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esdeecarlson's review against another edition
1.0
[This book was provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review]
1 star
TW: Parental abuse of a child, animal abuse
I believe that horror, particularly horror for young readers, is a particularly powerful genre because it provides a metaphoric language through which we can explore the difficult, indescribable, and particularly negative emotions and experiences that exist in the real world. Where this book fails, in my opinion, is when it abandons the fantasy for the real thing. At a point in the novel, the alien monsters that torture kids fade into the background as our main character, an eleven-year-old boy, vividly recounts his experience being physically abused by a parent, including a scene of graphic animal abuse of a beloved pet. Personally, I don’t believe that these scenes, as explicitly portrayed here, belong in a book for middle-grade audiences; moreover, I think the scene’s inclusion does the book a disservice.
While monsters torture kids in this book, it’s undertaken in a setting so alien as to be total fantasy, a layer of removal from the ‘real’ that invites the reader (young or old) to think about the role pain has in human life, and how other life forms might conceive of it. It also allows for an exploration of how these kids respond to difficulty, betrayal, and helplessness, all in a fantasy setting that magnifies and distorts the difficulties of real life. Then actual, graphic child abuse—more graphic than the veiled and mysterious torture the kids undergo at the hands of the actual monsters—pops up on the page. Any intended tie-in to the themes of the horror fantasy is clumsy and tenuous; the metaphor is literalized and loses all power it could have had.
I had issues with the novel before the on-screen child and animal abuse, but that scene knocked my rating down a full star. So let’s take a moment to examine the story independently of that aspect:
To be honest, I think the story’s ratios are off. The length, subject, and age target are all slightly mismatched; it’s too fantasy-adventure to be horror, too abstract to be fantasy-adventure, too brutal for eleven-year-olds, too slow and colorless to be properly gruesome. I found myself thinking of May Bird and the Ever After, a middle-grade horror-tinged fantasy adventure that I think absolutely nails that genre tightrope; in comparison, The Black Slide just felt underwhelming.
I think a big part of the problem lies with the bizarro world the kids slide into down the titular Black Slide. It’s just too alien to be properly horrifying. The monsters are described in terms that make them hard to visualize without just looking, well, goofy: skinny beings with round, chalky-white heads clad in the Organization XIII uniforms from Kingdom Hearts, except somehow more emo.
Where I think the book shines the best is in the relationship dynamics between our human kid protagonists. None of them are very interesting on their own, but Griffin and Laila’s friendship, and insistence upon hope through their individual passions, is very nice, as is the fact that they must team up with (and see new sides to) Griffin’s schoolyard bully, who I wish got more screentime as I feel we didn’t do more than scratch the surface of his personality.
But I just felt so let down by the nightmare world, which felt more frustrating than scary, and the heavy-handed way in which Griffin’s traumatic real-world past was included. This is not to say that I don’t think middle-grade books shouldn’t tackle the tough subjects: they absolutely should. But the way it was handled in this book left a bad taste in my mouth. Rather than provide language and room to explore feelings about the various injustices of the real world, the scenes just landed as the sort of gratuitous cruelty that characterizes bad adult horror. Seeing it in kids’ horror just made me angry. It reads as shock value, and as written I think it would retraumatize rather than empower kids who have lived that experience.
There’s better middle-grade horror out there, including far scarier middle-grade horror, that handles equally dark and disturbing content in a way that I think is actually productive to living with and working through those experiences. This book, in my opinion, misses the mark.
1 star
TW: Parental abuse of a child, animal abuse
I believe that horror, particularly horror for young readers, is a particularly powerful genre because it provides a metaphoric language through which we can explore the difficult, indescribable, and particularly negative emotions and experiences that exist in the real world. Where this book fails, in my opinion, is when it abandons the fantasy for the real thing. At a point in the novel, the alien monsters that torture kids fade into the background as our main character, an eleven-year-old boy, vividly recounts his experience being physically abused by a parent, including a scene of graphic animal abuse of a beloved pet. Personally, I don’t believe that these scenes, as explicitly portrayed here, belong in a book for middle-grade audiences; moreover, I think the scene’s inclusion does the book a disservice.
While monsters torture kids in this book, it’s undertaken in a setting so alien as to be total fantasy, a layer of removal from the ‘real’ that invites the reader (young or old) to think about the role pain has in human life, and how other life forms might conceive of it. It also allows for an exploration of how these kids respond to difficulty, betrayal, and helplessness, all in a fantasy setting that magnifies and distorts the difficulties of real life. Then actual, graphic child abuse—more graphic than the veiled and mysterious torture the kids undergo at the hands of the actual monsters—pops up on the page. Any intended tie-in to the themes of the horror fantasy is clumsy and tenuous; the metaphor is literalized and loses all power it could have had.
