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A review by sternenstaub
Mayhem by Estelle Laure
4.0
I'd give this title 3.5 stars, rounded up because I was not as turned off by the movie comparisons as some other readers.
The book jacket bills this as a mash-up of The Lost Boys and The Craft, but I think readers will enjoy it more if they don't compare it to either. It's not really anything like The Craft and it is maybe a little too much like The Lost Boys, but mostly in ways that I didn't think mattered. It's been at least a decade since I watched the movie, so a lot of what the author plunked down into the book went beyond my notice. Except the Frog brothers - their cameo had absolutely no purpose in the story and came across as cringey and out of place.
The central story is about Mayhem Brayburn and her mother Roxy who have recently run away from her abusive stepfather and back to Roxy's family home in california which she has avoided for the 13 years since the death of Mayhem's father. Mayhem learns very quickly, and in spite of her mother's wishes, that the Brayburn women have magic - a magic that has been a bit of a blessing and a curse to them over the generations. And she gets the opportunity to choose this magic for herself right at a time when she wants and needs to feel powerful, safe, and in control of her life. But there's always a cost, and she has to accept that her desire for family and teenage normalcy may not be compatible with the Brayburn legacy.
I liked Mayhem as a character and the atmosphere of the story, which was a tad creepy, mysterious, wistful and beachy, buy quite a long shot from horror in my opinion. You may recoil in certain moments, but this story won't keep you up at night. This book also deals with a lot of violence - domestic violence, rape, murder, suicide - and the struggle to deal with the anger, sadness, and powerlessness that follows without being consumed and destroyed by it.
A digital ARC of this title was provided by Netgalley.
The book jacket bills this as a mash-up of The Lost Boys and The Craft, but I think readers will enjoy it more if they don't compare it to either. It's not really anything like The Craft and it is maybe a little too much like The Lost Boys, but mostly in ways that I didn't think mattered. It's been at least a decade since I watched the movie, so a lot of what the author plunked down into the book went beyond my notice. Except the Frog brothers - their cameo had absolutely no purpose in the story and came across as cringey and out of place.
The central story is about Mayhem Brayburn and her mother Roxy who have recently run away from her abusive stepfather and back to Roxy's family home in california which she has avoided for the 13 years since the death of Mayhem's father. Mayhem learns very quickly, and in spite of her mother's wishes, that the Brayburn women have magic - a magic that has been a bit of a blessing and a curse to them over the generations. And she gets the opportunity to choose this magic for herself right at a time when she wants and needs to feel powerful, safe, and in control of her life. But there's always a cost, and she has to accept that her desire for family and teenage normalcy may not be compatible with the Brayburn legacy.
I liked Mayhem as a character and the atmosphere of the story, which was a tad creepy, mysterious, wistful and beachy, buy quite a long shot from horror in my opinion. You may recoil in certain moments, but this story won't keep you up at night. This book also deals with a lot of violence - domestic violence, rape, murder, suicide - and the struggle to deal with the anger, sadness, and powerlessness that follows without being consumed and destroyed by it.
A digital ARC of this title was provided by Netgalley.