An island oasis turns deadly when a terrifying legend threatens to kill off visitors one by one in this haunting novel from the highly acclaimed author of The Girl from the Well and the Bone Witch trilogy.
Pristine beaches, lush greenery, and perfect weather, the island of Kisapmata would be the vacation destination...if not for the curse. The Philippine locals speak of it in hushed voices and refuse to step foot on the island. They know the lives it has claimed. They won't be next.
A Hollywood film crew won't be dissuaded. Legend claims a Dreamer god sleeps, waiting to grant unimaginable powers in exchange for eight sacrifices. The producers are determined to document the evidence. And they convince Alon, a local teen, to be their guide.
Within minutes of their arrival, a giant sinkhole appears, revealing a giant balete tree with a mummified corpse entwined in its gnarled branches. And the crew start seeing strange visions. Alon knows they are falling victim to the island's curse. If Alon can't convince them to leave, there is no telling who will survive. Or how much the Dreamer god will destroy...
Creepy and suspenseful, The Sacrifice is perfect for readers looking for:
* Spooky, scary books for young adults
* Horror novels
* Ghost story books for teens
* East Asian folklore
Pristine beaches, lush greenery, and perfect weather, the island of Kisapmata would be the vacation destination...if not for the curse. The Philippine locals speak of it in hushed voices and refuse to step foot on the island. They know the lives it has claimed. They won't be next.
A Hollywood film crew won't be dissuaded. Legend claims a Dreamer god sleeps, waiting to grant unimaginable powers in exchange for eight sacrifices. The producers are determined to document the evidence. And they convince Alon, a local teen, to be their guide.
Within minutes of their arrival, a giant sinkhole appears, revealing a giant balete tree with a mummified corpse entwined in its gnarled branches. And the crew start seeing strange visions. Alon knows they are falling victim to the island's curse. If Alon can't convince them to leave, there is no telling who will survive. Or how much the Dreamer god will destroy...
Creepy and suspenseful, The Sacrifice is perfect for readers looking for:
* Spooky, scary books for young adults
* Horror novels
* Ghost story books for teens
* East Asian folklore
Goodreads Summary
I was surprised I enjoyed this book as much as I did. It was a bit of a disturbing read with more than deaths that I expected. The plot is as succinct as stated on Goodreads and the book doesn't deviate from that summary, but somehow it felt like the book took longer to read than it did. I finished the novel in one night, but there was so much depth to the plot and the characters that when I looked up I expected it to be closer to mid-morning.
Alon is an interesting cahracter. There are some hints of a romance with a boy who comes along with the producers, but it isn't really developed. The plot itself takes up the entire novel without giving too much room for the growth of the characters (which was unfortunate because even the minor characters had tragic and sympathetic backstories). Every time I expected the mystery to calm down it tended to ramp up. The author did manage to keep the suspension high throughout the novel. I truly enjoy horror novels so I think I am a little harsher in my reviews of them than, say, a fantasy novel, but I thought this was a good book that had the potential to be great had the mystery been a little more well-developed.
3 1/2 Stars
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment