The ceremonies

Nota bene: Before reading this novel, I read and loved the short story [b:The Events at Poroth Farm 7055789 The Events at Poroth Farm T.E.D. Klein https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1458812325s/7055789.jpg 7307112]. This book is an expansion of that story.Having read T.E.D. Klein's novel, I can only say he's a great short story writer. OK, kidding aside, my reaction to this was heavily colored by my previous reading of the short story. I think any reader will probably find the version they read second will suffer by comparison. Once you're familiar with certain plot points, it's hard to see them retold in a different way. I do think the short format allows more ambiguity and dangling threads, which are harder to tolerate in a novel, but are essential for building true dread.I'd say regardless of the comparison, this book does suffer from some independent flaws: - It's overly long at 500+ pages, and would have benefited from some editing. Too many side characters, too much meandering with the Brethren, Sarr's mother's plot takes significant time, but pretty much fizzles out, and a lot of the descriptions had me thinking, “OK, we GOT it - can something actually happen now?”- We get a pretty straightforward explanation of the evil forces, and ride along with the bad guy as he carries out his plans. This tends to defuse any horror for me.- The main characters are not engaging individually or as a couple. Jeremy is obnoxious, Carol is a twit, and they have zero chemistry.However, this has a lot going for it too:- The prologue is a humdinger - super creepy and draws you right in.- The initial description of the community and the farm are very effective. It's clear that nature holds sway here, so when something corrupts nature, things are going to be Very Bad.- This explicit homage does capture the distasteful horror at mysterious pagan rituals that Arthur Machen evoked in The White People, successfully transferring it to modern day America.- Bwada is just as creepy and unsettling as in the short story. You can't help but wonder if Stephen King read this before writing Pet Sematary.Overall, I'm giving this three stars, erring on the charitable side because I know I'm prejudiced. If someone asked me whether to read this or the short version, I'd probably say stick with the short story, but this was pretty good too.