hol13's review
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
jessicaessica's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked how there was really no romance until the end of the book. If it could be called romance. I think it was put in there to help develop the split between Jude and Ashley, as the author said they will show up again later in the series. I also enjoyed how the author showed that some bullies are essentially being bullied themselves, but have no idea how else to respond to bullying - except by being a bully.
I am excited to read the rest of this series.
I am excited to read the rest of this series.
emilycantreadx's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
barmyjen's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-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
4.5
When two teenagers find a chained and bound woman in an abandoned farmhouse, all hell breaks loose! Iain Rob Wright creates real characters that could be people we all know, and sends them off on horrific and terrible journeys, with twists you don't see coming. I can't wait to read more of the cursed manuscript series!
xabbeylongx's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- 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? Yes
0.5
Spoilers Ahead:
I’m not going to lie, I’m very disappointed by this book. All in all, the plot itself was very promising, but it didn’t live up to my expectations.
We follow Ashley and Judy, two childhood best friends, as they’re walking through the woods. They are chased by high school bullies, and that’s how they end up in a forbidden part of the woods, called Devil’s Ditch. They go exploring, and they find a woman down there, naked and chained up. They think that a man has taken her there, abused her, and left her there. Expectedly, they go to the police to get help, however, when they go back, the woman in chains has disappeared, and so are the markings that were with her.
Naturally, they go back the next day. Sure enough, the woman is there, and she screams at Jude, but feels safer with Ash. Jude goes off to find help, whilst Ash stays with the woman, who tells her that her name is Rose. Jude comes back when he’s confronted by their bullies, and then one of them, Lily, is torn apart by Rose, who turns manic. She chases after them, but they run away.
The police look for Rose and Lily, but they can’t find them. They search for the abandoned warehouse on the internet, and find the people who used to own it, before paying them a visit. It turns out, the woman who used to own it was a witch, and had trapped Rose there for killing her own children, and she was married to the woman’s brother. Lily had stepped in one of the markings, and set her free of the curse the woman had put on her.
The woman told them a specific way to defeat the locket and to get rid of the evil that is Rose. Rose got to her, and tried to get Lily to attack her, but Ashely’s rage escalated and eventually saved her. Rose disappeared, and she kept on wearing the locket. She grew more confident, and angrier, until she killed her TW abusive dad. Turns out the anger that lived in Ashley had just got worse, and Jude needed to get away from her.
I’ll be honest, this book was almost a Do Not Finish. It’s only the sheer interest in the plot that kept me going, because I wanted to see where it was taken. Unfortunately, everything was dish for me, and not what I expected from a horror, and it felt like a lot of the content had been recycled. I wasn’t happy with it at all.
One thing I hated was how he spoke about the women in his book. You can definitely tell this book is written by someone who isn’t female, because there was so much talk about her breasts. She’s 14? I felt very weird, especially when, as a woman myself, I definitely don’t notice them on myself as often as the author spoke about hers. It made it feel very uncomfortable, especially when it was almost made to sound that her breasts make up her character. The fact that she’s supposedly an underage girl makes it even weirder, in my opinion. Also, I think that in the beginning, there was some transphobic language? That also didn’t sit well with me, and also made me want to DNF.
Secondly, Ashley and Jude are presented like brother and sister throughout the whole book, and then they’re suddenly getting intimate in the end?and telling each other that they love them? I know that Ashley isn’t herself, and I’m still not 100% sure if that’s a permanent thing or just because of the locket, but it just was very rushed, and it was a little weird and definitely not expected at all. In my opinion, there was no chemistry between them at all, and definitely none from Ashely’s end.
Everything just seemed very rushed, especially the end. I think more could have been spoken about Ashley and Jude’s parents, especially when they made such an effort to talk about TW the alcoholism and abuse. I understand why it was added in, but it could have been expanded on a little more. Jude’s mother’s alcoholism brought almost nothing to the plot, as far as I’m concerned.
I was a little disappointed with this book. This is my first book of his, but I have a few, and I’m hoping they’re a little bit better than this one - and I hope that women are described as more than just having breasts in the next one!
Favourite Quotes:
‘If things were any more boring, she might kill herself.’
I’m not going to lie, I’m very disappointed by this book. All in all, the plot itself was very promising, but it didn’t live up to my expectations.
We follow Ashley and Judy, two childhood best friends, as they’re walking through the woods. They are chased by high school bullies, and that’s how they end up in a forbidden part of the woods, called Devil’s Ditch. They go exploring, and they find a woman down there, naked and chained up. They think that a man has taken her there, abused her, and left her there. Expectedly, they go to the police to get help, however, when they go back, the woman in chains has disappeared, and so are the markings that were with her.
Naturally, they go back the next day. Sure enough, the woman is there, and she screams at Jude, but feels safer with Ash. Jude goes off to find help, whilst Ash stays with the woman, who tells her that her name is Rose. Jude comes back when he’s confronted by their bullies, and then one of them, Lily, is torn apart by Rose, who turns manic. She chases after them, but they run away.
