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A review by night0wl_23
You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
I was really excited to read this book, I adore the concept, and I liked some of this authors other work, but this just didn’t do it for me.
The book was just kinda mid. It was okay up till around the halfway mark, had a nice balance of eeriness and mystery, just for it to be thrown out the window and forgotten about.
The Owl Society just didn’t feel that developed, having the main characters discover them at the same time that they’re about to get killed was just a bit weird? The mcs just went into the forest to search for their friends with zero knowledge about the society, they just knew something tried to murder their other friend. Had they at least known about the society it would’ve given them more reasonable motivation to go out there looking in my opinion.
The plottwist by the end, while I saw it coming, just didn’t have much structure surrounding it to work well. It felt so random and out of the blue, but maybe that’s just a ‘slasher’ thing? Common trope? I don’t know.
The characters were also very bland, not much that distinguishes them from each other. Zero survival instincts or common sense. You’d think horror enthusiasts would know better.
In a horror book you obviously know that the characters are scared, but the minimal description of emotions really messed up the flow for me as a reader. “‘They murdered them, what do we do?’ I ask.” just sounds wayyy too casual in a life or death situation lmao
(I also normally don’t notice repeating phrases or usage of words, but I was about to lose my god damn mind reading “I said/asked” and “they said/asked” over and over again on the same page)
The book was just kinda mid. It was okay up till around the halfway mark, had a nice balance of eeriness and mystery, just for it to be thrown out the window and forgotten about.
The Owl Society just didn’t feel that developed, having the main characters discover them at the same time that they’re about to get killed was just a bit weird? The mcs just went into the forest to search for their friends with zero knowledge about the society, they just knew something tried to murder their other friend. Had they at least known about the society it would’ve given them more reasonable motivation to go out there looking in my opinion.
The plottwist by the end, while I saw it coming, just didn’t have much structure surrounding it to work well. It felt so random and out of the blue, but maybe that’s just a ‘slasher’ thing? Common trope? I don’t know.
The characters were also very bland, not much that distinguishes them from each other. Zero survival instincts or common sense. You’d think horror enthusiasts would know better.
In a horror book you obviously know that the characters are scared, but the minimal description of emotions really messed up the flow for me as a reader. “‘They murdered them, what do we do?’ I ask.” just sounds wayyy too casual in a life or death situation lmao
(I also normally don’t notice repeating phrases or usage of words, but I was about to lose my god damn mind reading “I said/asked” and “they said/asked” over and over again on the same page)