Dru Anderson has the “touch,” at least, that’s what her grandmother called it. It comes in really handy when you are traveling around the country with your father looking for things that go bump in the night, whether it be ghosts, suckers, wulfen, and sometimes even a zombie. All of a sudden it all goes south when her dad turns out to be dead but also able to walk around. Dru knows that whatever turned her father into a zombie is coming for her next. To add to that, she is fiercely independent, alone and has nobody to rely on or to ask for help. Dru needs to figure out what makes her so special, where her “touch” comes from and she’s on a time crunch. Will she be able to get the answers that she is looking for by herself before she comes face to face with whatever or whoever is hunting her?
I have read this book once prior to writing this review. Due to this being a review of a re-read, there are some things that will be lost such as my true and genuine reactions to certain elements. Another thing is that I do remember some things about this book so some of my predictions may end up being true because I subconsciously remember something about the next books. I will always warn you when the review is written for a re-read because you should know that it’s not my original reaction to the story. With that being said, my review is down below.
I’m going to dive right in and start talking about the plot. It is amazing. There was never a moment that I was tired of what was happening or wanted the story to move on to a different topic. The tension in the story ratchets up perfectly. Lili St. Crow balances the introduction of new elements and plot points with resolution of certain questions in a way that leaves the reader understanding more about the world that she has created while also pushing the story forward. Her writing style in this book is much much different from Nameless (and that series). There is much more clarity in the way that she communicates the world building to the reader. One thing that is very similar between the two is that the way she describes things, especially a character’s emotions.
Speaking of emotions, I absolutely love that this book is written in first person POV instead of third. It enhances Dru emotions because she is literally telling the reader what she felt, which is more powerful than a narrator telling the reader that Dru felt tired. Another thing that Lili St. Crow does is describing the symptoms of the emotion, but as thought Dru is telling the reader. For example, Dru feels her knees going weak when she’s afraid. It’s a nice touch to see how Dru is physically affected by her emotions given the fact that this book is about creepy stuff. This descriptive power creeped me out a bit while I was reading. The sun was setting and it was kinda getting dark and I read some of the description of the monsters. I got a little scared. I know it was just a coincidence and that the story isn’t meant to be scary but I had to turn some lights on.
The twist in the middle of the book: WHAAAAAT!? I totally did not see that coming but wow! It was great. It pushed everything to a whole new level of importance as well as answered some questions that had been raised earlier in the book. I was surprised by this twist even though I have read the book before. I just can’t believe that I forgot about this twist given how well it is set up and how shocking it was for me. The ending wasn’t as shocking mostly because I remembered most of it but I still enjoyed it. Overall I’d give this book 4 stars. The only reason that I am not giving this book 5 stars is that it didn’t totally blow my mind, but I really liked it. I can’t wait to read the next book!
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