Hey Bookworms,

Happy Wednesday! You know what the perfect thing is for hump day? Book reviews!

Grad school starts for me next Monday, so I wanted to squeeze just one more book in before I hunker down for some serious study time.

This time I read The Silver Eyes (Five Nights at Freddy’s #1) by Scott Cawthon and Kira Breed-Wrisley.

I’ve actually known about this franchise for quite some time. I learned about the video game first and watched some playthroughs, though I never really played it myself.

Then one day I was looking through Amazon and discovered there was a series. I was gobsmacked, so you know I had to get in on some of that animatronic anarchy!

So, what did I think of this book? Did it live up to the stellar reputation it seems to have? Keep on reading!

Blurb

Based on the bestselling horror video game series, Five Nights at Freddy’s follows a young woman named Charlotte, who reunites with her childhood friends on the anniversary of the tragedy that ripped their town apart. It’s been exactly ten years since the murders at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, and Charlotte, who goes by the name Charlie, has spent the last ten years trying to forget. Her father had owned Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza and had built its four adult-sized animatronic animals. After meeting up with her friends, curiosity leads them back to the old pizza place, and they find it hidden, but still standing. They discover a way inside, but things are not as they used to be: the four mascots that delighted and entertained them as children have changed. The animatronic animals have a dark secret and a murderous agenda.

GoodReads

Amazon

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The Review

Lackluster and disappointing.

Being a fan of horror for all age groups, I came in expecting a lot given the reputation of this franchise. This was probably my most disappointing read for the year so far.

Overall I felt this book had the bones for a good story, but the execution was way off.

From the blurb this book sounded great. A group of teens come back to their childhood town to pay respects to a friend of theirs that was kidnapped years ago. But when they start to tell stories of the past, it turns into a quest for answers. What lies in the dark remnants of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza where their friend was taken?

What killed this book the most for me was the writing, pacing, and plot.

The writing needed to be tightened up in my opinion. Many passages go over too many details without really providing the reader anything of substance. For instance, if you’re having a dialogue between characters, inserting way too many long action tags in between each sentence really takes the reader out of the story. Also, in spots the writing felt a bit long-winded. I think if this book was cut by maybe 10-15% it would’ve flowed much better and been easier to read.

The pacing was way too slow for my liking. I’d say about three-quarters of the book dragged, and I started to skim in places. The beginning was alright, but up until the halfway point not much happens. The last fifteen percent of the book does get a little bit better, but not nearly enough to justify everything that led up to it.

The plot was promising at the start, but there’s some serious redundancy in this book. Several locations are visited time and time again for more answers and each time the kids find out more somehow. They literally visited Fazbear’s Pizza three separate times throughout. Three times! The main character also visits her old house twice and some other abandoned place too. See what I mean? There’s too much of the same thing with the same setup. Abandoned places are pretty much all we get to see, and they’re all pretty similar. It got boring quickly.

The characters were alright. Nothing special if you ask me, but acceptable. What would’ve made them great is more depth. We got to know a ton about their past, but nearly nothing of their current selves and what has helped them cope over the years. Without that they didn’t jump off the page for me.

All this being said, I can’t recommend this book and won’t be continuing the series, but I’m glad I got the chance to give it a try from my library.

That’s A Wrap!

Well that’s it for this book review. I hope you enjoyed it!

Have you read this book? Are there other similar books you’ve read that you simply have to gush about? Feel free to leave a comment. I’d love to start a conversation!

Have a great day!

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