If you don't stand up to your fears,they will destroy you.When five kids are invited to a cemetery at midnight, they think it's just a prank. When they find a gravestone that instructs them to dig up a grave, they think it's just a joke.It's no joke.An evil force is unleashed - a force that takes the shape of their worst fears.A shark in the water.A ghost in the walls.A nightmare of being buried alive.A snake about to strike.A sinister clown waiting in the woods.Once these fears are released, they won't go away. Not without a fight. . . .
K.R. Alexander is the pseudonym for fantasy author Alex R. Kahler. Under this guise, K.R. writes creepy middle grade horror, perfect for young readers looking for a scare! His first book, The Collector, debuted from Scholastic in the Fall of '18.
This book is the middle grade version of IT and I loved it! I honestly wasn't expecting it to be as creepy as it was but it was honestly really spooky and perfect for this time of year. The fact that my own fear was nestled in the pages helped amp up the spookiness for me. In this book we follow 5 kids who are invited to a cemetery at midnight. Thinking its a prank they go and find a gravestone instructing them to dig up the grave. Little do they know they unleash a force that takes the form of their worst fears and they won't go away without a fight. I'm usually not crazy about middle grade novels considering most of them are very simple and a little to easy for me, but I honestly think that K.R. Alexander is a new favorite author of mine. He keeps his middle grade stories interesting enough for all ages and with this book in particular I couldn't seem to put it down. The fact it has easy writing and was quick to get through make it all the more better.
The Fear Zone is a very blatant ripoff of Stephen King's It, but for YA audiences. So no blood, no killing, etc. But I mean, look at the cover of this book. Though there is an evil clown in this book, there's no red balloon. That was simply put on the cover to make the clown of this story look more like Pennywise from Stephen King's It. And this book came out in 2019, the same year It Chapter Two came out. So it's an obvious money grab by Scholastic to try to make money off the movie.
To make it even more obvious, this first book covers a group of kids and their fight against an evil, supernatural clown that knows their worst fears, and the sequel to this book, The Fear Zone 2, covers the other half of the story, where the kids are all adults now and the evil returns. That is, to a T, the first and second parts of Stephen King's It. How was there not a lawsuit over this book? I feel like King could sue the hell out of Scholastic over these two books and win easily.
Insultingly, K.R. Alexander, the author of The Fear Zone, thanks a friend of his for coming up with the idea for this book in the Acknowledgements section at the back. Lmao! Yes, Mr. Alexander, someone did come up with the idea for this book. His name is Stephen King!
Anyway, blatant ripoff aside, the book wasn't entirely terrible. The author has some characters who are gay, and one who is Latinx, and it was nice to see those groups represented in literature for a YA audience, even though their representation was pretty superficial in this story. I also liked how one character had an abusive, alcoholic father. That was presented pretty realistically, was a bit unnerving, and was a pretty mature theme to cover in YA literature.
Overall though, this is still a ripoff of a far greater work, and it's not that great, or scary. It's okay, but definitely nothing special. Some parts of it were a real slog and I found it hard to care about any of the characters or the events occurring in the story. Younger readers might enjoy it more than me though, as I'm not the intended audience. On to the next reading adventure (which will definitely not be The Fear Zone 2).
I try to express only my most honest opinion in a spoiler-free way. Unfortunately, there is still always a risk of slight spoilers despite my best efforts. If you feel something in my review is a spoiler please let me know. Thank you.
It wasn't bad. It was a really quick read, which left it a bit hard to really connect with any of the characters on a personal level. It might be that it was because of the clown, but I can't help but feel like this might have been inspired by It by Stephen King. So much reminds me of it only child proofed.
It was a bit spooky though and crushes between the characters were cute. It really is hard to believe that this was a 300+ page book though. It reads super quickly. I'm guessing it is because this is meant to be middle-grade audiences, which may also explain my inability to really connect with the characters. All in all, though this was a decent read.
