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adamsfall's review against another edition
3.0
This book kicked off my spooky season reading alongside titles such as: the Cormorant, Cold Moon Over Babylon, My Heart Is A Chainsaw, and The Haunting of Hill House.
While taking great influence from great novels of the past (mainly IT), this book offered a fun and hate-able cast of characters. No scenes ever felt drawn out as the book was split into over 100 miniature chapters, but there were at least a dozen or more that seemed unnecessary or repetitive to the overall plot and character building.
As a whole, Haven was a perfectly capable novel of horror and dread.
I was on the fence on rating it as low as I did, but the length did take away from my overall enjoyment as I feel that the second act drug on and suffered some retreading.
Haven is a novel that is obvious to see the love behind and the long journey it took from inception to the finished product. I would be interested to see if a more succinct and edited version with a wider release would solidify it as one of histories horror greats.
3/5 but a 5/5 in terms of a recommendation in checking out!
While taking great influence from great novels of the past (mainly IT), this book offered a fun and hate-able cast of characters. No scenes ever felt drawn out as the book was split into over 100 miniature chapters, but there were at least a dozen or more that seemed unnecessary or repetitive to the overall plot and character building.
As a whole, Haven was a perfectly capable novel of horror and dread.
I was on the fence on rating it as low as I did, but the length did take away from my overall enjoyment as I feel that the second act drug on and suffered some retreading.
Haven is a novel that is obvious to see the love behind and the long journey it took from inception to the finished product. I would be interested to see if a more succinct and edited version with a wider release would solidify it as one of histories horror greats.
3/5 but a 5/5 in terms of a recommendation in checking out!
vydetten's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.0
kpombiere's review against another edition
2.0
We figure out the monster around page 300; things start happening at page 400; the book revisits the monster around page 460; it ends on page 500. And even then there's no closure, and everyone runs around with their heads cut off for a while.
Oh yeah, and of the four major female characters, one is a gossipmonger, one spends the novel insane and then beaten, one is a murdered cat-lady, and the other is a teenager who spends the last couple chapters screaming with her legs broken.
I'm disappointed I spent more than half of the novel just keeping my head down to power through. While I get the Stephen King similarities, there's a difference between his pacing and ability to make believable small-towns-America and this.
Oh yeah, and of the four major female characters, one is a gossipmonger, one spends the novel insane and then beaten, one is a murdered cat-lady, and the other is a teenager who spends the last couple chapters screaming with her legs broken.
I'm disappointed I spent more than half of the novel just keeping my head down to power through. While I get the Stephen King similarities, there's a difference between his pacing and ability to make believable small-towns-America and this.
shrikekali's review against another edition
3.0
If I could rank it up here like I wanted it would be 3 1/2 stars. I found that it had a very promising beginning and overall I liked it enough, it just seemed to need a little more editing to tighten up the story more. I would've liked longer chapters delving deeper into character development and story instead of the very short 2 to 3 page chapters that switched perspectives so often.
raforall's review against another edition
5.0
Full review on RA for All: http://raforall.blogspot.com/2016/12/what-im-reading-haven-and-burning-world.html
jenniferlwatson's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
stanwj's review against another edition
2.0
When I pick up a book by an author I'm not familiar with, I do it because the story interests me, or I heard something positive about it, or it was on sale.
What I don't do is familiarize myself with the author before reading, and so it was that I found out afterward that Haven is Tom Deady's first novel. It is also the 2017 Bram Stoker Award winner for First Novel.
There are things I enjoyed about the story, an old-fashioned horror novel about a monster lurking in the lake of a small town--and the perhaps more menacing human monsters that work and live around the lake--but I found the story dragged on too long and the melodramatic writing was distracting at best and eye-rolling at worst. I read through to the end but didn't feel much reward for having done so.
Given the reviews and awards, it may be that I'm just not getting the tone Deady was going for. He renders the characters well for the most part, though some of the supporting characters are typical small town stereotypes, and all of them tend to be overly explicit in their thoughts and actions. Subtlety is not merely tossed out the window here, it is packaged up and shipped over to the other side of the world.
In Haven the sheriff is a cartoonishly evil man with an equally cartoonishly evil son. They serve as the primary antagonists while the monster--the design of which brings to mind the car devised by Homer in The Simpsons in how it's a conglomeration of mismatched parts intended to be the ultimate representation of its form--occasionally devours, but more often just weirdly mutilates and kills people who get a bit too close to the lake.
The mystery is slowly revealed over the length of the novel, mostly by having characters remember key details from the past piece-by-piece as their minds struggle with the wicked effects of alcohol, mental trauma or both. Conveniently, everyone remembers everything before the story ends.
The whole thing is hokey and kind of silly and I'm actually okay with that, but the writing ranges from a plain meat-and-potatoes quality to stuff that would have benefited from a more discerning editor. Observe:
And my personal favorite:
Not figuratively shaking, no sir. This ground was literally shaking. It was the real deal, shaking-wise.
