Status
Available
Genres
Publication
New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2013.
Description
Horror. Thriller. Young Adult Fiction. Young Adult Literature. HTML:The Waking Dark is “a horror story worthy of Stephen King” (Booklist) and “a book you won’t soon forget” (Cassandra Clare, author of the Mortal Instruments series)—perfect for readers of Gillian Flynn and Rick Yancey. They called it the killing day. Twelve people murdered, in the space of a few hours, their killers also all dead by their own hand . . . except one. And that one has no answers to offer the shattered town. Something is waking in the sleepy town of Oleander, Kansas—something dark and hungry that lives in the flat earth and the open sky, in the vengeful hearts of its upstanding citizens. As the town begins a descent into blood and madness, five survivors of the killing day are the only ones who can stop Oleander from destroying itself. They have nothing in common. They have nothing left to lose. And they have no way out. Which means they have no choice but to stand and fight, to face the darkness in their town—and in themselves. “Suspense, chills, gasps—all that and a gem-like writing style that will make you shiver with beauty and horror. A book you won’t soon forget.” —Cassandra Clare, author of the bestselling Mortal Instruments series and Infernal Devices trilogy “Twisted, pulse-pounding, shocking, and very, very scary. With The Waking Dark, Robin Wasserman conjures vintage Stephen King as she peers into the dark heart of a nightmare America, where violence and evil lurk behind the golden glow of small-town life, and new terrors arrive by the hour. A superb horror story that is by turns visceral and lyrical, heartrending and heart-stopping.” —Libba Bray, bestselling author of the Gemma Doyle trilogy and the Diviners series “This book has the combination of mystery and fright that I love. So many twists and shocks, I nearly jumped out of my chair several times! Trust me—this is a true chiller. Not to be missed!” —R. L. Stine “A thriller dark and beautiful and—yes—achingly romantic at every unexpected twist and turn. Astounding.” —Lauren Myracle, New York Times bestselling author of The Infinite Moment of Us and Bliss “Wild, nihilistic madness that will get true horror fans raising their pitchforks and torches in frenzied glee. Wasserman writes as if hooked up to IVs of Stephen King and John Carpenter's spiked blood.” —Daniel Kraus, author of Rotters and Scowler "Great dialogue and intriguing subplots add to the action-packed story . . . the suspense doesn’t let up until the final pages." —School Library Journal, Starred Review.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member alwright1
Oleander is a town like many shrinking, rural towns in middle America with the usual cast of characters: jocks and housewives, zealots and meth heads. Until the Killing Day, when a group of individuals in town suddenly turn against one another violently, and then themselves. As the town returns to
The characters and relationships in The Waking Dark are great, but the situations are seriously dark. I don't read a lot of horror, and the levels of violence and occasional sexual violence were pretty disturbing, like they were undoubtedly meant to be. I just don't anyone to go in unawares. The exploration of human nature, mob mentality, and trust and relationships is stimulating. The source of the violence upwelling of violence is glossed over in the explanation, and I would've appreciated more background. Still, I enjoyed watching relationships develop and change. Horror fans should enjoy this read.
Thanks to the publisher for the Net Galley ARC.
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life as usual, several teenagers deal with their experiences until a tornado rips the town apart and relentlessly sends the levels of violence spiraling out of control as the teens try to cope and escape.The characters and relationships in The Waking Dark are great, but the situations are seriously dark. I don't read a lot of horror, and the levels of violence and occasional sexual violence were pretty disturbing, like they were undoubtedly meant to be. I just don't anyone to go in unawares. The exploration of human nature, mob mentality, and trust and relationships is stimulating. The source of the violence upwelling of violence is glossed over in the explanation, and I would've appreciated more background. Still, I enjoyed watching relationships develop and change. Horror fans should enjoy this read.
Thanks to the publisher for the Net Galley ARC.