The story of the misadventures of five children and teens. Three from high school: mischievous Caroline (no one knows that she is evil because she has to hide a big secret), her ex-friend April (an insecure girl), her gay friend Andres (with a rich imagination). Two older boys: Kyle (he's from a dysfunctional family and very popular at school) and Deshaun (a pretty nerd having Kyle as his only friend).
What are the misadventures? Well... have you watched/read "It"? All in all, it's It by Stephen King for middle-grade audience. Too many similar details for my liking, but creepy moments aren't bad. Very fast read for a few hours.
Titulo: The Fear Zone Autor: K.R. Alexander Motivo de lectura: Letras Macabras (Isla Macabra 2023) Lectura / Relectura: Lectura Mi edicion: Electronico Puntuacion: 3.5/5
Cuando un libro de terror incluye en su trama un grupo de chicos y un payaso, las comparaciones son inevitables. Y aunque personalmente siento que Stephen King siempre sera el papa del payaso mas malo del condado, en mi opinion K.R. Alexander logra entregarnos una muy buena historia.
Este libro es middle grade, claramente no soy el target para esta lectura pero me entretuvo en todo momento. Los niños forman un grupo que genera interes, y como lectora estuve pendiente de cada uno de ellos (especialmente April y Kyle se robaron mi corazoncito). El autor explora los miedos infantiles, asi como tambien la perdida y la violencia intrafamiliar, apoyandose en estos aspectos logra crear una trama terrorifica, con tintes de aventura, pero por sobre todo explora la importancia de la amistad y el valor de apoyar a los demas (mensaje que considero de suma importancia en una lectura infantil).
Aun cuando puedo ver cierto paralelismo con la obra de King, el autor K.R. Alexander pone su propio sello en los giros de la trama en un intento de resolver todo de manera satisfactoria.
My daughter, who is a sixth grade teacher, was looking for a middle grade horror book and she asked me to read this one. Could sit this on the shelf right next to R.L. Stine.
This is almost beat for beat Stephen King’s IT but for kids. Down to the clown, fight scene, entire narrative, even some fears. Like if Stephen king wanted to sue for copy right, he could. Or if I wanted a 9 year old to understand IT with less trauma.
Are you ready to face your biggest fears? You will have to in this spooky book!
So, I have been meaning to read this book for a bit, but wanted to wait until October. It was hard, not just because I wanted to read it, but also because that cover kept terrifying me. XD
I am so into each new book of the Horrorland (as it is called in Dutch) series. I look forward to them. I was so glad that this one came out around September as that meant I could read it for Spooktober!
We follow 5 kids in this book (well, 4 are the biggest characters and one is a bit to the side and I frankly didn’t give a hoot about her). It was at times a bit too much I have to be honest and at times I confused the boys with each other. I would be like, but wait wasn’t this x’s fear? Oh, we are reading from x’s POV, teehee. But I did like the kids (again for most, Caroline can just be eaten by the clown) and I found them fun to follow. I love how they went from two pairs of friends to all friends. All supporting each other. All trying to get this spooky thing solved!
I also love that you cannot escape. Yes, I am pretty sure that becasue
The fears of the kids were pretty interesting.. well for most. I mean, I wish they had picked another one for the boy who was afraid of sharks. If he was at a sea or somewhere near a big pile of water, sure. But this? Later on we saw that the clown was able to manipulate things, so I could understand that even the tiniest drops would be dangerous, but before we knew that? I was just giggling when he was terrified about that bath. Oh boy. But the fears of the others? Legit. One is afraid of ghosts (and then especially poltergeists), one is afraid of clowns (ah well yes heck yes), then we have someone afraid of snakes (and something else that broke my heart). And I don’t really care about Caroline. The fears were well written, or well, I should say, seeing the clown manipulate their fears. Making them very much real. Making it very scary. Making it so real that they actually felt like they could die.
