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A review by lilifane
Timberdark by Darren Charlton
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I understand what the author tried to do here. I really do. And I also think, the idea is really cool. The execution... not so much.
I have to say that the writing improved a lot from the first book. What the author does extremely well here - and this is high praise from me, actually - He manages to scare the hell out of me, and not many books can pull that off. The horror elements and scenes are really well done. The first 100 pages? I forgot how to breath because they were so eerie, creepy and scary. I was afraid for the characters the whole time.
But I think the author had 4 books in mind and couldn't decide which to actually write, so he just mixed them all together. And it didn't work for me.
1. As I said, the first 100 pages were a very atmospheric horror story in the wilderness. 5/5 stars. Amazing. And I wish he just stuck to it.
2. The gay love story. I loved Cooper and Peter in the first book, and it was frustrating to see the miscommunication trope ruining them for me. I hate that trope with all my heart, and the way it was done here was just illogical. I have to admit, I felt for Peter and I felt his pain, his loneliness, his situation of standing outside and feeling left out. I even cried because it felt so real. But Cooper's behavior just didn't make sense. It just didn't. And the way things were explained was also ridiculous. I liked the message in the end, but how we got there was so bad.
3. An evil government conspiracy mystery? Make it make sense, please. This was so unnecessary, I don't even know why it's part of the book. Probably to make number 2 work, but it really doesn't.
4. A social commentary on our world. This could have worked so well... if the author knew when to stop explaining. When I realized which message the author was going for, I laughed and rolled my eyes. But I mean, it fits. So well. But then he had to over explain everything and open it up to so many plot holes that it stopped working. Sigh. If it was left to interpretation for the reader, it would have been so much better.
So yeah, loved parts of it, hated other parts with a passion. Guess, we'll just settle somewhere in the middle (very very low 3 star).
Also: unnecessary deaths and sacrifices. Especially the animal death in the first third of the story almost made me throw the book out the window. If you need one good reason not to read this book, it's the cruel animal death that had no right to be in there at all.
I have to say that the writing improved a lot from the first book. What the author does extremely well here - and this is high praise from me, actually - He manages to scare the hell out of me, and not many books can pull that off. The horror elements and scenes are really well done. The first 100 pages? I forgot how to breath because they were so eerie, creepy and scary. I was afraid for the characters the whole time.
But I think the author had 4 books in mind and couldn't decide which to actually write, so he just mixed them all together. And it didn't work for me.
1. As I said, the first 100 pages were a very atmospheric horror story in the wilderness. 5/5 stars. Amazing. And I wish he just stuck to it.
2. The gay love story. I loved Cooper and Peter in the first book, and it was frustrating to see the miscommunication trope ruining them for me. I hate that trope with all my heart, and the way it was done here was just illogical. I have to admit, I felt for Peter and I felt his pain, his loneliness, his situation of standing outside and feeling left out. I even cried because it felt so real. But Cooper's behavior just didn't make sense. It just didn't. And the way things were explained was also ridiculous. I liked the message in the end, but how we got there was so bad.
3. An evil government conspiracy mystery? Make it make sense, please. This was so unnecessary, I don't even know why it's part of the book. Probably to make number 2 work, but it really doesn't.
4. A social commentary on our world. This could have worked so well... if the author knew when to stop explaining. When I realized which message the author was going for, I laughed and rolled my eyes. But I mean, it fits. So well. But then he had to over explain everything and open it up to so many plot holes that it stopped working. Sigh. If it was left to interpretation for the reader, it would have been so much better.
So yeah, loved parts of it, hated other parts with a passion. Guess, we'll just settle somewhere in the middle (very very low 3 star).
Also: unnecessary deaths and sacrifices. Especially the animal death in the first third of the story almost made me throw the book out the window. If you need one good reason not to read this book, it's the cruel animal death that had no right to be in there at all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gun violence, and Gaslighting