The point of these examples (and there are many others) is that any good editor would have stroked out that one word without hesitation and made every sentence better as a result. That this was not done does Tom Deady no favors as a writer.
But I will say this--while I found the ending ultimately unsatisfying and the story overly long, I kept plugging away at it, anyway, so Deady obviously managed to capture enough of that old-fashioned monster horror novel thing to keep me engaged. If he continues to write and gets better help with editing and revision, his workman-like prose can only improve. He can tell a story so I see promise here.
What I don't do is familiarize myself with the author before reading, and so it was that I found out afterward that Haven is Tom Deady's first novel. It is also the 2017 Bram Stoker Award winner for First Novel.
There are things I enjoyed about the story, an old-fashioned horror novel about a monster lurking in the lake of a small town--and the perhaps more menacing human monsters that work and live around the lake--but I found the story dragged on too long and the melodramatic writing was distracting at best and eye-rolling at worst. I read through to the end but didn't feel much reward for having done so.
Given the reviews and awards, it may be that I'm just not getting the tone Deady was going for. He renders the characters well for the most part, though some of the supporting characters are typical small town stereotypes, and all of them tend to be overly explicit in their thoughts and actions. Subtlety is not merely tossed out the window here, it is packaged up and shipped over to the other side of the world.
In Haven the sheriff is a cartoonishly evil man with an equally cartoonishly evil son. They serve as the primary antagonists while the monster--the design of which brings to mind the car devised by Homer in The Simpsons in how it's a conglomeration of mismatched parts intended to be the ultimate representation of its form--occasionally devours, but more often just weirdly mutilates and kills people who get a bit too close to the lake.
The mystery is slowly revealed over the length of the novel, mostly by having characters remember key details from the past piece-by-piece as their minds struggle with the wicked effects of alcohol, mental trauma or both. Conveniently, everyone remembers everything before the story ends.
The whole thing is hokey and kind of silly and I'm actually okay with that, but the writing ranges from a plain meat-and-potatoes quality to stuff that would have benefited from a more discerning editor. Observe:
“Shut the hell up. Who the hell do you think you’re talkin’ to, your freak friend, huh, Father?” The last word he literally spit out, spraying the priest with drops of saliva.
Eddie’s body was literally in pieces.
It hadn’t rained all summer, literally.
He was literally doubling over he was laughing so hard.
Women had never been a problem anyway, but after nailing Greymore, they literally threw themselves at him.
Next he stole a glance at his partner in crime—literally.
What if his little sermon had worked, and Jake had gone off half-cocked (literally) to the lake to find the thing himself?
And my personal favorite:
The ground was literally shaking under their feet as rocks rained down.
Not figuratively shaking, no sir. This ground was literally shaking. It was the real deal, shaking-wise.
The point of these examples (and there are many others) is that any good editor would have stroked out that one word without hesitation and made every sentence better as a result. That this was not done does Tom Deady no favors as a writer.
But I will say this--while I found the ending ultimately unsatisfying and the story overly long, I kept plugging away at it, anyway, so Deady obviously managed to capture enough of that old-fashioned monster horror novel thing to keep me engaged. If he continues to write and gets better help with editing and revision, his workman-like prose can only improve. He can tell a story so I see promise here.
emmsiej95's review against another edition
4.0
Haven was recommended to me as a book to read for fans of Stephen King's IT. I do agree that fans of that book will likely enjoy this one but this book stands on its own merits.
The cast is very likable. They're complex and realistic. They're all believable human beings (except a few that are completely without redemption)
The plot isn't anything new but the writing and aforementioned characters are incredible, they suck you in completely.
The performance by Matt Godfrey is exceptional, and he's quickly becoming my favourite audiobook narrator.
Overall, this audiobook is exceptional and I would recommend it to anyone who loves horror, especially character driven horror.
The cast is very likable. They're complex and realistic. They're all believable human beings (except a few that are completely without redemption)
The plot isn't anything new but the writing and aforementioned characters are incredible, they suck you in completely.
The performance by Matt Godfrey is exceptional, and he's quickly becoming my favourite audiobook narrator.
Overall, this audiobook is exceptional and I would recommend it to anyone who loves horror, especially character driven horror.
quilly14's review against another edition
3.0
A solid pastiche of early Stephen King tropes, from kids fighting monsters all the way to memories of Red Sox games.
cbrich21416gmailcom's review against another edition
4.0
I received this book a while back in a subscription box and it has been sitting on my shelf with me thinking i wouldnt enjoy it. Was i wrong! I was hooked right from the beginning. This is my first read by this author which you could say is appropriate with it being his first full length novel. We have a “serial killer “ released from prison, bad cops, bullies and something in the lake. A perfect October read.