This Wretched Valley

The writer ignores the cardinal rules of horror fiction that "less is more". She piles on the violence, gore, and menacing entities to the point that it becomes tedious and boring. Not a hint of suspense, foreboding, or scares. Not even "over the top" fun. One dimensional characters and sophomoric writing.

A solid debut novel that starts off very strong, luring you into the story immediately. The pacing keeps you glued, and overall an entertaining read. A recommendation if you're into the likes of media like Until Dawn or The Quarry. The story is broken into multiple perspectives – each of the four hikers, dotted with flashbacks to previous tellings of the people who fell victim to the Kentucky wilderness. We get to know two of the hikers at any kind of depth, leaving the other two feeling like props for the story. Luke's POV felt incredibly boring at time, almost making me wish ill upon him just to get his narrative to progress. The events become a little repetitive, but I believe that might've been intentional given the characteristics and history of the forest. If you took a shot of liquor every time the characters would throw up or want to throw up, you'd be incapacitated. Everyone tripped on a frickin root. Multiple times. In the same way. Again, was this an intended effect of the forest?? I went into this because the sample had Until Dawn (the video game) vibes that interested me. Young adults. Supernatural happenings. Very graphic imagery. And I'd say it pretty much delivered on that. I think this book would make a very good adaptation into visual media, actually. Also, the synopsis says there's a reveal at the end? Huh?? I can think of one thing, but given that we'd established supernatural undertones throughout the entire story, the "reveal" is unsurprising.