Reviews tagging 'Death'

Dead Eleven by Jimmy Juliano

25 reviews

orizenda's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

An interesting culty, kind of folk horror-y (imo anyway), take on grief. This book wasn’t necessarily what I was expecting, but in saying that, I mean that it surprised me with some of the things it did. and I think the ways the audio version actually played with some of the storytelling too was interesting. 

Possibly getting into spoiler territory here? But I thought it was really interesting how a good portion of the story is told by willow to dominic, even though we don’t hear from him at all through the action of the story. I also appreciate how the story was complicated by the families torn apart by grief, and the multiple layers of storytelling that the story goes through to get to us. Like, how much are we supposed to take at face value, what’s been twisted by grief, what’s been warped through the various means of communication to get to us, etc. if that makes any sense at all. anyway. ty for coming to my ted talk
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nightlight_reader's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Consumed this in a few sittings but at about the halfway point just had to rip my way to the end cause it was MOVING, like we had entered a rollercoaster phase that I didn’t sign up for but was happy to be strapped into.

Short chapters. Zippy cliffhangers. Mixed media of interviews and text conversations and narratives.

None of the characters were particularly standout, but because it’s a horror book, that’s not usually something I’m looking for. This worked for me, mileage may vary.

I definitely had no idea where this was going and it built like a layer cake. It gave you all the ingredients and slowly walked you through the pieces and let you figure out what was coming next JUST before it gave it to you.

This was really fun, and I might actually try to hunt down this writer’s NoSleep content just to see what else he’s done…
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ichthala's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

An amazing first chapter that really drew me in. But it was only tense and interesting until the “monster” was revealed. I also found the writing a bit repetitive. 

As for the monster itself,
I had issues suspending my disbelief because it seems like the author was unaware of, or did not place value on, native peoples living on islands in the Great Lakes pre-1492.
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nopebook's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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themelaniewaite's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

If I had to quickly sum up the plot of this book, I’d say it’s Midnight Mass meets WandaVision meets the Supernatural episode “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid” (s5, ep15). 
It was the cover that originally drew me in. And then the idea that this island was stuck living as thought it was still 1994 mixed with a missing persons plot - it all had me so curious. I didn’t realise when I bought it, that the story was essentially a “found footage” theme - the last one I’d read in that format had put me off the genre. And though it took a few chapters to get into the flow of this storytelling, once the story found its rhythm it was really well done and worth powering through. It definitely achieved what it set out to do. 
The plot was eerie and had me hooked, desperately eager to get answers for what million questions the plot threw in. All of which tied together so well. No stone was left unturned by the end of the story. 

There was something so satisfying in the way the ending came together, and I’m pleased with the way it all came together. If you’re looking for a story that has you questioning literally everything, this is the one for you. With each chapter, there are more questions but once it starts coming together, this slow burn mystery is so well executed. I thoroughly enjoyed it. 
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whatiqreads's review

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dark reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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kylieqrada's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This one scared me, I will not lie. Seminary House? You couldn’t pay me enough. I did not know this followed a grieving mother though and that was rough. Lesson learned - check the content warnings. 
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jourdanicus's review against another edition

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dark reflective medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

I really liked the premise of this book, and the writing style was propulsive and kept me engaged. I loved that the audiobook had multiple narrators!

Something about it is still just "meh" to me though. I think there could have been more tension maybe? I don't mind a horror novel that you kinda have figured out from the beginning if it's also supposed to be an allegory, but I felt like this book was trying to do that and then was too obvious to be an allegory. Like, the way that Pastor Rita
laid it all out for Willow when she was trapped in the demon house completely ruined the suspense of that moment. It was cartoonist, like the big villain reveals in Scooby Doo, and not what I would want out of a novel for adults.
Leave a little something to the imagination, ya know?

But anyways, I did enjoy it and do recommend it especially to fans of LOST. A lot of similar elements there. 
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heather667's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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cartermon4's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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