ashthemenace's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Gore and Bullying
Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Suicide attempt
emory's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
And were I a teenager in the intended audience of this book I might have loved it. There were genuinely intense moments that carried the narrative through, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't hold my attention and intrigue, no matter what opinions I was forming as I read. I breezed through this book in a few days. It was a compelling narrative with several different original concepts (will touch on that later though..) and a well fleshed out main character.
Additionally, the inclusion of characters of color in a small town horror was refreshing (although the characterization of a black female character as crass and wild was certainly questionable), as was the inclusion of disabled characters--not only that, but
Spoiler
the traits associated with their disabilities help the characters on their journey instead of hindering them. Sign language is not an annoyance but one of the only ways the characters are able to speak to one another when robbed of the ability to speak out loud. The character who does not know sign language is interpreted for by a HOH character who reads her lips. The stutter of another character is key in deciphering her fate.As enthralling as short stretches of this book were, my biggest issue is that the book overall seems to have no concept of suspense. I again might sound downright mean, but I've read nosleep threads with a better grasp on the pacing of a horror/thriller, and the way the narrative speeds up halfway through betrays that the author seems to have been getting just as bored as I was. It reads less like a horror and more like the least favorite installment in a middle grade fantasy series. The prose contains no subtlety; every scare is explained for pages upon pages. This is scary, look how scary this is? Did you catch the scare?
Creatures and events that would frighten more when left to the imagination are beaten out for a minimum of a full paragraph every time; the mood of each scene is painfully skipped over, casting the whole book in a feeling of "meh".
Even the deaths feel lackluster, as no character in this book talks like a human. Everybody talks like either a therapist or a 40 year old man's idea of what middle schoolers talk about at lunch. ("Welcome to the Trauma Kids club" had me physically cringing). All conflict is resolved in a matter of a page or two, because the characters tell all about their inner turmoil and excise all realistic conversation. And obviously, there are so many characters for kill count fodder, but really it just gets hard to keep them straight when only 3 or 4 are ever really saying anything.
One of the books largest strengths, the twist that
Spoiler
Nick had died and Sara had forgotten him,Spoiler
yes, Sara really had not mentioned Nick at all in her statements that made up the main narrative, and that every reference to him was in supplemental materials onlyMarshall then tries this twist technique 3 more times throughout the book, the final big twist feeling hurried and unearned, and what makes it even more excruciating is that each time it is explained just as explicitly and heavy handedly. A big red stamp saying "UNRELIABLE NARRATOR" would've been more tolerable and less direct. All suspense or mystery is stomped out by the apparent need to make sure every single reader got exactly the right takeway without having to think about it themselves for even a second.
My final complaint is that the plot is just batshit. Marshall starts out with a strong concept of a ghost road and a legend of a lost girl, with interesting encounters at the beginning. Even the first, albeit slightly predictable, scare gets credit from me because of the unnerving description and Haunting of Hill House homage ("whose hand was I holding?!"). But as the group progresses through the gates, it gets more and more convoluted and twee. This is why I said it feels more like a contrived fantasy series than a horror novel. The legend expands into something poorly constructed and utterly off color from the rest of the book up to that point. Random points make no sense, and we receive bits of lore in all the wrong places. A central conflict at multiple points is that
Spoiler
they need even pairs to get through the darkness, but a triple pair got through perfectly fine right at the beginning. As I type this, I suppose it would be because Miranda is dead already (btw: another random shark jumpy plot point), but this is not discovered by the characters until after they exit the road, and they would have no reason to believe exiting with odd numbers would do anything to them. Seriouslu, there is so much conflict based on this one point that was not a problem at all prior?It feels like a motley of every possible idea the author had, and the disjointment has a negative impact on the tone and the flow of the story. It's not an absence of creativity or writing prowess, but a disappointing follow through and entirely too many concepts to be thoroughly explored as connected.
The strong sections pulled me through, but the overall book felt like missed potential and flat scares held together by irritatingly unbelievable dialogue and a disappointing use of the original format.
Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Child death, and Violence
Moderate: Ableism and Physical abuse
Minor: Alcohol, Gaslighting, Confinement, Death of parent, and Suicide attempt
rae42's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Murder, Suicide, and Violence
chris_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Gaslighting, and Violence
Minor: Confinement
collinsd's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief
Minor: Self harm, Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Death
hamfanjay's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence
sapphic_reader's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Bisexual main character
Black lesbian love interest
Asian side characters
Character with a stutter
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Gore, Grief, and Ableism
Minor: Child abuse, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
hobbitslibrary's review
- 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
4.25
I loved the format and the delivery of this book. It was scary and terrifying and mystifying in all the right ways. I'm such a huge fan of the mixed media style. It not only aided the story itself by providing different perspectives and snippets in such an order that allowed things to be revealed or hidden or vague depending on the author's intentions at any given time, but also kept my attention span constantly engaged and constantly entertained with something new. I was constantly faced with unreliable narrators/POV's and situational irony and it added a whole extra layer of entertainment to the already thrilling narrative.
My only real issue was that the end was a little more open-ended than I personally would've preferred, but this book was so much about the journey anyways that it almost didn't matter.
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Gore
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Domestic abuse
talislibrary's review
- 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
5.0
Moderate: Violence and Murder
abutler's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Gore and Murder
Minor: Child abuse