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A review by pineconek
The Lost Village by Camilla Sten
adventurous
dark
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? Yes
3.0
"hey I have a good idea - I'll make a documentary about my dead grandmother's abandoned village! I'll go there with a small group of people including my estranged friend who I kinda hate, a rando who has connections with this village, and some expensive filming equipment. Oh and did I mention there's no cell service within a day's walk of where we're going? "
Things play out as you'd expect, and I kinda ate it up.
The good: the suspense buulding and general atmosphere were stellar. Sten is a gifted writer and really conveyed the things that made this story frightening: an abandoned location fully cut off from the world, decaying buildings prone to collapse and full of nooks where others could hide in, mistrust blossoming among our small cast, and cultish secrets from a forgotten past. All this together made the book extremely fun to read.
The bad: this book suffered from what I'm tempted to call Stephen-King-itis. The setup and first 3/4 were fantastic but, when things went downhill, they went downhill fast. The resolution was at best full of cliches and at worst nonsensical (for spoilery reasons: the mines? really?? and she's been waiting for that long?? really!?). I also have extremely mixed feelings about the portrayal of mental illness in this book (I'm gonna pretend the Abilify plotline didn't happen, for my own sake).
The freaky: I twisted my ankle right before starting this book and was nursing my grade 2 sprain while reading this. And a major plot point featured a character with a badly sprained (and likely fractured) ankle. 2spooky4me :')
While I have extremely mixed feelings about this one, I found the journey fun enough that I can excuse the destination. Recommended if you're looking for a spooky read and are willing to suspend a lot of disbelief (think a straight to tv horror movie but like with amazing acting and good filmography). 3 stars.
Things play out as you'd expect, and I kinda ate it up.
The good: the suspense buulding and general atmosphere were stellar. Sten is a gifted writer and really conveyed the things that made this story frightening: an abandoned location fully cut off from the world, decaying buildings prone to collapse and full of nooks where others could hide in, mistrust blossoming among our small cast, and cultish secrets from a forgotten past. All this together made the book extremely fun to read.
The bad: this book suffered from what I'm tempted to call Stephen-King-itis. The setup and first 3/4 were fantastic but, when things went downhill, they went downhill fast. The resolution was at best full of cliches and at worst nonsensical (for spoilery reasons: the mines? really?? and she's been waiting for that long?? really!?). I also have extremely mixed feelings about the portrayal of mental illness in this book (I'm gonna pretend the Abilify plotline didn't happen, for my own sake).
The freaky: I twisted my ankle right before starting this book and was nursing my grade 2 sprain while reading this. And a major plot point featured a character with a badly sprained (and likely fractured) ankle. 2spooky4me :')
While I have extremely mixed feelings about this one, I found the journey fun enough that I can excuse the destination. Recommended if you're looking for a spooky read and are willing to suspend a lot of disbelief (think a straight to tv horror movie but like with amazing acting and good filmography). 3 stars.