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A review by roadtripreader
In the Shadow of Spindrift House by Mira Grant
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
There is a better, deeper, distressing more gothic story trying to get out of this one. Solid 3.8
If you look just beyond the wailing, the watery deaths and the general horror-ness; there is a convoluted theme beneath. Could be the forlorness of time, of dying of being left behind and forgotten. The loss of innocence, children growing up, graduating into uncertain futures and emerging into adulthood. Friendships improving and evolving or straining and breaking. That villages like Port Mercy, like the town of Norton - even houses like Spindrift were once thriving, young, so alive and now even the ghost of them is letting go. Maybe, that's the real horror The Shadow of Spindrift House.
Often times, a horror story is just that - scheduled screams and death and running (too much running) maybe some stabbing and chopping and stumbling or scrambling to get away - a thrill to the senses. Very rarely is it this. A true haunting.
Plot/Storyline: I don't not care for Harlowe, Kevin, Andy and Addison. They do pull at the strings leading to the heart lightly. To my surprise, my feet are firmly planted on the side of the sea and by extension Spindrift House. I know, that's bloody horrifying. I can't help it.
Characters: There are three shadow characters here - earth and it judges us harshly. Time and we mean nothing to it. Maybe a legion of ghosts and Spindrift House is their hero song.
Favorite scene/concept: For all nature's railing against lines and sharp edges and geometry - the number 3is significant. There are three versions of Spindrift's birth. There are 3 things in nature that go against curvature and natural patterns. There are three things dying here - a way of life, a village going under and a house. Even the prose is structured in threes.
Favorite Quote: Spindrift House has had a great deal of time to decide what it wants to be, and what it wants to be is unforgiving. (Harlowe, Nature and Time on the nature of Spindrift's malevolence).
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Horror Books by 2025
If you look just beyond the wailing, the watery deaths and the general horror-ness; there is a convoluted theme beneath. Could be the forlorness of time, of dying of being left behind and forgotten. The loss of innocence, children growing up, graduating into uncertain futures and emerging into adulthood. Friendships improving and evolving or straining and breaking. That villages like Port Mercy, like the town of Norton - even houses like Spindrift were once thriving, young, so alive and now even the ghost of them is letting go. Maybe, that's the real horror The Shadow of Spindrift House.
Often times, a horror story is just that - scheduled screams and death and running (too much running) maybe some stabbing and chopping and stumbling or scrambling to get away - a thrill to the senses. Very rarely is it this. A true haunting.
Plot/Storyline: I don't not care for Harlowe, Kevin, Andy and Addison. They do pull at the strings leading to the heart lightly. To my surprise, my feet are firmly planted on the side of the sea and by extension Spindrift House. I know, that's bloody horrifying. I can't help it.
Characters: There are three shadow characters here - earth and it judges us harshly. Time and we mean nothing to it. Maybe a legion of ghosts and Spindrift House is their hero song.
Favorite scene/concept: For all nature's railing against lines and sharp edges and geometry - the number 3is significant. There are three versions of Spindrift's birth. There are 3 things in nature that go against curvature and natural patterns. There are three things dying here - a way of life, a village going under and a house. Even the prose is structured in threes.
Favorite Quote: Spindrift House has had a great deal of time to decide what it wants to be, and what it wants to be is unforgiving. (Harlowe, Nature and Time on the nature of Spindrift's malevolence).
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Horror Books by 2025