I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Book of Kindly Deaths by Eldritch Black Published by Spencer Hill on September 16, 2014
Genres: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Paranormal YA
Pages: 304
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher
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WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF THE MONSTERS IN A BOOK BECAME REAL?
When twelve-year-old Eliza Winter finds a secret room in her missing grandfather’s sprawling, Gothic house, her safe, sheltered life is blown apart. Inside, below a stained glass window where moonlight shines no matter the time of day, sits The Book of Kindly Deaths.
In defiance of her controlling mother, who has always forbidden her to read anything strange or imaginary, Eliza takes the book. As night sets in, Eliza reads one haunting story after another. And the further she journeys inside the book, the more the boundaries between our world and a shadowy land of monsters and forbidden places begin to blur.
When the strange, crooked man from the book arrives on the doorstep claiming to be a rare-book collector and demanding entry into the house, Eliza’s world is turned upside down. To escape him, she must dive all the way into the spine-tingling world of The Book of Kindly Deaths to save her grandfather–and write an end to the nightmare she’s caught inside.
When the lovely Estelle emailed me about THE BOOK OF KINDLY DEATHS, I was immediately excited. First of all, as I’m sure most of you know, I LOVE the middle grades. I love reading about enterprising, brave young ‘uns who get to go on all these amazing adventures, whether in a fantasy realm or in real life. Second of all, Eldritch Black’s debut sounded imaginative and dark and the idea of reading about a young girl with a creepy book appealed to me, as stories about books usually do. I’m so glad that Estelle brought my attention to THE BOOK OF KINDLY DEATHS! It was all of the things I love about middle grade.
THE BOOK OF KINDLY DEATHS is the story of Eliza Winter, a young girl who has been alienated from her grandparents (mom’s side) for most of her admittedly short life. But when her grandfather Tom goes missing, Eliza and her family head to his big, creepy mansion to clean things up, and she finds a kind of creepy secret room. And in that secret room, she finds a strange little book that won’t let her turn the pages without reading the contents first, and the contents are terrifying. The book describes a world in which cruel, devious, deadly monsters exist. The stories of their victims appear within the book’s pages, but that’s not all that the book can do, which is why SOMETHING is coming after Eliza to find it. What ensues is a dark, dangerous, wildly creative story about a world right next to ours that is always in the dark, and we all know what lives in the dark. (Umm…monsters.)
One of the things that I loved the most about THE BOOK OF KINDLY DEATHS is the world. I don’t mean the real world England that is the Eliza’s home, even though that’s certainly fine and plenty dark, especially when we get a glimpse into the stories of the monsters’ victims from the book. I mean the world beyond the window where the monsters live. WHAT AN AMAZING PLACE. It’s dark, literally and figuratively, and the inhabitants are perfect—vicious, dangerous, sometimes evil, grotesque, and scary. They have very little to no concept of humanity, so when Eliza enters their world, she must get comfortable as quickly as possible (or something close to comfortable anyway) in order to LITERALLY NOT DIE. It was wonderful!
It’s this bravery and adaptability and clear-headedness that really endear me to Eliza. She’s such a great character. I LOOOOVED that she wasn’t afraid of being afraid. Does that make sense? Eliza is constantly facing things that she previously had no concept of existing—actual nightmares—and even though they are terrifying, Eliza faces them. Plus she’s really smart and has a very developed sense of what’s right. In some instances, she seemed to have the conviction of a much more mature person, but she’s still obviously a kid. Loved her. One hundred points to Miss Eliza.
The characters aren’t the only things about THE BOOK OF KINDLY DEATHS that made it memorable for me. Eldritch Black really does a great job with the dark and creepies, so the book has a spine-tingly vibe from start to finish. But what I found totally captivating is the monster world, and the unrest there. I want to understand the politics and the hierarchy and the different species of monsters. It’s all so well-realized and intriguing and FUN. I mean, dangerous obviously, but still fun.
If I had to point out something in THE BOOK OF KINDLY DEATHS that bothered me, it would probably the speed of the story in the end. I have a chronic issue with books ending too quickly, not just because I want them to keep going, which I certainly did in this case, but because I thought things tied up a little too fast. THE BOOK OF KINDLY DEATHS, quite honestly, had both issues. I would love to read more, and I thought things tied up quickly. Really, though, that’s not the worst complaint I’ve ever made about a book. I enjoyed this one a lot.
Friends, if dark paranormal books are your thing, I can’t recommend THE BOOK OF KINDLY DEATHS enough. If you love middle grade like I do, then THE BOOK OF KINDLY DEATHS is definitely something you should check out. It’s especially PERFECT to read this time of year. I’m not sure if there will be more books about Eliza, but I hope there will be. I’d gobble those right up!
I’m really looking forward to reading The Book of Kindly Deaths! When Estelle first described it to me, it already sounded really good. Your review has me anticipating my reading experience just that much more, as Eliza sounds delightful and I LOVE when the world the character finds herself in is quite imaginative!