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oceanwriter's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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? It's complicated
3.5
This series has caught my eye for a while, especially when the movie came out. I’ve been hesitant to pick it up because I’m not typically one for the horror genre. I joined a buddy read which gave me the push I needed to read it.
Jacob grew up listening to his grandfather’s stories of the peculiar children he knew growing up. As he got older, he discredited his tales as fiction. Never could he have imagined one of those stories coming to fruition and taking his grandfather’s life. No one believes his own story now, thinking him traumatized and mentally unwell.
Jacob believes the answer to his nightmares lies in his grandfather’s stories. He convinces his parents to allow him to take a trip to England where his grandfather lived during World War II. There, he ends up finding the portal into the past.
I was surprised by how absorbed I got into the book. Yet, whenever I put it down, I didn’t find myself thinking about it. My interest was mostly in the beginning, however. By the end, I was weirded out by the relationship between Jacob and Emma’s relationship. While I could anticipate the book ending on a cliffhanger given there are other books that follow, I was a little annoyed as I don’t feel invested enough to jump immediately into book two.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Gun violence, Antisemitism, and War
Minor: Ableism, Child death, and Mental illness
kibberbl's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Blood
Moderate: Child death, Mental illness, Excrement, Antisemitism, Stalking, and War
Minor: Ableism, Fatphobia, and Suicide
jenny_librarian's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
3.0
I don’t know if it’s the reading slump, but I’m disappointed. This book was incredibly boring. I’m surprised it’s so popular. The audio didn’t really anything, and it actually hindered when the narrate leaned hard into an accent to the point that I could barely understand what he said.
I didn’t mind not having the pictures, since they were what made me DNF the book a few years ago. They don’t bring anything to the story anyways.
Even listening on the down low while grocery shopping and stuff, I found a way to be bored by it. Definitely won’t be reading the rest of the series.
I didn’t mind not having the pictures, since they were what made me DNF the book a few years ago. They don’t bring anything to the story anyways.
Even listening on the down low while grocery shopping and stuff, I found a way to be bored by it. Definitely won’t be reading the rest of the series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, and Violence
Minor: Sexism
tays_books's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Excrement, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War
Minor: Ableism, Infidelity, and Cannibalism
kyumgi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I've been looking forward to reading this series for years, and I'm greatly impressed with the first book. The writing was vivid and detailed, and it was easy to imagine the scenes playing out in my head as I read them. I wouldn't say this book is "medium-paced" but slow to start, and fast towards the end.
I wished to see some development in Jacob's father since all of the scenes he's in are incredibly depressing, but given that this book focuses on the child protagonists, I understand why he's just another adult background character.
The mix of real history (which felt carefully and appropriately discussed) and fantasy was engaging. And I liked that for the mystery elements, there was enough to figure out major points in the story before they were explicitly stated.The doctor being the twist villain was super entertaining, and his death scene was graphic but cool.
My only criticisms are 1. this book is in the perspective of a privileged, rich white boy, so things like casual ableism are present, especially in the "before" normal life part of the book, and 2. some of the fast, tense parts of the story fall into classic Y/A tropes, which isn't bad at all, but it feels like there's some things weirdly missing. Some of the conflicts that would seem like a big deal were resolved in one or two lines, which I'm not sure I enjoyed. Either way, this was an incredibly engaging read and I can't wait to start on the second book.
I wished to see some development in Jacob's father since all of the scenes he's in are incredibly depressing, but given that this book focuses on the child protagonists, I understand why he's just another adult background character.
The mix of real history (which felt carefully and appropriately discussed) and fantasy was engaging. And I liked that for the mystery elements, there was enough to figure out major points in the story before they were explicitly stated.
My only criticisms are 1. this book is in the perspective of a privileged, rich white boy, so things like casual ableism are present, especially in the "before" normal life part of the book, and 2. some of the fast, tense parts of the story fall into classic Y/A tropes, which isn't bad at all, but it feels like there's some things weirdly missing. Some of the conflicts that would seem like a big deal were resolved in one or two lines, which I'm not sure I enjoyed. Either way, this was an incredibly engaging read and I can't wait to start on the second book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Antisemitism and War
Minor: Ableism, Child death, and Dementia
the_pysselfia's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Ableism, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Antisemitism, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and War
ashthemenace's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Grief
Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, and Alcohol
lucithefer's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Antisemitism
ableism toward psychotic/schizophrenic people, negativity toward therapy, ableism toward mental illnesstaelights's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
This book honesty really captured my attention the whole time and I found the plot to be very interesting. The concept was unique and I didn't want to put it down at any point. It wasn't a scary book as it's sold to be but that isn't a big deal to me plus I did find a few elements to be a bit unsettling still which I enjoyed. The last few chapters of the book especially were very exciting and fun to read.
I only have two problems with the book:
1) I did not connect to the main character at all. Jacob was boring in my opinion and I didn't care about him. He could have died and I would have been like lol okay.Even his praculiarity was boring especially compared to the powers the other characters have.
2. The romance.... Honestly the story really could have done without romance at all first of all. It felt out of place and literally added nothing to the book, it felt shoehorned in with literally no build up as if it was just there to check off the romance box for YA novels.
Plus the romance itself was disgusting. Jacob is 16 years old and Emma while in a 16 year old body is still 88 so that's just gross to me to begin with. I'm a huge fan of things like vampire x human romances that have a similar vibe of someone older in a younger body but like... only when the human is of legal age. While Emma is not a vampire the same thing still applies. If Jacob was 18 or older I would be more comfortable with it maybe but the age difference was very gross as is.
Plus even more disgusting was the fact that Emma dated Jacob's grandfather.... yikes. It's just wrong from both Jacob and Emma's point of view... If you had to have Jacob date anyone to begin with (which again you didn't because romance felt so out of place in this book), why did it have to be Jacob's dead grandfather's ex girlfriend??? It was just a disgusting and uncomfortable mess of a romance on all levels.
I only have two problems with the book:
1) I did not connect to the main character at all. Jacob was boring in my opinion and I didn't care about him. He could have died and I would have been like lol okay.
2. The romance.... Honestly the story really could have done without romance at all first of all. It felt out of place and literally added nothing to the book, it felt shoehorned in with literally no build up as if it was just there to check off the romance box for YA novels.
Plus the romance itself was disgusting. Jacob is 16 years old and Emma while in a 16 year old body is still 88 so that's just gross to me to begin with. I'm a huge fan of things like vampire x human romances that have a similar vibe of someone older in a younger body but like... only when the human is of legal age. While Emma is not a vampire the same thing still applies. If Jacob was 18 or older I would be more comfortable with it maybe but the age difference was very gross as is.
Plus even more disgusting was the fact that Emma dated Jacob's grandfather.... yikes. It's just wrong from both Jacob and Emma's point of view... If you had to have Jacob date anyone to begin with (which again you didn't because romance felt so out of place in this book), why did it have to be Jacob's dead grandfather's ex girlfriend??? It was just a disgusting and uncomfortable mess of a romance on all levels.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Blood
Minor: Ableism