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chainsawheartbooks's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
Damn! There’s more twists and turns in this than a goddamn maze, and I loved it!
The story is separated into three different narratives and all of them have different strengths, and sometimes weaknesses. But even when I was less fussed about that particular narrative I still wanted to keep reading to find out what happened.
This book isn’t a typical dystopian horror, there’s so much to it, and although a part of me suspected certain things, I still had way more questions than answers until the end.
I never expected to get through this as fast as I did, but I just couldn’t put it down.
Perfect for a blustering, cold winter night, when the wind is whistling and you just can’t seem to shift that chill in your bones.
The story is separated into three different narratives and all of them have different strengths, and sometimes weaknesses. But even when I was less fussed about that particular narrative I still wanted to keep reading to find out what happened.
This book isn’t a typical dystopian horror, there’s so much to it, and although a part of me suspected certain things, I still had way more questions than answers until the end.
I never expected to get through this as fast as I did, but I just couldn’t put it down.
Perfect for a blustering, cold winter night, when the wind is whistling and you just can’t seem to shift that chill in your bones.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Self harm, Terminal illness, Vomit, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and War
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual assault
_thelitlibrarian's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
TW: Death, Gore, Body horror, Child death, Sexual assault, Suicide, Animal death, Rape, Adult/minor relationship
4.25 stars
-
I picked this up blindly and assumed it was a story about being isolated/trapped during a winter storm. Although this book touches on that aspect, it is a story of survival in a post-apocalyptic world, I love how the plot still focuses on human survival rather than being a story focusing more on the Whistlers and escaping from them.
In each chapter, we focus on a different tale of survival; Hannah (who is on a coach bus that has crashed), Meg (Trapped in a cable car with a suspicious group), and Carter (who lives in an abandoned chalet and seems to have the most resources, but not everyone can be trusted). At first, it seems as if there are a lot of characters as each setting has multiple people trapped, but since each pov is mainly set in the same area and always told via the same person it starts to clear up as you read.
As the book went on I was a little on the fence as part of me wondered if all of these POVs were connected. The main factor in each situation is a place called The Retreat and it's the goal for our characters to get there. At one point I gave up thinking they were connected and just assumed the book was three short stories combined into one! Once I found out how all POVs were linked together I was shocked, the author did a great job at tying it all together and had my head spinning with theories!
4.25 stars
-
I picked this up blindly and assumed it was a story about being isolated/trapped during a winter storm. Although this book touches on that aspect, it is a story of survival in a post-apocalyptic world, I love how the plot still focuses on human survival rather than being a story focusing more on the Whistlers and escaping from them.
In each chapter, we focus on a different tale of survival; Hannah (who is on a coach bus that has crashed), Meg (Trapped in a cable car with a suspicious group), and Carter (who lives in an abandoned chalet and seems to have the most resources, but not everyone can be trusted). At first, it seems as if there are a lot of characters as each setting has multiple people trapped, but since each pov is mainly set in the same area and always told via the same person it starts to clear up as you read.
As the book went on I was a little on the fence as part of me wondered if all of these POVs were connected. The main factor in each situation is a place called The Retreat and it's the goal for our characters to get there. At one point I gave up thinking they were connected and just assumed the book was three short stories combined into one! Once I found out how all POVs were linked together I was shocked, the author did a great job at tying it all together and had my head spinning with theories!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Abandonment
deagaric's review
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
If there was a record for sheer number of plot twists in one stand-alone novel, "The Drift" by C.J. Tudor would take the cake. This is a story about a viral pandemic, told from multiple perspectives and settings. It was a tense page-turner, where the reader enters in the middle of the action and has to play catch-up along with the very large cast of characters. In the beginning, it was difficult to keep track of all the names and backstories, but by the middle of the book, I started to gain some traction and the puzzle pieces started to come together. Just in time for Tudor to flip the script 4 more times and make me question everything all over again.
This is a quick, immersive read, but one that requires (and deserves) your full attention in order to experience the magnitude of the multifaceted story. The book was well-written with many quotable statements, some which I may include in my full review in late January.
**Trigger warning: on top of many triggers for gore, death of a child/sibling/loved one, violence against both humans and pets, I'd like to particularly note that this book might be difficult for those who are not in the mood for a pandemic-based novel. The book covers many topics that may hit close to home so soon after covid, such as descriptions of hospitalizations, medical care being over-capacity, viral spread, etc. Just felt like the abstract might have come off more wilderness-survival than pandemic-survival, so I wanted to make sure that was clear.**
Overall, Tudor does an excellent job at creating a true horror novel, filled with gore and jump scares., but still interlaced with comical moments at the same time. I was entertained and on my toes the entire time. Highly recommend.
Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read an advanced reader's copy of this novel prior to publication.
This is a quick, immersive read, but one that requires (and deserves) your full attention in order to experience the magnitude of the multifaceted story. The book was well-written with many quotable statements, some which I may include in my full review in late January.
**Trigger warning: on top of many triggers for gore, death of a child/sibling/loved one, violence against both humans and pets, I'd like to particularly note that this book might be difficult for those who are not in the mood for a pandemic-based novel. The book covers many topics that may hit close to home so soon after covid, such as descriptions of hospitalizations, medical care being over-capacity, viral spread, etc. Just felt like the abstract might have come off more wilderness-survival than pandemic-survival, so I wanted to make sure that was clear.**
Overall, Tudor does an excellent job at creating a true horror novel, filled with gore and jump scares., but still interlaced with comical moments at the same time. I was entertained and on my toes the entire time. Highly recommend.
Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read an advanced reader's copy of this novel prior to publication.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, and Blood
Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Alcohol
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