Winterset Hollow ⭑⭑⭑⭑
Genre: Horror
US Publication: September 1, 2021
Print: 286 pages
Audio: 9 hours 1 minutes
Confetti Rating: 4 stars
REVIEW:
Winterset Hollow is another gem of a read that has been lifted upon the shoulders of the awesome Books of Horror community on Facebook. When that group loves a book, they REALLY love it.
Imagine taking a little tourist excursion to see the home of your favorite childhood author, someone like Lewis Carroll or L. Frank Baum. But when you get there, the characters from his creations are real… and they’re not at all cuddly. You were on the hunt for a little nostalgia, but you ended up being the one hunted. Yikes!
That’s pretty much what goes down in Winterset Hollow, as our protagonists visit Addington Isle, the place that inspired a beloved book (that itself seems to be inspired by Watership Down). The first few chapters read like pretty standard contemporary fiction, until - HELLO! - life-size talking animals appear. And these animals have an axe to grind. It turns real violent real fast, with blood and guts and all the gore.
This novel pushed me outside my comfort zone, not in terms of the violence but rather how deeply it dives into the fantasy genre. Fantasy just isn’t my jam, but I still very much appreciated what author Jonathan Edward Durham achieved. His debut is on its way to being a classic. (And by all accounts, he seems to be one heck of a nice guy.)
In a nutshell, if you want to read what all the cool kids are reading these days, this is it.
Winterset Hollow is currently available and can be found in the Kindle Unlimited collection.
PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:
Everyone has wanted their favorite book to be real, if only for a moment. Everyone has wished to meet their favorite characters, if only for a day. But be careful in that wish, for even a history laid in ink can be repaid in flesh and blood, and reality is far deadlier than fiction… especially on Addington Isle. Winterset Hollow follows a group of friends to the place that inspired their favorite book - a timeless tale about a tribe of animals preparing for their yearly end-of-summer festival. But after a series of shocking discoveries, they find that much of what the world believes to be fiction is actually fact, and that the truth behind their beloved story is darker and more dangerous than they ever imagined. It's Barley Day… and you're invited to the hunt.
Winterset Hollow is as thrilling as it is terrifying and as smart as it is surprising. A uniquely original story filled with properly unexpected twists and turns, Winterset Hollow delivers complex, indelible characters and pulse-pounding action as it storms toward an unforgettable climax that will leave you reeling. How do you celebrate Barley Day? You run, friend. You run.