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cursedepub 's review for:
She Is a Haunting
by Trang Thanh Tran
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book reads as confused and immature, and I don't say that just because it is written from a teenager's POV. I read a fair amount of YA as someone in my late 20s, and there are many books where a teenager protagonist is characterised as confused and immature, WITHIN a well-written, well-constructed story. This is unfortunately not one of them.
Above all else, this book fails as a horror novel. We get a lot of very typical haunted house/horror story scenes, as if written based on a checklist... and NONE of them feel weighty or instill dread or fear. There is no real sense of mystery about the haunted house either, as we learn everything valuable pretty early on - later reveals don't add much to the story. Uncertainty and the build and release of tension is essential to horror and the book really does not deliver on those counts.
Outside of the horror aspect, the book could have almost been a fair character study of Jade as a second-generation immigrant facing a lot of pressure and working through a lot of baggage, but that doesn't quite happen either. There are some seeds of good ideas for character conflict and theme that don't get the follow-through they need to come to fruition. To be honest, the book kind of lost me at the 70% mark.
Above all else, this book fails as a horror novel. We get a lot of very typical haunted house/horror story scenes, as if written based on a checklist... and NONE of them feel weighty or instill dread or fear. There is no real sense of mystery about the haunted house either, as we learn everything valuable pretty early on - later reveals don't add much to the story. Uncertainty and the build and release of tension is essential to horror and the book really does not deliver on those counts.
Outside of the horror aspect, the book could have almost been a fair character study of Jade as a second-generation immigrant facing a lot of pressure and working through a lot of baggage, but that doesn't quite happen either. There are some seeds of good ideas for character conflict and theme that don't get the follow-through they need to come to fruition. To be honest, the book kind of lost me at the 70% mark.