This isolation horror follows Ryne Burdette after the deaths of his uncle and father. His uncle left him the family cabin located in the Yukon wilderness and although he hasn't been back since he was a child, recent events in his life have drawn him back. He brings along his two friends for a weekend trip to each recuperate from their own traumas. But as a winter storm rolls in, the animals and people start acting strange. Then when voices seem to be coming from the trees, the three men feel like they are being watched from the forest. In order to figure out the truth behind what is happening, they must uncover the dark history of the Burdette family.
On NetGalley, this was compared to The Ritual, which is actually a movie I've seen and 100% agree. I'd say this is the same sort of folklore horror, medium gore, trauma/grief themes. I absolutely loved both the movie and this book so if you like one, I really think you'd like the other. Both are folk horrors with isolated forest settings and both follow a group of friends that have an undercurrent of tension. The Broken Places does get to the gore more quickly than The Ritual, but overall I think the two are still very similar.
The characters were fantastic and I loved how much we got to see of their friend dynamic as well as them as individuals. Their backstories are gradually given to the reader as we go through the story and I enjoyed how each new detail we got felt like it became immediately relevant to the current plot. I never felt like we were getting a lot of 'fluff' details. Each of the men had gone through their own sort of trials recently and had their own fears to work through. The way these fears manifested during the story was really impactful and did a good job of developing the characters.
The pacing for the first 75% was perfect. We get into the spooky parts pretty early on and the eerie dread just increases over time. We also see the physical threats increase as the characters spend more time in this wilderness and try to escape. There's a nice balance of backstory with all 3 characters and we get to see how these details impact the current plot. The last 25%, however, seemed to stagnate for me. The plot was technically moving forward, but it didn't feel like the stakes were being raised any longer. I loved the way the horror was ramping up throughout the story and I wanted that ramp up to keep happening.
TW/CW: animal death, miscarriage, domestic violence, animal mutilation, suicide, death of a parent
Thanks to NetGalley and Wicked House Publishing for the ARC. Publication date was March 24, 2023
No comments:
Post a Comment