Just taking too long to really get started, the characters are not doing it for me, they're too real in a very “grimy” kinda way... Only characters I liked were Maggie and Lou, and poor Lou is fat, and we are told just how fat he is every damn time he's mentioned. To the point where the way he's described at times feels fatphobic, you know? And it's SO much. Jesus. Charlie Manx, also, very interesting villain. But again, it took way too long to get to the point. We get dribs and drabs here and there (I stopped at 43%, it may have picked up after this point but I'm so mentally checked out) and the narrative is so ... jagged. Lots of POV hopping, and changes in time period and such. It's messy. I just don't think this one is for me. Sadly. I was so excited, too.
I don't like Stephen King all that much. His son writes very similar to him so wasn't working for me. Did I care about the main character, nope.
I was really, really enjoying this then about halfway through I got to a part where things seemed concluded, then suddenly it wasn't... And faced with another full half of the book, it seemed a huge drag and I lost all interest in finishing. Not for me I suppose.
5 ⭐️s
I honestly loved this book. As a mom, I can say this played strongly on my fears of my child being stolen from me. I know I would go to hell and back to get him and keep him safe, but would I have the capabilities? I really loved the descriptive writing, the way Hill slowly builds up the suspense and makes the reader worry for the protagonists. I liked the characters, especially Lou. It got me in the feels a lot, especially in the end. I knew it couldn’t be a sunshine and rainbow ending, but still… 😢
This was a book I buddy read with Destiny and it was our last buddy read together in 2023. This was my first time reading this and it was also my first book by this author. It had been on my TBR for a while so I am glad I finally read it. I ended up loving this so much. There were some things I wish would have happened differently but that's just personal preference. It was perfect just the way it was. I could definitely see myself rereading this one.
Rating: 3.61 leaves out of 5-Characters: 3.75/5-Cover: 4/5-Story: 3.5/5-Writing: 4/5Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal, Horror-Fantasy: 4/5-Paranormal: 4/5-Horror: 2/5Type: AudiobookWorth?: YeahHated Disliked Meh It Was Okay Liked LoveIt was an okay story. I like the jist of it but there times when I just didn't want to go back to it once I put it down. Vic started out pretty cool and then she became unlikable for a bit then so so later on. I did find some things in the book Joe had taken from his dad, which is kinda cool. As for the ending. Really didn't care for that either.
Maybe 3.5 stars?
This book's premise is pretty creepy but I also kinda feel like it was just that little bit shy of hitting the true creepy-spot for me. Maybe it was in finding out too much about the antagonist too quickly? Maybe it was that there was no particular enigma or mystery to find out here, so it really kinda felt like a horror-thriller but there wasn't really any kind of suspense.
I felt like the pacing of this book was a little slow too, weirdly enough because there is quite a lot of action happening. There were so many parts where I just felt like skimming or skipping ahead already - but maybe it was also because I already could tell how the plot was going to develop miles ahead and just wanted to skip through all that and just find out the ending already. I had a strong suspicion Maggie Leigh would eventually become one of Manx's victims, I knew that we'd see Manx turn on Bing at some point, and that Vic would obviously kill him, and then find a way to destroy Christmasland because Manx would've kidnapped her kid. I wasn't sure if Vic would survive the book or not, so I wasn't that surprised or impacted when she did in fact die in the end.
I kept dragging my feet coming back to this book, which is probably why I finished it so quickly because I kinda wanted to get it over and done with. There was a lot of things depressing and unpleasant about it, but I guess that's also kinda the point of a horror novel, so I don't know whether that's really a negative point in this case. At the same time, it didn't quite cross a line and become too triggering where I would've just DNFed, so I guess that's why I eventually pushed myself to finish it.
It did have some elements that were pretty thought-provoking, although I don't know how intentional this was. For example, it painted a pretty visceral picture of how frustrating it is to be in a situation that is not aligned with what the institution would like to pigeonhole you in. In this case, it's Vic having one side of the story but the institution choosing to believe another story about her and twisting all the facts to align with their side of the story, and how powerless it made her feel. This is unfortunately all too real. It reminded me of the Netflix documentary, Take Care of Maya, where the institution also forcibly removed a daughter from her mother because it made a judgement and believed the daughter to be suffering from abuse from the mother, though both daughter and mother deny this. So the bit where the police kept repeating, “Your son's well-being is paramount.” while disregarding and even risking the safety and well-being of both parents while also completely dismissing the accounts of both parents as false reminded me strongly of that documentary and how real a situation this can be in America.
Anyway, so... 3.5 stars because I did occasionally find my thoughts wandering back to Manx and Christmasland even after I had put the book down so at least there's something in that.
