The Devouring by Simon Holt

The Devouring by Simon Holt
Series: The Devouring, #1
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Format: Paperback
Pages: 231
Source: Purchased

When Reggie finds an old journal and reads about the Vours, supernatural creatures who feast on fear and attack on the eve of the winter solstice, she assumes they are just the musings of some lunatic author. But soon, they become a terrifying reality when she begins to suspect that her timid younger brother might be one of their victims.

Risking her life and her sanity, Reggie enters a living nightmare to save the people she loves. Can she devour own her fears before they devour her?

Bone-chilling, terrifying, thrilling...what are you waiting for?

 

When dark creeps in and eats the light,

Bury your fears on Sorry Night.

For in the winter's blackest hours

Comes the feasting of the Vours.

No one can see it, the life they stole,

Your body's here but not your soul...

-Page 4

 

This book was creepy. Which is exactly what I was hoping for and expecting when going into it. That little rhyme up there, yeah that was on page four. It really set the tone for the entire book and believe me it definitely lived up to the creep factor portrayed in the little rhyme.

 

The vours were creepy. They honestly freaked me out. And then there were some of the scenes, like the one with the clown that had me to the point where I had to close the book for a few minutes. As someone who loves scary things, I was quite satisfied with this one. I kept reading this one well into the night, which wasn't such a smart idea.

 

There's so much happening in this book, Reggie had to deal with a lot which her brother becoming a little frightening just added to all of the stress she was under. And the whole having to live the nightmare's thing? That was awesome and freaky and if that wasn't enough, throw in a clown and spiders crawling all over Reggie and I found myself squirming in my seat.

 

The book kept a steady pace which really held my attention, the only thing that really seemed to be an issue is that the book read like something written for a much younger audience. Besides that I was very pleasantly surprised and will be reading the rest of this trilogy.