The police look for Rose and Lily, but they can’t find them. They search for the abandoned warehouse on the internet, and find the people who used to own it, before paying them a visit. It turns out, the woman who used to own it was a witch, and had trapped Rose there for killing her own children, and she was married to the woman’s brother. Lily had stepped in one of the markings, and set her free of the curse the woman had put on her.
The woman told them a specific way to defeat the locket and to get rid of the evil that is Rose. Rose got to her, and tried to get Lily to attack her, but Ashely’s rage escalated and eventually saved her. Rose disappeared, and she kept on wearing the locket. She grew more confident, and angrier, until she killed her TW abusive dad. Turns out the anger that lived in Ashley had just got worse, and Jude needed to get away from her.
I’ll be honest, this book was almost a Do Not Finish. It’s only the sheer interest in the plot that kept me going, because I wanted to see where it was taken. Unfortunately, everything was dish for me, and not what I expected from a horror, and it felt like a lot of the content had been recycled. I wasn’t happy with it at all.
One thing I hated was how he spoke about the women in his book. You can definitely tell this book is written by someone who isn’t female, because there was so much talk about her breasts. She’s 14? I felt very weird, especially when, as a woman myself, I definitely don’t notice them on myself as often as the author spoke about hers. It made it feel very uncomfortable, especially when it was almost made to sound that her breasts make up her character. The fact that she’s supposedly an underage girl makes it even weirder, in my opinion. Also, I think that in the beginning, there was some transphobic language? That also didn’t sit well with me, and also made me want to DNF.
Secondly, Ashley and Jude are presented like brother and sister throughout the whole book, and then they’re suddenly getting intimate in the end?and telling each other that they love them? I know that Ashley isn’t herself, and I’m still not 100% sure if that’s a permanent thing or just because of the locket, but it just was very rushed, and it was a little weird and definitely not expected at all. In my opinion, there was no chemistry between them at all, and definitely none from Ashely’s end.
Everything just seemed very rushed, especially the end. I think more could have been spoken about Ashley and Jude’s parents, especially when they made such an effort to talk about TW the alcoholism and abuse. I understand why it was added in, but it could have been expanded on a little more. Jude’s mother’s alcoholism brought almost nothing to the plot, as far as I’m concerned.
I was a little disappointed with this book. This is my first book of his, but I have a few, and I’m hoping they’re a little bit better than this one - and I hope that women are described as more than just having breasts in the next one!
Favourite Quotes:
‘If things were any more boring, she might kill herself.’
‘“Girls ain’t into me for a lot of reasons, so magic tricks won’t make things any worse.”’
‘I feel like whacking the shit out of some balls right now.’
‘Ashley saw red, literally and metaphorically.’
‘Kicking at the ground, she let out a furious yell. Then she swore repeatedly, using words only beginning with F, S, and C.’
‘Her constant complaining broke the ominous spell and reminded him that life was more boredom than fantasy.’
‘“There might be antiques.”
“Antiques? Are you serious? The place doesn’t even have four walls.”’
‘“The mage feared no danger, for his faith in the almighty gods would keep him safe.”
“The mage has lost the plot.”’
‘The things in her room that had once given her comfort now only made her sad.’
‘My dad doesn’t look at me the way he used to. I’m not his little girl anymore.’
‘The fires of yesterday are ashes today. Destiny dies and renews every second.’
‘The last time they drank cider, Ashley had ended the evening puking in the middle of a field. She’d been so miserable that she’d begged him to kill her.’
‘“If there are any witches or psychopaths in Devil’s Ditch, then all we have to do is run faster than them. Simple.”
“No. All I have to do is run faster than you.”’
‘Jude was wearing a T-shirt, too, except it was far more colourful, with white, green and red stripes running in a thin pattern. He looked like an ice cream lolly.’
‘“Still can’t believe we fell all the way down.”
“Actually, you pushed me.”
“I did it to save you. Pretty heroic if you ask me.”’
‘I suppose we would go off in search of answers, visit the local library and go through old newspapers, or look for clues at a museum. Shit, maybe we would go ask Dora the fucking Explorer. Like I said, this isn’t a movie.”’
‘“Only the pure of flesh can see the wicked of heart.’
‘“The rage, it is exquisite. Let it feed.”
“Fuck off, bitch.”’
‘“Think I’ll pass on being your kid, Rose. I don’t want to end up like your last ones.”’
‘“Hey, do you like magic?”
“Nah, man. I fucking hate it.”
“Me too.”’
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny
Minor: Transphobia
carden_saraid's review
1.0
I really wanted to like this book. This book was all kinds of not good. The writing was abysmal and cringeworthy dialog for teenagers. The author seems to have an unhealthy obsession with breasts. They were mentioned multiple times and not at all relevant to the story or moving the plot forward. This book was independently published and the lack of editor shows. This could have been a great story. I only finished this book to see how badly it ended. Do not waste your time.
hayleyvharrington's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, Child abuse, Body horror, Drug use, Animal death, Bullying, Cannibalism, Murder, Confinement, Cursing, and Gore