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A review by entazis
The Gingerbread Men by Joanna Corrance
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Holiday spirit but make it creepy!
It's the perfect combination of winter atmosphere, nightmarish Christmas mood, that timeless moment that feels it will never stop, and melancholic gothic horror. All set in a strange isolated hotel, somewhere in the Scottish Highlands, where our protagonist, an ✨️aspiring author✨️, gets trapped. Because he followed the beautiful, mysterious woman there... and it seems he can't figure out that something is wrong with the hotel... or the woman.
This was a lot of fun, and by that I mean it was a lot of fun to hate the main character and roll my eyes while he explained how he's the best while everyone else is so very basic. There's a lot of discussion about relationships and all the ways that men can dominate, manipulate, control and suck the life out of their female partners, so the story is also feminist horror. I also loved stories-inside-stories which were dark fairy tales that hold hints for the characters in the main story. But I have a whole video talking about the book, spoiler free, which you can check out if you understand Croatian at the Morina kutija YT channel - @morinakutija, which is why I'm keeping this review short.
The important thing is that if you're looking for Christmas horror, filled with snow, cold, dark nights, and creepy but alluring women, consider checking this out.
It's the perfect combination of winter atmosphere, nightmarish Christmas mood, that timeless moment that feels it will never stop, and melancholic gothic horror. All set in a strange isolated hotel, somewhere in the Scottish Highlands, where our protagonist, an ✨️aspiring author✨️, gets trapped. Because he followed the beautiful, mysterious woman there... and it seems he can't figure out that something is wrong with the hotel... or the woman.
This was a lot of fun, and by that I mean it was a lot of fun to hate the main character and roll my eyes while he explained how he's the best while everyone else is so very basic. There's a lot of discussion about relationships and all the ways that men can dominate, manipulate, control and suck the life out of their female partners, so the story is also feminist horror. I also loved stories-inside-stories which were dark fairy tales that hold hints for the characters in the main story. But I have a whole video talking about the book, spoiler free, which you can check out if you understand Croatian at the Morina kutija YT channel - @morinakutija, which is why I'm keeping this review short.
The important thing is that if you're looking for Christmas horror, filled with snow, cold, dark nights, and creepy but alluring women, consider checking this out.