Today I am super excited to be part of the Rock Star blog tour for THE FALL by Bethany Griffin! First off, I'll be sharing what I thought of this super creepy book, and then you'll have a chance to win a hardcover copy and a gorgeous prize pack!
Here we go!
The Fallby Bethany Griffin
♦publisher: Greenwillow Books
♦release date: October 7, 2014
♦hardcover, 437 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦stand-alone
♦source: from publisher for honest review
Madeline Usher is doomed.
She has spent her life fighting fate, and she thought she was succeeding. Until she woke up in a coffin.
Ushers die young. Ushers are cursed. Ushers can never leave their house, a house that haunts and is haunted, a house that almost seems to have a mind of its own. Madeline’s life—revealed through short bursts of memory—has hinged around her desperate plan to escape, to save herself and her brother. Her only chance lies in destroying the house.
In the end, can Madeline keep her own sanity and bring the house down? The Fall is a literary psychological thriller, reimagining Edgar Allan Poe’s classic The Fall of the House of Usher.
She has spent her life fighting fate, and she thought she was succeeding. Until she woke up in a coffin.
Ushers die young. Ushers are cursed. Ushers can never leave their house, a house that haunts and is haunted, a house that almost seems to have a mind of its own. Madeline’s life—revealed through short bursts of memory—has hinged around her desperate plan to escape, to save herself and her brother. Her only chance lies in destroying the house.
In the end, can Madeline keep her own sanity and bring the house down? The Fall is a literary psychological thriller, reimagining Edgar Allan Poe’s classic The Fall of the House of Usher.
Review: In Bethany Griffin’s second foray into reimagining the works of Poe, she stays respectfully close to the bare bones of The Fall of the House of Usher, but cleverly turns the storytelling voice over to Madeline, the young woman of the house who eventually finds herself buried alive. In short and wildly intense chapters, she alternates between Madeline at different ages to perfectly show both how the house possesses her, tries to appease her, and how she must fight against it to stay in control of her sanity.
I quickly found myself immersed in the haunting atmosphere and eerie occurrences of The Fall. Griffin’s writing is full of beautiful descriptions and hypnotic prose, and from the first chapter, it successfully makes the reader’s blood run cold with her absolutely phobia-triggering description of being buried alive. The story builds in intensity in a way that feels like the tightening of a screw, with each brief chapter flipping back and forth in time and giving us another small glimpse at the whole picture. In fact, the only thing that might have improved this book for me would have been to see a tiny bit more of a distinction between Madeline's younger voice and her older teen voice. At either age, it’s easy to feel for Madeline’s plight as her every attempt to outwit the house is foiled and everyone around her falls into either madness or peril.
Intermixed with Madeline’s point of view are journal entries from Lisbeth Usher who, like Madeline, was trying to escape. I loved this addition and though it cleverly added some great depth and backstory. This bleak, horrific tale will make the perfect Halloween read. This may even be one that I reread every October to set the mood for spookiness!
About Bethany:
Bethany Griffin is a high school English teacher who prides herself on attracting creative misfits to elective classes like Young Adult Literature, Creative Writing, and Speculative Literature. She is the author of HANDCUFFS, MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, DANCE OF THE RED DEATH, GLITTER AND DOOM, and THE FALL. She lives with her family in Kentucky.
Website • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads
And now for the Tour Giveaway!!
Prizes:
Be sure to visit the rest of the stops on the tour!
I love it when super creepy looking books get released in October. It's the perfect kind of read we're looking for. I haven't read a Poe re imagination yet, looking forward to The Fall.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed it! Ooh I can't wait for this book, actually I featured this in my WoW post today. I think I'll buy it and just put it aside until Halloween.
ReplyDeleteWonderful review. :)
First of all the cover is amazing! And the story sounds amazing :) Thank you for the giveaway.
ReplyDeleteI love Allan Poe, and this book definitely sounds like an insightful retelling of one of his stories. Seems perfect for the month ahead of us, creepy and eerie while not so scary right? Because to much scary isn't good for me. Anyway, the review was great, it really made want to read this one.
ReplyDeleteYay :D Awesome post sweetie. <3 Sigh. I'm SO GLAD that you loved this book :D I did too. It was just stunning, wasn't it? So awesome :D Thank you for sharing Becky. <3
ReplyDeleteI'm really looking forward to reading this book! The cover is so creepy--better than most scary movie covers :)
ReplyDeleteI loved everything about this novel. It was creepy and just mysterious enough that I had to keep turning the page. I loved the mixture of Madeline's narrations from different ages as I thought it really kept the plot moving and reveled certain information exactly when we needed it to.
ReplyDeleteI loved the ending, too! I won't say much because I don't want to spoil it for others, but I thought it was simply perfect and definitely fitting!
Another fairytale retelling to add on my TBR! I'm just so fond of this genre!!! And I get excited everytime there's a new release of a book based on fairytales or lores. Yours is the first review I have read of this book and the first to convince me to read it. Loved your honest opinion about this novel. :)
ReplyDeleteThe cover is amazing and the story sounds interesting, I'm looking forward to reading it! Thanks for the chance!
ReplyDeleteThe atmosphere and descriptions sound amazing! I love reimagining's (and Poe), so this one is high on my wishlist. Lovely review, and thank you so much for the giveaway (entering as Lea Johnson)!
ReplyDeleteI need to read more creepy books! Loved Masque of the Red Death so I am looking forward to seeing if this one is as good!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this one as well. Just finished it this past week. And you're right, the romance is pretty sweet. But like you I had many questions that I still need to have answered.
ReplyDeleteHi Tammy, The Fall sounds like a good thriller. I would love to read your book. Thank you for the giveaway.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, i meant Bethany!
ReplyDeleteI love psychological thrillers. Thank you Bethany for writing the book. Keep those thrillers coming.
ReplyDeleteI loved Poe's short story. I am excited to read this retelling of the story!
ReplyDeleteThat's one creepy looking cover.. I love it!!! :) Also, as a big fan of Edgar Allan Poe, I think I'm gonna enjoy reading this one.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a chance to win it!
Bethany, The FALL sounds incredible!! Kudos on your success <3
ReplyDeleteI'm already claustrophobic, so kinda not needing to add to my fear of premature burial, but what the heck lol ;)
Good to hear you liked this one. I wish it had worked for me better too. I really like the aspects of this book, but it didn't seem to come together properly. I'm curious about the sequel though.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this awesome review! It gives me another reason to read Stray! I'm very looking forward to reading this book! :)
ReplyDeleteEveryone seems to love this book and I know I'm falling more behind by not having read The Fall yet. As always, I hope I get to read it soon someday and will love it as much as you did :)
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