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wrensreadingroom's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Medical content, Car accident, Body horror, Grief, Toxic relationship, Child death, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Alcohol, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Death, Gore, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, and Vomit
bellebeaumont95's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
From the outset it has all of my favorite things: Emily Dickinson references, Ivy by Taylor Swift references, gothic romance, inspired by The Haunting of Bly Manor, a sapphic relationship, adorable kids, exploration of grief through fantasy, etc. etc. I was over the moon when I first read the summary.
The Good:
-The romance between Evie and Marin was very soft and sweet, especially the fact that there were
-The premise itself is fascinating, I enjoyed the supernatural aspect in this book. The imagery in the second half of the story is incredible, the horror/gore interwoven very very nicely with really nice bits of dreamy prose, a little reminiscent of Annihilation (2018), would have loved to see more of that fleshed out (ha) and built into the story from the start.
-The cover is absolutely gorgeous, and I really love the title and how they both work into the story.
The Frustrating:
-Marin spends the entire book functionally asleep. I can't stand narrators that sleepwalk through their own stories. It's officially become my worst book pet peeve this year. The children (CHILDREN) had to spell the exact same thing to her several times. She still didn't get it. Another adult had to spell it out a third time. She still didn't understand. She never asked any questions.
-The pacing is wildly inconsistent, much like the timeline of events. Gothic horror typically moves very slowly, carefully and consistently building tension with scene upon scene, until you reach the climax and all bets are off. But there was none of that here. What do you mean days passed "and then suddenly!". We were directly told things like "the girls are demons" and "Alice was scary and wrong" despite only seeing the girls be normal mischievous kids who recently lost their father, and seeing Alice
-The romance is sweet and positive, but had absolutely no build-up. Evie and Marin had known each other all of 5 minutes where they talked about absolutely nothing, and Marin already decided Evie was The Cure to her (alleged) Generalized Anxiety Disorder (which I'm fairly sure the author didn't research beyond "fear of everything"; ex.
The Odd:
-
<b>Tl;dr:</b> The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020), Pushing Daisies (2007), Frozen (2013), Crimson Peak (2015), Frozen 2 (2019), and Casper (1995) did all of this better. If you like any of those things you might love this book, or be like me, and love all of those things separately, and be ticked off at the pastiche.
Also I'm deliberately stating it because I was worried the whole time: the dog DOES NOT die. Thank you for your time.
Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Child death and Stalking
Minor: Vomit
mary_stormageddon's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Death of parent, and Child death
paperbound_dreams's review against another edition
3.75
Minor: Child death
city_girl_writer's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Animal death, Grief, and Death
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and Stalking
Minor: Emotional abuse and Child death
mshiiken's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
Moderate: Stalking, Gore, Animal death, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Vomit and Child death
marlellow's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Animal death, and Blood
gorejoyous's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
The first half begins with creepy or unsettling occurances around the house but after we find out the cause in the second half—that's when the true horror begins (and where the story really hooked me). The relationship that blooms between Marin and Evie is touching and you really understand how deeply they care for each other. The writing is a little boring and clunky at times (not unexpected given that it's YA), but then you also get lines like:
"The way Marin's arms formed parenthesis around her. When Evier sighed against her neck, it was an apostrophe—in the possessive. And Marin knew all the words. She had been memorizing them for months."
Which is just *chef's kiss* the kind of romance perfect for the gothic horror genre. Aside from some pacing issues, I found the story compelling—it had me, in equal parts, on the edge of my seat and sighing forlornly, wishing that I too lived in a giant weird house full of dead things.
Thanks to HarperCollins Children's Books and NetGalley for the digital ARC!
Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Animal death, Body horror, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Stalking, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Kidnapping
Minor: Child death
loreofthebooks's review against another edition
4.0
Creepy, creepy, creepy! This is a YA horror novel that uses atmosphere and mystery to keep you hooked all the way through the book.
This is a much darker YA horror book, it contains a lot of death. The title pretty much says it all. This book certainly has some gothic horror undertones to it, past family secrets, graveyards, an ancient house...it has all those pieces. It reminded me very much like the Netflix show the Haunting of Hill House. So if you liked that, you'll probably enjoy this as well!
Marin was a great character, she was thrown into the middle of a mysterious family, and is a nanny for two children of an eccentric writer. It gets more convoluted from there, and I don't want to spoil too much of the book. Suffice to say it was good!
I really liked the plot of this book and how it played out. I couldn't put the book down; and there were moments I was going "WHAT?!" at the book.
There was also a sapphic relationship that was really sweet admist all the horror in this book.
All the Dead Lie Down is a twisty, mysterious, and thrilling horror book for all older audiences.
Graphic: Gore
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, and Death of parent