Into the Pit

November 8, 2019

Gr 6-9-"Be careful what you wish for" is the theme of these three grisly, macabre tales based on the video game Five Nights at Freddy's. One tale features Sarah, who wants to be gorgeous like the most popular girls at her school. When an abandoned robot comes to life and offers to grant her a wish, Sarah asks for a perfect body and the robot agrees, as long as Sarah wears a special necklace. As each day progresses, she becomes more beautiful, gaining the attention of the popular kids but losing her lifelong friend, Abby. A tumble in the cafeteria causes the necklace to fall off, and Sarah realizes her limbs are no longer flesh and blood but odd cast-off mechanical parts that belong in a salvage yard, discovering too late that being beautiful comes at a terrible price. The other two stories-in which a boy is horrified that his dad is turned into a murderous bunny, and a teenage girl crawls inside a giant mechanical bear-feature equally loathsome outcomes and will be sure to keep readers up at night. VERDICT These gruesome novellas featuring characters from the popular video game are a great choice for medium to large collections.-Julie Shatterly, W. A. Bess Elementary School, Gastonia, NC

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2019
Three spooky novellas pit teens against mechanical creatures. Oswald, Sarah, and Millie are dissatisfied with their lives. Oswald's father is unemployed and money is tight--and to make things worse, his best friend has moved away. Sarah has a poor self-image, disordered eating, and wants to be model-pretty and popular. Goth Millie is miserable living with her grandfather in his overstuffed Victorian. Yet all three find that wishing for things to change can have consequences far worse than their previous troubles--ones that may claim their lives. Several characters from the Five Nights at Freddy's video game franchise feature in this short collection, and the animatronics in these original stories evoke the game's clunky, fear-inducing characters. While the novellas are certainly engaging in terms of plot and include some terrifying--albeit gory--imagery, the characters and their stories border on cliché. Debut author Cooper's contributions are at times inventive, with nonlinear plots and inconclusive endings, but all the stories include similar, predictable plot points and occasional passages that could have been edited for clarity. There is a notable amount of repetitive and (too) straightforward dialogue throughout, but the simplicity overall makes for a smooth read that's devoid of ambiguity, focusing instead on the forward movement of action, which may draw in reluctant readers. Main characters are white; there is some minor diversity in secondary characters. Head into the pit for a quick horror read; those looking for immersion should keep out. (Horror. 12-16)

COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 1, 2019
Three spooky novellas pit teens against mechanical creatures. Oswald, Sarah, and Millie are dissatisfied with their lives. Oswald's father is unemployed and money is tight--and to make things worse, his best friend has moved away. Sarah has a poor self-image, disordered eating, and wants to be model-pretty and popular. Goth Millie is miserable living with her grandfather in his overstuffed Victorian. Yet all three find that wishing for things to change can have consequences far worse than their previous troubles--ones that may claim their lives. Several characters from the Five Nights at Freddy's video game franchise feature in this short collection, and the animatronics in these original stories evoke the game's clunky, fear-inducing characters. While the novellas are certainly engaging in terms of plot and include some terrifying--albeit gory--imagery, the characters and their stories border on clich�. Debut author Cooper's contributions are at times inventive, with nonlinear plots and inconclusive endings, but all the stories include similar, predictable plot points and occasional passages that could have been edited for clarity. There is a notable amount of repetitive and (too) straightforward dialogue throughout, but the simplicity overall makes for a smooth read that's devoid of ambiguity, focusing instead on the forward movement of action, which may draw in reluctant readers. Main characters are white; there is some minor diversity in secondary characters. Head into the pit for a quick horror read; those looking for immersion should keep out. (Horror. 12-16)

COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.