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A review by bo_rae
Strange Gods by Alison Kimble
4.0
A big thank you to Alison for allowing me to read her new novel Strange Gods in exchange for an honest review.
Strange Gods tells the story of Spooky, a girl who has been forced to spent her summer at a wilderness bootcamp for troubled teens, in order to improve her behaviour or she is not allowed to go back home to her parents after summer's over. However, while Spooky tries to keep her head down and avoid attention from the camp's counselors, she draws the attention of something else. Something more dark and sinister, which will not let go until Spooky fulfills its every wish. Soon Spooky is pulled into a world that is completely different from her own and she needs to learn how to survive powers that are far beyond her own control...
I've read Strange Gods with much enthusiasm, as I was already excited to read it upon first reading the synopsis. A creepy, fantasy story located in a summercamp for troubled teens? Doesn't that already sound amazing? Count me in!
From the get go, I really enjoyed reading about Spooky's story and everything she comes to experience. The book is written in a very nice and easy to understand manner and that made it such an enjoyable read. From the moment I started reading, I was immediately sucked into the story and it became very difficult to stop myself from reading more and force myself to start working on school assignments and deadlines instead.
In my opinion, although it contains some familiar themes, Strange Gods is a very original book, which tells a story that was completely new to me and that was not in the slightest what I was expecting before reading but that made me enjoy it even more. I also loved that there was a very surprising (and once more: original) end, which I feel the reader would not really expect at first. The beings and characters that Alison Kimble has created are truly original and not like anything I have encountered in other books before, she has truly created her own fictional world and I loved all about it. In addition, I truly appreciated Spooky as a main character and I think there's a lot of character development that the reader can detect. The reader is allowed to get to know a lot about Spooky, as well as about some of the other characters, and hence also gain a better understanding of why she acts the way she does and why she makes certain choices. I was able to understand and relate to Spooky and that always makes reading an even more pleasurable experience to me.
What I also really appreciated, is that Alison chose to make use of current topics within her storyline and added an original twist to them.
Strange Gods was, albeit a bit weird at times, a very fun and very original read which I truly enjoyed. I loved the surprises it contains and how the story is hence able to catch its reader off-guard. For me it was a solid 4/5 stars read and I highly recommend it to everyone who is in need of a very fun, unique, and summer-y fantasy read! If you enjoy fantasy books which are at times a bit creepy and a bit weird yet super whimsical at the same time, then I think you would very much enjoy this one!
Strange Gods tells the story of Spooky, a girl who has been forced to spent her summer at a wilderness bootcamp for troubled teens, in order to improve her behaviour or she is not allowed to go back home to her parents after summer's over. However, while Spooky tries to keep her head down and avoid attention from the camp's counselors, she draws the attention of something else. Something more dark and sinister, which will not let go until Spooky fulfills its every wish. Soon Spooky is pulled into a world that is completely different from her own and she needs to learn how to survive powers that are far beyond her own control...
I've read Strange Gods with much enthusiasm, as I was already excited to read it upon first reading the synopsis. A creepy, fantasy story located in a summercamp for troubled teens? Doesn't that already sound amazing? Count me in!
From the get go, I really enjoyed reading about Spooky's story and everything she comes to experience. The book is written in a very nice and easy to understand manner and that made it such an enjoyable read. From the moment I started reading, I was immediately sucked into the story and it became very difficult to stop myself from reading more and force myself to start working on school assignments and deadlines instead.
In my opinion, although it contains some familiar themes, Strange Gods is a very original book, which tells a story that was completely new to me and that was not in the slightest what I was expecting before reading but that made me enjoy it even more. I also loved that there was a very surprising (and once more: original) end, which I feel the reader would not really expect at first. The beings and characters that Alison Kimble has created are truly original and not like anything I have encountered in other books before, she has truly created her own fictional world and I loved all about it. In addition, I truly appreciated Spooky as a main character and I think there's a lot of character development that the reader can detect. The reader is allowed to get to know a lot about Spooky, as well as about some of the other characters, and hence also gain a better understanding of why she acts the way she does and why she makes certain choices. I was able to understand and relate to Spooky and that always makes reading an even more pleasurable experience to me.
What I also really appreciated, is that Alison chose to make use of current topics
Spoiler
such as issues with climate change and the human race causing each other more miseryStrange Gods was, albeit a bit weird at times, a very fun and very original read which I truly enjoyed. I loved the surprises it contains and how the story is hence able to catch its reader off-guard. For me it was a solid 4/5 stars read and I highly recommend it to everyone who is in need of a very fun, unique, and summer-y fantasy read! If you enjoy fantasy books which are at times a bit creepy and a bit weird yet super whimsical at the same time, then I think you would very much enjoy this one!