veronica reads.

B+/B | Japanese ghosts and folklore? Fatal Frame-esque atmosphere? I'M SOLD SIGN ME UP.

I adored the Fatal Frame games. I never had the chance to actually play the main games myself (I did play the spin-off Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir for the 3DS which was eh but oh well), but I did watch a ton of YouTubers play it. I always have looked for other media – but especially books – that capture that very same feel and atmosphere: Japanese ghosts and rituals gone wrong.

Rin Chupeco sort of did that with this book. She was able to sort of capture the atmosphere of the Fatal Frame games, except without the soul or the weight or the scares of the games.

But this book isn’t a Fatal Frame book. It’s a Rin Chupeco book and it has its own soul, weight, and flavor. Despite the fact that it didn’t bring the same level of scares, Rin’s writing, world building, and characterizations counterbalanced the lack of scares.

I admit that I had some whiplash when the POVs kept changing and from the third person to first person. Still, Okiku’s voice and Tark’s voices and emotions were wildly different from each others’ which I really appreciated. Rin’s writing certainly has a way of gripping you and refusing to let you go, even after the book is finished (thus at least forcing me to start the next book as soon as I finished this one). She was able to write two very compelling characters, both of whom I can identify with in a way. She did a lot of showing which helped me feel all the emotions the characters were feeling.

Now, this book has a cool premise — a vengeful ghost, who goes after monstrous humans (who honestly deserve to get murdered by a ghost), meeting up and befriending this kid who happens to have an even worse spirit attached to him. I thought it was well-executed, although I do wish it was scarier.

In terms of the world building, it has the atmosphere that I was looking for in books. Rin does a good job of setting up this world. Is it something to throw a party over? No, but I certainly commend her for doing a good job bringing this world alive.

In general I thought that the characters were well-written and their development was well done. The Okiku of chapter 1 isn’t the same as the one at the end of the book and same with Tark. I love that. I love being able to witness/being shown characters developing and changing as the story goes on. I love that Okiku seemed to become more “human” the longer she was around Tark.

But, while this book shines, it's also just missing something to achieve magnificence.

It’s not scary. Yeah, sure there are the attempts to have the scares, but it’s like my baby cousin trying to scare me when she should be napping instead. You can get me once or twice if I’m not expecting it, but other than that it’s meh. I wanted to be terrified.

Okiku is interesting and so Tark. Like I said, I adore the premise of this spirit lingering for years and murdering despicable human beings. I love it, okay?

However, I honestly wished that there was MORE. I needed more meat. I would have rather had a 300+ page book that had MORE than a book that sometimes felt like I was reading summaries. It needed more. Maybe I'm just greedy, but I needed more. Give me more scares, please!

Do I recommend? Honestly, yes. I think you should give this book a shot.