Andrew Van Wey

Fun fact: I spent two hours finishing the book right before bed, and as soon as I fell asleep, I dreamt of a cosmic horror that was watching me from above. Woke up with a start, thinking what an immediate and visceral reaction I had!

Judging by the way I couldn't put it down once the plot really got going in the last third of the book, I enjoyed this story quite a bit. The pacing was somewhat off - the beginning started off strong, then the middle lagged, but after the 70% mark it picked up again and finished strong. It's both plot- and character-driven, and I liked the uncle-niece dynamic of Mark and Zelda, one we don't see too often in literature. Both fish out of water, both struggling with loss and their sense of self, both searching for meaning and a place to belong, a sense that I think a lot of readers can relate to.

Zelda and her friends felt a little too 'Stranger Things' or 'IT' to me - other readers mentioned Scooby Doo (as did a character in the book) but I did like the dual parallel perspectives of the adults and the children - having just one or the other might have been too one-note. I also felt that the constant detailed delving into technology was unnecessary, serving to distract the reader rather than ground them in the story, and the teenage jargon was a bit much.

The copy I received needed to go through another round of copy editing, as there were minor errors peppered throughout - spelling a character's name alternatively as 'Stacy' and 'Stacey', or using 'peddling' instead of 'pedaling'. Still, I enjoyed Van Wey's writing style, direct and engaging.

I don't typically read a lot of cosmic horror (although I do love horror of many stripes) so this sub-genre was a bit of a departure for me and I enjoyed it! Everything came together nicely and the setup and resolution was clever. I'll be excited to tune into the next installment of the series.… (lisätietoja)