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A review by mackle13
MARY: Unleashed by Hillary Monahan
3.0
I also gave the first book in this series a 3-stars, so I didn't love it, but I liked it well enough to continue. (It helps that it's sort of written as a duology as opposed to 2 standalone stories - so you definitely need to read these in order.)
Following a trend in my horror reading lately, this seems to be a series which starts off as more creepy and atmospheric and ends up being more action oriented by the end. I'm not sure if it's because of popularity of shows like Supernatural, which make defeating ghosts about having a shotgun with salt bullets, or if it's just because the atmospheric kind of writing is hard to maintain across so many pages... but I tend to prefer the creepy-vibe stories to the action ones - at least in print form. (I do actually like Supernatural, btw.)
That aside, I did like that the girls in this book seemed a bit less whiny, even Jessica. They were more, like, on a mission and were more focused, I suppose. Kitty was still a bit of a hanger on, but I guess that makes sense in the context of the story.
I didn't entirely like the addition of the idea that
I also didn't entirely get why she goes after girls with Worth blood, whether or not they summon her. Like, why not go after people with the blood of the girls who tormented her? They say something about how it's because she can sniff out Worth blood, but... she loved her mother and sister, and her family never did her wrong, so... ?
I did like learning more about Mary's story, but I wondered a bit why she didn't ever go after
So, yeah... there were some weird little plot holes and inconsistencies which left me thinking Monahan hadn't really fleshed out which mythology she was using, and kind of just made stuff up as she went along for whatever was cool or worked for the plot. That's fine, to a point, but I prefer stories - even ones like these - to have internal consistency.
So, aside from that, I did enjoy the story and it was definitely a page turner. I wouldn't say it was scary, and I think the first one had more actual suspense and chills than this one had, what with the more action oriented focus this one seemed to have... but it was still a decent story and a nice conclusion.
Following a trend in my horror reading lately, this seems to be a series which starts off as more creepy and atmospheric and ends up being more action oriented by the end. I'm not sure if it's because of popularity of shows like Supernatural, which make defeating ghosts about having a shotgun with salt bullets, or if it's just because the atmospheric kind of writing is hard to maintain across so many pages... but I tend to prefer the creepy-vibe stories to the action ones - at least in print form. (I do actually like Supernatural, btw.)
That aside, I did like that the girls in this book seemed a bit less whiny, even Jessica. They were more, like, on a mission and were more focused, I suppose. Kitty was still a bit of a hanger on, but I guess that makes sense in the context of the story.
I didn't entirely like the addition of the idea that
Spoiler
Mary is rotting and taking body parts away from her victims in order to replenish her body. For one, you'd think that they would've noticed she looked a bit Frankenstein-monster-ish in the first story? For another - is she a ghost or a ghoul? Like, make a decision and stick with it.I also didn't entirely get why she goes after girls with Worth blood, whether or not they summon her. Like, why not go after people with the blood of the girls who tormented her? They say something about how it's because she can sniff out Worth blood, but... she loved her mother and sister, and her family never did her wrong, so... ?
I did like learning more about Mary's story, but I wondered a bit why she didn't ever go after
Spoiler
men like the preacher who actually killed her? I guess it's because it's usually teenage girls who summon her, and there were the teenage girls who tormented her and let her die and all, but he was the one who actually did it, so why just focus on the girls?So, yeah... there were some weird little plot holes and inconsistencies which left me thinking Monahan hadn't really fleshed out which mythology she was using, and kind of just made stuff up as she went along for whatever was cool or worked for the plot. That's fine, to a point, but I prefer stories - even ones like these - to have internal consistency.
So, aside from that, I did enjoy the story and it was definitely a page turner. I wouldn't say it was scary, and I think the first one had more actual suspense and chills than this one had, what with the more action oriented focus this one seemed to have... but it was still a decent story and a nice conclusion.