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A review by archaicrobin
The Shadow House by Anna Downes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Honestly this book was pretty terrible, and is not horror despite the synopsis talking about a house haunted by a dark past and a witch in the woods. I’d say this is more domestic thriller maybe mystery but nothing was scary or fitting of the horror genre.
The story switches between two women, Alex in the present day, who is honestly a very selfish, immature, and annoying mother that’s moved her teenage son and infant daughter to an eco-village to escape her abusive ex that she took way too long to leave. And the other perspective is Renee in the past, who is the wife of the flower farmer who owns the land where the future eco village will go. Renee and her husband also have a teenage son with social issues that goes missing “mysteriously”. It honestly was not mysterious at all and pretty easy to figure out.
As Alex begins to settle into the village she has some mishaps with the locals, and begins getting strange “gifts” much like Renee did prior to her son’s disappearance.
First of all this book was way too long and had plot points that were just left to fizzle out into nothingness. For example Alex’s abusive ex has a huge part in the first half of the novel, texting her, calling her, and eventually she sees him in town and we get a whole paragraph of Alex being so paralyzed by seeing him. She even flies home and starts packing but then we never hear about him again! Poof! He completely disappears from the narrative! Oh that guy? Forget about it, we have this mystery to solve now. There may or may not be a witch in the woods ok?
Along with the messy and boring plot were the characters which were unlikeable and not well written. The reader is supposed to feel bad for Alex who struggles to relate to her teenage son and care for her infant daughter alone but honestly she’s just insufferable. Everything she does is selfish and for her own gain or comfort but she claims it’s all “for my kids”. Ok sure Alex. She’s also a woman hater, talking about the “fit moms” that she couldn’t stand in Sydney because they were focused on fitness and health and she’s just fat and old. Like ok?? It’s not relatable to put other women down, it’s not a good look, it’s giving self hating misogyny. Alex annoyed me so much I looked forward to the chapters from Renee’s perspective even though she was also unlikeable because she did NOTHING and coddled her mentally I’ll son to the point of him being a shell of a human being but it’s ok because she gets him a Go Pro.
So we have a bad plot, bad pacing, unlikeable characters, what else? A stupid pointless romance that makes no sense and adds nothing to the narrative of course! For no real reason the rich owner of the eco village is enthralled with Alex and must have her, despite her constantly talking about how she’s “let herself go” and she’s just “too old” and she’s just one of a dozen middle aged women on the village lusting for the handsome Kit, yes his name is Kit. It was just stupid, really nothing else to say. You ruined your kid’s life by dating some random guy that ended up being abusive so you leave your whole life and start over in an eco village just to do the exact same thing??? Nice. And as previously stated, Alex is horrible she is not interesting she is not unique and she’s not even a good person so why Kit is enthralled with her? No idea. Only reasoning we get is “he thinks he knows her from somewhere” and Alex says similar thing about much like the Ex this possible plot point is left to dissolve into nothingness and has no point.
The only thing that was ok was the writing. The writing is fine, it’s not bad but it’s not noteworthy either, it’s just fine.
Should you read this? No. I have no idea why this book has the ratings it does, because it is not good.
The story switches between two women, Alex in the present day, who is honestly a very selfish, immature, and annoying mother that’s moved her teenage son and infant daughter to an eco-village to escape her abusive ex that she took way too long to leave. And the other perspective is Renee in the past, who is the wife of the flower farmer who owns the land where the future eco village will go. Renee and her husband also have a teenage son with social issues that goes missing “mysteriously”. It honestly was not mysterious at all and pretty easy to figure out.
As Alex begins to settle into the village she has some mishaps with the locals, and begins getting strange “gifts” much like Renee did prior to her son’s disappearance.
First of all this book was way too long and had plot points that were just left to fizzle out into nothingness. For example Alex’s abusive ex has a huge part in the first half of the novel, texting her, calling her, and eventually she sees him in town and we get a whole paragraph of Alex being so paralyzed by seeing him. She even flies home and starts packing but then we never hear about him again! Poof! He completely disappears from the narrative! Oh that guy? Forget about it, we have this mystery to solve now. There may or may not be a witch in the woods ok?
Along with the messy and boring plot were the characters which were unlikeable and not well written. The reader is supposed to feel bad for Alex who struggles to relate to her teenage son and care for her infant daughter alone but honestly she’s just insufferable. Everything she does is selfish and for her own gain or comfort but she claims it’s all “for my kids”. Ok sure Alex. She’s also a woman hater, talking about the “fit moms” that she couldn’t stand in Sydney because they were focused on fitness and health and she’s just fat and old. Like ok?? It’s not relatable to put other women down, it’s not a good look, it’s giving self hating misogyny. Alex annoyed me so much I looked forward to the chapters from Renee’s perspective even though she was also unlikeable because she did NOTHING and coddled her mentally I’ll son to the point of him being a shell of a human being but it’s ok because she gets him a Go Pro.
So we have a bad plot, bad pacing, unlikeable characters, what else? A stupid pointless romance that makes no sense and adds nothing to the narrative of course! For no real reason the rich owner of the eco village is enthralled with Alex and must have her, despite her constantly talking about how she’s “let herself go” and she’s just “too old” and she’s just one of a dozen middle aged women on the village lusting for the handsome Kit, yes his name is Kit. It was just stupid, really nothing else to say. You ruined your kid’s life by dating some random guy that ended up being abusive so you leave your whole life and start over in an eco village just to do the exact same thing??? Nice. And as previously stated, Alex is horrible she is not interesting she is not unique and she’s not even a good person so why Kit is enthralled with her? No idea. Only reasoning we get is “he thinks he knows her from somewhere” and Alex says similar thing about much like the Ex this possible plot point is left to dissolve into nothingness and has no point.
The only thing that was ok was the writing. The writing is fine, it’s not bad but it’s not noteworthy either, it’s just fine.
Should you read this? No. I have no idea why this book has the ratings it does, because it is not good.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, and Blood