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LibraryThing member zzshupinga
ARC provided by NetGalley
In Oleander, Kansas there is one day that sticks in everyone's memory.They call it the killing day. Five seemingly normal people when the day started...murderers by the end of it. Twelve people dead all in a few hours. And the town was changed forever. Shattered with no
I'm not sure how this gets called a YA book, because it is definitely the most violent book I've read in a long time. With horror more akin to a Stephen King novel, Robin weaves a tale like no other with a town that is on the verge of destroying itself with murder. One of the first things that you notice when reading this book is how often we switch narrators to get a different viewpoint of what's going on around them and what's happened in the past. At times, it gets a bit confusing to remember whose who, and I felt like I needed a flowchart when dealing with the football players to keep up with what was going on, but it does present a full and richer story of the story.
The one thing that bothered me most about the tale was that at times Robin was extremely verbose from the narrator perspective. For example, the first few pages of chapter two were just long winded and read more like the beginning of a Dickens novel. For me, it just didn't really help set the mood and instead turned me off because all I wanted was to hear from the characters, learn what was happening and how the town was changing around them and I just didn't get that at times.
Overall it was an interesting story and I'd recommend it for ages 15 and up, who like horror. 3.5 out of 5 stars
In Oleander, Kansas there is one day that sticks in everyone's memory.They call it the killing day. Five seemingly normal people when the day started...murderers by the end of it. Twelve people dead all in a few hours. And the town was changed forever. Shattered with no
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answers. The one murderer that survived doesn't even know why she did it. Something dark and hungry that lives in the earth is waking. And only a handful can stop the town from destroying itself in blood and death. I'm not sure how this gets called a YA book, because it is definitely the most violent book I've read in a long time. With horror more akin to a Stephen King novel, Robin weaves a tale like no other with a town that is on the verge of destroying itself with murder. One of the first things that you notice when reading this book is how often we switch narrators to get a different viewpoint of what's going on around them and what's happened in the past. At times, it gets a bit confusing to remember whose who, and I felt like I needed a flowchart when dealing with the football players to keep up with what was going on, but it does present a full and richer story of the story.
The one thing that bothered me most about the tale was that at times Robin was extremely verbose from the narrator perspective. For example, the first few pages of chapter two were just long winded and read more like the beginning of a Dickens novel. For me, it just didn't really help set the mood and instead turned me off because all I wanted was to hear from the characters, learn what was happening and how the town was changing around them and I just didn't get that at times.
Overall it was an interesting story and I'd recommend it for ages 15 and up, who like horror. 3.5 out of 5 stars
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LibraryThing member A_Reader_of_Fictions
I absolutely adored Robin Wasserman's The Book of Blood and Shadow, which blended horror, paranormal, historical and contemporary fiction into something dark and beautiful. As such, I had very high expectations for The Waking Dark, which were partly met but not wholly. The key thing to know about
The Book of Blood and Shadow began with blood and murders. The Waking Dark tops that, opening with twelve deaths in five outpourings of seemingly random violence, each witnessed by one teen who survived. For the most part, The Waking Dark follows these five teens: Daniel, Jule, Ellie, West, and Cass. Wasserman uses a third person narrative style that does occasionally drift to other characters temporarily, but 95% of the book is about these five.
The Waking Dark follows along a basic horror story arc. The murders occur, but then life settles a bit and normalcy seems to return, only not quite. Something dark lurks beneath the surface of the people of Oleander, Kansas. It's almost as if the id is taking over, people's basest and most secret desires taking control; instant gratification mattering more than social mores. Wasserman's tale is unrelentingly dark and creepy.
The large cast of characters is both a boon and a drawback. None of them quite get enough characterization for me to be wholly invested in them, a fact exacerbated by not ever getting to see them before the Killing Day, as the day of the opening comes to be known. However, the large cast is an intriguing one. Daniel's the son of a drunk, who calls himself the Preacher, and judged by the town for that. Jule, short for Juliet, is part of the infamous Prevette family, meth heads, meth makers, and meth dealers, and she's trying to figure out if she can be free of that taint. Ellie is driven by her faith in Christianity. West is a popular football player, trying to hide that he's in love with a boy. Cass is popular and smart, babysitting kids (and she hates kids) in order to save up enough money to escape Kansas for college. There aren't many YA books written about kids like these, except maybe those like Cass, so reading about them was refreshing.
The best aspect of The Waking Dark is Robin Wasserman's writing which is positively beautiful. That woman can turn a phrase. This raises The Waking Dark above the average horror offerings. She does use the horror to make commentaries on human nature, war, and faith. She manages to make the novel quite meaningful, though the plot is something straight out of a horror film, sort of like The Bible Belt Goes Bananas.
