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Bent Heavens
Liv Fleming's father went missing more than two years ago, not long after he claimed to have been abducted by aliens. Liv has long accepted that he's dead, though that doesn't mean she has given up their traditions. Every Sunday, she and her lifelong friend Doug Monk trudge through the woods to check the traps Lee left behind, traps he set to catch the aliens he so desperately believed were after him.
But Liv is done with childhood fantasies. Done pretending she believes her father's absurd theories. Done going through the motions for Doug's sake. However, on the very day she chooses to destroy the traps, she discovers in one of them a creature so inhuman it can only be one thing. In that moment, she's faced with a painful realization: her dad was telling the truth. And no one believed him.
Now, she and Doug have a choice to make. They can turn the alien over to the authorities...or they can take matters into their own hands.
But Liv is done with childhood fantasies. Done pretending she believes her father's absurd theories. Done going through the motions for Doug's sake. However, on the very day she chooses to destroy the traps, she discovers in one of them a creature so inhuman it can only be one thing. In that moment, she's faced with a painful realization: her dad was telling the truth. And no one believed him.
Now, she and Doug have a choice to make. They can turn the alien over to the authorities...or they can take matters into their own hands.
291 pages, Hardcover
First published February 25, 2020
120 people are currently reading
5599 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Kraus
76 books1,340 followers“Kraus brings the rigor of a scientist and the sensibility of a poet.” – The New York Times
DANIEL KRAUS is a New York Times bestselling writer of novels, TV, and film. WHALEFALL received a front-cover rave in the New York Times Book Review, won the Alex Award, was an L.A. Times Book Prize Finalist, and was a Best Book of 2023 from NPR, the New York Times, Amazon, Chicago Tribune, and more.
With Guillermo del Toro, he co-authored THE SHAPE OF WATER, based on the same idea the two created for the Oscar-winning film. Also with del Toro, Kraus co-authored TROLLHUNTERS, which was adapted into the Emmy-winning Netflix series. His also cowrote THE LIVING DEAD and PAY THE PIPER with legendary filmmaker George A. Romero.
Kraus’s THE DEATH AND LIFE OF ZEBULON FINCH was named one of Entertainment Weekly‘s Top 10 Books of the Year. Kraus has won the Bram Stoker Award, Scribe Award, two Odyssey Awards (for both ROTTERS and SCOWLER), and has appeared multiple times as Library Guild selections, YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults, and more.
Kraus’s work has been translated into over 20 languages. Visit him at danielkraus.com.
DANIEL KRAUS is a New York Times bestselling writer of novels, TV, and film. WHALEFALL received a front-cover rave in the New York Times Book Review, won the Alex Award, was an L.A. Times Book Prize Finalist, and was a Best Book of 2023 from NPR, the New York Times, Amazon, Chicago Tribune, and more.
With Guillermo del Toro, he co-authored THE SHAPE OF WATER, based on the same idea the two created for the Oscar-winning film. Also with del Toro, Kraus co-authored TROLLHUNTERS, which was adapted into the Emmy-winning Netflix series. His also cowrote THE LIVING DEAD and PAY THE PIPER with legendary filmmaker George A. Romero.
Kraus’s THE DEATH AND LIFE OF ZEBULON FINCH was named one of Entertainment Weekly‘s Top 10 Books of the Year. Kraus has won the Bram Stoker Award, Scribe Award, two Odyssey Awards (for both ROTTERS and SCOWLER), and has appeared multiple times as Library Guild selections, YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults, and more.
Kraus’s work has been translated into over 20 languages. Visit him at danielkraus.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 460 reviews
June 10, 2020
Yeah, it's gonna be a hard pass for me.
Here's the vlog where I read this book: https://youtu.be/O_5X4UhwaOY
Here's the vlog where I read this book: https://youtu.be/O_5X4UhwaOY
May 28, 2023
Be the tallest you can
Wow! This book is CRAZY! I went in blind with a vague idea that it had to do with aliens but got a lot more than I expected.
