The Narrows by Travis M. Riddle
Self-published, 2018
Self-published, 2018
Ebook. 256 pages.
About The Narrows:
"I can show you how to enter the Narrows to find what you seek.”
Oliver and his friends have returned to their hometown of Shumard, Texas for the funeral of their close friend Noah. They each grapple with the loss in their own ways, trying to understand the strange circumstances of their friend’s unexpected death.
While visiting the site where the body was found, Oliver stumbles across a chilling discovery that he knows must be related to what happened to Noah. Wanting to protect his friends from these newfound horrors, Oliver takes it upon himself to venture into the grotesque otherworld known as the Narrows to learn what happened to his friend and find a way to bring him back.
Entering the Narrows is one thing, but will whatever he finds there allow him to leave?"
Oliver and his friends have returned to their hometown of Shumard, Texas for the funeral of their close friend Noah. They each grapple with the loss in their own ways, trying to understand the strange circumstances of their friend’s unexpected death.
While visiting the site where the body was found, Oliver stumbles across a chilling discovery that he knows must be related to what happened to Noah. Wanting to protect his friends from these newfound horrors, Oliver takes it upon himself to venture into the grotesque otherworld known as the Narrows to learn what happened to his friend and find a way to bring him back.
Entering the Narrows is one thing, but will whatever he finds there allow him to leave?"
The Narrows is a spooky little horror story that combines a myriad of components to create a compelling, imaginative, and highly entertaining story. This is a great book to read for the Halloween and holiday reading period, as it has a wonderfully mysterious atmosphere that pervades the entire book as well as contains that post-holiday feeling of indifference that we all know and expect.
My favorite thing about Riddle's writing is how he slowly feeds information about the characters and the plot in small, essential doses--it's just enough to prompt you to understand something or cause you to ask more questions, which in turn makes for a book that is impossible to put down. He's also so a master at writing characters that I actively wanted to hear more about, including their background and minute details about them.
My favorite thing about Riddle's writing is how he slowly feeds information about the characters and the plot in small, essential doses--it's just enough to prompt you to understand something or cause you to ask more questions, which in turn makes for a book that is impossible to put down. He's also so a master at writing characters that I actively wanted to hear more about, including their background and minute details about them.
The horror aspect was done really well. It was more of a quiet spookiness for the majority of the story, rather than something blatantly and obviously horrifying. There were, of course, some very overt and outrageous moments, but the rest of the time was more about wondering about the unknown and trying to figure out just what sort of crazy things were happening to Oliver and the town of Shumard.
As much as I loved the main horror plot, the other main area in which Riddle shines is with his characters. This is something that I started to realize when I read my first book from Riddle (Balam, Spring), but that really stood out to me as I read this book. There's something exceptionally authentic and realistic about the characters Riddle creates, something that brings them to life in different ways than a lot of books seem to do. Every character somehow feels like someone I would actually meet or interact with on a regular basis. They aren't boring by any means, but they're wonderfully normal and simply living their lives like any normal person would, complete with complex relationships and, you know, the occasional otherworldly experience.
Oliver was a great protagonist. He's intelligent and caring, but as with any human, he can easily make mistakes or jump to conclusions. I did appreciate that he seemed rather open-minded about both people and the crazy things happening in this book, which made him someone I actively liked as a person. Oliver is a bit stubborn about doing dangerous things that he probably shouldn't be doing, but it wasn't overdone and he actually had good reasons for doing them most of the time, so I didn't really find myself annoyed with him at all. The rest of the characters in this book are all equally interesting and had strong, well-developed personalities. I thought that Riddle's inclusion of a transgender character was one of the best I've seen. It was very intelligently done in a manner that, although was very clear and highlighted this person's character, was still somewhat subtle and felt very natural. It's handled with a deftness that almost made it stand out more in a positive way than I expected.
Another great part about these characters was the friendships and various relationships among them all. Riddle created some strong and in-depth, complex friendships between different characters and examined the good and bad of those relationships, both of those that have lasted and those that have fallen apart.
I also have to mention how I loved the ending immensely. I can't actually say why I loved it because of spoilers, but suffice to say it made me enormously pleased and I had a huge smile on my face because of how Riddle chose to end it. And lastly, I just have to mention that I think the cover is fantastic and could not do a better job at representing the story. It's a bit creepy and unnatural and the details also reflects details of the story extremely well.
Overall, I've given The Narrows 4.5 stars!
Oliver was a great protagonist. He's intelligent and caring, but as with any human, he can easily make mistakes or jump to conclusions. I did appreciate that he seemed rather open-minded about both people and the crazy things happening in this book, which made him someone I actively liked as a person. Oliver is a bit stubborn about doing dangerous things that he probably shouldn't be doing, but it wasn't overdone and he actually had good reasons for doing them most of the time, so I didn't really find myself annoyed with him at all. The rest of the characters in this book are all equally interesting and had strong, well-developed personalities. I thought that Riddle's inclusion of a transgender character was one of the best I've seen. It was very intelligently done in a manner that, although was very clear and highlighted this person's character, was still somewhat subtle and felt very natural. It's handled with a deftness that almost made it stand out more in a positive way than I expected.
Another great part about these characters was the friendships and various relationships among them all. Riddle created some strong and in-depth, complex friendships between different characters and examined the good and bad of those relationships, both of those that have lasted and those that have fallen apart.
I also have to mention how I loved the ending immensely. I can't actually say why I loved it because of spoilers, but suffice to say it made me enormously pleased and I had a huge smile on my face because of how Riddle chose to end it. And lastly, I just have to mention that I think the cover is fantastic and could not do a better job at representing the story. It's a bit creepy and unnatural and the details also reflects details of the story extremely well.
Overall, I've given The Narrows 4.5 stars!
Buy the book: Amazon
I think good character development is something that often falls by the wayside with horror novels, so I'm glad to hear the author really brought the characters to life!
ReplyDeleteI agree, it was really refreshing!
DeleteI love this cover as well, and this gets bonus points for having great characters!
ReplyDeleteAgreed!
DeleteOoh! This sounds awesome!! Great review! Adding to my TBR right now!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely loved the diversity and individual personalities given to the characters! The story was super interesting too, I really liked it :)
ReplyDelete