As may be obvious, what I didn't care for was the plot. The whole thing just seems way too absurd to me. I feel like this could have been a great idea, but the explanation for how this madness came to the town strikes me as utterly ridiculous. Not buying into that, it's really just violence for violence's sake, which is all very well, but horror really isn't my genre of choice.
Horror fans, get thee to a bookstore, because Robin Wasserman's The Waking Dark is a creepy thrill ride full of death and blood from the first page to the very last ones. Even if you're not much for horror, The Waking Dark may be worth it for Wasserman's beautiful prose.
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The Waking Dark is that it is a horror novel, pure and simple, though calling the novel simple is rather misleading.The Book of Blood and Shadow began with blood and murders. The Waking Dark tops that, opening with twelve deaths in five outpourings of seemingly random violence, each witnessed by one teen who survived. For the most part, The Waking Dark follows these five teens: Daniel, Jule, Ellie, West, and Cass. Wasserman uses a third person narrative style that does occasionally drift to other characters temporarily, but 95% of the book is about these five.
The Waking Dark follows along a basic horror story arc. The murders occur, but then life settles a bit and normalcy seems to return, only not quite. Something dark lurks beneath the surface of the people of Oleander, Kansas. It's almost as if the id is taking over, people's basest and most secret desires taking control; instant gratification mattering more than social mores. Wasserman's tale is unrelentingly dark and creepy.
The large cast of characters is both a boon and a drawback. None of them quite get enough characterization for me to be wholly invested in them, a fact exacerbated by not ever getting to see them before the Killing Day, as the day of the opening comes to be known. However, the large cast is an intriguing one. Daniel's the son of a drunk, who calls himself the Preacher, and judged by the town for that. Jule, short for Juliet, is part of the infamous Prevette family, meth heads, meth makers, and meth dealers, and she's trying to figure out if she can be free of that taint. Ellie is driven by her faith in Christianity. West is a popular football player, trying to hide that he's in love with a boy. Cass is popular and smart, babysitting kids (and she hates kids) in order to save up enough money to escape Kansas for college. There aren't many YA books written about kids like these, except maybe those like Cass, so reading about them was refreshing.
The best aspect of The Waking Dark is Robin Wasserman's writing which is positively beautiful. That woman can turn a phrase. This raises The Waking Dark above the average horror offerings. She does use the horror to make commentaries on human nature, war, and faith. She manages to make the novel quite meaningful, though the plot is something straight out of a horror film, sort of like The Bible Belt Goes Bananas.
As may be obvious, what I didn't care for was the plot. The whole thing just seems way too absurd to me. I feel like this could have been a great idea, but the explanation for how this madness came to the town strikes me as utterly ridiculous. Not buying into that, it's really just violence for violence's sake, which is all very well, but horror really isn't my genre of choice.
Horror fans, get thee to a bookstore, because Robin Wasserman's The Waking Dark is a creepy thrill ride full of death and blood from the first page to the very last ones. Even if you're not much for horror, The Waking Dark may be worth it for Wasserman's beautiful prose.
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LibraryThing member Hermyoni
The Waking Dark is an action packed descent into madness in the vein of Stephen King. Hold on to your hats boys and girls because Robin Wasserman's The Waking Dark has just changed the face of Young Adult horror. I expected thrills, I even expected creepy ambiance, I did not however expect the
One of my favorite things about The Waking Dark was how the story unfolded. It starts with these gruesome murders and just when you think to yourself that it can't get much worse it does. I was really shocked to say the least how far down the rabbit hole everyone would plunge. The twists and turns kept me guessing right until the very end and it seemed just when I was sure I'd figured it all out another hole in the road of logic appeared throwing me off balance.
Another thing I liked were the characters. The cast is large but it was always easy for me to identify who was speaking and to whom. I think my favorite character had to be West. I really felt for him and sympathized with his situation a bit more than either Jule's or Daniel's. I also liked Milo. He was that shining beacon of goodness a book like this needs to balance all the pain and suffering everyone else goes through.
