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motherhorror's review against another edition
3.0
This book was probably my most anticipated read for my Season of Horror reading. I bought it a few months into summer so the excitement had a lot of time to grow. I found Tom Deady, the author, on Twitter-he posted his first novel had won the Bram Stoker award for First Novel! A big achievement in both horror and debut novels, in my opinion.
The blurb on the cover says,
"Haven is a big, generous, Stephen King-like small town boys vs. monster epic." and I also read somewhere that it was compared to IT and Summer of Night (Dan Simmons) both of which are favorite, epic, horror novels for me.
Getting about 100 pages into the book, I was already annoyed with the plot. It was way too similar to my favorite stories. I don't mind if a book is in the same vein or shares a vibe but to have so many of the elements actually featured as a main plot point is just annoying.
We have a sensible priest.
We have a small, seedy town.
We have child (and pet) disappearances.
We have some likable kids who are bullied by unlikable kids.
We have a monster lurking in some tunnels.
Which, to be honest, would have all been okay with me if the writing was pretty special or if I was scared. But the narrating was all over the place-jumping perspectives too much so that I never really invested in any of the characters--and there is a large cast of characters.
I also felt the story was padded to get to that 500+ benchmark of "epic horror" status.
There were chapters of this book and characters introduced that I felt were unnecessary to the story and made the pacing too slow to be scary or suspenseful.
I finished it though, which is why I rated it three stars instead of one or two. Because it kept me just interested enough to see what happened but it was like being satisfied with a giant bowl of vanilla ice cream and not enjoying something more unique in a smaller portion. Those are my thoughts. It was okay, just not great. And I need to go see what this book beat out in terms of that Bram Stoker award, now I'm curious!
The blurb on the cover says,
"Haven is a big, generous, Stephen King-like small town boys vs. monster epic." and I also read somewhere that it was compared to IT and Summer of Night (Dan Simmons) both of which are favorite, epic, horror novels for me.
Getting about 100 pages into the book, I was already annoyed with the plot. It was way too similar to my favorite stories. I don't mind if a book is in the same vein or shares a vibe but to have so many of the elements actually featured as a main plot point is just annoying.
We have a sensible priest.
We have a small, seedy town.
We have child (and pet) disappearances.
We have some likable kids who are bullied by unlikable kids.
We have a monster lurking in some tunnels.
Which, to be honest, would have all been okay with me if the writing was pretty special or if I was scared. But the narrating was all over the place-jumping perspectives too much so that I never really invested in any of the characters--and there is a large cast of characters.
I also felt the story was padded to get to that 500+ benchmark of "epic horror" status.
There were chapters of this book and characters introduced that I felt were unnecessary to the story and made the pacing too slow to be scary or suspenseful.
I finished it though, which is why I rated it three stars instead of one or two. Because it kept me just interested enough to see what happened but it was like being satisfied with a giant bowl of vanilla ice cream and not enjoying something more unique in a smaller portion. Those are my thoughts. It was okay, just not great. And I need to go see what this book beat out in terms of that Bram Stoker award, now I'm curious!
sighentist's review against another edition
3.0
It's a nice and easy read, but not without flaws, especially for a winner of Bram Stoker Award for First Novel - I probably set my expectations a little too high. Some of the plot twists and explanations weren't quite convincing and I thought characters could use some more in-depth exploration, but hey, it's not supposed to be a psychological horror. It was interesting to read, even if the emphasis is on action, mystery and plot, and the language is not as important - it's definitely not literary fiction, but pulp, and as such, it works quite well, but in the end I'm not the target audience of this novel.
brackenmacleod's review against another edition
5.0
Tom Deady’s HAVEN hits a note perfect tone of retro-cool horror evoking an early 80s sensibility without reading at all like an imitation. Like Stranger Things—though written before it aired—HAVEN conjures the aesthetic of the time both in content and style in a way that is spot on while being a modern story with an original voice. And while comparisons to Stephen King’s early work are apt, where others often try to copy King and fall flat, Deady knows when to play classic notes and when to take the song in his own direction. If you’re a fan of Stranger Things, like me, this book hits at exactly the right moment. You shouldn’t miss this!
vera_dv's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
adamsfall's review
3.0
This book kicked off my spooky season reading alongside titles such as: the Cormorant, Cold Moon Over Babylon, My Heart Is A Chainsaw, and The Haunting of Hill House.
While taking great influence from great novels of the past (mainly IT), this book offered a fun and hate-able cast of characters. No scenes ever felt drawn out as the book was split into over 100 miniature chapters, but there were at least a dozen or more that seemed unnecessary or repetitive to the overall plot and character building.
As a whole, Haven was a perfectly capable novel of horror and dread.
I was on the fence on rating it as low as I did, but the length did take away from my overall enjoyment as I feel that the second act drug on and suffered some retreading.
Haven is a novel that is obvious to see the love behind and the long journey it took from inception to the finished product. I would be interested to see if a more succinct and edited version with a wider release would solidify it as one of histories horror greats.
3/5 but a 5/5 in terms of a recommendation in checking out!
While taking great influence from great novels of the past (mainly IT), this book offered a fun and hate-able cast of characters. No scenes ever felt drawn out as the book was split into over 100 miniature chapters, but there were at least a dozen or more that seemed unnecessary or repetitive to the overall plot and character building.
As a whole, Haven was a perfectly capable novel of horror and dread.
I was on the fence on rating it as low as I did, but the length did take away from my overall enjoyment as I feel that the second act drug on and suffered some retreading.
Haven is a novel that is obvious to see the love behind and the long journey it took from inception to the finished product. I would be interested to see if a more succinct and edited version with a wider release would solidify it as one of histories horror greats.
3/5 but a 5/5 in terms of a recommendation in checking out!
kpombiere's review
2.0
We figure out the monster around page 300; things start happening at page 400; the book revisits the monster around page 460; it ends on page 500. And even then there's no closure, and everyone runs around with their heads cut off for a while.
Oh yeah, and of the four major female characters, one is a gossipmonger, one spends the novel insane and then beaten, one is a murdered cat-lady, and the other is a teenager who spends the last couple chapters screaming with her legs broken.
I'm disappointed I spent more than half of the novel just keeping my head down to power through. While I get the Stephen King similarities, there's a difference between his pacing and ability to make believable small-towns-America and this.
Oh yeah, and of the four major female characters, one is a gossipmonger, one spends the novel insane and then beaten, one is a murdered cat-lady, and the other is a teenager who spends the last couple chapters screaming with her legs broken.
I'm disappointed I spent more than half of the novel just keeping my head down to power through. While I get the Stephen King similarities, there's a difference between his pacing and ability to make believable small-towns-America and this.
shrikekali's review
3.0
If I could rank it up here like I wanted it would be 3 1/2 stars. I found that it had a very promising beginning and overall I liked it enough, it just seemed to need a little more editing to tighten up the story more. I would've liked longer chapters delving deeper into character development and story instead of the very short 2 to 3 page chapters that switched perspectives so often.
raforall's review
5.0
Full review on RA for All: http://raforall.blogspot.com/2016/12/what-im-reading-haven-and-burning-world.html
jenniferlwatson's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75