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A review by monarchsandmyths
Direwood by Catherine Yu
4.0
thank you to tantor audio and netgalley for providing an ALC in exchange for an honest review.
What do you get when you mix Dracula, Once Upon a Broken Heart, and The Honeys, all in a 90s gothic horror novel? This book. Vampires and other strange phenomena plague the idyllic town of Glen Hills, and then 4 teenagers go missing, including our main character Aja's sister. She too will be lured into the direwood, with a week to leave or stay with the alluring vampire forever, til death do them part.
This book is both brutal and made of the inherent softness and heart of being a teenager, all clad in a velvet gothic 90s setting. I wanted to shake Aja for falling for a vampire, albeit not necessarily in the typical boy meets girl infatuation, and yet you can understand her. There are things she doesn't understand, her brash stance of being different leading her to believe that she's alone in that. At its core, DIREWOOD feels like a story about being boxed into people's idea of you, and clawing out of that by any means possible. All with a healthy dose of bug-based body horror.
Though the plot is linear it also strangely feels out of sorts, time becoming warped while reading it. It's a relatively simplistic plot and storyline, all coming together in what I would consider a relatively satisfying ending. Not happily ever after, but as close as reality can get.
Specifically regarding the narration, I largely enjoy any work that Cindy Kay does, providing distinct characters throughout. There were a few times that slowed down when there wasn't an active horror element, but altogether a good listening experience.
If you like horror, want to reminisce about some very specific parts of the 90s, or want a book about discovering yourself and others via vampiric ritual and at-times gruesome body horror, DIREWOOD is definitely worth checking out.
What do you get when you mix Dracula, Once Upon a Broken Heart, and The Honeys, all in a 90s gothic horror novel? This book. Vampires and other strange phenomena plague the idyllic town of Glen Hills, and then 4 teenagers go missing, including our main character Aja's sister. She too will be lured into the direwood, with a week to leave or stay with the alluring vampire forever, til death do them part.
This book is both brutal and made of the inherent softness and heart of being a teenager, all clad in a velvet gothic 90s setting. I wanted to shake Aja for falling for a vampire, albeit not necessarily in the typical boy meets girl infatuation, and yet you can understand her. There are things she doesn't understand, her brash stance of being different leading her to believe that she's alone in that. At its core, DIREWOOD feels like a story about being boxed into people's idea of you, and clawing out of that by any means possible. All with a healthy dose of bug-based body horror.
Though the plot is linear it also strangely feels out of sorts, time becoming warped while reading it. It's a relatively simplistic plot and storyline, all coming together in what I would consider a relatively satisfying ending. Not happily ever after, but as close as reality can get.
Specifically regarding the narration, I largely enjoy any work that Cindy Kay does, providing distinct characters throughout. There were a few times that slowed down when there wasn't an active horror element, but altogether a good listening experience.
If you like horror, want to reminisce about some very specific parts of the 90s, or want a book about discovering yourself and others via vampiric ritual and at-times gruesome body horror, DIREWOOD is definitely worth checking out.