cursed_sapphire's reviews
165 reviews

This was a truly scary book! Reading the "Why I Wrote This Book" section at the end told me that the author had nightmares of puppets all his life, and this book did a fantastic job at bringing those nightmares to life.

The characters were simple and possibly a bit one-note, but honestly that worked in the story's favor. The simplicity allowed for a clear focus during the short span of the story.

Some of the ideas became a bit repetitive after a while, especially concerning the protagonist's motivations. The book really beat into your head why he and his cousin did the things they did. But that's more of a nitpick in the end.

Overall a great short horror read. I can't wait to try some more of this author's works. I'm glad I read this around spooky season, and I would definitely recommend it for anyone brave enough to risk exploring the depths of their childhood knowing the darkness they might find in the decent.

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The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler

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challenging dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

The first half of this book was slow, complicated, and all over the place. I only kept reading because I wanted them to go to hell (literally) as I was very curious how that would be depicted and what that would entail.

I'm ultimately glad I stuck with it, as the last 40% was I-couldn't-put-down-the-book good. Once the character group was finally assembled and Bardugo got to show off her skill at writing character interactions, I was hooked.

I will also say that the plot picked up significantly near the end as well. The first half of the book seemed like a jumbled mess of too many ideas and plot threads that weren't meshing well. The last half of the book tied everything together in an interesting way, although I will say there we many ideas I felt could have been cut with no real loss. The murder was forgettable and distracting, as every time this plot popped back up, I had long forgotten it was even happening. And even in the end

, when it turned out the main villain was behind the killings,

it still felt like an unnecessary, irrelevant afterthought. I also felt that a few scenes involving Eitan could have been cut or combined with no real loss to the story.

The latter half of this book, while structured in a somewhat bizarre way, was also much more compelling. In the first half of the book, despite Eitan and the murder investigation, I never felt the stakes. Perhaps it didn't help that the plot of this book

centers around finding Darlington, who has been gone so long at this point I started to wonder why we needed him back at all and thus

felt unfocused, as Alex was ignoring the newly introduced plots in favor of constantly thinking about resolving the plot from the last book.

They needed to go to hell so much sooner.

I think you could have cut most of the stuff with Demon Darlington trapped in Black Elm completely, or at least resolved it more quickly, as it felt like an afterthought. If he had instead come through the portal with the demon/vampire things near the beginning, and the book was about trying to hold out until Halloween when they could return them to hell, I think the book would have been more tense, concise, and interesting. Maybe there was a full moon near the beginning/middle of October that they used to descend, and then they have to stay alive while Alex is also trying to keep Eitan happy and keep her grades up.

The main villain and the new head of Lethe were also underused and therefore felt superfluous. The new head of Lethe could have been interesting.

Both the part where he asked Alex about a specific ghost from his past and the ending talk between him and Alex showed the character had potential. I

If he gets some more time in the next book to develop or at least show more nuance I think he could be a welcome addition to the cast, but in this book the character fell flat, never feeling like a threat or an ally as he's lost between the many other threads of the story. The main villain, on the other hand, felt almost entirely unnecessary. Even the big reveals involving his identity and involvement in the plot felt underwhelming. He could have been cut entirely as the story currently stands, replaced with other hell-based threats.

Darlington could have suffered from generic demons, the murder plot cut entirely, and you would lose very little from the overall story. Alex could have discovered her weelwalker powers could help her get in and out of hell while fighting the vampire demons, and you could perhaps introduce Golgarot near the end to set him up as the big bad for book three who wants to use Alex's wheelwalker powers to keep a permanent doorway to hell open if needed.

This review has so far been predominantly negative, but I will say I came away enjoying this book. It felt like an overambitous first draft only edited to remove typos, but it felt like the first draft to an amazing story. The last part of the book was darker and more atmospheric, with tangible threats that tied in with all the main character's struggles. The group of protagonists were very enjoyable when they all finally grouped up, and I wanted to see more of all them working together. The characters themselves were made much more compelling as they descended into hell, and that really helped color the rest of their interactions moving forward.

While I have a ton of nitpicks and issues, I think the largest problems this book had were structural. It felt like 2-3 books mashed together. Elements were introduced abruptly and quickly forgotten, only to resurface and finally be compelling in that last 40%. Even the characters and plot points I complained about could have been interesting in another installment, as all the stories presented had interesting components. But with them all fighting for attention, they made the book feel like a scrambled mess of useful parts desperately trying to fit together to function as a cohesive machine. I think that either this series needed to split up into more, shorter books, or more ideas needed to be cut. However, I still found this messy, cluttered jumble compelling, and after that ending, I'm excited to see how all this will conclude in the final installment.

