Book Author: S.A. Harian
I’ve read it!
Suggested reads:
Why believe in jinxes when you can believe in manifestation?
Table of Contents
Science meets occult meets cosmic in this mystery-thriller that will grip you until the last page, and even then you would not want to let go.
⚠️TW: Mention of themes related to the following can be found in this book: dead bodies, hallucinations of creepy crawlers, violence, and horror.
Who will love it?
If you enjoy hiking gone wrong mysteries, and anyone who generally loves the mystery/horror/thriller genre, and those who wanna embark on it, you have to check this out!
If still not convinced, read the full reading notes below.
Where to grab a copy?
This pundit highly recommends finding a copy you can borrow (i.e., from a friend or library), instead of immediately buying a new book. Trees are generally used to make the paper in the books we read so let’s be mindful.
If not possible, that’s only when one should consider buying a new book, and make sure to support your local bookshops. And online shopping (i.e., Amazon or whatever online bookstore serves closest to you) must only be your last resort.
Happy reading!
Full Reading Notes
My copy is an ARC from Compass and Fern and Netgalley for an honest review.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
An eery, heart-racing, intriguing, and well-paced prologue will hook any lover of mystery/horror-thrillers into the world of Briardark. Each chapter will keep you guessing especially as you try to figure out how each character relates to one another, and the events in Briardark.
The author, S.A. Harian’s storytelling in this book shows so much potential for her to be one of my go-to authors for mystery/horror-thrillers stories and I cannot wait for the next book. (UPDATE: Book 2 entitled Waywarden was released 15th of July 2024. Check out the review here.)
On a more technical note…
Storytelling POV. IMO, S.A. Harian made a brave choice by using a 3rd-person POV. The use of first-person POVs is more commonly used in this kind of genre due to the added horror effect of experiencing the characters’ lives. Also if the author is not careful with a 3rd-person POV, distinguishing one character from the other becomes difficult especially if there are too many characters in the story. This is usually because their ‘voices’ become the same. But Harian, did such an amazing job by using it to her advantage while making sure to create distinct, and well-developed characters.
Story Tropes. Without spoiling it, I could not give a detailed list of the tropes in this book. Still, I’ll say this much…Harian took common yet challenging, and intriguing tropes usual to this genre, sewed them all together into the fabric of Briardark’s world, and produced this masterpiece.
The only drawback I can think of right now is that this book was just released at the beginning of 2023, ending in a major cliffhanger. The wait is still very long for the next one, so you’ll have time to read Briardark before the next release.
-The ArKivist
Leave a Reply