Lastly, like I mentioned above I loved how action packed this book was. While it did have a few slower paced parts in the middle I never truly felt bored. Could this book of been shorter? Maybe, but I think part of the books appeal is that slow methodical build up. The pot is always near boiling and by the end it's simmering over in sweet release. Good for us as readers, very bad for the characters involved.
Final Thoughts
I absolutely loved The Waking Dark. If you like Horror and character driven stories than this book is definitely for you. I highly recommend picking this book up and giving it a go. However, In good conscience I will put a content warning on my recommendation. The Waking Dark deals with topics such as drug use, rape, infanticide, religious fanaticism,psychosis and that's barely even scratching the surface of the crazy that happens. It's a great book but parents need to be mindful of what lies within the pages before purchasing for younger teens. With that being said, I will be rating The Waking Dark by Robin Wasserman ★★★★★.
*Copy reviewed provided by Netgalley. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated in any which way for providing them.
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level of violence, the depravity, the oh my goodness that did not just happen moments. To say the least I'm impressed, the bar has been set and it has been set high.One of my favorite things about The Waking Dark was how the story unfolded. It starts with these gruesome murders and just when you think to yourself that it can't get much worse it does. I was really shocked to say the least how far down the rabbit hole everyone would plunge. The twists and turns kept me guessing right until the very end and it seemed just when I was sure I'd figured it all out another hole in the road of logic appeared throwing me off balance.
Another thing I liked were the characters. The cast is large but it was always easy for me to identify who was speaking and to whom. I think my favorite character had to be West. I really felt for him and sympathized with his situation a bit more than either Jule's or Daniel's. I also liked Milo. He was that shining beacon of goodness a book like this needs to balance all the pain and suffering everyone else goes through.
Lastly, like I mentioned above I loved how action packed this book was. While it did have a few slower paced parts in the middle I never truly felt bored. Could this book of been shorter? Maybe, but I think part of the books appeal is that slow methodical build up. The pot is always near boiling and by the end it's simmering over in sweet release. Good for us as readers, very bad for the characters involved.
Final Thoughts
I absolutely loved The Waking Dark. If you like Horror and character driven stories than this book is definitely for you. I highly recommend picking this book up and giving it a go. However, In good conscience I will put a content warning on my recommendation. The Waking Dark deals with topics such as drug use, rape, infanticide, religious fanaticism,psychosis and that's barely even scratching the surface of the crazy that happens. It's a great book but parents need to be mindful of what lies within the pages before purchasing for younger teens. With that being said, I will be rating The Waking Dark by Robin Wasserman ★★★★★.
*Copy reviewed provided by Netgalley. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated in any which way for providing them.
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LibraryThing member PattyLouise
The Waking Dark
by
Robin Wasserman
This book takes place in a town called Oleander. Due to the effects of a tornado it is cut off...hopefully temporarily from the rest of the world.
There are a ton of central characters in this book...
West...high school football star...closet homosexual...quiet,
Daniel...brother to young Milo and witness to the first killings, responsible in a time of horror
Ellie...high school student with a God/Jesus connection, troubled
Cass...responsible for a murder...or is she, no memory or reason for her actions
Jule...heiress to a meth family...horrible mother, horrible stepfather, Uncle Scott is her protector...hopefully
This book was rich with characters and not one of them behaved normally and all of them have secrets. Daniel witnesses this horrible mass killing that seems to appear out of the blue as he is working in a drugstore. The murders are committed and then the murderer ends his own life. This is the heart of this story. Why has this town turned on itself? Of course there is the tornado but there is also something more. This town and its people are imploding and the chills and horrors are astonishing. Everyone is in a fight for his life. Every one has skewed thinking. Everyone is doing weird and unexplainable things except for the original five. Well...I take that back, sort of...they are doing weird things too but their weirdness is more explainable.
Final thoughts...
Something is wrong with this town that can not be explained. Is it nature or is it something fiercely sinister and worse than anything nature can come up with?
I have to leave you with those thoughts. If you are a Steven King fan you most likely will love this book. I loved this author's style, her words and her ideas. This was a thoroughly scary but enjoyable book.
by
Robin Wasserman
This book takes place in a town called Oleander. Due to the effects of a tornado it is cut off...hopefully temporarily from the rest of the world.
There are a ton of central characters in this book...
