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A review by mspilesofpaper
You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
You're Not Supposed To Die Tonight is a YA hommage of the slasher movies of the 80s and 90s. I'm not always one for horror movies and novels because I'm easily scared and I do like to sleep through the night without having weird nightmares. (A psychological thriller though? HIT ME UP!) So, I thought that a YA horror novel would be a somewhat better choice for me. Spoiler: It didn't work out as well as I thought.
Well, to start with the book, I have to mention that it feels like the author wrote it at two different points in time and planned to use one part for another book because they are just ... weird.
The first part is slow-paced and builds up the setting. The reader gets introduced to the characters and the entire camp setting with its horror/terror game. It also starts to have the typical creepy elements of a horror movie, e.g. a humanoid shadow at the shoreline, bumps in the night, flickering lights, ..., before it turns into the "leave the campgrounds" and overall, I would have given it 4.5 ⭐. There's an actual sense of fear and foreboding, which made it close the book at night as I do value my sleep. Of course, it could have been faster-paced but it worked well as a set-up.
The second part though? That's the actual horror/mystery part of the book and it really just fell flat for me. So, I would give it 1.5 ⭐, which results in a 3 ⭐ rating as an overall rating. There's a weird cult involved (which still doesn't make sense), there's an occult/paranormal aspect to it, it's very predictable in terms of who is the actual villain, and the ending/epilogue is just ... something. This part feels heavy-handed and stereotypical of horror movies where the characters always do the dumb shit. Splitting up? Yes, of course! Investigating something in the night in a forest? Hell yes! All the things where anyone with a brain would be like "no, we just leave now!" instead of going through with investigating something creepy at night.
TL;DR: A YA horror novel (that's surprisingly gory for the age group) that takes a weird turn after the halfway point of the story, which results in a loss of tension and horror. Instead, I just got left with a lot of question marks and eye-rolling.
On a personal note, I think I will stay away from the author by now because I wasn't happy with Cinderella Is Dead either.
Well, to start with the book, I have to mention that it feels like the author wrote it at two different points in time and planned to use one part for another book because they are just ... weird.
The first part is slow-paced and builds up the setting. The reader gets introduced to the characters and the entire camp setting with its horror/terror game. It also starts to have the typical creepy elements of a horror movie, e.g. a humanoid shadow at the shoreline, bumps in the night, flickering lights, ..., before it turns into the "leave the campgrounds" and overall, I would have given it 4.5 ⭐. There's an actual sense of fear and foreboding, which made it close the book at night as I do value my sleep. Of course, it could have been faster-paced but it worked well as a set-up.
The second part though? That's the actual horror/mystery part of the book and it really just fell flat for me. So, I would give it 1.5 ⭐, which results in a 3 ⭐ rating as an overall rating. There's a weird cult involved (which still doesn't make sense), there's an occult/paranormal aspect to it, it's very predictable in terms of who is the actual villain, and the ending/epilogue is just ... something. This part feels heavy-handed and stereotypical of horror movies where the characters always do the dumb shit. Splitting up? Yes, of course! Investigating something in the night in a forest? Hell yes! All the things where anyone with a brain would be like "no, we just leave now!" instead of going through with investigating something creepy at night.
TL;DR: A YA horror novel (that's surprisingly gory for the age group) that takes a weird turn after the halfway point of the story, which results in a loss of tension and horror. Instead, I just got left with a lot of question marks and eye-rolling.
On a personal note, I think I will stay away from the author by now because I wasn't happy with Cinderella Is Dead either.