Later on when they go back to the graveyard things got even scarier. I don’t want to give it all away, but holy heck. It takes a very brave person to get through things.
The clown was just terrifying. Given things I thought it would just be clowns in April’s POV, but instead.. we see the clown everywhere and BOY, as someone who is absolutely terrified of clowns this was just terrifying to read. I am surprised I didn’t get any nightmares after I finished it, because OH BOY so much creepy clown! Plus, the author wrote this one so well, that I could just imagine his creepy voice. BIG NOPE.
I found myself instantly hoping that Kyle and Andres would get together. You could see from both of their POVs that they were interesting in the other boy and I just adored it. And then later we also get Deshaun and April and I had two couples to cheer and root for.
Bonus points to the title. Or well, I love both the Dutch edition (that I read) and the English title. In Dutch the title is Ik kom je halen (I am coming to get you) which is just PERFECT for this book!
The only thing that this book could be without is Caroline. I know she has a sobstory but, as I have said many time, that doesn’t just magically excuse her behaviour.
All in all, I flew through this book, it was good! Scary and at times terrifying! Perfect for this month
So, I'm becoming more and more of a K.R. Alexander fan with every book of his I read. That theory held true with The Fear Zone, but I can't possibly give this book more than four stars, as it literally has a plot that is 90% from Stephen King's IT lol.
SPOILERS: The story follows a group of young teens who come across an entity that take's the shape of all their truest fears, whose main shape is a clown? And I'm pretty sure the sequel is about the kids having to face the same entity as adults? I enjoyed the book, but it is just WAY too much like IT that I can't give it 5 stars due to that sole reason!
K.R. Alexander rules though, and I will definitely read the sequel LOL.
This book deserves more than 5 stars because It was fun to read, interesting, spooky and leaves you with cliffhangers every time you stop so it makes you not want to stop reading. Personally, I hate reading, I just don't like it and its hard for me to find books that I will read, but this book was really good the plot was good, it is one of the books that you can imagine what's happening at that moment. Another reason I gave this book 5 stars because the characters connect with each other, they are the only ones who see the clown, not anybody else and how they work together and find ways to help each other and come up with the plan.
This is a story that started on Halloween day and how 5 kids April, Andres, Deshaun, and Caroline, got into a big problem. 3 of the kids got a super creepy note. The note gave the kids super clear instructions and threats. At first, the 3 kids who got the note thought that it was some kind of prank and were just some seniors trying to fool with them. The 5 kids were invited to the cemetery but they don't know who it is. The kids that got the note are refusing to go but they go either way because their friend convinced them. Before they leave they chill and eat candy. Once midnight hits they go and they see 2 kids going to the cemetery because their friend got the note and are coming with them. The kids see that there is spray painting and start to investigate when all of a sudden their enemy shows up " Caroline" they all ask why she is here and says that she got a note too. The kids start to race Carolie to see who can find something out first when Caroline takes out a tin can and just gets up and leaves. Once the kids get tired of not finding anything they get up and they go back to their houses and promise to never speak of what had happened that night. When the kids got to their friend's house one the 3 that got the note couldn't fall asleep and they started to notice weird things, at first they thought it was them hallucinating but 2 nights had past and then everybody started to have their worst nightmare come to life nut only to them five. When they all met up after a couple of days they saw it, they were so scared that they couldn't move. When they went back to school everyone had different classes and there was still no sign for a clown. Days pass and still no sign until the unexpected happens and they can't lose without a fight.
This is shorter, more child/teen friendly version of Stephen King's IT. There's lots of creepy, nightmarish imagery and pretty sold characterization.
I would definitely recommend this book for any child/young teen looking to get into the horror genre, similarly how Goosebumps was the precursor for my love of horror.
Met Halloween vinden vijf kinderen een mysterieus briefje. Ze worden uitgedaagd om midden in de nacht naar de begraafplaats te komen. Maar dan gaat het gruwelijk mis. Er komen magische krachten vrij. De kinderen zijn niet meer veilig.
