Friday, July 24, 2015

Review: BONECHILLER by Graham McNamee

Title/ Author: Bonechiller by Graham McNamee
Genre: YA, horror, supernatural
Rating: 3/5 stars
Synopsis:
Danny is sick of running. Harvest Cove is the latest nowhere place he's drifted through with his dad. In summer, people come to stay in cottages on the vast lake. In winter, Harvest Cove is a ghost town hidden away in Canada's Big Empty. Danny's been running forever, but Harvest Cove might be his last stop. The place has a way of making people disappear.

As the cold sets in, Danny and his new friends stumble on a centuries-old nightmare. They start seeing things. Impossible things. And in winter, there's no escape from Harvest Cove.

Review:

Thoughts on the Overall Book: This was a fun fast-paced scary adventure story. More folklorish than actually horror in my opinion, but nothing wrong with that!

Cover--Yea or Nay: I do like the cover, I love creepy forests :)

Characters: Danny is pretty much a typical hero, but not the kind of guy protags who are jerky and arrogant, thus I liked him. In fact, I was actually surprised how much I liked the characters in this book, usually these kinds of books give you cookie-cutter characters who you don't really care for but the cast here had good characteristics that made you care for them. Aside from Danny, you have Ash, who is a little bit of a stereotypical 'tough girl' but she didn't have an attitude that got on my nerves either, she was really just a tom boy. And then there's Pike and Howie the brothers--Pike being the typical crazy friend and Howie his quiet, scholarly younger brother. They were both fun, though, and I loved their relationship, how Pike was really protective of his bro. I also liked Danny's relationship with his dad, again, you usually expect it to be rougher, but they had a good relationship which made me happy. I also liked Ash's relationship with her dad. I guess mainly because it cuts out a lot of the teen angst that could have been there. In any case, the cast was enjoyable.

The Romance: There is some romance between Danny and Ash, but it really wasn't bad either. There's plenty of action to keep it from being annoying.

Writing Style: Nothing really special, but it's definitely fast-paced and easy reading, good for this type of book. It's pretty geared as a guy read, and for that, it's actually paced and written really well, not just like an action-packed movie script, there is character development among the action scenes. It wasn't as scary as I was hoping, actually, but I don't scare easy either and I don't think anything would be totally scary after finishing 172 Hours on the Moon. It did have a cool folklore vibe and kind of read like an episode of Supernatural and that's a good thing. The suspense was built well and it had a good and satisfying ending and there were parts that were scary too. The monster was actually really cool as well (and I don't mean that as a pun lol).

Accuracy/ Believability: Not really applicable.

Problems/What bothered me: The only real complaint I have is that I wish we had had more info on the monster itself. (view spoiler)

Conclusion: 3.5/5 stars. An entertaining read and good one for being alone on a rainy night. Also a nice refreshment for the summer heat!

Recommended Audience: This is a great guy read but of course girls can read it too. ages 16 and up. Fans of mild folklorish horror would enjoy this. If you liked it read The Secret Journeys of Jack London by Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon.

(Read this review with spoilers on Goodreads)

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