West...high school football star...closet homosexual...quiet,
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handsome, a peacemaker, troubled by his sexual cravingsDaniel...brother to young Milo and witness to the first killings, responsible in a time of horror
Ellie...high school student with a God/Jesus connection, troubled
Cass...responsible for a murder...or is she, no memory or reason for her actions
Jule...heiress to a meth family...horrible mother, horrible stepfather, Uncle Scott is her protector...hopefully
This book was rich with characters and not one of them behaved normally and all of them have secrets. Daniel witnesses this horrible mass killing that seems to appear out of the blue as he is working in a drugstore. The murders are committed and then the murderer ends his own life. This is the heart of this story. Why has this town turned on itself? Of course there is the tornado but there is also something more. This town and its people are imploding and the chills and horrors are astonishing. Everyone is in a fight for his life. Every one has skewed thinking. Everyone is doing weird and unexplainable things except for the original five. Well...I take that back, sort of...they are doing weird things too but their weirdness is more explainable.
Final thoughts...
Something is wrong with this town that can not be explained. Is it nature or is it something fiercely sinister and worse than anything nature can come up with?
I have to leave you with those thoughts. If you are a Steven King fan you most likely will love this book. I loved this author's style, her words and her ideas. This was a thoroughly scary but enjoyable book.
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LibraryThing member titania86
The city of Oleander, Kansas is just a sleepy, rural town with god-fearing Christians and high morals. Then the killing day happens. Five people murdered twelve people and then killed themselves, except one attempted suicide but survived. The survivor has no memory of having killed anyone and why
The Waking Dark is an amazing horror novel. Robin Wasserman takes a concept that's been used before, one where a city is enclosed and all hell breaks loose, and makes it new with a vivid voice and a large cast of characters. There are 5 main characters: West (real name Jeremiah) the jock who is in denial about being gay, Jule whose family makes meth but she wants more out of life, Cass who killed a baby during the killing day and is in hiding from the town that wants to lynch her, Daniel whose father is the town drunk and wants more for his little brother, and Ellie who became devoutly Christian after the storm. These disparate characters are each followed throughout the text and the point of view changes many times within one chapter. It's easy to follow because each character is memorable and detailed. Before they encounter one another, their issues, their trauma (surviving the killing day), and their innermost thoughts are laid bare. Their names didn't even really need to be mentioned because Wasserman painted such vivid characters. I also liked that although their alignment is generally good, they still had the urge to do the opposite and weren't boring, perfect characters. The writing was descriptive and rich, kind of like eating chocolate cake. I wanted to read the book quickly to know what happens, but I also wanted to savor each sentence. The writing style is so vastly different than most YA novels and it worked in the novel's favor.
The novel tackles a lot of heavy issues: murder, rape, misogyny, homophobia, religious zealotry, drug use, abuse, and the list goes on. Wasserman doesn't gloss over anything and shows human darkness in all its horrific glory. Teens are already exposed to a lot of these things already and I appreciate having a teen book that delves into these subjects as I haven't seen before. One issue is do people act amorally because it's true human nature or because of some outside force? It isn't really answered because it's a personal philosophical question about whether humans are inherently good or evil. The acts in the novel are frightening and all too realistic. Order falls away quickly to reveal the majority that will impose their own rule on everyone else under the threat of death. I found the religious zealotry to be particularly horrifying because it has many disturbing and bigoted tenets whose effect we see in our society every day. If those issues are taken to the extreme, using a twisted interpretation of the scriptures, it would resemble Oleander.
The Waking Dark is an amazing novel that I read as fast as I possibly could. The book is rather long and takes a bit to really take off, but I appreciate a well done, slow build-up. Once it gets going, I was on the edge of my seat, desperate to see what happens. I will now go out and read everything Robin Wasserman has ever written because I was so impressed with this novel. I would recommend this to readers not afraid of disturbing subject matter or imperfect characters.