In Ik kom je halen volg je alle vijf de kinderen: April, Andres, Kyle, Deshaun en Caroline. Door de afwisseling leer je alle kinderen kennen, zo ook hun angsten. Buiten verschillende angsten heeft elk persoon zijn of haar eigen problemen. Ook dit wordt goed naar voren gebracht. Er zit ook een klein mysterie element in. Één van de angsten wordt pas later duidelijk.
Dit boek schijnt een middle grade IT te zijn. Zelf heb ik IT niet gelezen dus daar kan ik niet over oordelen. Het is moeilijk te geloven dat dit een boek van bijna 300 bladzijdes is. Tijdens het lezen voelde het boek veel korter, dit komt onder andere door de korte hoofdstukken.
Het verhaal gaat over vriendschap en je angsten overwinnen. Voor mij was dit het engste boek tot nu toe.
I will personally be Stephen King's lawyer should he choose to sue for copyright infringement. If this book looks like a ripoff of King's It, then your judgement would be correct. Some things are changed and genderswapped, but it is remarkable how many plot and character beats were stolen from It. The "fat" character who thinks everyone hates them. The one with the abusive father. The freaking clown stalking children and feeding on their fear. The kids going down into a cave (sewer) system beneath the town to defeat said clown. It's all here, and it's all done worse. It doesn't help that this book also conveniently came out two years after the It: Chapter One movie. Or that there's a sequel to this book where the blurb is all about how they're older now and have to defeat the clown again, you know, the adult portion of It, but a separate book this time.
The scares in this book are for the most part, completely nonsensical and serve zero purpose. I have no idea what this clown's plan is, all he does is set up these blatant, unoriginal scary set pieces for these cardboard cutout kids to go through. And I know these characters are kids (middle school and early high school, so really not that young though), but they're all so DUMB. Literally three pages after they have the obligatory "we've all seen the clown and are scared out of our minds" scene where they finally meet up, one of the characters has a run-in with the clown, and then has the AUDACITY to say that it was nothing. Like you literally just admitted this clown has been screwing with you, and then it happens again, and you have the gall to just throw all of that out the window because "she was too embarrassed to tell these kids who have all seen the clown multiple times that she just saw the clown again." The entire book is like that, it was one of the most infuriating reads I've ever had the displeasure to go through. It's also insanely predictable. I normally don't care if something's predictable if it's still enjoyable. This is not one of those cases.
This might be one of, if not the, worst books I've ever read. If you're looking for kids horror, just stick with R.L. Stine or Christopher Pike, not this hack.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I really enjoyed this book I feel like kids would love it. I feel like this writer wrote like Mary Downing Hahn she is the one who wrote Took and writes ghost books. If you like scary and haunted books you would love this book. What I liked about how they wrote this because they would change it so it would give you on how every kid felt about stuff. I recommend this book to everyone even though you might not like scary things. This book was amazing.
If Goosebumps and IT made a baby this would be it. Love it! I just wish I had this back when I was in middle school...would have scared the crap out of me back then. Still had some creepy parts but would have been scarier if I was younger.
Ik kom je halen is verhaal dat in zijn grondslag erg lijkt op IT van Stephen King, maar dan voor kinderen. 5 kinderen worden naar een begraafplaats gelokt en vanaf daar begint de ellende. Ellende die er voor elk kind heel anders uit ziet. Ze krijgen nachtmerries en zien dingen, allemaal gebaseerd op hun grootste angst. Samen besluiten ze uiteindelijk om tegen het kwaad te vechten dat dit veroorzaakt en moeten daarbij hun angsten het hoofd bieden.
