Stolen Tongues

This can be looked at as either an impressively good creepypasta or an OK novel. I think the author has a lot of talent, but this book does show the importance of a good editor.

I highly recommend reading the prologue regardless - it's a little capsule creepy tale of its own, that I found incredibly effective.

The rest of the story has some truly scary, well-written horror as well, but it gets bogged down in repetition and some nonsensical character motivations. Also, I found it doubly wearing to read the cycle of Faye's nighttime woes and Felix's reactions, because it made the female character seem less and less capable and three-dimensional as it repeated.

I do appreciate the author's note about his decision to include indigenous American people as characters. Some might criticize it as the same old “mystical native understands magic,” but I think he succeeded in his effort to depict these characters as normal, multidimensional, modern humans who don't have mystical answers, and along with that he gives a good reminder that native peoples are many and varied - not a monolith by any stretch of the imagination.

All in all, this is well worth checking out. I just won't blame you if you wind up skimming some of the mid-to-late chapters.

What an incredibly gripping book, I was far too engrossed in the story and what the outcome would be and how things were going to play out that I literally couldn't put it down. It was something I've personally never seen done before and enjoyed that there was genuine research done to convey the Native's stories appropriately.

I also loved Faye and Felix's relationship, the devotion he had for her, and how he stayed by her side no matter how crazy the situation got and was trying his best to help her, it was very sweet.

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”

“Faye was lying on her side, facing away from me, and whispering one half of a very strange conversation. I imagined a person crouching in the darkness at the edge of the bed, smiling up at her and whispering back.”

This book started in a snowy cabin, thought it would be romantic? No. It is very atmospheric. The writer did a great job with setting up the scene to be cold, uninviting and spine chilling.

This book is freaky! I dare you to read this at night, in bed. If you don't get spooked out, I salute you! Even the prologue made the hair at the back of my neck stand up and I don't get scared easily. Though, it got a bit repetitive towards the middle of the book.

I loved the relationship between the two main characters Faye and Felix, they're funny and seem in love with each other. I didn't like the relationship between Faye and her parents, her parents kept hiding secrets from them and it didn't seem like a healthy relationship. Especially letting your daughter stay in a cabin where you know terrible things happen.

⭐️⭐️⭐️
3 Stars= It was an enjoyable read

This has been promoted as a horror book and is supposed to be one. While I never got scared while reading this, I did get creeped out a few times.


For as long as I can remember, instead of screaming when I get scared or creeped out for some reason, I yell “EWW”! (mostly when watching movies) Which I found myself saying a couple of times while reading this story.


The story started off strong and was so good. It kept me very engaged at first but lost steam a little over halfway through. It began to seem a bit far-fetched and rushed. The ending left me feeling unsatisfied. I believe if the book were roughly 200 pages shorter, it would have been perfect.

I also found it very weird that the author named the main character in the story after himself. Was that just me?

What was up with the whole Fay telling the hollow man that enough was enough and him just being like "Oh, okay, sorry, I'll leave lol. Byyyeee?" After all they went through there is no way it was that easy to rid themselves of the evil entity.

All in all, this was a fun read and is worth checking out.

TRIGGER WARNING: Child Loss, Stillbirth

Got me from the prologue, it had a very creepy feeling, and that continues throughout the book. I think it could have been a tad bit shorter definitely some place that could be trimmed but didn't take away from my enjoyment. It was also not super graphic so great first horror book for someone getting into the genre. Would give a 4.5 so rounded up.

Rating: 4.6 leaves out of 5Characters: 4.75/5 Cover: 3.75/5Story: 4.75/5Writing: 5/5Genre: Horror/Thriller/SupernaturalType: AudiobookWorth?: YesHated Disliked It Was Okay Liked Really Liked Loved FavoritedWow, I haven't read the NoSleep story and kept passing it up every time it came around. Kind of glad I did since I could go into the story blindly. Audio version did it justice, probably more justice than reading an ebook or the physical. I am glad he did his research on the subject. The chills were real and I couldn't have listened to it at night!