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she did it. About a year goes by and then a huge tornado hits the town after a lot of healing and grief. The government comes and sets up a perimeter, allowing none to pass due to a toxic leak nearby. There is no word on when they will be allowed to leave and no one comes in except to ship in food and supplies. The town slowly descends into madness, where the laws mean nothing and only their raw impulses matter. Five teens who are survivors of the killing day are the only force fighting for sanity in the town. The only alternative is death at this point, so they have to put aside their differences and work together.The Waking Dark is an amazing horror novel. Robin Wasserman takes a concept that's been used before, one where a city is enclosed and all hell breaks loose, and makes it new with a vivid voice and a large cast of characters. There are 5 main characters: West (real name Jeremiah) the jock who is in denial about being gay, Jule whose family makes meth but she wants more out of life, Cass who killed a baby during the killing day and is in hiding from the town that wants to lynch her, Daniel whose father is the town drunk and wants more for his little brother, and Ellie who became devoutly Christian after the storm. These disparate characters are each followed throughout the text and the point of view changes many times within one chapter. It's easy to follow because each character is memorable and detailed. Before they encounter one another, their issues, their trauma (surviving the killing day), and their innermost thoughts are laid bare. Their names didn't even really need to be mentioned because Wasserman painted such vivid characters. I also liked that although their alignment is generally good, they still had the urge to do the opposite and weren't boring, perfect characters. The writing was descriptive and rich, kind of like eating chocolate cake. I wanted to read the book quickly to know what happens, but I also wanted to savor each sentence. The writing style is so vastly different than most YA novels and it worked in the novel's favor.
The novel tackles a lot of heavy issues: murder, rape, misogyny, homophobia, religious zealotry, drug use, abuse, and the list goes on. Wasserman doesn't gloss over anything and shows human darkness in all its horrific glory. Teens are already exposed to a lot of these things already and I appreciate having a teen book that delves into these subjects as I haven't seen before. One issue is do people act amorally because it's true human nature or because of some outside force? It isn't really answered because it's a personal philosophical question about whether humans are inherently good or evil. The acts in the novel are frightening and all too realistic. Order falls away quickly to reveal the majority that will impose their own rule on everyone else under the threat of death. I found the religious zealotry to be particularly horrifying because it has many disturbing and bigoted tenets whose effect we see in our society every day. If those issues are taken to the extreme, using a twisted interpretation of the scriptures, it would resemble Oleander.
The Waking Dark is an amazing novel that I read as fast as I possibly could. The book is rather long and takes a bit to really take off, but I appreciate a well done, slow build-up. Once it gets going, I was on the edge of my seat, desperate to see what happens. I will now go out and read everything Robin Wasserman has ever written because I was so impressed with this novel. I would recommend this to readers not afraid of disturbing subject matter or imperfect characters.
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LibraryThing member lilibrarian
One day a quiet Kansas town breaks out in an unprecedented rash of murder/suicides. Some time later, a tornado tears the town to pieces, and destroys a research facility, setting off a new round of violence. The town is isolated, and no help seems to be arriving as people become madder and madder,
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except for a small group of teens and children. Show Less
LibraryThing member arielfl
I checked this out of the library three times before I was able to make it past the first one hundred pages. Something compelled me to keep trying but it wasn't until after two hundred pages that I was able to finally dial in and make it to the end. Too many characters, too much going on, and I
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just didn't care. To the author's credit this wasn't another zombie novel but it might as well have been. Teens on the run from murderous towns people, you know the drill by now. The big reveal of what the made the town go mad was too far into the book without enough explanation. One thing I do know however is that after reading this and Red Hill, I am staying away from flu shots. I would have liked to have given this a 2.5 but since this is not an option I will bump to a three. There is a positive portrayal of a teen homosexual relationship, rare in mainstream YA books. Also my true test of a horror novel is whether it horrifies me enough to give me a nightmare. After finishing this novel I had an upsetting dream of my daughter being burned alive so I guess it passed that test. On the down side I was annoyed with the comparisons of this to Stephen King's work. Not even close. I am glad that the author is clearly a fan as am I but that is just asking for an unfavorable comparison. Stephen King excels at character development which was sorely lacking here. Show Less
LibraryThing member jen.e.moore
A compelling but possibly overly complex horror novel about the kinds of terrible things that small-town religious life does to teenagers. It's got a fairly standard, not very well explored "evil military contractor" horror mechanism, a lot of brutality, and not a single sympathetic character who
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likes small-town religious life. Show Less
LibraryThing member kittyjay
In The Waking Dark by Robin Wasserman, a small Kansas town named Oleander is shocked by a wave of brutal murders perpetrated by neighbors, friends, and family members. All of the perpetrators commit suicide, except for one, who manages to survive but can provide no explanation for her actions. As
Overall, this was a steady, good book - which was kind of the problem, honestly. It was too steady. The characters are solid, and although I admit Jule was my favorite, none of them annoyed me - even Ellie, whose dialogues on Christian duty are perfectly drawn of the Christian-popular-girl stereotype. The plot starts with The Killing Day, then a storm, and then slowly builds up. A little too slowly, in fact.
