westernskynaida's reviews
135 reviews

Oh man. This book I struggled with when reading the physical edition, so I decided to try listening to the audiobook (with Robbie Daymond as one of the narrators sign me up). It took me only a few days where the physical edition I’ve had on hold for months now

The idea of a company knowing when you’re going to die seems both helpful and also terrifying. It puts into perspective of the idea of whether you live the most during that final day or just let things happen

I also love the idea of the Final Friend app and related apps (like NecRom, which I’d personally never use but Last Friend I would) because it helps people who may feel alone or are alone in those final 24 hours

Rufus’ final chapter hit me like a ton of bricks and actually made me nearly tear up.

For anyone interested in reading this, it might take a bit to get past the first 1/4th of the book with it feeling really dry. But it does pick up once you learn a little more about Mateo and Rufus 

This book was better than I thought it would be going into it. Did it have some rough parts (some dated ideas and some kind of weird translation issues)? Yeah, for sure. But considering when the original story was published, it does fit

I’ve seen the American adaption of this book, and wasn’t entirely sure what to expect going into this book. But this really didn’t disappoint. It wasn’t constant horror, but I was within the last 30 pages and my cat jumped up and I jumped (got some weird looks from her). I’m wanting to watch the Japanese adaption and the American adaption again after having read this

Would definitely recommend if someone is interested in experiencing the original version of this story

I made it about 60% percent through this book and really had no idea what was happening. It was catching, that’s for sure. But I feel like I wasn’t the right audience for this. Which is unfortunate, since I’m a big fan of found footage. It also wasn’t horror (to me at least). It was more surreal experience

The way I described this book to a friend of mine was “it’s like you’re watching a car crash in slow motion. You know something tragic is going to happen, but there’s nothing you can do to really stop it”

And I said that before finishing the book and…yeah. I can agree with that - for the most part

This is my third Ahlborn book, and probably my second favorite of the 3 I’ve read (Brother being my favorite)

I probably read this faster because the idea and story had me hooked pretty quick. The ending though, fell flat…and is why I took a solid point off because I really just…didn’t care for it

I’d recommend this if someone is wanting to read Ahlborn’s stuff, and maybe you’ll enjoy it more. It having a bleak ending, didn’t really bother me. It was more so the execution…

Ending spoilers

I don’t normally do a spoiler talk with my reviews flat out, but I really feel like the ending for this suffered for a couple of reasons. There was so much build up to Vee being a hypochondriac or possibly having a bad injury for the fall that happened earlier in the book. But nothing really ever came of it. I really thought something would have happened in the end regarding that information… I know Jeffrey has to be the Bad Ghost, but I really feel like there should have been something with her head injury…

Oof this book was a bit of a slog to get through. I try to give a book 100 or so pages because I like at least trying to give them a chance

This one took a bit longer for the crazy train to pick up, but once it did - I read over half the book in one sitting. Also the narration of the book was something that took me a weird amount of time to wrap my head around

Was this good? If you can get through 1/4-1/3 of the book? Yeah. Certain characters are insufferable in the beginning. But they do eventually get better

Will I continue reading this series? Yeah, probably

Month later review update: 

Changing score to be a 4/5. It was a book that I appreciated a lot more after reading The Fold

This one was a fun read. The first 2/3 definitely had a bit of a slow build to it, but I actually really enjoyed the last 1/3

I really enjoyed the references to real people who actually existed and playing homage to them

The only real odd reaction I had was during the end of 2nd third of the book, a death made me react way more emotionally that I expected. But even still, I really didn’t want to put it down after the end of the 2nd third 

Would I recommend? Yeah, if you can find a copy or don’t mind ebook

I went into this mostly blind, only knowing this was considered a “lost media” horror. I read this in about 2 days, I was hooked.

I feel this wouldn’t be for every reader but for those who are interested in these kind of stories (Candle Cove or Welcome Home) it’s very well done

There were some super tense moments and the forum posts and other related between chapter pieces were interesting to read

Having heard about the infamous Chuck Tingle, I was hesitant to read his horror. But I’m so glad I did. I read a review earlier that this is very cathartic, and while I didn’t grow up in this specific culture, I’ve know plenty of people who have

While this wasn’t back to back horror, the concept of losing yourself and trying to find yourself after such traumatic things have happened, can be very scary. Especially with how realistic this was - even with the demons.

This book has gotten me to wishlist the next horror from Tingle, and I’m excited to trot my way into the next one

And just remember - love always wins

I’m giving this a little lower of a score because I ended up having to listen to the audiobook version and probably missed a good chunk because I couldn’t focus like if I was reading a physical or ebook

Besides that, I thought this was very well done. The audiobook specifically definitely gave me some goosebumps at certain parts because while it was the same narrator, some parts translated really well in audio form.

While ableism is also pretty thick in this due to how people treat Clark, I feel Lois - in her own way - showed how much she loves Clark, as he is, and while she has frustrations, I was genuinely happy at the final climax made my heart happy.

I want to be able to read this as a physical or ebook because I feel I would get some pieces I’m sure my brain just blanked on - especially in the later half. But I’d definitely recommend this, especially for people interested in folklore from other countries

I had read this previously back when it was on r/NoSleep. I feel even years later, this still hits hard

The narration for the naive child who doesn’t understand the worries and scary things that are happening makes things so much creepier. The ending still hits hard. Maybe I enjoyed it more than others might because I read the original version, but I still think this was a great slow burn