Take a photo of a barcode or cover
ashleykay924 's review for:
Dark Harvest
by Norman Partridge
Dark Harvest was one of those books that I kept seeing included in lists of horror and Halloween reads and as I was looking for something set around Halloween to read this October, I decided to give this one a go.
Every year all the boys in a small midwestern town are starved for five days and then on Halloween night they are let loose to hunt the October Boy, but none of them really know why. One of those boys is Pete McCormick. He's joining the hunt for the first time this year and he knows that killing the October Boy is his only way out of town. But as the night goes one, he realises something more sinister is going on with the October Boy’s true identity.
I liked the story as a whole and I could see where it was trying to go, but the author’s voice and writing style wasn’t working for me. Partridge’s writing could best be described as purple prose where he uses lots of words to say very little. Some scenes run on for way too long and the story gets very repetitive in places. For such a short story, you’d think the words would’ve been used better.
Another thing is that this story follows multiple different characters. I felt like there were too many and because of this I couldn’t really care about most of them or anything that happened to them. None of them are introduced thoroughly and maybe with the exception of Pete, no one really goes through a journey. Additionally, the POV switches happen too quickly at times, I would’ve preferred less of this and more focus on a few characters and their story.
What I did like was learning about who the October Boy is, even if we never really get any answers beyond that. I would've loved more explanations of how the whole hunt came to be and the bigger lore behind the story of the town as I am sure there is some weird history there that tied into the hunt. In the end I was left with lots of questions I would’ve liked an answer to. The ending feels unfulfilling and I almost feel like the writer was done with it or didn’t know how to finish up the story and just left it at that.
Despite all of this, it is a quick and easy read and I enjoyed it for what it was. The story kept me interested enough to read until the end, but ultimately it didn’t really deliver.
If you’re looking for a short read with Halloween vibes that never really goes deep into the lore with a shallow story and characters, then this is the book for you. If you’re looking for anything more substantial, then maybe skip this.
Every year all the boys in a small midwestern town are starved for five days and then on Halloween night they are let loose to hunt the October Boy, but none of them really know why. One of those boys is Pete McCormick. He's joining the hunt for the first time this year and he knows that killing the October Boy is his only way out of town. But as the night goes one, he realises something more sinister is going on with the October Boy’s true identity.
I liked the story as a whole and I could see where it was trying to go, but the author’s voice and writing style wasn’t working for me. Partridge’s writing could best be described as purple prose where he uses lots of words to say very little. Some scenes run on for way too long and the story gets very repetitive in places. For such a short story, you’d think the words would’ve been used better.
Another thing is that this story follows multiple different characters. I felt like there were too many and because of this I couldn’t really care about most of them or anything that happened to them. None of them are introduced thoroughly and maybe with the exception of Pete, no one really goes through a journey. Additionally, the POV switches happen too quickly at times, I would’ve preferred less of this and more focus on a few characters and their story.
What I did like was learning about who the October Boy is, even if we never really get any answers beyond that. I would've loved more explanations of how the whole hunt came to be and the bigger lore behind the story of the town as I am sure there is some weird history there that tied into the hunt. In the end I was left with lots of questions I would’ve liked an answer to. The ending feels unfulfilling and I almost feel like the writer was done with it or didn’t know how to finish up the story and just left it at that.
Despite all of this, it is a quick and easy read and I enjoyed it for what it was. The story kept me interested enough to read until the end, but ultimately it didn’t really deliver.
If you’re looking for a short read with Halloween vibes that never really goes deep into the lore with a shallow story and characters, then this is the book for you. If you’re looking for anything more substantial, then maybe skip this.