Review: Winterset Hollow

Winterset Hollow by Jonathan Edward Durham
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Boy did I end up loving this twisted lil psychotic animal story!

I'll be thinking about this one for a while.

The plot sees three friends travelling to Addington Isle - once home to the great Edward Addington, author of Winterset Hollow. The book is a favourite of Eamon and Caroline (Caroline's boyfriend, Mark, is mostly just along for the ride) who love this innocent story of animals preparing for their annual Barley Day feast. However, upon arriving at the island, the gang discover more about their favourite book than they ever wanted to know.

At first, I felt the story was a little slow but I kept reading because the writing really drew me in. The language of this book is exquisite and I really enjoyed the sensation of playing these sentences over my mental tongue. Absolutely adored the writing and, even though I'm not one for poetry and tend to skip it in novels, I was even drawn in to the verses of Winterset Hollow scattered throughout.

As the gang arrives on the island and begins to explore, I was anxiously waiting for something to happen. Yet when it did, I was wondering if I'd confused the genre. We meet a host of characters seemingly out of a children's fairy tale and I honestly had no idea where it was going so I was a bit befuddled.

When the action picked up, however, this book grabbed hold and refused to let me go. I was completely at its mercy as I rampaged through 200 pages of carnage and mayhem and just the weirdest, most entertaining horror I've read in a long time. Something about this story really excited my inner child while slaking the bloodlust I get when I read horror. It just hit the spot.

These characters truly fascinated me, and I simply adored them. Even though most of them have a few screws loose, I just loved the way they were written. There was a depth to these characters that I wasn't expecting, and it had me hanging off every word of this story.

Some of the saves were a little too convenient, but I still found myself completely immersed in what was happening so it never really bothered me. I was just reading something so unique that some of the familiar tropes never really landed as overdone. This book was totally refreshing.

This is a truly unique work of horror, so if you're looking for something a little different in the genre, I highly recommend it. It took me all kinds of strange directions and I ended up committing so much of myself to this story. It was an absolute delight to read.

Many thanks to the author for a copy to read and review.

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