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ellyj's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
hauntedashouses's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
quijohnjinn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
gfmetz's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book is really two novels smashed together into one. The first novel is excellent and very tense. The second one is not good at all. 5 stars for the first half of the book and 2 stars for the second half.
carmenshea's review
3.0
Very intriguing novel, the first half was perhaps my favourite, because I felt jarred out of the story come the second half, but overall it was a very good read and the introduction of the mythology was particularly spine-tingling!
laeral's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
jessbedwards99's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
steph_m's review
0.5
At one point the gross and odd choice was made to describe the swinging of a woman’s breasts in detail as she was chasing and attempting to murder the main character. I HATED how every woman was described in this book, and I HATED this book in general.
sylvilel's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
❗️SPOILER (and rant) ALERT❗️
Four London Boys, once upon a time university friends, embark on a trip through the “untouched” olden woods of Gällivare in Northern Sweden. But time and life seems to have gotten away from them, and they don’t recognise each other anymore. After a shocking sight in the woods, shit stars to downward spiral. Fast.
And downward spiral the story does too. I’ve seen reviews coming down on the sexism and fat shaming happening here, but that wasn’t even the worst for me.
At one point shit is looking really bleak for the boys’ survival, and here there are some decent elements to the story: Luke’s self-reflection, the heart-to-heart during the Darkest Hour - and I wish we would’ve spent more time here, with the initial characters.
But no.
Before the halfway point, Luke’s three friend have been picked off one by one by The Nameless Thing In The Woods, and with two fifths left of the book, it looks like Luke is about to die too.
(I would like to add, that for a while, I related really strongly to Luke as a character, but that too fell short soon after.)
And honestly, at this point I’m READY for him to die, because now it’s getting tedious.
But NO.
He wakes up, beaten and bloody, in a cabin. And here comes the part I hate:
Nevill took the most generic, stereotypical Scandinavian death metal viking cult shit he could find, stuffed it in a blender, DESTROYED it, and put a bow on top.
The Odin worshippers? Not Swedish. NORWEGIAN. With names like Loki, Fenris and Surtr. Because how much more stereotypical can you get?
Now, to be fair, maybe it’s a hard sell to a Norwegian metalhead hiking enthusiasts with a Viking reenactor for a best friend like myself.
It’s like Bilbo and the dwarves going into Mirkwood and then being ripped apart by devil-worshipping black metal clowns.
No, wait, sorry: NOT devil worshippers. PAGANS. Because they denounce everything to do with Christianity, and awful, mainstream, generic stuff like that, good gods. Never mind that they intend to CRUCIFY poor Luke (nothing Christian about that at all, no sir) - on an inverted cross.
Gods save me. And I don’t care which ones. This was a bad start to Spooky Season.
Four London Boys, once upon a time university friends, embark on a trip through the “untouched” olden woods of Gällivare in Northern Sweden. But time and life seems to have gotten away from them, and they don’t recognise each other anymore. After a shocking sight in the woods, shit stars to downward spiral. Fast.
And downward spiral the story does too. I’ve seen reviews coming down on the sexism and fat shaming happening here, but that wasn’t even the worst for me.
At one point shit is looking really bleak for the boys’ survival, and here there are some decent elements to the story: Luke’s self-reflection, the heart-to-heart during the Darkest Hour - and I wish we would’ve spent more time here, with the initial characters.
But no.
Before the halfway point, Luke’s three friend have been picked off one by one by The Nameless Thing In The Woods, and with two fifths left of the book, it looks like Luke is about to die too.
(I would like to add, that for a while, I related really strongly to Luke as a character, but that too fell short soon after.)
And honestly, at this point I’m READY for him to die, because now it’s getting tedious.
But NO.
He wakes up, beaten and bloody, in a cabin. And here comes the part I hate:
Nevill took the most generic, stereotypical Scandinavian death metal viking cult shit he could find, stuffed it in a blender, DESTROYED it, and put a bow on top.
The Odin worshippers? Not Swedish. NORWEGIAN. With names like Loki, Fenris and Surtr. Because how much more stereotypical can you get?
Now, to be fair, maybe it’s a hard sell to a Norwegian metalhead hiking enthusiasts with a Viking reenactor for a best friend like myself.
It’s like Bilbo and the dwarves going into Mirkwood and then being ripped apart by devil-worshipping black metal clowns.
No, wait, sorry: NOT devil worshippers. PAGANS. Because they denounce everything to do with Christianity, and awful, mainstream, generic stuff like that, good gods. Never mind that they intend to CRUCIFY poor Luke (nothing Christian about that at all, no sir) - on an inverted cross.
Gods save me. And I don’t care which ones. This was a bad start to Spooky Season.
moderne_prometheus's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The first half of this is genuinely pretty good and has you flipping papers for more. The second half howeve became tedious the moment new characters were introduced that honestly felt unoriginal and not well thought out. Watched the film adapation which arguably tooksome creative liberties for the better. That said, I wished certain aspects of the first half of this book were brought into the movie.