I had issues with the novel before the on-screen child and animal abuse, but that scene knocked my rating down a full star. So let’s take a moment to examine the story independently of that aspect:
To be honest, I think the story’s ratios are off. The length, subject, and age target are all slightly mismatched; it’s too fantasy-adventure to be horror, too abstract to be fantasy-adventure, too brutal for eleven-year-olds, too slow and colorless to be properly gruesome. I found myself thinking of May Bird and the Ever After, a middle-grade horror-tinged fantasy adventure that I think absolutely nails that genre tightrope; in comparison, The Black Slide just felt underwhelming.
I think a big part of the problem lies with the bizarro world the kids slide into down the titular Black Slide. It’s just too alien to be properly horrifying. The monsters are described in terms that make them hard to visualize without just looking, well, goofy: skinny beings with round, chalky-white heads clad in the Organization XIII uniforms from Kingdom Hearts, except somehow more emo.
Where I think the book shines the best is in the relationship dynamics between our human kid protagonists. None of them are very interesting on their own, but Griffin and Laila’s friendship, and insistence upon hope through their individual passions, is very nice, as is the fact that they must team up with (and see new sides to) Griffin’s schoolyard bully, who I wish got more screentime as I feel we didn’t do more than scratch the surface of his personality.
But I just felt so let down by the nightmare world, which felt more frustrating than scary, and the heavy-handed way in which Griffin’s traumatic real-world past was included. This is not to say that I don’t think middle-grade books shouldn’t tackle the tough subjects: they absolutely should. But the way it was handled in this book left a bad taste in my mouth. Rather than provide language and room to explore feelings about the various injustices of the real world, the scenes just landed as the sort of gratuitous cruelty that characterizes bad adult horror. Seeing it in kids’ horror just made me angry. It reads as shock value, and as written I think it would retraumatize rather than empower kids who have lived that experience.
There’s better middle-grade horror out there, including far scarier middle-grade horror, that handles equally dark and disturbing content in a way that I think is actually productive to living with and working through those experiences. This book, in my opinion, misses the mark.
mlc_1316's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
readballoon's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
reading_books_as_escapism_lol's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
theoceanrose's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence
destinymorna's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
hope0607's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
3.5
makeminemonsters's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Although this book drags a bit near the middle, I truly appreciate the author writing an authentically "horror" book for middle grade students when internal pain is externalized in an absolutely bleak and brutal reading experience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Torture, and Child abuse
bibliophilicjester's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I really love creepy middle grade!! This is my second book by ocker, but I'm def a fan. I also read the smashed man one, and I kind of had the same experience with both. Things like slides and cracks in walls shouldn't be creepy...and yet, somehow, they're exceptionally creepy in these books?! Idk why it works, but it does.
One of the most irritating things I've encountered while reading are stories that seem to wander around with no point, like the author had a great idea but didn't know how to turn it into a book. That doesn't happen here. I like the feeling at the beginning of a story when you can tell the author knows exactly what will happen and how it will end, and you can settle in for a great story!
There are some heavy topics in here, and we see Griffin (really, all the characters, honestly) go through a lot of pain - physical and mental. It's tough to read sometimes. But the really tricky part for me was all the bullying. Weirdly, what got me through it was how realistic it all was. Even when we have to spend time with the bully, his actions are never excused. Same with the absent/abusive/bully father. I didn't feel like I was being manipulated into feeling bad for the bully (which I *never* will, so I hate when authors try).
I guess I'm trying to say that out of all the stories with bully characters, this (and one other middle grade) triggered me the least. As opposed to something like the cruel prince, which messed me up in the head for weeks.
So yeah, I now trust that ocker will tell a good, creepy story AND handle tricky topics well.
Very highly recommended if creepy middle grade is also your thing!!
One of the most irritating things I've encountered while reading are stories that seem to wander around with no point, like the author had a great idea but didn't know how to turn it into a book. That doesn't happen here. I like the feeling at the beginning of a story when you can tell the author knows exactly what will happen and how it will end, and you can settle in for a great story!
There are some heavy topics in here, and we see Griffin (really, all the characters, honestly) go through a lot of pain - physical and mental. It's tough to read sometimes. But the really tricky part for me was all the bullying. Weirdly, what got me through it was how realistic it all was. Even when we have to spend time with the bully, his actions are never excused. Same with the absent/abusive/bully father. I didn't feel like I was being manipulated into feeling bad for the bully (which I *never* will, so I hate when authors try).
I guess I'm trying to say that out of all the stories with bully characters, this (and one other middle grade) triggered me the least. As opposed to something like the cruel prince, which messed me up in the head for weeks.
So yeah, I now trust that ocker will tell a good, creepy story AND handle tricky topics well.
Very highly recommended if creepy middle grade is also your thing!!