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The Puppet Carver by Elley Cooper, Scott Cawthon

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3.75

Friendly Face by Scott Cawthon, Andrea Waggener

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dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This is the worst Fazbear Frights book by a lot. I also hold a personal grudge against it and am tempted to personally set my copy on fire.

I seriously recommend skipping this one and just looking up synopsis videos on YouTube.

For actual reasons the stories were bad, here's a summery:
The stories all had bloated beginnings with a lot of stuff that doesn’t end up mattering. The characters are as flat as they can get, and many are especially annoying. The prose is sloppy and amateurish with dialogue that sounds straight from a high-school drama book from 2006 made for tweens. The first story spends its first half as a sweet suburban story before refrigerating two characters (one of which is a cat) and then mostly just being unbearably sad, with the horror not coming until the story is almost done. The second story had the best integration of horror, but had a dumb premise and was dragged out too long. The third story was 90% annoying teen drama until the final 10% was gruesome body horror.

All of these stories were bloated and way too long. And the cheesy writing didn't help. The only things I can praise are the protagonists, which were each at least semi-interesting, and the body horror.

I will say the Stichwraith Stinger at the end was really good. But that couldn't save this book.

2 stars for the Stichwraith and the body horror.

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The Hexologists by Josiah Bancroft

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adventurous funny mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

This book was a ton of fun. The main two characters especially were absolutely delightful. It's rare to find a married couple as the protagonists of a book, especially a married couple that have been together for years and have such a healthy, loving relationship.

The world-building was also top notch, with a more unique fantasy setting that was detailed and interesting. This book has a Victorian/industrial revolution vibe, with new techniques and innovations coming up, and a few wealthy people rising to the top at the expense of the poor. There was a lot of social commentary about class and wealth in this, and I think it was handled well, with many varied perspectives and interesting takes. It wasn’t super in-depth, but for the story being told, was just enough.

The language and situations were both humerous, creative, and tense. The prose was descriptive and full of personality, making this book a joy to read. And the odd objects, characters, and scenes all felt ridiculous yet grounded in the world, making them very fun. The book also got tense when it needed to- there were multiple times I feared for the lives of the main characters, unsure how they could escape a situation. There were strong stakes and consequences as well. Everything felt intentional and connected, making the narrative enjoyably intricate.

However, the book isn't perfect. The pacing is often very off. I often forgot exactly why our characters were doing what they were doing, and sometimes struggled to see how their actions furthered their goals. I think that comes from the almost duel mystery at play in the story, where the main characters are tasked to find the answer to one question before almost immediately finding a second, connected question that they start investigating more for curiosity. And then a third connected mystery pops up that is clearly related but is focused on for too long so that I forgot the relevance of the other questions. It was not perfectly laid out, even if by the end all the pieces did fit into place.

I will also say the narrative felt incomplete. The mystery came to a satisfying conclusion, but the characters and the bigger world questions felt lacking. I think this book suffers from being the first in a series- it doesn't feel like it entirely stands on it's own as a novel, instead feeling like the first act in a much longer story. There was so much time speant setting things up, and only the mystery ended up with any sort of conclusion.

However, despite the shortcomings, I highly recommend this book. I hope once the rest of the series comes out, the narrative will fit together more tightly and give the closure I didn’t find here. While this doesn't serve as a perfectly complete story, and the pacing is a bit all over the place, there is still so much to enjoy in this story. The main characters especially are worth giving this a shot, and I cannot wait to reunite with them when the next book comes out.

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

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adventurous dark emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This was a surprise hit for me. I had heard some people loved this book and some hated it, but I didn't even know what it was about when I decided to pick it up.

This, much to my shock, is basically a fantasy WW1 romance novel. While not depicting the actual WW1, it was very clearly inspired by WW1- the tactics, the responses of the public, propaganda, etc. And it was something I never knew I needed.

A bit of a warning- the first half of the book is more of the romance, much less of the fantasy, and is slower paced. The second half of the book is much faster, and while the romance is still a focus, the fantasy war becomes much more prevalent. Just something to be aware of.

The characters were very well-defined, and their chemistry leaped off the page. If you're a fan of mutual pining, secret identities, love letters, or he-falls-first-and-harder relationship dynamics, you'll probably like the romance. The side characters were also engaging, diverse, and relevant to the plot.

Overall this was a fun read with some surprisingly strong characters and interesting depictions of war and its various impacts. It's also the first good luck I've had with recent "romantasy" books. I look forward to the sequel, although I fear where it will go after the cliffhanger this book leaves on. However, I trust that even if the sequel doesn't stick the landing, this book alone will enjoy a long stay on my favorite's list, just below The Cruel Prince and Six of Crows as far as YA fantasy.

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cursed_sapphire's reviews 165 reviews

cursed_sapphire's reviews
165 reviews