Voor mezelf was dit boek niet heel erg origineel. Ik heb IT al gelezen en voor mij leek dit boek gewoon te erg op een versie daarvan, maar dan voor kinderen. Als ik me echter zou verplaatsen in het hoofd van iemand uit de doelgroep, die IT waarschijnlijk niet heeft gezien of gelezen, dan is dit boek erg goed geschreven. Het is geschreven vanuit het perspectief van alle 5 de kinderen. Elk hoofdstuk is een ander perspectief. Het boek is opgedeeld in drie aparte delen: De uitnodiging, de nachtmerries en het graf. Dit maakt het voor een jonge lezer makkelijker en overzichtelijker om te lezen en is dus er goed gedaan. De schrijfstijl is ook erg toegankelijk.
Dit boek is echt een boek dat geschreven is voor kinderen die wel wat aankunnen en van horror houden. Er komen angsten in voor, zoals de cover al verraad, ook voor clowns. Je moet hier dus wel tegen kunnen. Er komt ook een stukje emotionele mishandeling in voor van 1 van de karakters en er komen pesterijen in het boek voor. Ook LGBTQ is aanwezig in dit boek. 2 van de karakters zijn uit de kast gekomen. Dit is erg subtiel beschreven en dus ook toegankelijk voor kinderen. Het voegde verder niet echt iets toe aan het verhaal, maargoed, dat terzijde.
Het boek staat in het thema van vriendschap en je angst onder ogen komen en overwinnen. Kinderen hebben angsten, wij als volwassenen hebben angsten. Ik ben zelf als de dood voor spinnen. Mensen zijn geneigd dit niet zo te delen, waardoor je je daar heel alleen in kan voelen. Datzelfde gebeurt in het boek ook en is dus heel herkenbaar.
De spanning in dit boek is goed voor de doelgroep, er zijn meerdere spannende stukken die samen opbouwen naar het echte plot. Dat is goed gedaan.
Ik als volwassen lezen miste wel wat de originaliteit, maar verder is dit een goed geschreven verhaal, met leuke en realistische karakters en angsten en dat maakt ook dat de boodschap van het verhaal goed is. Samen sta je sterk, samen kan je je angst wel aan. Een lekker weg te lezen boek dus, niet te gruwelijk, maar wel spannend genoeg voor de jeugd onder ons.
Ik zelf had het boek 3 sterren gegeven, maar als jeugdboek geef ik hem 4 sterren, wat gemiddeld uitkomt op 3,5 ster. Prima verhaal dus!
Als vijf kinderen worden uitgenodigd om ’s nachts naar een begraafplaats te komen, denken ze dat iemand hen voor de gek houdt. En ook de opdracht om iets geheimzinnigs op te graven, lijkt gewoon een grapje. Maar het is geen grapje. Een duistere kracht is losgelaten en de kinderen worden stuk voor stuk geconfronteerd met hun grootste nachtmerrie. Levend begraven worden. Een achtervolging door een geest. Een schrikwekkende clown die je opwacht in het bos. Samen moeten de kinderen proberen hun angsten te overwinnen, maar nu die eenmaal vrijgelaten zijn, laten ze de kinderen niet meer los…
Af en toe is het heerlijk om ook eens een jeugdboek tussendoor te lezen. Vroeger las ik altijd de Kippenvel boeken, dus toen deze serie verscheen werd ik helemaal enthousiast. 'Ik kom je halen' is het zesde boek wat in deze serie is verschenen, maar je kunt elk boek prima los lezen, want het zijn allemaal losstaande verhalen.
De cover van dit deel trok mij meteen aan. Ik houd van clowns, haha! In dit verhaal maak je kennis met verschillende personages. Deze vijf kinderen hebben allemaal een briefje gekregen met een vreemde tekst en ze worden uitgenodigd om naar de begraafplaats komen (spooky!). Je voelt dan ook al vrij snel de spanning toenemen. Een begraafplaats en clowns, een betere combinatie kun je niet hebben, toch?
