The Girl from the Well

I mean personally I just found this to be a real solid book. It was filled with horror and scary stuff without being ‘too much'

Oh my god, what a great story! I'm not a person who can handle very scary things, but this book had the perfect amount of horror in it for me. I could read an entire book of Okiku exacting sweet, bloody vengeance on murderers and never get tired of it.

This was included with audible, so my fiancée and I gave it a go on a long drive. 
With influences taken from the same Japanese folklore as the Ring, I was interested in this one from the start. I was nervous with it being YA, but the start was rather gruesome, so I thought it might work. 
As a vengeful spirit, she only attacks those that get away with harming children. Her judgment and execution is swift and gruesome. So why is she hanging, or haunting, around a teenage boy? 
I did not dislike this, but I did find myself feeling like there was simply too much going on. It focused on the boy and his cousin, partially on his mother and father, as well as a having a large part take place in Japan, dealing with a group of women that gave their lives to exorcising demons. Yet somehow, the book was actually about the spirit Okiku. It just read as very clunky. 
One thing that definitely did not work for me was dialogue. The boy is fifteen and his cousin is an eighteen year old teacher's assistant (which I was always under the impression you needed college classes done to do...) but they talk like they are thirty years old. 
Personally a 3/5* but I don't think I'll pick up the second. 

It's been a while since I've read a 5-Star book.

I'm not a huge fan of reading horror, because sometimes the horror element doesn't translate as well for me. But, I do enjoy Japanese horror novels - the classic Ring by Koji Suzuki, for one.

This book offers an interesting spin on the horror tropes of Ju-On: The Grude and The Ring. The book has its fair share of horror elements, that's as much fun to read as it woudo eb to watch a good horror jump scare. The plot is fast paced and layered. The characters are well crafted and you want to invest in their journey.

This book has all the best things from a good horror movie, and gives all its characters the respect they deserve.

I really enjoyed The Bone Witch (need to finish that series) and wanted something eerie and spooky. I found The Girl From the Well and decided to grab the audio. This was a great listen.

This has all the vibes of The Ring and The Grudge and I was here for it! Very creepy and haunting. Perfect addition for Spooktober reads.

Nice intro to the legend of Okiku. Found myself googling for more info as I read. Not sure I'll continue the series, but my interest has been piqued regarding this area of folklore.

Nice and creepy! Think the grudge meets the 6th sense

I'm going to have to agree with everyone else here and say I think this started out great and then just kinda slowed way down. A really interesting premise though and available on Audible Plus is anyone wants to give it a try!

This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: The Girl from the Well

Okiku wanders the world hunting down child murderers, freeing the souls of children bound to their killers. When she discovers Tark, she senses darkness inside of him. Ever watchful for those who would harm children, she takes an interest in Tark. But as she watches him, she learns that the darkness is bound to him and it is beginning to break free. Tark will have a long road and horrific road ahead of him. One that will

Rin Chupeco can send a chill down your spine with their writing. Told through the eyes of Okiku, The Girl From the Well builds horror elements with each chapter as the reader becomes immersed in the Japanese lore and human atrocities. You'll witness brutal murders and the resulting aftermath as Okiku finds those responsible. And let's not forget the darkness inside of Tark that will rip people limb from limb when challenged.

The characters were also so well balanced and built off of one another. Tark is a reserved boy who's come to terms with childhood trauma and the supernatural occurrences that plague him. And then you have Okiku, a morally grey character fiercely protective of her charges. Those who harm, or try to harm, children will surely die. Placing the two characters together creates an innovative dynamic that strengthens the dark undertones of The Girl From the Well.

I need to read book two. With the way this one ended, I just need to know what happens next. If you're a fan of paranormal horror and Japanese culture, I encourage you to read The Girl From the Well. And if you can, try the audiobook. Andi Arndt did a fantastic job with voices and added to the overall horror ambiance.

Creepy and fantastic. I love a good ghost story and this fit pretty much everything I could want. The ending felt a little weird to me, but I would definitely recommend this one to others. I don't think I'll read the next book though, as I enjoyed where it ended.

If this is horror. ....then I'm dead inside. This book was very very dull. The POV's alone were annoying but i could have dealt with if the story was any bloody good. And it wasn't. None of it was. NONE OF IT.

Cute and creepy. Nice little ghost story. Perhaps a wee bit pretentious at times, and not particularly horrible, but an entertaining ghost story nevertheless.

The Girl From The Well started out phenomenally. As promised, Okiku's story was dark, full of vengeance, and yet oddly beautiful. I was caught up in the afterlife of a spirit who wasn't able to move on. One who filled her ceaseless existence with revenge, blood, and the small spark of warmth that came from delivering a violent, yet fitting death. Had this book been simply about Okiku, I could have read for ages. I understood this troubled girl. I took pleasure in watching her captors squirm. She and I? We were connected. Then Tark entered the picture.

In all fairness, I was too enamored with the cover of this book to really pay attention to the synopsis. I had no idea that Tark's story was actually the main focus of this book. Or that Okiku's dark existence would soon be set on the back burner. At first, I didn't mind so much. Tark, a boy with mysterious tattoos that writhed on his body, was an interesting character. I felt like his story was somehow connected to Okiku's. That he'd soon be caught up in the blackness that surrounded her. Alas, this wasn't to be. While I loved the first third of the book with all my twisted little heart, it started to go downhill from there.

I think one of the biggest issues I had with The Girl From the Well was the writing style. The flowery, descriptive, writing held up well against the backdrop of Okiku's story. She was an old ghost, and I felt like it complimented her character. Once Tark's story line came into play, that same writing style started to feel disjointed. See, one of things that sets Okiku apart is the way that she counts things. Cars, buses, people, plants. It ties in well to her story, which I won't spoil for you. She also has a habit of interjecting violent outbursts in between thoughts. While I was following only her, I didn't mind these quirks. Once there were multiple points of view? It just felt jumbled, and messy.

I should stop here to let you know that I desperately hope someone fixed this narrative for the finished version of the book. I was under the impression that, despite being ARCs, most early copies are still somewhat edited. Sure, I've seen a few misspelled words before. Maybe even a small amount of issues with tense. This ARC had so many instances of incorrect tense that I was horribly distracted. Towards the end, I was more involved in fixing the problems, while reading, than actually enjoying the story.

Which brings me to the ending, which I still won't spoil, and how unfulfilled I felt. As I mentioned before, I loved Okiku's story. I loved her character, her motivations, and the gory endings her victims met. I didn't mind Tark, or his story, but it never really felt fleshed out. Once he took center stage, nothing ever felt complete. I had no strong feelings for any characters. No deep need to keep reading on. I was disappointed, and sad. For the enjoyment that I was originally given, and for the Japanese mythology I fell in love with, I'll offer up three stars to this book. I wanted more from The Girl From The Well. I really did.