Review: Deephaven by Ethan M. Aldridge

Deephaven

by Ethan M. Aldridge

Release Date: September 5, 2023

2023 Quill Tree Books

Kindle Edition; 288 Pages

ISBN: 978-006328

ASIN: B0BP2KFXBF

Audiobook: B0BSS93TVK

Genre: Middle Grade / Horror / LGBT / Fantasy

Source: Review copy from publisher

4 / 5 Stars

Summary

When Guinevere "Nev" Tallow receives an acceptance letter to the exclusive Deephaven Academy, they know it’s the fresh start that they’ve been looking for. But things are strange from the moment they arrive—the house itself seems to breathe, students whisper secrets in dark corridors, and the entire east wing of the academy is locked away for reasons no one wants to explain. And Nev knows something ragged stalks the shadowy corridors, something that sobs quietly and scratches at the walls, waiting to be released. With the help of another first-year student, Nev takes it upon themself to unravel the mysteries hidden in Deephaven's halls. But will they risk their fresh start to bring the academy’s secret to light?

 

My Thoughts

Deephaven is not a particularly scary story when it comes to middle grade horror, but it was certainly very atmospheric as it takes place at an academy for students with specialized talents and interests with all the usual tropes that goes along with such a setting. However, the plot moved along quickly and the author used those tropes to develop an interesting plot and fun characters, 

I thought the plot was well-developed, and the way the author creates a scene is really good. There is this focus on the little things which really enhance the overall enjoyment of the story and also makes you feel like you are there without being overly descriptive for a middle grade novel. The story moved along rather quickly, with an evenly-paced story, and enough twists and turns that made me read this in one sitting. I also enjoyed the illustrations that were included in each chapter as you got to experience what Nev actually saw and I think they added to the whole atmosphere of the story. It was really easy to figure out who were the villains in the story and I think even middle grade readers will have no problem figure it out as well so some of the tension that should have existed was not there because of this.  It is really unclear exactly how Deephaven works however, and while there were some hints at magical realism, a lot of it was vague and left you with many unanswered questions.

Nev is a great character and I appreciated having their background story sprinkled throughout the book. And while it was great for the author to have a nonbinary person as a main character, I don't think it had any impact on the story at all. You could have switched any character in that role and you wouldn't have known. Now while the author may have wished to downplay the role, it also made it difficult to really empathize with Nev because there was this barrier, this difficulty to understanding their motivations, no understanding as to how Nev felt as they were becoming this new person, so different from the life they just left, and how confusing it must have been to make that choice.  And the other children just accept the pronouns Nev used without a thought in the world.  Considering this story is set in the 1940s, I have a hard time accepting there would be little discussion around Nev's choices. However, readers may enjoy this escape from historical transphobia.  

The supporting characters were interesting as well, but I especially enjoyed Danny's character, a character who really pushed the others to develop and grow as well as take chances.  I love it when the supporting characters are given a chance to shine. 

Verdict

Deephaven was a fun, somewhat spooky read, one that I thoroughly enjoyed.  It moved quickly, had interesting characters, and a story line that was engaging, but also gave me hope will continue into a sequel as so many things were left unanswered at the end, even if the ending was satisfying. This is definitely a book that many middle graders will enjoy.

 

Review: The Stars Did Wander Darkling by Colin Meloy

The Stars Did Wander Darkling

by Colin Meloy

Release Date: September 13, 2022

2022 Balzer & Bray/Harperteen

Kindle Edition; 336 Pages

ISBN: 978-0063015517

ASIN: B09N9391SK

Audiobook: B09NF1Q4JN

Genre: Fiction / Juvenile / Horror

Source: Review copy from publisher

3 / 5 Stars

Summary

Maybe Archie Coomes has been watching too many horror movies.

He keeps telling himself that this is Seaham, a sleepy seaside town where nothing ever happens. Or at least nothing did, until his dad’s construction company opened up the cliff beneath the old—some say cursed—Langdon place.

Soon, though, he and his friends can’t deny it: more and more of the adults in town are acting strangely. An ancient, long-buried evil has been unleashed upon the community, and it’s up to the kids to stop it before it’s too late. . . .

 

My Thoughts

The Stars Did Wander Darkling is a good, fun-filled read for those who are looking for milder horror elements, but who are still looking for spooky elements. There were some nice spooky elements in this book and I definitely appreciated the 1980s nostalgia having grown up during that time period, but the long build-up and the disappointing ending as well as a meandering story line made me lose interest in what was happening and I really had to push myself to finish the book.  

First of all, I do think the atmosphere and level of creepiness were fine for this level. I loved reading horror novels at this age and would have loved more of this stuff available when I was young so I dabbled a lot in adult horror at a young age.  The author did manage to create a setting that had a lot of atmosphere that focused on family and friendships and what happens when something suddenly changes within one's world at that age. The exploration of maturity and friendship was good, and I thought the author did a good developing a bit of story line around the concept of what happens when friends discover they no longer have anything in common and start drifting apart.  Personally, I don't think he delved far enough into those themes of friendship and family.

The story line started off fairly strong and I did think it was rather interesting.  Halfway through, something changed and a lot of tropes were introduced, something I don't typically mind in a juvenile fiction book, but there were a lot of things glossed over and forgotten about as well, like injuries miraculously cured and events that weren't fully explored or explained.  It made for a disjointed reading experience and I started to lose interest in the meandering story line. Unfortunately, I didn't care for the ending as it was too neatly wrapped up without a lot of detail, details that would have enriched the reading experience. I think it is easy to underestimate the reader at that age and their quest for answers, but they can see through the gaps in the story lines quite easily and ask a million questions that were not answered in the book.

I did enjoy the characters, but they were mostly one-dimensional without a lot of development, not overly complex.  I did like how the author explored the friendships, but it is hard to really delve into those friendships if you don't really delve into character development, so I felt like the exploration was done on a superficial level so there was a lack of empathy on my part with regards to how they felt as a result.  So and so might be moving away? There should have been a bigger impact on my emotions, but I personally didn't really care.  Move on.  This is due to the writing style.

Verdict

The Stars Did Wander Darkling had a great cast of characters and a good story line, but the ending is abrupt and most of the consequences to what happened were just brushed over as if nothing happened. I get that there was supposed to be some questions with regards to the ending, but all it did was leave me feeling bewildered and confused.  Overall, while I do think this was a fairly solid piece of writing with some nice horror elements within it, there were definitely things that missed their mark.