It was so dark... uncomfortable so at some points. But it's also YA. So random antidotes of mean girls and school sports and 'meeting the new boy' was peppered through the darkness, and it made for a juxtaposition that I've never experienced before in literature.
I didn't know this was YA when I started, and while it's not a deal breaker, the angsty, poor decision making skills of teenagers are not favorite stories. For me, it would have been the perfect tale if the characters were in their twenties and those school scenes were seen through the darker eyes of barely mature adults.
Yet, I feel like this is one that will stay with me forever and I'll end up coming back a year from now and changing my rating from 4 to 5 :)
Wow! This book is CRAZY! I went in blind with a vague idea that it had to do with aliens but got a lot more than I expected.
It was so dark... uncomfortable so at some points. But it's also YA. So random antidotes of mean girls and school sports and 'meeting the new boy' was peppered through the darkness, and it made for a juxtaposition that I've never experienced before in literature.
I didn't know this was YA when I started, and while it's not a deal breaker, the angsty, poor decision making skills of teenagers are not favorite stories. For me, it would have been the perfect tale if the characters were in their twenties and those school scenes were seen through the darker eyes of barely mature adults.
Yet, I feel like this is one that will stay with me forever and I'll end up coming back a year from now and changing my rating from 4 to 5 :)
October 30, 2019
"She widened her eyes as much as she could and took it all in, because she’d seen worse, participated in worse, was worse.”
I'm amending my star rating from 4 to 5 stars because I just cannot stop thinking about this book.
I'm amending my star rating from 4 to 5 stars because I just cannot stop thinking about this book.
March 2, 2020
4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2020/03/01/...
For so long, I’ve been on the lookout for a YA horror that truly terrifies me, and I think I’ve found it. That’s not to say author Daniel Kraus doesn’t make a few plays toward YA traditions in Bent Heavens, but after reading it, I certainly feel as though I’ve been through a hellish, insanity-inducing nightmare and barely made it back with my mind intact.
Our story stars Liv Fleming, whose father Lee went missing more than two years ago, shortly after he started becoming mentally unstable and claiming that he had been a victim of alien abduction. The resulting paranoia had led Lee to take his daughter and her childhood friend Doug out into the woods to set traps for the aliens, which never ended up snaring anything more interesting than the odd squirrel. Still, even with her dad gone now, Liv continues to go out with Doug to the woods each day to check on the traps, partly out of tradition and partly out of hope. Even though what Lee had claimed about his abduction seemed impossible, neither do the teens want to believe that the man, whom they had both loved and respected, had been completely out of his head.
But then one day, just when Liv was about to give up hope and take down the traps once and for all, she and Doug find a strange, monstrous-looking creature caught in one of them. With shock and horror, they realize Lee had been right, which now puts his disappearance in a whole new light. Desperate to find out what had become to her father, Liv reluctantly goes along with Doug’s plan to keep the alien a secret while they figure out how to communicate with it and force it reveal Lee’s whereabouts.
Much of this occurs in the first half of the book, where the content remains quite tame. It’s what happens later on—as the story descends into dark, uncomfortable and disturbing territory—that makes Bent Heavens such a chilling, skin-crawling read. The beauty in it, too, is that there is not just a single dimension to this terror. It’s difficult to describe without giving away too much of the plot, but I will say the reason why I thought this novel was so effective is because of the combination of graphic detail and an atmosphere of unease. Kraus doesn’t pull any punches, and many of the ideas in here are meant to make you squirm, or like you’ve just taken a sucker punch to the gut. One-part body horror, one-part psychological thriller, this novel is designed to explore the darkness of human nature and the lengths we go to justify certain choices.
Bent Heavens is a “mature” YA horror in that sense, one I would hesitate to recommend to everyone, let alone every teen, because there are moments that get too “real” for comfort despite the story’s speculative fiction undertones. So be aware, this book is not for the faint of heart, and if you do not want to read about themes related to pain, cruelty and torture, I would stay far away.
