Author: Claire Legrand
Genre: Horror; Young Adult; Fantasy
Rating: 6.5/10
The story follows three girls with drastically different lives, yet each is suffering from emotional turmoil born of tragedy, grief or lies. The story begins when the last girl steps foot onto Sawkill Rock, a place where girls have been disappearing for decades.
“Beware of the woods and the dark, dank deep. He’ll follow you home, and he won’t let you sleep.”
I felt a bit underwhelmed by this book. It tried to incorporate fantastical elements into the story, which by itself is very difficult to do when the setting is the modern world. This led to plot holes and a lack of reasoning and explanation. Meaning, I felt that there were no rules or foundation for the “magic” we were introduced to. Instead, when our main characters were stuck in a dire situation, a brand new element of the “magic” that we have never seen before comes into play, which is always a disappointing solution.
The story and the different tropes it used were not the most original material. Personally I felt that each of these components were incorporated only at the most basic level. It felt very touch and go and while they did further the plot, they did not add any depth to it.
Unfortunately, I also found some of the scenes and dialogues disjointed. At some points, it felt as if I had missed some critical information or skipped a line, or there was a sudden shift in characters, plot and theme with not enough build-up.
However, something I did really enjoy about the book were the characters. I loved how they had such distinct personalities which were deeply influenced by what haunts them. The use of the three perspectives made the book much more interesting to read. We followed the perspective of a local who is seen as an outsider, a pair of fresh eyes, and the “villain” of the story. Another thing I really enjoyed were the relationships between our characters that were already present or were developed later on.
As aforementioned each girl is caught in emotional turmoil. I found each girl’s feelings and troubles unique and very genuine. I felt it set up the character arcs of the book very nicely, and discussed some very hard hitting yet realistic topics.
As for my reading experience as a whole, I really enjoyed the first one-third of this book or the set up of the story. It was suspenseful, mysterious and atmospheric. But I regret to say that it went downhill from there.
Overall, the book was fast-paced, easy to fly through and the plot was easy to follow. It was also very refreshing to read a horror novel with fantastical elements.
Reviewed by: N.G.Rainwater (1st Reading)
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