The Devouring by Simon Holt

Summary:

"When dark creeps in and eats the light,
Bury your fears on Sorry Night.
For in the winter's blackest hours,
Comes the feasting of the Vours,
No one can see it, the life they stole,
Your body's here but not your soul..."

THE VOURS: Evil, demonic beings that inhabit human bodies on Sorry Night, the darkest hours of the winter solstice.

When Reggie reads about the Vours in a mysterious old journal, she assumes they are just the musings of an anonymous lunatic. But when her little brother, Henry, begins to act strangely, it's clear that these creatures exist beyond a madwoman's imagination, and Reggie finds out what happens when fears come to life.

To save the people she loves, Reggie must learn to survive in a world of nightmares. Can she devour her own fears before they devour her?

The Devouring is an engrossing tale of terror that will have you wondering: what if your worst fears became your living nightmare?

Review:

For a while now, I've been craving to read a scary book, so when the chance came up to read The Devouring, as well as it's sequel Solstice, I agreed. Though, while The Devouring was a compelling read, I didn't come to find it drop dead scary, more like just a bit scary, I guess.

Simon Holt has an interesting idea in the Vours, which is one of this novel's main focuses. It was fun to read about their history as well as see what they could do to you if they captured your soul.

But the writing and the characters just didn't do it for me. I felt that both were mostly one dimensional and flat throughout The Devouring which left them to not be memorable by the end.

Luckily, what the characters and writing lacked, the plot partly made up for it because of it's fast pace and occasional twits and turns.

Overall, The Devouring is a good read, but not a great one. Though, I still will be reading the sequel , because I have a feeling that the story may grow to be better as time goes on.

Grade: C

The Devouring is now out!