Reviews

The Book at Dernier by Samantha Lienhard

novelinsights's review

4.0

This was a fun little horror story about a couple of college kids who seek out ancient mysteries while on vacation and find a little more than they bargained for. I enjoyed the "old urban legend brought to life" feel this story had, as well as the Lovecraftian ending. My only real complaint--and this may come from having not read a lot of novella-length work--is that I wanted more time for details. I felt thrown into Dernier without a lot of context as to who our main characters were, what part of the world Dernier is in, and why our characters were there in the first place (yes, they were looking for mysteries, but what mysteries/why there specifically?). I could enjoy the story while I was waiting for this context, but it just felt a little vague and I think building up the setting and characters more would have been well worth the extra words.

shealwaysreads's review

4.0

While this was a quick read at times it felt as though it drug itself out. Hence the reason for four stars. I enjoyed the twist little tale. Paul Bryce is the epitome of “curiosity killed the cat” or ” Be careful what you wish for”.

While the tale unfolded as I stated previously part did become a bit lagging. I want to now more of the townspeople and how they had coped with the past events but wasn’t really given much beyond they just don’t mention it.

I loved the unraveling events to Paul’s eagerness to want more. How he gave himself to a cause only he felt was one that need to be solved.

I was pleased with the ending but also felt a bit that it was possibly left open. So a slight cliffhanger but not a full on cliffhanger.

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