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A review by directorpurry
The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Amazing. Brilliant. Wonderful. Fantastic.
There are not enough adjectives to describe how much I loved The Screaming Staircase. It was actually hanging around a solid 4/4.5 stars for most of the book, but those last 100 pages? Magnificent. The writing is beautifully creepy and evocative, one of my favorite haunted house sequences I've ever read in my life!
To be honest, I'm not often a person to be put off by solving the mystery before the end, so it may affect others differently, but I solved most of it relatively early on and it didn't affect my engagement one bit. There was also a nice little quirk that Stroud included that I (personally) should have figured out a little earlier, but I really loved that reveal.
One of my favorite things about Stroud's writing in general is that he doesn't pull his punches. Even keeping in mind his middle grade to YA audience, he puts his characters in real danger with really creepy, scary things happening and he does it so well.
I can't wait to read the sequels!!!! I already know this is going to join the Bartimaeus Sequence as one of my favorite series. And I know the series has been optioned for a Netflix series and let me assure you, I will watch it on premiere day. This is going to make a spectacular piece of media.
There are not enough adjectives to describe how much I loved The Screaming Staircase. It was actually hanging around a solid 4/4.5 stars for most of the book, but those last 100 pages? Magnificent. The writing is beautifully creepy and evocative, one of my favorite haunted house sequences I've ever read in my life!
To be honest, I'm not often a person to be put off by solving the mystery before the end, so it may affect others differently, but I solved most of it relatively early on and it didn't affect my engagement one bit. There was also a nice little quirk that Stroud included that I (personally) should have figured out a little earlier, but I really loved that reveal.
One of my favorite things about Stroud's writing in general is that he doesn't pull his punches. Even keeping in mind his middle grade to YA audience, he puts his characters in real danger with really creepy, scary things happening and he does it so well.
I can't wait to read the sequels!!!! I already know this is going to join the Bartimaeus Sequence as one of my favorite series. And I know the series has been optioned for a Netflix series and let me assure you, I will watch it on premiere day. This is going to make a spectacular piece of media.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Child death, Death, and Murder
Minor: Death of parent