Reviews with content warning for Death - Let the Right One In

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

50 reviews

mysimas's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.5

I did it! Took me a month but I read this whole frigging thing in GERMAN! Woohoo!

I liked the book a bit less than on my first read a few years ago, my main issues being pacing and how dark the tale was. Now, this book is supposed to be dark, it’s a horror about vampires after all — and the related gore and description of Eli’s kills and the body horror of becoming a vampire was great. But then there were other things, unrelated to vampires, and the author may have taken them a tad over the top, especially what with the pedophilia and some details of Eli’s backstory. None of those things needed to be there; in fact, I would argue they bogged down the pacing, which already had its issues due to the sheer multitude of the POVs. Most of the characters were likeable, but my favourites were Oscar and Eli, and whenever the focus shifted from them I felt my attention shift away, too.

Still, I think it’s a very good book. The vampire lore was captivating enough, the characters all behaved believably, and the prose was solid, with some smooth transitions between the POVs and a collection of powerful scenes. I will likely reread at some point.

PS — I’m still not over the fact that the first time Oskar saw Eli, it was in a mirror. How awesome is that?!

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meganelise's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious 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? No

4.0

I was a big fan of the movie when it came out but hadn’t rewatched it in years. I read the book as part of the translation challenge but also because I was curious about how it compared to the film. Turns out I’d forgotten whole chunks of the story, so it was cool to read the original book, and I think I’ll rewatch the movie sometime soon now that the book is fresh in my mind.

Content Warnings