I think I understand what Wasserman was going for - the slow, subtle build where at first you dismiss what's happening, until it becomes full-blown madness - and it is done well, but it doesn't really work with the plot of the book.As it turns out, the town is being affected by a naturally occurring substance, R8-G, which a military corporation has weaponized and tested on the unsuspecting townspeople. I have nothing against this type of plot, but I will say that it does not lend itself to the subtle inquiry of whether people are naturally evil and how far we have to go before we hit chaos. It's a plot that needs action and excitement, and this book just did not deliver that. I can't think of any moment that really caught me, or made me jump, or even made me think. The discussions of whether or not man is really evil seem perfunctory and a tad bit shallow: Daniel, the champion and idealistic character, and Jule, the cynical and Goth-decked character, go back and forth a few times throughout the book, reciting the same lines without ever developing the argument further.
As I said, steadiness is what kept this book from being great for me - it never shines, but instead plods along for 451 pages. The writing is fine, but an editor should have trimmed the fat to pick up the pace - and, indeed, pointed out that pacing was an issue in the first place. It's not that the pacing is bad, per se, but that it is the pacing for another novel entirely. Take, for instance, between the Killing Day and the tornado that sweeps the town. There are nine and a half pages (32 - 41) that describe, in essence, that the townspeople resumed their normal lives during the course of the year. The author continually painted The Last Supper when all she needed was brushstrokes. After 452 pages, it ruined the momentum the novel needed.
As a psychological thriller, it worked, but the actual plot-line and the pacing just never quite meshed, leading it to be more of a slog than anything.
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the town slowly starts to descend into madness, five teenagers affected by the murders on the Killing Day band together. There is Daniel, who is fiercely protective of his little brother, Milo, and fears that he will take after his father, a street preacher alcoholic. West, a football player and jock who desperately hides a secret from his parents and the rest of the town. Ellie, a religious zealot who talks to God. Jule, the teenage daughter of a family of drug addicts and meth dealers who longs for something more. And Cass, the good girl who just wants to know what was going on.Overall, this was a steady, good book - which was kind of the problem, honestly. It was too steady. The characters are solid, and although I admit Jule was my favorite, none of them annoyed me - even Ellie, whose dialogues on Christian duty are perfectly drawn of the Christian-popular-girl stereotype. The plot starts with The Killing Day, then a storm, and then slowly builds up. A little too slowly, in fact.
I think I understand what Wasserman was going for - the slow, subtle build where at first you dismiss what's happening, until it becomes full-blown madness - and it is done well, but it doesn't really work with the plot of the book.
As I said, steadiness is what kept this book from being great for me - it never shines, but instead plods along for 451 pages. The writing is fine, but an editor should have trimmed the fat to pick up the pace - and, indeed, pointed out that pacing was an issue in the first place. It's not that the pacing is bad, per se, but that it is the pacing for another novel entirely. Take, for instance, between the Killing Day and the tornado that sweeps the town. There are nine and a half pages (32 - 41) that describe, in essence, that the townspeople resumed their normal lives during the course of the year. The author continually painted The Last Supper when all she needed was brushstrokes. After 452 pages, it ruined the momentum the novel needed.
As a psychological thriller, it worked, but the actual plot-line and the pacing just never quite meshed, leading it to be more of a slog than anything.
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LibraryThing member aliceoddcabinet
Gripping, disturbing, a good thriller. I liked the multiple viewpoints and the horrible things that happened.
LibraryThing member aliceoddcabinet
Gripping, disturbing, a good thriller. I liked the multiple viewpoints and the horrible things that happened.
