westernskynaida's Reviews (147)

This started a bit slowly but once it picked up I read about half of it in a sitting

It took a bit to get to the actual “horror” aspect of it, but I feel like it was a pretty good payoff when we finally got it. I’ll be honest since I thought for a bit there that it was going to be “the horror was the trauma we experience along the way” and then actual horror stuff happened

For a book that I picked up because the cover interested me, I’m glad I read it

This one I’m really torn with. I ended up listening to the audiobook while I was working as I had time to listen. There were some times that I just didn’t want to stop listening but needed to focus on adult life stuff

The reason I’m torn is that I feel this was a great slow burn that made me really happy with how things were unfolding. And then I saw how much I had left and realized I had 3.5 hours left and dreaded the climax I hadn’t actually reached…

The ending, while exciting and action packed, made me feel…very empty. I’m really not sure how I feel about it. Am I glad that I read this? Yeah, I’m glad. It was better than I thought it would be. Will I read the second book? Probably, but not right away…I think I need to think about some things with it before I go into the chaos of how this book ended…

I went into this curious because the front and back covers gave me SCP-3008 vibes (one of my favorite SCPs). The idea of an IKEA-esq horror definitely had me interested

It’s a relatively short read - probably took me about 4-5 hours total to finish it - and there were some parts I probably skimmed over, but I think Basil (I think it was him) who compared their group as a bad Scooby Doo story was pretty spot on. My enjoyment of some characters actually changed as the book went on

My recommendation for anyone wanting to read this, is don’t go into this expecting it to be a fully serious horror story. Are there some scary bits? Oh for sure, I definitely felt my chest tighten at some parts. But I think going into this knowing it’s got a bit of a self aware “humor” is actually a great way to go into it

Oh man. This book I struggled with when reading the physical edition, so I decided to try listening to the audiobook (with Robbie Daymond as one of the narrators sign me up). It took me only a few days where the physical edition I’ve had on hold for months now

The idea of a company knowing when you’re going to die seems both helpful and also terrifying. It puts into perspective of the idea of whether you live the most during that final day or just let things happen

I also love the idea of the Final Friend app and related apps (like NecRom, which I’d personally never use but Last Friend I would) because it helps people who may feel alone or are alone in those final 24 hours

Rufus’ final chapter hit me like a ton of bricks and actually made me nearly tear up.

For anyone interested in reading this, it might take a bit to get past the first 1/4th of the book with it feeling really dry. But it does pick up once you learn a little more about Mateo and Rufus 

This book was better than I thought it would be going into it. Did it have some rough parts (some dated ideas and some kind of weird translation issues)? Yeah, for sure. But considering when the original story was published, it does fit

I’ve seen the American adaption of this book, and wasn’t entirely sure what to expect going into this book. But this really didn’t disappoint. It wasn’t constant horror, but I was within the last 30 pages and my cat jumped up and I jumped (got some weird looks from her). I’m wanting to watch the Japanese adaption and the American adaption again after having read this

Would definitely recommend if someone is interested in experiencing the original version of this story

I made it about 60% percent through this book and really had no idea what was happening. It was catching, that’s for sure. But I feel like I wasn’t the right audience for this. Which is unfortunate, since I’m a big fan of found footage. It also wasn’t horror (to me at least). It was more surreal experience

The way I described this book to a friend of mine was “it’s like you’re watching a car crash in slow motion. You know something tragic is going to happen, but there’s nothing you can do to really stop it”

And I said that before finishing the book and…yeah. I can agree with that - for the most part

This is my third Ahlborn book, and probably my second favorite of the 3 I’ve read (Brother being my favorite)

I probably read this faster because the idea and story had me hooked pretty quick. The ending though, fell flat…and is why I took a solid point off because I really just…didn’t care for it

I’d recommend this if someone is wanting to read Ahlborn’s stuff, and maybe you’ll enjoy it more. It having a bleak ending, didn’t really bother me. It was more so the execution…

Ending spoilers

I don’t normally do a spoiler talk with my reviews flat out, but I really feel like the ending for this suffered for a couple of reasons. There was so much build up to Vee being a hypochondriac or possibly having a bad injury for the fall that happened earlier in the book. But nothing really ever came of it. I really thought something would have happened in the end regarding that information… I know Jeffrey has to be the Bad Ghost, but I really feel like there should have been something with her head injury…

Oof this book was a bit of a slog to get through. I try to give a book 100 or so pages because I like at least trying to give them a chance

This one took a bit longer for the crazy train to pick up, but once it did - I read over half the book in one sitting. Also the narration of the book was something that took me a weird amount of time to wrap my head around

Was this good? If you can get through 1/4-1/3 of the book? Yeah. Certain characters are insufferable in the beginning. But they do eventually get better

Will I continue reading this series? Yeah, probably

Month later review update: 

Changing score to be a 4/5. It was a book that I appreciated a lot more after reading The Fold

This one was a fun read. The first 2/3 definitely had a bit of a slow build to it, but I actually really enjoyed the last 1/3

I really enjoyed the references to real people who actually existed and playing homage to them

The only real odd reaction I had was during the end of 2nd third of the book, a death made me react way more emotionally that I expected. But even still, I really didn’t want to put it down after the end of the 2nd third 

Would I recommend? Yeah, if you can find a copy or don’t mind ebook

I went into this mostly blind, only knowing this was considered a “lost media” horror. I read this in about 2 days, I was hooked.

I feel this wouldn’t be for every reader but for those who are interested in these kind of stories (Candle Cove or Welcome Home) it’s very well done

There were some super tense moments and the forum posts and other related between chapter pieces were interesting to read