tvislife's reviews
373 reviews

Guilty pleasure. 

I did not find Hunter likable much at all, but still breezed through this. It’s exactly what I expected from a book like this, so if the premise sounds good to you, chances are you’ll like it.

What a fantastic end to this duology. 

Set five years after the events of the first book, it follows the sleepwalkers as they wake up and face a world that has been ravaged by white mask, and how that world has changed. 

I fucking love this series. One of the best series I’ve read in a long time. Much like the first book, it follows a series of interconnected characters, who come together in a bonkers and terrifying way. It wasn’t as good as Wanderers in my opinion, but that’s likely just because I love world building and the set-up to stories best. 

That being said—this book was still excellent. Many of the characters we love (PETE MOTHERFUCKING CORLEY, YOU WILL ALWAYS BE FAMOUS IN MY HEART), and new characters to fucking hate. Everyone was well-written, the stories compelling, just everything about this novel made me want to read and read and read and then cry when it was over. I love this author!! 

Beautiful story. 

It follows Addie, a woman who makes a deal with a devil to escape an unwanted marriage. As part of the deal, Addie gets to live forever—but cannot be remembered by anyone (at least, that’s what she thinks). 

This was so beautiful. I loved Addie, and her story. I have a soft spot for women characters that make poor “choices”, but in reality, are forced into those decisions to escape circumstances forced upon them due to their sex. 

In Addie’s case, can you really blame her for making the deal? All she had to look forward to was a loveless marriage, a multitude of children and unending work, and an early death, likely by childbirth. You (and Luc) can say anything you want about how she should have known better, or that she should have known her wish would be twisted, but I think anyone in that situation would have done the same, I know I would. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Henry and his story, but I liked the way it played against Addie’s, showing how “time” changes for each character, and what each day/moment can mean. 

Following Addie through time as she slowly learned the limits of her curse, and learned how to deal with it, was calming and lovely. Addie felt like a ghost drifting through much of time, and I felt like a spirit floating right along with her, just easily pulled from scene to scene, interested but nothing in the novel felt forced. This book was such an easy read and an escape, I really enjoyed the experience of listening to it. 

Epic, brilliant, and terrifying. 

A pseudo-pandemic begins infecting a small number of people, causing them to “sleepwalk” for an unknown reason to an unknown destination. While the CDC (and family and friends of the sleepwalkers) follow the flock, the pandemic changes scope and they realize the stakes are much higher than anticipated. 

God I loved this. For anyone intimidated by the length of the novel, don’t be—I blazed through this. If you’re into climate horror, conspiracy, and epics ala The Stand, this is the book for you. Like King’s masterpiece, the individual stories add a deeply personal touch to a sweeping, epic story about good vs. evil, a dying world, and the hope of that world to be reborn. I haven’t fallen in love with a book like this in a long time and I’m so happy I finally picked it up off my TBR. 

Not at all what I was expecting, but so so good. It follows Abitha, a woman living in a Puritan village, who has to deal with the judgmental town and greedy brother-in-law who is trying to cheat her after her husband dies. 

I thought this would be a slow-burn scary story, with the horror slowly creeping up on you, and the atmosphere getting more and more claustrophobic—that was not this book! And I am so glad it was what it was, instead of what I thought it would be!

This is less “omg scary witches and selling your soul to the devil” and more “what women had (/have) to go through in the name of ‘religion’ or ‘staying in their place’ is totally horrific and any crimes they commit in response to their oppression is justified, including making deals with the devil”. I support women standing up for themselves, and fuck everyone that stands in the way of what is right!! 

I loved the little woodland creatures, the exploration of identify and how “people” can change from what they’re meant to be, and the uber-religious setting. All of it was very well done and very entertaining. I love Brom and I want more books like Slewfoot! 

This book could have been a lot more. In the near future, a plague is spreading around (yikes where have I heard that before), and climate change is increasing at a rapid rate, causing life on earth to alter dramatically. 

This book doesn’t follow one set of characters with a main plot; it’s one of those books (like Cloud Atlas) that has a series of interconnected shorter stories. And I gotta say, that is not my fave genre! That’s not to say this was bad—it was fine! But I found it hard to care about the characters by the end. 

I think the strongest story is the euthanasia amusement park; but that could also be because it was towards the beginning of the novel. I mean, I think it’s an objectively good short story, but I just think that as the book wore on, it got harder and harder to care about the characters. I could tell that there were some deep, profound feelings I was supposed to be feeling about what was going on; but I was just bored by the end, I’m sorry to say it. 

A wonderful medieval horror. A former knight and a young girl team up to travel across the plague-riddled lands in a holy quest. 

I loved this! As much as I loved medieval things as a child, I really haven’t read many books that are set during that time period. And honestly, this had everything I wanted from that setting. The somewhat primitive living conditions, knights in armor, honor and kings, religious fervor to explain anything they may not understand, and violence. Plus, some supernatural beings and monsters tossed in just for fun. 

This book wasn’t big on “scares” but the idea of knights and priests fighting devils, and the bond between the girl and the knight, made this book an excellent medieval horror. 

Pretty different tonally from Dead Silence, but the tone switch was one I enjoyed! This follows Ophelia, a woman with a complicated family past, who joins an R&E crew exploring an alien planet. 

Most of this book is just Phe’s inner thoughts and turmoil about her past and how it relates to her current assignment. Honestly, tonally, I think it matches more closely to a romantasy novel (not to say that this is romance heavy, I’m just saying the inner thoughts match the FMCs of those books pretty closely). That being said—I’m a romantasy girlie! Even though this doesn’t really feel like a sci-fi horror for most of the novel, I still found it deeply enjoyable, I just think fans of the Dead Silence should know to expect something very different. 

Cheesy and delightful. Bea writes to Christopher as he fights in the Crimea, but he is under the impression she is her (more “beautiful” and “conventional”) friend. 

This is exactly what you would expect in a historical rom com, mistaken identity story. But that’s fine because it was cute and entertaining! Usually I lowkey hate the guy love interests, but Christopher actually wasn’t bad, and it was interesting seeing him deal with his PTSD after the war (I thought the author handled it very well actually). 

I loved this, totally and completely. It’s not a genre I would normally enjoy (coming of age), but it had the perfect blend of mystery and hints of the supernatural to make it something else entirely. It follows Marshall, a 16-year-old boy who is the last person to see a girl alive, in the custody of a fake cop. 

This story wasn’t at all like I was expecting. I found it while browsing the horror section of Spotify’s audiobooks, and it reads much more like a tale about a boy growing up, with a slowburn mystery tossed in on the side. And while that doesn’t sound that engaging, trust me, it was—I typically v have a hard time staying interested in audiobooks, but I couldn’t wait till I had time for this one.

The actual plot and story itself wasn’t even that unique or exciting, but regardless, I was pulled in. Reading this reminded me of cruising with my high school friends the last summer before we all went to college, that feeling of nostalgia and sadness, but also the excitement for the future and the unknown. The book was just more about feeling than exciting plot developments, but that’s not to say the plot wasn’t good—I still loved that part of it, and the little twists were very well done. Can’t wait to check out what else this author has written.