Ratings1
Average rating3
Four old university friends reunite for a hiking trip in the Scandinavian wilderness of the Arctic Circle. No longer young men, they have little left in common and tensions rise as they struggle to connect. Frustrated and tired they take a shortcut that turns their hike into a nightmare that could cost them their lives. Lost, hungry and surrounded by forest untouched for millennia, they stumble across an isolated old house. Inside, they find the macabre remains of old rites and pagan sacrifices; ancient artefacts and unidentifiable bones. A place of dark ritual and home to a bestial presence that is still present in the ancient forest, and now they're the prey. As the four friends struggle toward salvation they discover that death doesn't come easy among these ancient trees...
Reviews with the most likes.
A few old friends embark on a hiking trip in the Scandinavian wilderness.
Once the troop goes off the beaten path and gets lost, tensions flair.
But this is not the real horror. The real terror awaits them in the woods.
The Ritual is filled with creepy homes in the woods, pagan rituals, creatures, piles of bones, and plenty of visceral moments.
The creature elements and exploratory narrative portions were my favorite parts of the book. I really do not have much to say about the book. It was just okay.
Unfortunately, the conversations between the unlikeable friends and drama really did not do anything for me. For every bit that was fun and exciting, it had bits that did not work for me.
Overall: creepy moments, but a bit bloated on story elements that were uninteresting, imo.
3/5