darryn_gray's reviews
118 reviews

Into the Pit by Scott Cawthon, Elley Cooper

3.0

- Into The Pit has so far been the best of all of the FNaF stories, it was captivating and super interesting.
- To Be Beautiful was alright, interesting idea but I felt the ending was a little bit rushed
- Count The Ways was literally just Beetlejuice but with Funtime Freddy instead of a demon

A Guide to the Dragon World by Tui T. Sutherland

5.0

Perfect for fans of the Wings of Fire books. A lot of fun to read, lots of cool pictures and just in general page designs

The Fourth Closet by Kira Breed-Wrisley, Scott Cawthon

2.75

Honestly easily the most boring of the Silver Eyes trilogy. It was so hyped up after what happened at the end of Twisted Ones, then gave all of the information within the first few chapters of the book then just left you dragging on for the rest of it.

The Twisted Ones by Kira Breed-Wrisley, Scott Cawthon

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Slightly better writing than the first one, but not majorly. What this one was missing was almost some of the creepiness from the first book. The first book at least had the characters wandering around the abandoned pizzeria where as a FNaF fan you only knew that'd mean the animatronics would come to life but you didn't know when, it was a worth while tactic that made the beginning part of the first book really interesting

This one didn't have any of that it was almost more mystery than horror, trying to figure out what these new animatronics are and trying to figure out everything that'd been going on since the last book. 
There are also characters introduced in this book that didn't matter to much to the book, yet came back around towards the end, hopefully they're more important in the next one otherwise that was just a big waste of time to bring them in so many times. 
I feel the book could have been longer in order to flesh out some of the details and ideas more, it is still very tell rather than show

The Silver Eyes by Kira Breed-Wrisley, Scott Cawthon

adventurous challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

WOW IS THIS BOOK JUST SO AVERAGE. As an older FNaF fan (I was in middle school when the first games came out and I've loved them every since) I remember always wanting to read these books. Now as an adult who still keeps up with them, I got frustrated that the newest game (Ruin) makes it so you need to know the books to even remotely understand the game whereas before they used to just add to them but not be where you got the whole plot.
So I've decided to make a youtube video about reading them and giving all the info I can so nobody else has to.
If all the books are like this, I'm in for a hell of a ride. 
There were phrases in this like "...gasping for breath" and "for what felt like an age" and just the poor way things were described that I felt like I was reading the first draft of my own books.
Plot wise it was whatever, but the writing itself is not good at all. I can only hope it gets better from here.

The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

There's spots where this book really lost me. It was an interesting way of being written in third-person omniscient and third-person limited, in a way it'd almost make it confusing, but when it worked it worked. Despite some of that, the story and the mystery behind it really kept me hooked and thinking about it all the time.
AND WAS IT WORTH IT! That ending was amazing for it in my opinion.

ARC provided by NetGalley and the publishers

Pageboy by Elliot Page

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring fast-paced

5.0

There were lots of parts of this book that hit hard, sadly- like a lot of other people in the acting industry- Elliot has gone through some shit, and I knew going into this book that's what I'd hear a lot of, but that was never the part I was interested in. Yes I love seeing people call out shit that's happened to them, but what mattered to me more was everything about their gender. The realization, the always truly knowing but never being able to do anything about it, the final release where you can finally be yourself. 
There was heartbreak and hard times talked about in this book, but the parts that hit me the hardest was the joy. Elliot describing feeling comfortable at the beach for the first time, feeling so grateful for being able to access gender affirming care so easily, things like that. It's rare that media about real people show the joy that can happen in life, and while this didn't focus on it, it talked about it,  talked about it enough that it stuck with me.
As a young trans guy who is only socially transitioned, nothing medical or legal yet, I love Elliot Page so much and I felt truly honored to be able to read a real memoir about a real trans guy.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

adventurous emotional inspiring tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I've told people for a good 5 years at this point that this is my favorite classic book, my aunt even made me a green light lamp based on it. But, all of that love mostly came from the movie, I watched the 2013 film in my English class in high school and was instantly hooked. So while in between books, I figured it was finally time I read the real book and I still enjoyed it just as much. 
Hands down favorite classic book

Spellhacker by M.K. England

adventurous fast-paced

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

4.25

Max the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

It's no Freak the Mighty, but this book did capture the heart of the original! Elden Henson as the narrator is a lot older when he did the narration for this one and while its a little off putting the way his voice is trying to sound, there's almost a bit of charm to it. It almost feels like how you would imagine Max to sound once he hit puberty. 
If you're a fan of Freak the Mighty, you'll love this one too. 
There's also a LOT less slurs and general abelism in this book, but this book didn't need to follow that the way Freak the Mighty did.