Quick takeaways:

Protagonist(s): Still loveable

Side Characters: Fine

Antagonist(s): Clowns. Scariest beings on earth.

Plot: Gripping

Writing: Good

Summary: 

What the hell was that ending?

The book was going at a steady pace. Things were tense. There were moments that everything felt hopeless yet our heroes were still persevering. There were creepy clowns! I was so curious how everything would resolve.

Then chapter 19 - BAM! Ends in the most anti-climatic way.

My guess is maybe since all the books were around 250 pages, the author had to cut it short to make a quota? Or maybe they didn’t know how else to end the story? I don’t know but to end a series on this whimper instead of a bang was not a good look.

However, the fact that I am upset about the ending does show how strongly I felt about the story and the characters and how otherwise Katherine Arden is a good writer. I love Ollie, Brian and Coco. I love their bond that grew over these books. I love to hate the smiling man and his scheming ways. I’m always happy when they get one up over him.

But this ending blows. So hard.

I still think it’s a great series for a middle schoolers and above.

Quick takeaways:

Protagonist(s): Annoying

Side Characters: God awful

Antagonist(s): Creepy but not enough

Plot: Generic

Narrator: Okay-ish

Summary:

Good horror either has (some) likeable victims that you want to see live or an evil baddie that evokes a mixture of curiosity, fear, and awe.

This book has the complete opposite of that.

The five people this story follows are one dimensional, stupid and just plain annoying. I sympathize with the lead girl for her past but she was just the snarky lead chick that is overdone in horror. I was just waiting for them to start dying off which did not happen quickly enough.

The ghost bride and the yokai that come after our terrible terrible heroes were creepy. However, they weren’t scary or creepy enough to make up for the irritation of the human characters. I kept thinking how much these characters annoy me the whole time.

The writing itself was pretty good. Sometimes it felt like things were over described but that could have been due to me disliking the lead character so much that I wanted her to shut up.

Did I mention I hate these characters? I know they were designed to be hated but this isn't the "haha silly horror characters who deserve to die" type hate. It's that go away hate. It's the type of hate that colors your experience. 

The ending.....just like the characters, hated it. 

This is a love it or hate it type book and I'm in the hate it camp (if you couldn't tell from the amount of times I said "hate") . Sucks because the writing is good. 

Protagonists: Loveable

Side Characters: Good

Antagonist(s): None really?

Plot: Is there one?

Writing: Good

This book is sweet and slow. It is a long read if you are not really a slice of life person (I am certainly not). This is more for people who care more about the character interactions and growth more than the plot. That said, the character growth/interactions was very interesting and beautiful. The author did a good job with creating the sci-fi medical school setting and explaining each race. This book is not for me but if you’re into slice of life, slow storytelling, this is recommended.

OMG. This short story was beautiful. The writing was so good. 

Protagonists: Likeable

Side Characters: Fine

Antagonist(s): Okay

Plot: Average

Writing: Good

This book was weaker than the previous two. The first book established Ollie as a strong character. The second book gave Coco a bit more depth and likeability. This book centers on Brian but after finishing it, I didn’t really get any growth or felt like I learned more about him. We are also introduced to Brian’s old pal, Phil who doesn’t contribute much as a newcomer to the friend group.

Dark Waters is not as creepy as the first book nor as tense as the second book - most likely because this is more of a monster thing than a supernatural thing. Because it’s a monster antagonist (mainly), it felt like there were stretches in the short book where the plot didn’t really go anywhere. There’s only so much you can do to keep characters alive and interesting when there’s a monster afoot. The ending was not surprising in the least.

Obviously, I’m too old to be the target audience and more likely to be critical. I’m sure younger kids will enjoy this book. I plan on reading the next book to see how this ends.

I hated every single character in this book. Kim started ok then became annoying. Becka is so selfish, so immature, so FRUSTRATING that I wanted to throw her off a cliff. The concept of this graphic novel is so fun and cute but the characters are horrible.