liv
okay thriller.
lots of twists, half predictable, a little tiring.
the book couldve been shorter. the story circled over and over without creating a sense of “build up”.
also the protagonist has no personality and i could not suspend my disbelief that she would be so rocked by losing a boyfriend of like 2 months.....like girl u are not willing to die in a blizzard bc he went missing. i dont believe it.
this is a short novella about a group of friends who meet in an abandoned japanese mansion so that two of them can get married.
every character is vague and unlikable. the author tries to give them some unique character traits but they dont stick so its a mess.
if you arent familiar with basic japanese culture or folklore you will not understand half of this story.
if you ARE familiar- however, the only saving grace of this novella is the old school japanese imagery.
also- theres this weird tone where the characters keep referencing horror movie tropes in comparison to what theyre experiencing in real time....but theres not a solid-enough establishment of them being horror fans in the first place for it to seem like natural dialogue...
i DID enjoy a handful of well written horror-ish quotes..i think this author has potential but this story wasnt fleshed out enough. the pacing seems way too fast and yet i was rushing to finish bc i didnt care what happened to the characters.
i really enjoyed this book. the atmosphere and setting are incredibly eerie. 80s japan is obviously awesome.
the main character kinda sucked but honestly i was interested in the outcome for him.
the author builds a lot of dread and subtle suspense. nothing over the top really actually happens- which surprised me but didnt disappoint me either..?
the novel overall was a good length. interesting plot. satisfying resolution. quick, chill read.
this was a super short read. a story of a girl and her disagreeable mother who shes desperate to make amends with.
i quite enjoyed the characters. both of them had their flaws- more-so the mother, whose personality was so grating and blaming it made me angry.
predictable, but fun. i dont have many complaints.
i really enjoyed this book. its spooky and haunted. i think this book might not be successful for people who arent afraid of dolls.
there was also a charming family element to this book which i really liked. it touched on grief somewhat, in a nice way.
at the 80% mark i found myself skipping entire paragraphs because i felt like the book was just 50 pages too long.
overall- it was a fun, funNY, and spooky read.
this book had its cool moments but it felt like the majority was very wondering. pretentious at times, i did end up liking the supernatural radio idea about the book. i would never say this book was “scary”.
i would say its a story about a likable main character (who may or may not be an unreliable narrator) who is haunted by his past.
i think if this book cut out all the boring pointless chunks of descriptive metaphysical text, and stuck faithfully to the story- id be better
This book was okay.
i think i was disappointed because people set the bar so high. multiple people said this was one of the scariest books theyve ever read and i cant believe that.
the gore and body horror was squirm-worthy but nothing truly fear-inducing ever transpired. more than one of the child-characters is unlikable so i didnt care when they were gone.
the snippets of post-story interviewing and what not wasnt the best. it made the story drag and gave away too much of what was happening in real time.
though it wasnt as scary as id hoped, there were a handful of very nice excerpts about friendship and death- not that i was expecting them here lol
This book was so captivating. It was such a quick read for me because of the suspense, plot twists, and overall fast-pace of the story.
I was very surprised by multiple events, although towards the end the shock factor was lost due sheerly to how many the author included.
Anther criticism- there WERE moments where the writing was cheesy/juvenile that I didn't care for. Regardless, I really enjoyed it start to finish. It's a great winter-time read due to the setting.
This book was mostly enjoyable due to the scenic descriptions of nature and the relatability/“like-ability” of the main character
The story has so much potential, but I feel that the author spends way too much of the novel describing the main character's romantic relationships when that wasn't even the most interesting element of the plot. I feel that this also makes the pace of the story a little wonky-feeling.
Overall it was a chill read. Wouldn't necessarily recommend.
i liked the apple peeler dialogue...everything else seemed weirdly try-hard.
yet another male author who shouldve never tried to write female characters
DNF. maybe men should stop trying to write young female characters....
literally thought this was about middle schoolers- not 18 year olds. infantile descriptions of young adults. hated the hour i spent on it.
