Reviews

Interesting premise, but it quickly gets lost in shifting POVs, unlikeable characters, inconsistent logic (for a horror novel based in reality), lots of "twists" that became repetitious and didn't advance the plot, and a hokey, unsatisfying ending.

It was too long (almost 400 pages) and nearly every page a character was "struck" with some realization the audience had waaaay before. Add in some truly awful violence against children, frequent misogyny and, oh, "the badass son of bitch" character's equating autism with mental retardation (???).

I don't know what all the hype was about.

stuffrandom548's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A terrifying premise and one that was, for the majority of the book, done well! I think most can agree that the idea of a witch being able to suddenly appear next to your bed is terrifying (and I hope Heuvelt enjoys grinning cause it def made me want to keep a light on some nights). Besides the creep factor, I feel the impending dread and sadness of scenes was done incredibly well too! At many points I could feel my stomach dropping at the horrors that would come from peoples actions and I'd feel my eyes tear up at the emotional scenes.

Though, I will say it had its faults too. The breast violence? Yea, what was up with that? I feel in all scenes with violence against woman (ignoring mob scenes) included their breasts being hurt in some way. Great obsession we got here
Also, every author has their crutches, but the amount of times Heuvelt wrote something along the lines of; so he brushed off his nerves, something he'd deeply regret later dun dUN DUUN. It almost became a little comical

Lastly, I don't know what it was, but I just didn't really enjoy the ending (in a reading experience sort of way, I think we all know the ending wasn't meant to be all that enjoyable). It just it didn't impact me as much as the rest of the book had. I am Dutch, so I am now a little tempted to find a Dutch ~~online~~ version of the book to see what the original ending was.

danielborg's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

elaeagnifolium's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

sh78196's review against another edition

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5.0

I am not normally scared when reading. But Katherin Van Wyler is creepy. And I didn't want to read this at night before bed.
It's a great Witch story! And a true look at humanity.

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