Bent Heavens

Daniel Kraus

2020 • 8h

Ratings5

Average rating3.2

“Kraus gets under your skin with brutal, elegant efficiency. Necessarily horrifying, devastatingly timely.”—Kiersten White, New York Times-bestselling author of The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein and Slayer From New York Times-bestselling author Daniel Kraus comes a breakneck, genre-defying YA thriller perfect for fans of Kiersten White, Neal Shusterman, and M. T. Anderson. Liv Fleming’s father went missing more than two years ago, not long after he claimed to have been abducted by aliens. Liv has long accepted that he’s dead, though that doesn’t mean she has given up their traditions. Every Sunday, she and her lifelong friend Doug Monk trudge through the woods to check the traps Lee left behind, traps he set to catch the aliens he so desperately believed were after him. But Liv is done with childhood fantasies. Done pretending she believes her father’s absurd theories. Done going through the motions for Doug’s sake. However, on the very day she chooses to destroy the traps, she discovers in one of them a creature so inhuman it can only be one thing. In that moment, she’s faced with a painful realization: her dad was telling the truth. And no one believed him. Now, she and Doug have a choice to make. They can turn the alien over to the authorities...or they can take matters into their own hands. On the heels of the worldwide success of The Shape of Water, Daniel Kraus returns with a horrifying and heartbreaking thriller about the lengths people go to find justice and the painful reality of grief. “Bent Heavens is the darkest, angriest alien horror story that I've ever encountered. Hell. Yes.”—Stephanie Perkins, New York Times-bestselling author of There's Someone Inside Your House

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Popular Reviews

Reviews with the most likes.

Alex

Horror is best when it's not really about monsters or aliens- when it's about the real world around you, the things you don't see or the things you ignore. This alien horror was beautiful woven, sickening, heartbreaking, and hopeful all at the same time.

September 28, 2020

Kristie

Whoooo. How to review this? Let me try. First, it's a masterwork. Beautifully written, not one wasted sentence and every little detail that seemed superfluous ended up being used meaningfully. I went into this cold. [b:Scowler 15797695 Scowler Daniel Kraus https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1360646291l/15797695.SY75.jpg 21520599] was one of the few books I have read that has actually scared me. I still think about it. Bent Heavens is also terrifying but in a different way. It's very, very, very upsetting and difficult to read. Had I known, I would not have chosen it for cozy shelter-in-place reading. Woof. So what I did was read this in small chunks a little bit each day. And I needed the breaks. The emotional punches from this one are strong. Because when you get what Kraus is really saying, what he is really showing you here, it will knock the wind out of you.In the end, I think this is an important work. It's meaningful. It is not for the light or cozy reader, despite it's being in Young Adult. Should it be a YA book? It is at my library. Just because the protags are teens does not mean it automatically belongs in YA. Then again, I could have handled it at that age. Listen, this review and my emotional nerves have me talking to myself. I need to get back to Anna Karenina.

March 26, 2020

AlkaidSupporter

I had a good idea of what the plot twist was going to be early on, but wasn't a fan of the execution at all. I almost put the book down soon after Doug was introduced. The guy was bad news from the start.

And while it's technically not a YA book (it's definitely too mature for that), it reminds me why I typically avoid young protagonists. Stand up, Liv! Stand up!

February 25, 2025