LibraryThing member annhepburn
Not sure what to say about this. I listened to this as an audiobook, and at the end the recording was like, "We hope you enjoyed this audiobook" and I felt more like I survived this book. This is a rough, rough story in a well-written way. I found the violence much more disturbing than in the
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Hunger Games books or even Battle Royale, I think because of the expansive family history between all of the citizens of the town. So it's good for what it's doing, but I guess what it's doing just really isn't my thing. Show Less
LibraryThing member roses7184
Holy YA Batman. Seriously. The Waking Dark absolutely blew me away. Those of you who were following along with me as I read might have noticed it took me a while to finish. Trust me when I say that it's not because this book isn't fantastic, because it absolutely is. I'll explain more below, but
See here's the thing, it's the characters that suck you in. Each one of them is so very different. You have your jock, your church girl, your outcast, and more. If this sounds a bit like The Breakfast Club, let me assure you that it couldn't be farther from the truth. The thing is that each one of these characters has a full, rich back story. They each have a series of events that have led them to be what they are now, and a ton of buried secrets that you slowly uncover along with them. I was a slave to the pages. I had to know what happened to these characters. It was amazing.
That's just the surface though. The plot of The Waking Dark is equally impressive. Imagine your average town in the middle of nowhere. The one where everyone knows everyone else, and for the most part people are content to get along. Now imagine that same town going stark raving mad. It was intriguing how Robin Wasserman set this up. I hesitate to say too much, since I don't want to spoil anything, but every person in this book never stops being themselves. They just give in to the parts of themselves that they never let see the light of day before. That's what makes the story terrifying. It's also what makes it so hard to look away from.
This book is sad. It's violent and twisted. It's filled with bad things that happen to good people and, even more difficult, young people. This is what made this such a long read for me. I couldn't stop reading, and yet I had to because no one in this book ever gets a break. Really, nothing ever seems to go right. The Waking Dark stirred up emotions in me that I wasn't expecting.
So yes, I highly recommend Robin Wasserman's beauty of a book. It's not going to be the right fit for a lot of people, but it definitely was for me. Five gold stars go to The Waking Dark, and onto my favorites list it goes.
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let's just say this isn't necessarily an easy read. I thought I was desensitized to violence, what with how much horror I read. This book tested that theory. It's dark and disturbing. You've been warned.See here's the thing, it's the characters that suck you in. Each one of them is so very different. You have your jock, your church girl, your outcast, and more. If this sounds a bit like The Breakfast Club, let me assure you that it couldn't be farther from the truth. The thing is that each one of these characters has a full, rich back story. They each have a series of events that have led them to be what they are now, and a ton of buried secrets that you slowly uncover along with them. I was a slave to the pages. I had to know what happened to these characters. It was amazing.
That's just the surface though. The plot of The Waking Dark is equally impressive. Imagine your average town in the middle of nowhere. The one where everyone knows everyone else, and for the most part people are content to get along. Now imagine that same town going stark raving mad. It was intriguing how Robin Wasserman set this up. I hesitate to say too much, since I don't want to spoil anything, but every person in this book never stops being themselves. They just give in to the parts of themselves that they never let see the light of day before. That's what makes the story terrifying. It's also what makes it so hard to look away from.
This book is sad. It's violent and twisted. It's filled with bad things that happen to good people and, even more difficult, young people. This is what made this such a long read for me. I couldn't stop reading, and yet I had to because no one in this book ever gets a break. Really, nothing ever seems to go right. The Waking Dark stirred up emotions in me that I wasn't expecting.
So yes, I highly recommend Robin Wasserman's beauty of a book. It's not going to be the right fit for a lot of people, but it definitely was for me. Five gold stars go to The Waking Dark, and onto my favorites list it goes.
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LibraryThing member bookbrig
Well written, and good for someone who likes dark stories with people doing awful things to one another. Solid horror, I guess? I pretty much hated it, and gave up before the end. It's fairly gory and has explicit violence, drug use, and language. There are also several on page sexual assault
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scenes and lots of horrifyingly awful parents. If you're recommending it to teens, I'd maybe give a heads up that the content is more explicit than a lot of YA horror. Show Less
Awards
Sequoyah Book Award (Nominee — High School — 2016)
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection — 2014)