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blindchoice's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
hobhouchin's review against another edition
3.0
Das Buch hatte so seine Längen und ich musste Abschnitte öfter zweimal lesen, weil ich mit den Gedanken mehrmals woanders war und dann keine Ahnung mehr hatte, was ich da gerade gelesen hatte.
Ich hätte mir etwas mehr Atmosphäre gewünscht. Aber es war trotzdem schon sehr gut aufgebaut und umschrieben. Es ist nicht so, dass Schauplätze beliebig durch alle Epochen austauschbar gewesen wären.
Die ganze Geschichte hätte etwas früher in Schwung kommen können. Erst zog es sich alles etwas hin und ich war von den vielen ungeklärten Fragen schon etwas genervt, als es dann doch mal zur Sache ging. Dadurch kam das Ende auch etwas sehr abrupt und war etwas unbefriedigend.
Sehr gut ausgearbeitet waren die Charaktere. Bei einigen "Nebenfiguren" hätte ich gerne mehr gehabt, weil sie meine Neugierde geweckt haben. Thaniel blieb lustigerweise etwas blass und nach ihrem ersten Auftauchen stahl ihm Alaizabel etwas die Show. Mir hat es im Großen und Ganzen gut gefallen.
Ich hätte mir etwas mehr Atmosphäre gewünscht. Aber es war trotzdem schon sehr gut aufgebaut und umschrieben. Es ist nicht so, dass Schauplätze beliebig durch alle Epochen austauschbar gewesen wären.
Die ganze Geschichte hätte etwas früher in Schwung kommen können. Erst zog es sich alles etwas hin und ich war von den vielen ungeklärten Fragen schon etwas genervt, als es dann doch mal zur Sache ging. Dadurch kam das Ende auch etwas sehr abrupt und war etwas unbefriedigend.
Sehr gut ausgearbeitet waren die Charaktere. Bei einigen "Nebenfiguren" hätte ich gerne mehr gehabt, weil sie meine Neugierde geweckt haben. Thaniel blieb lustigerweise etwas blass und nach ihrem ersten Auftauchen stahl ihm Alaizabel etwas die Show. Mir hat es im Großen und Ganzen gut gefallen.
aveincobalt's review against another edition
3.0
I picked up this book because it was published by POINT whom I haven’t seen since I was a kid, but remember loving every book by them.
This book delivers on its premise. It is easily the scariest YA book I have read and would have terrified middle school me. It has some serious issues with it’s characterization though, especially with women.
There is a serial killer who only murders women, and the book follows each of his victims before their deaths. All of their deaths are described as justified. The women are whores, stupid, or evil. Instead of being made to feel for these women in their final moments, you are intended to think that they got what they deserved. This is rubbed in further when the serial killer releases the main female character, stating she is too young and innocent to be killed.
The main male character is described as a proficient fighter, and is considered the best of hunter in all of England. The main female character on the other hand is described as weak and useless for most of the book. When she is granted tremendous power towards the end of the book, she uses it almost exclusively to open doors. There is also a completely unnecessary romance plot between the two of them, that probably takes up less than an entire page of dialogue, and doesn’t fit the rest of the story.
Feeling even more shoehorned in is the sudden inclusion of religion during the climax of the book. Besides church architecture there had been no mention of religion prior to this point. But now they were all acting according to a higher plan and the very reason the monsters started appearing in the first place was because more people were atheist? This fits the book so poorly that I feel they were made to add it in an attempt to avoid extremely religious parents banning their kids from reading it.
Overall its a good example of YA horror and I probably wouldn’t have picked up on most of this when I was younger, but it doesn’t sit well with me now.
This book delivers on its premise. It is easily the scariest YA book I have read and would have terrified middle school me. It has some serious issues with it’s characterization though, especially with women.
There is a serial killer who only murders women, and the book follows each of his victims before their deaths. All of their deaths are described as justified. The women are whores, stupid, or evil. Instead of being made to feel for these women in their final moments, you are intended to think that they got what they deserved. This is rubbed in further when the serial killer releases the main female character, stating she is too young and innocent to be killed.
The main male character is described as a proficient fighter, and is considered the best of hunter in all of England. The main female character on the other hand is described as weak and useless for most of the book. When she is granted tremendous power towards the end of the book, she uses it almost exclusively to open doors. There is also a completely unnecessary romance plot between the two of them, that probably takes up less than an entire page of dialogue, and doesn’t fit the rest of the story.
Feeling even more shoehorned in is the sudden inclusion of religion during the climax of the book. Besides church architecture there had been no mention of religion prior to this point. But now they were all acting according to a higher plan and the very reason the monsters started appearing in the first place was because more people were atheist? This fits the book so poorly that I feel they were made to add it in an attempt to avoid extremely religious parents banning their kids from reading it.
Overall its a good example of YA horror and I probably wouldn’t have picked up on most of this when I was younger, but it doesn’t sit well with me now.
thebrianbug's review against another edition
4.0
This book was really great for me, a very different type of fantasy than my personal beaten track. An excellent read!
lauragrows's review against another edition
2.0
I really wanted to like this book more than I actually did. It has a fun creepy premise and the plot is suspenseful but the characters just had no depth and nothing to make them meaningful or relatable. The main characters are just not that interesting - they seem like they SHOULD be, but then we never see enough of their internal thoughts or anything to really make them unique. No one ever acts in a way other than exactly how we would expect based on their character, and every character could essentially be described in one sentence (and in the whole book we never go deeper than that).
The supernatural monsters are really really creepy and very well described - definitely the best part of the book. The human villains are…as flat and boring as the human heroes.
I read this book when I was maybe 11 or 12 and I remembered being really creeped out, but I didn’t remember anything else about it so I picked it up again hoping for a fun Halloween read. It’s definitely an easy read and the plot moves along quickly and engagingly but I would necessarily recommend it.
The supernatural monsters are really really creepy and very well described - definitely the best part of the book. The human villains are…as flat and boring as the human heroes.
I read this book when I was maybe 11 or 12 and I remembered being really creeped out, but I didn’t remember anything else about it so I picked it up again hoping for a fun Halloween read. It’s definitely an easy read and the plot moves along quickly and engagingly but I would necessarily recommend it.
bookmamanumber9's review against another edition
4.0
I read this book as a teen and for some reason it's been popping into my head a lot recently, I'm going to have to track it down and give a it a re-read to figure out what about it is sticking out in my mind.
kelliepalmer's review against another edition
3.0
More of a 3.5. The inky problem I had with this were the many characters. I felt each page there was a new name mentioned and I couldn't remember if we had already met them. Interesting concept of who the wych-kin are.
jbojkov's review against another edition
4.0
This was a good, creepy , fast-paced read. Sort of in the steam punk genre, but also listed in the blurb as "post-Goth." Never heard of that one before! I didn't think it was "don't-read-after-dark" scary, but it get my attention and was a little freaky.