I read a few reviews here where readers were thrown off that NOS4A2 wasn't more like his dad's work. On the contrary, I felt like this particular novel was too much like his dad's work. I even felt like maybe SK ghostwrote some of this or least outlined the story for his son. I'm glad there were allusions to King's work like the True Knot from [b:Doctor Sleep 16130549 Doctor Sleep Stephen King https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1510335480l/16130549.SY75.jpg 17851499], Pennywise from [b:It 830502 It Stephen King https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1334416842l/830502.SY75.jpg 150259], Shawshank...you know what, the whole book is just a reference to his dad's work. You even have Leland Gaunt driving his spooky car through Dark Tower portals. He says he put these in there as a joke, but ha ha after the 30th one? Anyway, I thought he did a pretty good job of pulling the reader into the universe but lacked good character development and the ending was done in true Stephen King form:650+ pages about how bad this dude is and 2 sentences for his downfall
Who would have thought Christmas could be so scary? This book kept me hooked. Joe Hill is an amazing writer
I honestly do not know. I don't know if it is because I have grown as a reader, if I am bored with these type of books or something.
To me, it felt like something was missing. Not bad, i guess it was just not my cup of tea.
When I was in high school, I had a big Stephen King phase (like had my sweet sixteen party at the hotel that inspired the Shining big). I read a huge portion of his catalog and really loved the suspense and scare factor. Sometime in my twenties, I stopped liking that feeling, and mostly cut horror out of my media diet. So when my book club picked this one, I was apprehensive. My only experience with Joe Hill was a short story collection I found when I lived abroad and read because English books were so hard to come by, and that collection was SCARY.
I'm not sure if this book was not that scary or if I'm just no longer as easy to scare as a I once was. Hill refers to it as his senior thesis on horror fiction, and the nods to his father's work are everywhere. It's at many points clever, and the heroes are unconventional and interesting. It also has an extremely well written child protagonist which is a rarity. The pacing and suspense are right up there with King's work too (I do feel bad to keep comparing the two as I'm sure Hill is sick of it, but this book is so clearly a love letter to his father's work).
That said, did I enjoy it? Not really. As a new mom, I'm really not into child endangerment stories, and a lot of the trauma and scary parts were less suspenseful and more uncomfortable for me. Mild bad things happen to kids and dogs in this book, and I am just not here for that I pretty much knew who would live and die because of the tried and true King formulas, and the horrific Christmas imagery was just not something I enjoyed at all. Is it a bad book? Not at all. If you enjoy horror, especially works like IT, I think this is a great piece in that genre, but the time when I could really enjoy it is long past.
This book was really really good in the beginning and then it dropped off for me. Joe Hill writes like a mixture of Dean Koontz and Stephen King (go figure). This story is not a traditional vampire story like I thought it would be. The villain is basically a guy who is called a vampire, has a bunch of needle teeth, and the way he stays young is by “saving” kids from an abusive home and bringing them to a horrific Lovecraft utopia called “Christmasland” in his 1932 Rolls Royce that magically turns the child into a monster like him and rejuvenates him into looking younger. This story is a bit out there if you ask me but worth reading at least once in your life.
OH MY GOD
THE ENDING?!?!?
I enjoyed this so much! I had some issues with the story, it just felt incomplete sometimes but its hard to explain
nearly cried when I thought Lou died, he was the highlight of this book and I love him
the acknowledgements at the end actually made me laugh and has convinced me to read Joe hills other works!
I picked this book up because Joe hill is Stephen kings son but I didn't go into this book with high expectations because Joe and Stephen are two different people and I wasn't expecting this to be a King book but a Hill book. Ive seen some reviews of people getting disappointed that this book didn't read like a King book.. im sorry but if you went into this expecting King, prepare to be disappointed. Hill is NOT King and King is NOT Hill. they are two different authors.
i've been wanting to read this for years and boy, it did not disappoint. it's a new favorite for sure.
When I started this book I figured there was zero chance that I'd finish it by Christmas, but the story was so captivating that I'm done with time to spare! For such a chonker of a novel the pages just flew by. Joe Hill is an amazing author and I look forward to devouring even more of his works.
4.5 stars. Listened to it on audio - narrated by Kate Mulgrew - she is incredible.
3.75 Stars
I picked this novel up because DUH, the show was coming out and a friend of mine was reading it. I wanted someone to talk to about it as I read it. I LOVED the beginning of the novel. I loved the build up to the climax. All that was great.
The climax was eventful but also underwhelming. I don't know if I just had higher expectations from the climax was I was a little disappointed. The end of the novel, the last chapter, was kind of rushed and I felt like there was some added romance there that was NEVER introduced. It was something that you have to infer on your own. I don't mind that but I inferred that the romance would have never happened, :(
Loved the book, will recommend, but I don't see myself reading this again.
Nothing going on in the first 100 pages or so that makes me want to continue reading.