This is pretty much the perfect middle grade horror read. It has a great young heroine who I fell in love with very quickly. Evie is just the cutest. She is smart, resourceful, grateful, and a touch flippant. The premise is interesting (Dark journey through a series of weird houses? Yep...I'm on board.) and the execution is really fun with lots of mysterious and gothic atmosphere. I love this world and I am super interested in more of it.

Senf's writing moves at just the right clip and is full of sideline humor and cute little additions that made Evie an even more endearing character. The quest trope is wonderfully done and has a bit of a whimsical touch to it even though the overall feel of the novel is dark. There is something about it that gives me a little bit of a Coraline plus Wayward Children vibes and I loved it.

There are pieces of the plot that are unresolved that lead me to believe that Evie may be part of a series construction. I am SO down for this. Fingers crossed that a sequel will be coming down the line.