Iedereen komt daarna oog in oog met zijn/haar angsten te staan en dit vond ik dan ook een leuk concept. Ik kan dan ook goed begrijpen dat dit verhaal voor de jeugdige lezer behoorlijk spannend kan zijn. Zelf vond ik sowieso driekwart van het boek erg goed. Het einde deed mij zelfs een klein beetje denken aan 'It' van Stephen King.
'Ik kom je halen' is zeker een spannend boek voor de jeugdige lezer, maar ook als je wat ouder bent kun je hier goed van genieten!
Really enjoyable and well-written middle grade / YA horror book with a fast-paced story told through alternating narrators. The primary characters are April, her best friend, Andres, and school acquaintances, Deshaun and Kyle. Another classmate named Caroline, who frequently bullies April, is periodically active in the story, but less so than the core group of four. I was so happy the kids were intelligent and well spoken, and for the most part, possessed impressive poise and feelings of empathy and camaraderie.
The story takes place in the Fall around Halloween, so it’s perfect to add to an October TBR. The first few chapters were very nostalgic and had me feeling right in step with April and Andres, and Deshaun and Kyle, all planning for a fun and scary Halloween night. The characters were relatable middle graders with relatively average lives, though the reader will learn about issues of grief and emotional abuse causing a couple of the kids serious pain in their lives.
I’ve seen lots of GR and professional reviews coming down hard on this book as derivative of the plot line of Stephen King’s It. Okay, sure. But the target audience for this book is children I would say are too young to read It, so this genuinely creepy middle grade story about kids dealing with their life fears via a scary clown who shows up everywhere and taunts them mercilessly is a fantastic primer to start… and I’ve read and loved It for decades now and still was very thrilled reading this book! Would’ve definitely adored it back when I was 10-13 years old!!!
I listened to the audiobook and was captivated by the performances of the multiple narrators: Sarah Beth Goer, Emily Bauer, A.J. Beckles, Graham Halstead, and Mike Smith Rivera. They were perfect in voicing middle graders and some sinister baddie voices also! The readers definitely brought the story to life in a fun way.
Vijf tieners krijgen tijdens Halloween een brief met een uitnodiging. KOM NAAR DE BEGRAAFPLAATS. OF ANDERS. Natuurlijk gaan ze, hoewel niet allemaal van harte. Het moet wel een foute grap zijn, toch? Maar het is geen grap en de tieners bevrijden een soort demonische kracht die hen confronteert met hun diepste angsten.
Voor de doelgroep best een spannend boek. Ik vond het een vlot verhaal, ook door de korte hoofdstukken en perspectiefwissels. Niet alles spreekt me aan, zoals dingen voor elkaar achterhouden zonder dat daar een duidelijke reden voor is en het pestgedrag. Verder veel geleend van IT, maar voor de doelgroep maakt dat niet uit. En clowns zijn nou eenmaal eng.
“Fear Zone” is a seriously creepy book that incorporates fears that are common to many-snakes, clowns, graveyards, etc.-along with high school kids with an assortment of serious personal issues that are also experienced by a host of teens. If you are looking for diversity in your reading or for your library patrons, author K. R. Alexander provides that with main characters from various ethnic groups, body types, social and economic strata and sexual preferences. I disagree with the target age range proposed for this book by a variety of sources and do not believe it is appropriate for middle grade readers and feel it belongs solidly in the YA classification and while I will keep The Collector,” “Bury Me,” and “Scare Me” on my MG library shelves and at my Book Fairs, I will skip this one.
Een leuk horrorverhaal voor de jeugd. Ik kan mij voorstellen dat dit boek spannend en eng is voor de jongeren onder ons. Maar zelf heb ik alsnog genoten van het verhaal. Bepaalde elementen komen overeen met andere boeken (zoals It), maar dit boek is echt gericht op een jonger publiek niet zoals It op volwassenen.
As others have stated, this is definitely a preteen version of IT. (Just reading the synopsis gave that away). I actually liked the book though. I do NOT like Stephen King's writing style and this book was much easier to read. Is it scary? Not really (but maybe to a kid).