Personally speaking, though, the darkness was what I loved about this book, the bold way it was written, knowing the complex emotions it would stir up and not caring. In fact, in some ways I wish this had been a purely adult novel, so we could have dispensed with certain YA conventions such as the exaggerated, high-school-style affectations in the dialogue or over-embellished prose. Liv herself is pumped full of adolescent angst, and she’s also involved in a lot of petty school-related drama that ultimately served little purpose. Furthermore, there was a pitiful attempt to shoehorn in a romance when the story really didn’t need one. Bruno’s presence seemed entirely unnecessary, and by the end of the book you realize he was just there as a tool to further plot development. Worse was how underdeveloped his character was, and rarely do Liv’s thoughts of him go beyond ogling his good looks. There’s meaningful diversity and then there’s token representation, and unfortunately, Bruno’s shallow portrayal makes it feel like the latter.
That said, the overall storyline was solid and tightly paced, even with the aforementioned diversions and the needless hanky-panky with Bruno, because in the greater scheme of things, any flaws were just minor distractions. On the whole, Kraus did a phenomenal job tracing Liv’s evolution of thought, which serves as a reflection on the darker side of human psychology. Because of this, none of the main characters are going to feel all that sympathetic, but likely this is by design. And finally, there’s the ending, which admittedly had a twist that I saw coming, yet it was still so nauseatingly and viscerally awful and devastating that I think the intended emotional impact was still felt.
So yes, Bent Heavens is a book that will stay with me for a long time. I would recommend it—but with caveats. You’ll probably need to be in a certain frame of mind to read and appreciate it, but if a truly unsettling horror is what you’re looking for and the novel’s description piques your interest, I would give it a try.
For so long, I’ve been on the lookout for a YA horror that truly terrifies me, and I think I’ve found it. That’s not to say author Daniel Kraus doesn’t make a few plays toward YA traditions in Bent Heavens, but after reading it, I certainly feel as though I’ve been through a hellish, insanity-inducing nightmare and barely made it back with my mind intact.
Our story stars Liv Fleming, whose father Lee went missing more than two years ago, shortly after he started becoming mentally unstable and claiming that he had been a victim of alien abduction. The resulting paranoia had led Lee to take his daughter and her childhood friend Doug out into the woods to set traps for the aliens, which never ended up snaring anything more interesting than the odd squirrel. Still, even with her dad gone now, Liv continues to go out with Doug to the woods each day to check on the traps, partly out of tradition and partly out of hope. Even though what Lee had claimed about his abduction seemed impossible, neither do the teens want to believe that the man, whom they had both loved and respected, had been completely out of his head.
But then one day, just when Liv was about to give up hope and take down the traps once and for all, she and Doug find a strange, monstrous-looking creature caught in one of them. With shock and horror, they realize Lee had been right, which now puts his disappearance in a whole new light. Desperate to find out what had become to her father, Liv reluctantly goes along with Doug’s plan to keep the alien a secret while they figure out how to communicate with it and force it reveal Lee’s whereabouts.
Much of this occurs in the first half of the book, where the content remains quite tame. It’s what happens later on—as the story descends into dark, uncomfortable and disturbing territory—that makes Bent Heavens such a chilling, skin-crawling read. The beauty in it, too, is that there is not just a single dimension to this terror. It’s difficult to describe without giving away too much of the plot, but I will say the reason why I thought this novel was so effective is because of the combination of graphic detail and an atmosphere of unease. Kraus doesn’t pull any punches, and many of the ideas in here are meant to make you squirm, or like you’ve just taken a sucker punch to the gut. One-part body horror, one-part psychological thriller, this novel is designed to explore the darkness of human nature and the lengths we go to justify certain choices.
Bent Heavens is a “mature” YA horror in that sense, one I would hesitate to recommend to everyone, let alone every teen, because there are moments that get too “real” for comfort despite the story’s speculative fiction undertones. So be aware, this book is not for the faint of heart, and if you do not want to read about themes related to pain, cruelty and torture, I would stay far away.
