work, I follow him on Instagram, and I know how much he loves apples, and when I read the synopsis for this, I was so frigging excited. I think the biggest thing for me was the lack of ambiguity. It's by no means straightforward what is happening in this story, but it's pretty obvious where it is going. So with that and it's length I just kept putting it down. Maybe that's a me issue, I like horror that teases me. The anticipation is what makes it, and this just didn't have that element. Saying that, I loved parts, and the found family aspect really pulled on my heartstrings. I would happily have read a 300 page book about what the lil cuties did after this story.