All Hallows by Christopher Golden is a Halloween horror that takes place in 1984. The story is slow paced for about 70% of the story then goes at rapid pace and doesn’t stop until the end. The horror and the gore when we finally get there is intense and no holds barred. The narrative of the story consist of 15 perspectives which for the most part is families parents and children. This was an element I did not care for it was too much too soon, I had a real hard time keeping up with who was related to who and who was friends with who. It was pretty messy, until the 50% mark then I was able to put it together. I felt the parents were a lot more memorable than the kids, and generally liked most of their stories over the kids who at the beginning only one kid really stuck out. I felt the lore was lazy and missing a lot for me to by the premiss. This book was almost a do not finish but the last half was actually good and finally caught my interest. The finale has some good moments and gets pretty intense. The over all story was just okay it had a good twist or two, but when I found out the major twist I was not too impressed. There’s so okay characterization especially the LGTBQ story line which was the only kids story I enjoyed. Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin Press for giving me a free copy to review. All Hallows was published on January 24 2023.
Plot Summary: It is Halloween 1984 in the small town of Coventry, Massachusetts. One Family that has a a big plot of land and loves Halloween makes a haunted woods for charity, every year but this one will me the last. Everything goes well but the town start noticing kids in vintage costumes that no one seems to know. The kids in vintage costumes have no family ad ask adults and kids for help as they’re being stalked by a tall jack o’lanterned man with candle lit eyes.
What I Liked: How hardcore the story gets where at the end no one is safe. I really liked the LGTBQ storyline and first kiss. I Liked most of the adults stories that were way more interesting than the kids. I like the way the Haunted woods was described, I wished more of the story would have taken place around that area. One twist was pretty memorable and changed the story for the good. I loved the cover art, it was creepy and eye catching.
What I Disliked: The kids stories, it took so long for their characters to develop and to have unique thought which made them stand out from the other kids. The backstory for the horror element was really under developed, and did not explain enough about the kids or the boogie man. The start was too slow nothing happens for way too long.
Recommendations: All Hallows is a story I can not recommend, there’s way more interesting horror that is written better with bigger ideas. The story for this book was lacking and I needed a lot better pace. I have been recommended Christopher Golden book from my fellow horror bloggers, so maybe this was a fluke and will try him out another time. I rated All Hallows by Christopher Golden 2.5 out of 5 stars. I kept going back and forth between 2 and 3 stars, the last 30% boosted it a little.
Reading with My Eyes 