Personally speaking, though, the darkness was what I loved about this book, the bold way it was written, knowing the complex emotions it would stir up and not caring. In fact, in some ways I wish this had been a purely adult novel, so we could have dispensed with certain YA conventions such as the exaggerated, high-school-style affectations in the dialogue or over-embellished prose. Liv herself is pumped full of adolescent angst, and she’s also involved in a lot of petty school-related drama that ultimately served little purpose. Furthermore, there was a pitiful attempt to shoehorn in a romance when the story really didn’t need one. Bruno’s presence seemed entirely unnecessary, and by the end of the book you realize he was just there as a tool to further plot development. Worse was how underdeveloped his character was, and rarely do Liv’s thoughts of him go beyond ogling his good looks. There’s meaningful diversity and then there’s token representation, and unfortunately, Bruno’s shallow portrayal makes it feel like the latter.
That said, the overall storyline was solid and tightly paced, even with the aforementioned diversions and the needless hanky-panky with Bruno, because in the greater scheme of things, any flaws were just minor distractions. On the whole, Kraus did a phenomenal job tracing Liv’s evolution of thought, which serves as a reflection on the darker side of human psychology. Because of this, none of the main characters are going to feel all that sympathetic, but likely this is by design. And finally, there’s the ending, which admittedly had a twist that I saw coming, yet it was still so nauseatingly and viscerally awful and devastating that I think the intended emotional impact was still felt.
So yes, Bent Heavens is a book that will stay with me for a long time. I would recommend it—but with caveats. You’ll probably need to be in a certain frame of mind to read and appreciate it, but if a truly unsettling horror is what you’re looking for and the novel’s description piques your interest, I would give it a try.
February 25, 2020
YES!!! What a great read.
Family. Sacrifice. Suffering. Conspiracy. All of these things craft the main threads throughout Bent Heavens. This book was my first experience reading Kraus’ work. Prior to this I had only watched The Shape of Water, a collaboration with Guillermo del Toro that was also released as a novel. I even have two more Kraus books waiting in the wings, and after reading this one, I will be digging in sooner rather than later.
As the synopsis notes, we follow the MC, Liv, as she traverses a personal and public hellscape that would challenge even the toughest adult. I just love her. She is flawed and a mess and beautiful all at once. I work with teenagers on a daily basis and Kraus just really nails the high school environment and pressures. All from the perspective of a female. It’s impressive.
I’m a fairly fast reader. Some of that is due to just who I am and some is due to necessity. I, like so many of us, have a busy, crazy life full of lots of things that demand my attention. All of which takes away time from reading a book. This book is one that even when I was away from it (against my will), I thought of it. I needed to know what happened. Two days ago, I finished this while sitting in the grocery store parking lot. I needed to read the last 50 pages and everything else could wait. Even food.
I see many readers who don’t normally read or enjoy YA (hey – I don’t read much YA at all) mentioning they’d like to expand out a bit. This book may have a teenage protagonist and some teenage issues, but this is very much an adult fiction book. Emotional and physical trauma exist within these pages in a tug-of-war that left me reeling. It’s because I was so invested in the characters that I found myself flipping these pages, desperate to know what would happen. This book made me laugh, cringe, and cry: that’s a winner for me.
TLDR? A relatively small cast of characters, in a small, nowhere Iowan city, experience otherworldly and very real traumatic experiences throughout the book. A blistering pace combined with conspiracy, revenge, love, and heartbreak combine to create a binge-worthy read for readers of YA and adult horror/sci-fi fiction. Add this one to your TBR – I need to discuss!
Family. Sacrifice. Suffering. Conspiracy. All of these things craft the main threads throughout Bent Heavens. This book was my first experience reading Kraus’ work. Prior to this I had only watched The Shape of Water, a collaboration with Guillermo del Toro that was also released as a novel. I even have two more Kraus books waiting in the wings, and after reading this one, I will be digging in sooner rather than later.
As the synopsis notes, we follow the MC, Liv, as she traverses a personal and public hellscape that would challenge even the toughest adult. I just love her. She is flawed and a mess and beautiful all at once. I work with teenagers on a daily basis and Kraus just really nails the high school environment and pressures. All from the perspective of a female. It’s impressive.
