Scan barcode
finnsnowbevi's review
5.0
Graphic: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Addiction, Alcohol, Death, Abandonment, Grief, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Alcoholism, Child death, Gore, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, and Mental illness
Moderate: Pedophilia, Outing, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Racism, and Vomit
Minor: Medical content and Sexual content
pinkalpaca's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Violence, Child death, Homophobia, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Child abuse
hollyberry_books's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Grief, Gore, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Body horror, Self harm, Violence, Child death, Outing, Murder, Blood, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Vomit, Homophobia, Sexual harassment, and Alcoholism
mychemegan's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Child death and Body horror
Moderate: Homophobia and Alcoholism
molsreads's review
4.25
Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Blood, Violence, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Alcoholism, Lesbophobia, Infidelity, and Homophobia
louiepotterbook's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Genocide, Bullying, Child abuse, Misogyny, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Rape, Gore, Homophobia, Suicide attempt, Death, Death of parent, Outing, Pedophilia, Alcoholism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Lesbophobia, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Abandonment
minimicropup's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
We follow several families with POVs from kids, teens, and adults around the neighbourhood over the course of Halloween night in 1984.
πΊπΈ Set in Coventry, Massachussetts, USA
π Halloween night setting - big parties, small hang outs, trick-or-treating!
π§ Narration was good - sometimes the voices of smaller kids was a bit silly sounding but didn't knock me out of the story.
πΊπGrowls, Howls, and Tail Wags:
π«£ Lots of suburban scandals and drama, but it isn't OTT or soap opera, campy style. Pretty realistic family and relationship dynamics.
π There are a lot of characters and families, and when audio only, that can be hard to follow. For me it was excellent because we get a show-not-tell style introduction to each of them and we spend more time with them at the beginning of the book before the action starts up so we can rapidly switch between them later without being lost. It probably also helps that I cared about (or was at least curious about) what happened to all of them.
π€ There are quite a few action-fight-survival type scenes. I find I lose interest in that type of scene mainly because it's hard for me to imagine a fight scene happening quickly when I'm reading it so everything is sort of slow-mo in my imagination. I still enjoyed the overall plot, and if you like action-fight-escapes vs monsters then this could be a huge perk! The story starts off gradually layering the creepy, dark vibes and then proceeds to the faster paced wildness.
π€ Speaking of which, those fight and escape scenes are "if these monsters existed, this is how it would go down" realistic. So...don't get too attached....there are some surprisingly sad scenes.
Mood Reading Match Up:
- Cozy, '80s, fall Halloween trick-or-treat, home-made haunted woods, and block party horrors
- Creepy kids, stay-out-of-the-woods creature feature with action survival suspense
- Suburban behind-closed-doors drama
- Heartwarming and heartbreaking BFF coming-of-age stories
Content Heads-Up: Physical abuse (relationship). Alcohol (enabling, addiction). Infidelity (discovery, separation/divorce). LGBTQ coming-of-age rep (good to excellent; vocally supportive family and friends). Homophobic characters (outing, shaming, verbal and emotional abuse). Kidnapping (insinuated). Child abuse (insinuated).
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Outing, and Child abuse
bloomandgloom's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I didn't care about any of the characters in this story, no one had enough development to make me root for them. The Cunning Man was not scary or interesting since we know nothing about him. The book would have seemed much better if there had been a local legend or a story people told young children to scare them but no one believes it. It could have done with some references of missing children on Halloween in different locations across the country or world. Overall, it just needed a little more mystery and lore to make it more believable. A family member also could have known someone that went missing to tie it together.
I am not an author so I'm not going to pretend like it would have been easy or quick to add all of that in.
Sadly, this was disappointing and not something I'd recommend as a Halloween read. I wouldn't even recommend it to someone younger because they might find it scary since there are a lot of adult topics discussed.
Graphic: Child death, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gore, Homophobia, and Misogyny
Moderate: Alcohol, Outing, Alcoholism, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Infidelity, Violence, Sexism, Pedophilia, and Kidnapping
zakura317's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Pedophilia, Toxic friendship, Outing, Alcoholism, and Homophobia
Minor: Racism
lostinworlds's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Child death, Death of parent, Blood, Body horror, Violence, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Alcohol, Lesbophobia, Racial slurs, Homophobia, and Racism
Minor: Kidnapping and Suicidal thoughts