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robijn_02 's review for:
Craven Manor
by Darcy Coates
This book has given me a lot to think about in a few ways. There were parts that really piqued my interest in the book and I loved that about it, however, there were also a few things that I particularly didn't like about the book. In this review, I will set out a few pros and cons of the book. Things that bothered me and things that I did really like. Feel free to think about it what you want, at the end of the day you decide whether you want to read the book or not.
pros
- Darcy Coates has incorporated some classic, subtle scare elements which I enjoyed in a horror novel. These include things like moving shadows, crows cawing and flying away, etc. These things are often forgotten and are not often included in these types of novels. Why? I don't know, maybe because they are too cliché. Well beats me, point is I really liked them.
- There are enough parts in the story that kept things fresh, interesting and most importantly creepy. This allowed for a real page-turner. At the same time, the story managed to keep the threshold very low. This again helped in the page-turner thing, because of the low threshold the story was easy to follow and to continue.
Cons
- There is something that kind of bothered me during the whole read, and that is the main character: Daniel. Although, he is a kind man that is easy to like since he makes a lot of 'heroic' decisions. That 'heroic' part is up for debate, if you ask me, because I would rather not describe it as heroic. I would describe it as naive. In the sense, that he basically does not think things through when he makes decisions. His decisions during the story are very rushed and not well argumented or supported by the story. A few examples are: walking into a seemingly abandoned house, which is, in this case, Craven Manor, or deciding to fight the Big Bad Evil Woman at the and of the story and putting his life on the line and not caring that he could die.
- Another thing that bothered me at some stages of the book was that the story felt jumpy and sometimes even a little rushed as if Coates wanted to finish the book faster than she intended. There wasn't a clear connection between what Daniel decided to do and what was actually going on. Or vice versa, what was going on because of Daniel's actions. At those moments it felt like Coates really wanted to put something in regardless of what actually happened. I won't say it's inherently bad but Coates could have put it in a little better or smoothed it out with a little more detail.
- The last chapters of the book were very weird to experience. As if the river, which symbolizes the book in the first 200 or so pages, turned into a waterfall. Everything was happening at once and it felt unnecessarily chaotic. As if Coates wanted to do everything at once instead of making a really neat story.
Well, after all the ranting I did I wanted to at least end at a positive note. I didn't thoroughly enjoy the book, but it was a fun read. If you are looking for a book that isn't too serious and is just for fun to creep you out a little this is a solid choice!
pros
- Darcy Coates has incorporated some classic, subtle scare elements which I enjoyed in a horror novel. These include things like moving shadows, crows cawing and flying away, etc. These things are often forgotten and are not often included in these types of novels. Why? I don't know, maybe because they are too cliché. Well beats me, point is I really liked them.
- There are enough parts in the story that kept things fresh, interesting and most importantly creepy. This allowed for a real page-turner. At the same time, the story managed to keep the threshold very low. This again helped in the page-turner thing, because of the low threshold the story was easy to follow and to continue.
Cons
- There is something that kind of bothered me during the whole read, and that is the main character: Daniel. Although, he is a kind man that is easy to like since he makes a lot of 'heroic' decisions. That 'heroic' part is up for debate, if you ask me, because I would rather not describe it as heroic. I would describe it as naive. In the sense, that he basically does not think things through when he makes decisions. His decisions during the story are very rushed and not well argumented or supported by the story. A few examples are: walking into a seemingly abandoned house, which is, in this case, Craven Manor, or deciding to fight the Big Bad Evil Woman at the and of the story and putting his life on the line and not caring that he could die.
- Another thing that bothered me at some stages of the book was that the story felt jumpy and sometimes even a little rushed as if Coates wanted to finish the book faster than she intended. There wasn't a clear connection between what Daniel decided to do and what was actually going on. Or vice versa, what was going on because of Daniel's actions. At those moments it felt like Coates really wanted to put something in regardless of what actually happened. I won't say it's inherently bad but Coates could have put it in a little better or smoothed it out with a little more detail.
- The last chapters of the book were very weird to experience. As if the river, which symbolizes the book in the first 200 or so pages, turned into a waterfall. Everything was happening at once and it felt unnecessarily chaotic. As if Coates wanted to do everything at once instead of making a really neat story.
Well, after all the ranting I did I wanted to at least end at a positive note. I didn't thoroughly enjoy the book, but it was a fun read. If you are looking for a book that isn't too serious and is just for fun to creep you out a little this is a solid choice!