Holly molly this book is really something first I want to say that I don't get scared Easily but this book give me that of course while I readed more less scary the book get But even with dad is really intriguing I couldn't stop reading because of that I was just trapped in wanting to know how it ends If I could give tis book ten stars out of 5 I will do it without doubt because this one is one of the best for me in it's genre

Firstly, my positive remark is the beginning part with the Carrot ordeal was awesome and made my skin crawl. Unfortunately, the story continued after.

Premise, awesome. Ending, so unbelievably disappointing. The amount of loose ends makes the story feel like it was written on a whim. The dreamcatcher situation turned out to be nothing and was dragged on for almost the entire story. The stolen wedding ring had no purpose for the plot, even after being found it was like “Oh, ok I have it now”...

The First Nations people served no purpose other than repeating how they have no clue how to help, then dying to scare our main characters.

This relentless, murderous monster who skins and mimics its victims seems to have no mercy. Unless you're Faye who just can't remember she almost had a brother. For some reason, this horrible creature is so interested by this (can't relate) that it spares her for some reason. And once she remembers she almost had a brother, she wants the monster to leave her alone now and ... well ... it just does. Just like that.

I thought it was going to reveal that her unborn brother was tied to this creature somehow, or became part of it somehow... But nope. Just a crazy murderous demon who really wants to make Faye relive something crappy for no reason, because he feels like it. It's like it cares about the whole brother thing, which is entirely out of character. The brother thing came completely out of nowhere. It didn't circle back around to make everything tie together, it was just totally random and so I didn't have any feelings towards it.

She remembers her almost-brother, has an OTT reaction and complete mental breakdown and then the monster dusts himself off like his job is done here. This monster cared way more about what Faye was feeling than I did.

A story sprinkled with stupid here and there only to end in a stupid-bomb. I was so excited to read this, too.

i went into this with great expectations, finished it, and those expectations were not met. i will say that the story started strong. i was creeped out, i cared for the characters, and i wanted to know more about the unknown entity. i can totally see the potential. however, as the story progressed, everything fell apart, and i wasn't so interested in the mystery and the horror anymore. it became repetitive that the thrill or horror i felt whenever the monster was around was gone. and the ending, it was so unsatisfying and left me thinking, “is that it?” i wanted more from it but it sadly fell short. i'm just sad that it ended up being a dud for me because i really wanted to like it.

This was... decent. It wasn't anywhere near as scary as I'd been told it was and the story felt like it was stretched pretty thin even though this wasn't an especially long book. Still, it did have a few genuinely unnerving moments and it was engaging enough that I wanted to see it through to the end, which was itself solidly satisfying. This is a book that's neither great nor terrible, but I doubt it's something I'll ever revisit or recommend.

I have a lot of mixed feelings on this one as I could give it 1-3 stars and I'm not sure yet what will win out.

I think it was a good scary story for the most part, but the more it went on the more gripes I managed to have against it.

Full spoilers on that under the cut, but basically, the ending sucked, the “reveal” for why the monster was tormenting this woman was real dumb and it's overall pretty tone deaf.

The rating immediately dropped when they killed the native father and then even more with the son. It just didn't sit right with me as I was reading it to begin with and it is sitting even worse when the ONLY people who die are two of the three native people. I do believe that he was trying to be mindful but there are such clear blind spots that it's pretty frustrating. He kind of did the exact thing he said in his essay that he didn't want to do. The ending was some bullshit too. I figured out the whole baby thing when they're all like “what makes five” and I'm like okay but what about it. And apparently nothing about it. Her baby brother was still born and she was so deeply traumatized by it and her family never told her all these years, like it was some weird closely guarded secret? I hate so many things about it. And then you're gonna kill off these two natives but then the creature just decides for the whites they've actually been bothering to completely torment this whole time “oh the secret of your trauma is your unborn brother, that's fine I'll just see myself out then.” Tell me how any of that even makes sense? Too straight and white man for me.

Another thing is that why the hell is the MC also Felix. Idk that alone gave me bad vibes.