The Devouring Author: Simon Holt
Publisher: Little Brown & Company
Publication Date: September 1, 2008
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Review:
I’ll give this to The Devouring it freaked me out. I don’t do scary. I don’t watch scary movies, and generally don’t like being scared. Why then did I pick up The Devouring off the shelf, you ask. Well, because it was recommended to me on Goodreads. I asked for books with a heavy demon presence and a few people recommended this one to me. Little did I know that it was horror, and would keep me up staring at the shadows in my bedroom.
The Devouring centers around Reggie who finds an old book and reads a story about the Vours who devour souls on Sorry Night. Reggie reads this story to her younger brother and assures him it is just a scary story. When Henry, Reggie’s younger brother, begins acting strangely though she must confront the fact that her brother has been taken over by a Vour and race to save his soul.
The strongest part of this story was Holt’s writing. The poetry surrounding of the Vours and the descriptions were well written and full of emotion. The story was very fast paced and featured a multitude of different scary elements. These included a haunted fairground, a deserted old farmhouse, and children being possessed. Random fact: possessed children scare me more then anything else.
I also liked Reggie well enough. I thought she was rather inconsistent though and because the story was so fast paced there wasn’t a lot of time for us to get to know her as a character independent of the events surrounding the Vours. She does go through character growth though and it was interesting to watch her try and master her fears.
Overall, The Devouring wasn’t a bad book it just wasn’t my thing. Aside from the “creepy” parts there wasn’t much to this story. It was very basic. I wish there had been more depth to both the Vours and Reggie. I know this is a trilogy though so I assume there is more depth and development in the latter books in the series. If you are looking for something creepy that will keep you up late, I would recommend The Devouring.
Wow, this sounds like a good book! I like horror, so this is definitely my type of thing :)
ReplyDeleteI hope it didn't scare you too much!
This sounds really good. I like scary a ton. Dean Koontz is my favorite. =)
ReplyDeleteMary