Stolen Tongues

I'm going to start by saying it baffles me to see people label this “ The Scariest book I ever read!” It wasn't scary at all. There is barely any build up, tension, dread, anxiety or anything really to these scares. The scares are popped into certain parts of the story and over in literal seconds. Almost the equivalent to a tacky jump-scare in an Indie horror film. I guess I can see this book scaring my child or someone who is easily frightened.

It's extremely repetitive and I contemplated not finishing it. I read a review on here that mentioned how disappointed they were with the ending so I continued to see if I felt the same way and I have to agree. I don't understand how “the hollow one” completely backed off the second she said “Enough” We're talking a creature that literally stalked and haunted this girl to the point of obsession and demented love and it ends that abruptly?? It is definitely rushed. As an author, you should leave readers with answers. Thorough explanations or at least some type of foreshadowing or hint at what could be the reason for things. It's lazy writing at best.

Character development is almost non-existent. Even the setting isn't fleshed out or descriptive enough to paint a picture in the reader's mind.

The word “suddenly” was used so often that it's burned into my mind. Adverbs are not your friend when writing a novel.

Also, I don't understand how the prologue reeled people in for being absolutely “terrifying.” It's odd to me how the prologue was focused on the parrot but the parrot is only mentioned one or two other times in the story.

The meaning behind the number “5” is predictable and honestly a let down. I wanted something mind blowing but instead I was left with confusion. Why is it important to “the hollow one?” I feel like a lot of elements of the story are never explained. Why was the wedding ring so significant? What about the dream catchers?” Side note: dream catchers are meant to protect against nightmares, so I'm unsure how the spin on them in this story even makes sense. What about the basement and whatever broke out of there?

The afterword blew my mind. Blackwell goes on to talk about the exploitation of Native American culture, stories, characters etc, only to do the very thing he spoke against. Two major Native American characters are killed off when they should be the ones with knowledge to defeat this “spirit”/“creature” considering its native to their land. Yikes.

I may get jumped here by all the “fans” for this negative review but if I purchase something, I have the right to review it so I don't really care about the hate I'll get for my review. If it should be titled anything it should be “Stolen Time”