Reviews

All Hallows by Christopher Golden

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kshor's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

bookishbackcountrybelle's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

kerasalwaysreading's review against another edition

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4.0

This one was definitely creepy. I read this a few chapters at a time every night before bed until I finished it and it definitely gave me the creeps. Something about children in old, drab, scary costumes giggling in the woods is enough to scare anyone, I’d think.

In a small town in New England, on a suburban street called Parmenter Road, All Hallows focuses on a handful of families in the neighborhood on a deadly Halloween night in ‘84.

It’s a Halloween like any other but there are children in tattered old costumes and creepy makeup walking around and begging people to help them; to save them from The Cunning Man who is after them.

This was a pretty slow burn and I really enjoyed it. You don’t really get into the traditional horror until a little later in the book. Instead, we are given a plethora of narratives throughout the first half, demonstrating the crumbling of some family dynamics. The dysfunction in these peoples lives is the perfect set up for the horror that is to come, establishing that people and the supernatural alike can both be monsters.

itzbrianna's review against another edition

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Unfortunately, this did not keep my attention. Not only was this extremely slow but it failed to truly capture me by the first chapter. I tried to give it a chance, but there was way too much going on for me to keep up with this story. I’ve read novels with a bunch of different perspectives before but this just wasn’t as enthralling as others. I’m curious to read this author’s other works which are hopefully more fast paced or at the very least interesting by the end of chapter one.

gracingyouwithbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

tysuckz's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

3.5

Loved the beginning. I really enjoyed the creepy/unsettling atmosphere it built up and it did have been feeling a bit creeped out in my own home!

It did lose me a bit with The Cunning Man & the Children. I didn't really understand the role of the Cunning Man and honestly I hated that there were so many of the little disciple children. That did bother me. I hated Delilah the most, but only because she was such a b*tch. I felt kinda bad for the other "Children" though .

I really enjoyed the drama of it too, like everything with Donnie and basically every woman in town. Was nice to have some depth to the characters that felt relatively realistic.

I didn't like the plot with Zack & Ruth. Disliked that a lot ! Wish it was followed up on more, otherwise it just seems like paedophilia is brought up for no reason? I'm sure there was another way they could've been introduced to Leonard? Maybe that's just me. Felt heavy compared to everything else.

The middle felt like it dragged a bit compared to the rest, but all in all not a bad read.