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Strange Matter #22
Dangerous Waters
Wendy O'Darby and her friends discover that the stories of the squirming cactus, the giant alligators in the sewers, and other urban folktales are true in their hometown of Fairfield
144 pages, Paperback
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 7, 2021
Very excited to get back to Strange Matter with this one. I wasn't sure which to pick, but I went with a later on cuz I haven't explored the deep end of the pond too much. This one was good fun, but it can sit alongside the first book was being a lesser entry, kinda.
Wendy O'Darby loves urban legends. She and her friends often listen to this neighbor lady whose name escapes it already tell some. Her friends aren't as into them though. One day, they find that various urban legends are coming to life and happening to them. For example, one friend has a sitter over and they get a phone call asking about the children. Things like that.
They have to figure out why this is happening, and that's roughly it. I really dig the urban legend stuff here. They do their homework too, they pull ones so odd I thought they made it up, until I looked it up and it turned out these were all legit urban legends. This is another one that is constant and suspense, which I enjoy.
I never thought I'd see one of these features the kids become fugitives, but that happens here, as they get blamed for some of the stuff going on. That gave it some extra flavor. There isn't much to say without just recapping it, as it mostly just action. It's fun for that reason, and I like the sort of theme of stories. It doesn't get too much about it but the very ending puts a nice bow on it, somewhat.
I do feel it starts too quickly, we don't get much of a feel for the characters before we get into it. The friends could have some kind of quirks, and their thing was alright, but it could have been stronger. I feel like Bone Chillers may have done more with this. It takes them too long to figure out who is behind this, even though it was super obvious.
The villain was kinda, but her motivation was weird. This is a Barnes one and I noticed before that his are better at explaining things compared to Engle but this is only better due to them at least having a motive rant. But even with this whole speech, I still couldn't quite wrap my head around it.
I sorta get, but not, does that make sense? It's a bit weird. The climax was good though, with solid setup and payoff. The last chapter was nice as a cap, and there's no twist this time!
As a whole, it was a a lesser one but still managed too be good with the action, and urban legend stuff. If this were a lesser series, this may have been a Decent but the solid writing we usually see in this series props up nicely. Not the best, but fun.
One last thing, there was a contest for fans of the series to send in their own scary stories. This features the winning story, by Andy Goble. The story is solid, decently creepy and well written, especially given a kid did it. That's cool by itself. But it's worth noting that near the end of this, there is a kid named Andy Goble.
Nice.
Wendy O'Darby loves urban legends. She and her friends often listen to this neighbor lady whose name escapes it already tell some. Her friends aren't as into them though. One day, they find that various urban legends are coming to life and happening to them. For example, one friend has a sitter over and they get a phone call asking about the children. Things like that.
They have to figure out why this is happening, and that's roughly it. I really dig the urban legend stuff here. They do their homework too, they pull ones so odd I thought they made it up, until I looked it up and it turned out these were all legit urban legends. This is another one that is constant and suspense, which I enjoy.
I never thought I'd see one of these features the kids become fugitives, but that happens here, as they get blamed for some of the stuff going on. That gave it some extra flavor. There isn't much to say without just recapping it, as it mostly just action. It's fun for that reason, and I like the sort of theme of stories. It doesn't get too much about it but the very ending puts a nice bow on it, somewhat.
I do feel it starts too quickly, we don't get much of a feel for the characters before we get into it. The friends could have some kind of quirks, and their thing was alright, but it could have been stronger. I feel like Bone Chillers may have done more with this. It takes them too long to figure out who is behind this, even though it was super obvious.
The villain was kinda, but her motivation was weird. This is a Barnes one and I noticed before that his are better at explaining things compared to Engle but this is only better due to them at least having a motive rant. But even with this whole speech, I still couldn't quite wrap my head around it.
I sorta get, but not, does that make sense? It's a bit weird. The climax was good though, with solid setup and payoff. The last chapter was nice as a cap, and there's no twist this time!
As a whole, it was a a lesser one but still managed too be good with the action, and urban legend stuff. If this were a lesser series, this may have been a Decent but the solid writing we usually see in this series props up nicely. Not the best, but fun.
One last thing, there was a contest for fans of the series to send in their own scary stories. This features the winning story, by Andy Goble. The story is solid, decently creepy and well written, especially given a kid did it. That's cool by itself. But it's worth noting that near the end of this, there is a kid named Andy Goble.
Nice.
Displaying 1 of 1 review