

Note: spoilers for Birdbox
What I loved so much about Birdbox was that out encompassed everything I like about horror. So much is unknown. We don't know what they are, how many of them there are, why they are here, where they came from, what are their motivations, do they even notice us or are we as inconsequential as a small ant on the wall? All that is known is that looking at them will cause you to go violently insane. That in my mind is horror. The mind goes wild imagining the possibilities, terror building at every second.
And, in the end, it ended like a good horror book should end. Perhaps safety, but no answers. If you've got answers, you lose so much of the terror.
This book, while good, was missing some of the magic of the first.
Olympia being immune seemed too convenient. Tom's mirrored glasses took away too much of the unknown. And the known just doesn't hold the same terror.
So yeah, I was a little disappointed. However the scene in the pit was downright excellent. I would be tempted to rate this as 3 stars, but that one scene brings it back to 4.
Note: spoilers for Birdbox
What I loved so much about Birdbox was that out encompassed everything I like about horror. So much is unknown. We don't know what they are, how many of them there are, why they are here, where they came from, what are their motivations, do they even notice us or are we as inconsequential as a small ant on the wall? All that is known is that looking at them will cause you to go violently insane. That in my mind is horror. The mind goes wild imagining the possibilities, terror building at every second.
And, in the end, it ended like a good horror book should end. Perhaps safety, but no answers. If you've got answers, you lose so much of the terror.
This book, while good, was missing some of the magic of the first.
Olympia being immune seemed too convenient. Tom's mirrored glasses took away too much of the unknown. And the known just doesn't hold the same terror.
So yeah, I was a little disappointed. However the scene in the pit was downright excellent. I would be tempted to rate this as 3 stars, but that one scene brings it back to 4.

While this is not my usual type of thing, I ended up really enjoying this one. The tone, the pace, it all seemed to be designed to be right up my alley.
Is the book verbose? Yes. I don't mind that if it works, and it does here.
Is there a lot of action? Given the world, the characters, there is surprisingly little, for which I am extremely grateful. Honestly, I am not an action oriented person, and I enjoyed the plot.
The funny thing, and I suspect one of the reasons this works so well for me, is that my guesses on where things were going almost always turned out incorrect in some vital way. And I'm honestly very happy one of my guesses turned out wrong near the end.
But, most important of all, this one pulled me along. I lost a lot of sleep and I suspect the next two will be the same.
While this is not my usual type of thing, I ended up really enjoying this one. The tone, the pace, it all seemed to be designed to be right up my alley.
Is the book verbose? Yes. I don't mind that if it works, and it does here.
Is there a lot of action? Given the world, the characters, there is surprisingly little, for which I am extremely grateful. Honestly, I am not an action oriented person, and I enjoyed the plot.
The funny thing, and I suspect one of the reasons this works so well for me, is that my guesses on where things were going almost always turned out incorrect in some vital way. And I'm honestly very happy one of my guesses turned out wrong near the end.
But, most important of all, this one pulled me along. I lost a lot of sleep and I suspect the next two will be the same.

Added to listHorrorwith 52 books.