I’m a fairly fast reader. Some of that is due to just who I am and some is due to necessity. I, like so many of us, have a busy, crazy life full of lots of things that demand my attention. All of which takes away time from reading a book. This book is one that even when I was away from it (against my will), I thought of it. I needed to know what happened. Two days ago, I finished this while sitting in the grocery store parking lot. I needed to read the last 50 pages and everything else could wait. Even food.
I see many readers who don’t normally read or enjoy YA (hey – I don’t read much YA at all) mentioning they’d like to expand out a bit. This book may have a teenage protagonist and some teenage issues, but this is very much an adult fiction book. Emotional and physical trauma exist within these pages in a tug-of-war that left me reeling. It’s because I was so invested in the characters that I found myself flipping these pages, desperate to know what would happen. This book made me laugh, cringe, and cry: that’s a winner for me.
TLDR? A relatively small cast of characters, in a small, nowhere Iowan city, experience otherworldly and very real traumatic experiences throughout the book. A blistering pace combined with conspiracy, revenge, love, and heartbreak combine to create a binge-worthy read for readers of YA and adult horror/sci-fi fiction. Add this one to your TBR – I need to discuss!
February 25, 2020
I don't know how much I can emphasize that, despite the ages of the characters, despite the parent trouble and the bully trouble and the general teen angst, this book is not YA.
It's brutal, dark, and depressing.
I also need to tell you that it's not E.T. Remember E.T.? Find the ugly/cute big-eyed alien, have compassion, try to save it?
Nope.
I'm not going to spoil it for you. I'll just say that, in this case, E.T. should have stayed home.
It's a well written book and the author clearly didn't even try to make it a pretty or light one.
I just think it's a case of expectations crashing into reality...be prepared for reality to suck.
Not for me, but if I were in a really dark, rage-filled mood, this might suit. Then again, it might not. I missed...compassion.
It's brutal, dark, and depressing.
I also need to tell you that it's not E.T. Remember E.T.? Find the ugly/cute big-eyed alien, have compassion, try to save it?
Nope.
I'm not going to spoil it for you. I'll just say that, in this case, E.T. should have stayed home.
It's a well written book and the author clearly didn't even try to make it a pretty or light one.
I just think it's a case of expectations crashing into reality...be prepared for reality to suck.
Not for me, but if I were in a really dark, rage-filled mood, this might suit. Then again, it might not. I missed...compassion.
Read
February 2, 2019This is going to blow a lot of readers' brains. It is part alien story, part story about conspiracy theories, part story about the power of the media, part story about growing up without much in rural Iowa, and part story about family. It's by turns heartening and heartbreaking, and it's a story featuring a main character who is unlikable and angry and violent...and also one full of compassion, discovering a moral compass, and wrestling with unbelievable grief and frustration, taking it out through the only means she can.
Smart, complex, and exceptionally timely, Kraus's part-horror, part-science fiction, wholly human story is engaging, enraging, and an absolute winner. I'll be thinking about this book for a long time, and I can't wait to revisit it and see exactly how he wove everything together in such a compelling and savvy way.
Smart, complex, and exceptionally timely, Kraus's part-horror, part-science fiction, wholly human story is engaging, enraging, and an absolute winner. I'll be thinking about this book for a long time, and I can't wait to revisit it and see exactly how he wove everything together in such a compelling and savvy way.
November 11, 2021
This is definitely not your typical alien story and I absolutely loved every second of it. It puts such a unique spin on aliens and I really enjoyed it. It starts fairly tame and predictable but things quickly start getting juicy. At one point the story takes a total different direction than I was expecting and it literally had my jaw dropping to my chest in disbelief. From there it’s one punch to the gut after another and my head was just about spinning trying to take it all in. I’m still not quite done absorbing it all, it was just all so crazy and wild and intensely emotional. I definitely was NOT expecting to feel so many emotions while reading an alien story but this one truly put me through the ringer. From tears to anger to disgust to laughter to pure heartbreak, it was ALL there. Especially right at the end, I felt like my heart had just been ripped out and stomped on. If all that doesn’t make you want to read this immediately then I don’t know what will and I will judge you for not reading it. (Just kidding obviously but seriously, READ THIS BOOK!)
