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The Devouring (2008)

by Simon Holt(Favorite Author)

3.92 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0316035734 (ISBN13: 9780316035736)

languge

English

genre

Horror

publisher

Little, Brown and Company

series

The Devouring

review 1: This started out really well. The idea was super fun: A body snatchers kind of thing but with creepy/scary elements. Other-worldy beings that only attack when kids are scared out of their minds and take over the bodies of the kids. What I liked about the beginning of the book was that it didn't take itself seriously. The characters were really into cheesy horror and knew how cheesy it was and totally made fun of themselves all the time. I loved that. But then it got about 3/4 of the way through and it just became a cheesy horror book. I mean, psychotic killer clowns? Really? It even had the super-cheesy one-liners that pop up in terrible B-movies. Just awful. There was this whole storyline about the protagonist's mother walking out on the family and there were about 50-too... more-many mentions of how she just left them. Without a word. And she hadn't come back yet. It got old. Actually, there was a lot of repeating of ideas throughout this book. Something would be mentioned. And then mentioned again three pages later. And again. And again. It's like Simon Holt just really wanted the reader to remember some key elements in the story. *Nudge, nudge, wink, wink: THIS PART IS IMPORTANT!! I am actually not a complete idiot. If you just mention it once I may not explicitly remember the details but everything will come together at the end. And I won't be annoyed with the hinting. Trust me on this one. Repetition is not ideal when reading novels.Anyway, other than all that stuff the other stuff was ok. Characters were mostly believable and didn't bother me too much. But the entire latter half of the book did. So I'd probably say skip it. Meh.Sexual Content: NoneLanguage: MildViolence: HeavyDrugs/Alcohol: Mild (I really don't remember; there may have been none)
review 2: This book was so surprising! I haven't read many horror books, and this one did not disappoint me. It was creepy and terrifying... but in a good way!The plot of this book followed the Classic Horror Movie Formula so at times it did become predictable. But that didn't stop me from enjoying the story. The storyline was entertaining and kept me interested the whole time, I finished this book so quickly because I didn't want to put it down. I loved the pacing of this book, it was steady but it kept building the suspense until that AWESOME cliffhanger finale. The characters were impressive too. I thought that Reggie was a really realistic character and I felt like she handled the situations she was placed in like any other 15 year old. I admired her selflessness and her loyalty to her family, and even though she acted like a brat sometimes, I still liked her. I thought that her friend Aaron fell a little flat, and he didn't exactly stand out to me. But the character that impressed me the most was Henry. Holy cow, he creeped me out so much during this book. He was a character that you don't exactly like, but he is just so scary you can't help but love to hate him. I found myself shuddering at a few of his scenes, Simon Holt did such a good job creating his character.The mythology of the Vours was so intriguing. I wanted to get to know them a little more (however I feel as if this will happen in the coming books) but I felt like I knew enough information so that the Vours weren't two-dimensional or flat. I thought that they were so frightening and original - definitely a spin on the horror genre. I appreciated these new, terrifying creatures and I can't wait to see more of them in the coming books.The writing absolutely blew me away. The tone of this book was definitely creepy and the imagery in this book was terrifying. Simon Holt's descriptions were absolutely perfect and set up the scenes so well (I'm talking especially about the description of Henry's fearscape) but they weren't too vivid, which I liked. This book read like a movie, and I wish this was adapted in to one. I was definitely impressed - and slightly scared - of Simon Holt's writing.Overall, this was a quick, fun, scary read. It's a traditional horror with a unique twist and I can't wait to read the rest of the books in this series.RATING: 4/5 less

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