REVIEW: The Ravenous by Amy Lukavics
The Ravenous
by Amy Lukavics
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publish Date: September 26. 2017
Hardcover
299 Pages
Standalone
Genres: Horror, YA
From the outside, the Cane family looks like they have it all. A successful military father, a loving mother and five beautiful teenage daughters. But on the inside, life isn't quite so idyllic: the Cane sisters can barely stand each other, their father is always away, and their neglectful mother struggles with addiction and depression.
When their youngest and most beloved sister, Rose, dies in a tragic accident, Mona Cane and her sisters are devastated. And when she is brought back from the dead, they are relieved. But soon they discover that Rose must eat human flesh to survive, and when their mother abandons them, the sisters will find out just how far they'll go to keep their family together.
My Review:
I am saddened that this review is going to be anything but praising Lukavics and her usually superb YA horror skills. Unfortunately, this one just did NOT work for me. I REALLY wanted it to but sadly, I do not. However, I did finish it which was easy enough to do because of the easy writing style this author has and because it was just under 300 pages. I won't lie though, there was a couple of times I considered DNFing this one. I kept thinking maybe SOMETHING was going to happen that would give me an "AH-HA, there it is!" moment... but nope.
Now, I'm all about suspending reality - especially in a horror book. I was willing to concede that a hammer could potentially do THAT.. but a fireplace poker? It absolutely canNOT do THAT. So um.. yeah, no. These girls have a horrible home life and clearly live in their own little bubble with a father who is always gone and a mother who basically should be. Also, one person, one sitting? Talk about some binge eating!
Look, I'm not giving anything away - the synopsis is basically what the story is. There's no surprises. There's no twist or gasping moments. It's just a straight story from beginning to end. For some readers, that will be perfectly fine and if you like zombie stories, maybe this one will work better for you. However, I needed something more. Or maybe if the synopsis had left some mystery to the plot then it would have resonated a little better. I'm not entirely sure.
I DID like the reference to a certain killing family in their video watch, so thank you, Amy, for that reference!
Honestly, guys and gals, I do highly recommend Lukavics for your YA horror needs. I'm not quite sure how much I'd recommend this one.
★★
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