January 24, 2021
I'm a big fan of spoilers, since it helps me know what I'm getting into, particularly when almost every review mentions torture, as well as a "big surprise." This review is a summary of the last third of the book and the ending. Accordingly, if you want to be spoiled (Hey, like-minded person!), read on. If you don't, stop here.
But just in case you purely want to know about the dog (always my chief priority): Yes, the dog is okay and survives happily to the end of the book without injury.
I've seen other people say that the story stayed with them, and maybe it will, I don't know. The main two messages I got were that teenagers' frontal lobes don't develop until their mid-20s, and that people are terrible.
But hey, at least the dog was okay.
But just in case you purely want to know about the dog (always my chief priority): Yes, the dog is okay and survives happily to the end of the book without injury.
I've seen other people say that the story stayed with them, and maybe it will, I don't know. The main two messages I got were that teenagers' frontal lobes don't develop until their mid-20s, and that people are terrible.
But hey, at least the dog was okay.
January 24, 2023
Yeah this was just ridiculous and super messed up. And not in the way that I enjoy. Also my second rating this low this year. Wtf is happening? I NEVER give ratings this low. But I really did not like this reading experience even slightly.
Basically girls dad disappears after being paranoid about alien. Girl and random friend find random alien. Instead of doing idk literally anything else… they BRUTALLY and graphically torture said alien who is basically an animal in the sense that it cannot communicate (not really a spoiler and I think people deserve to be warned anyway). Keep in mind this is YA and these are teenagers. It was a lot. I can usually handle pretty much anything (even animal deaths ) but it totally depends on how it’s executed, and in this one I just couldn’t get behind it. Gratuitous torture for the sake of just being as disturbing as possible will never be my thing. It also just felt like there was no real goal with the torture, and it was kind of hard to believe this is how it would play out because of that. I had to skim a lot of the torture scenes. It does get really dark.
Though we do have other plot points in the book, such as the fact that the friend of the Mc is pretty unhinged. I don’t think that’s supposed to be a twist as I thought it was obvious from the start. I really don’t get the reviews saying they liked Doug in the beginning. He was ALWAYS sketchy imo you just aren’t sure of what his motives are or what he’s up to. But I also just didn’t like him as a character, even for being a gray character. His motives never did make sense to me.
The MC Liv just had no likable traits either… and it didn’t really feel like any of her thoughts were actually her own.
This book has a few twists and those twists are near the end… where this book gets totally bonkers unbelievable. Though it was kind of messed up and I didn’t see it coming. So props there kind of.
I liked the idea of the book and I was kind of intrigued as to why the characters decided to handle it this way, especially Doug, being it wasn’t actually his father. But this book just left me wanting.
But again, it is graphic. It pushes boundaries I don’t think YA should. Like why not make them adults in college if they really want the school setting? But yeah just be warned…. This reads waaaay more adult than it should.
There were a few questionable things said about a Mexican character as well… which I won’t even get into. Just know it made me feel weird.
Don’t know if I’ll check this author out again or not. Not really interested in his other stuff, so I don’t think forcing myself to read it would be a fair chance at redemption. If he puts anything out in the future though… then maybe. But I don’t think I would jump at the chance even then.
Basically girls dad disappears after being paranoid about alien. Girl and random friend find random alien. Instead of doing idk literally anything else… they BRUTALLY and graphically torture said alien who is basically an animal in the sense that it cannot communicate (not really a spoiler and I think people deserve to be warned anyway). Keep in mind this is YA and these are teenagers. It was a lot. I can usually handle pretty much anything (even animal deaths ) but it totally depends on how it’s executed, and in this one I just couldn’t get behind it. Gratuitous torture for the sake of just being as disturbing as possible will never be my thing. It also just felt like there was no real goal with the torture, and it was kind of hard to believe this is how it would play out because of that. I had to skim a lot of the torture scenes. It does get really dark.
Though we do have other plot points in the book, such as the fact that the friend of the Mc is pretty unhinged. I don’t think that’s supposed to be a twist as I thought it was obvious from the start. I really don’t get the reviews saying they liked Doug in the beginning. He was ALWAYS sketchy imo you just aren’t sure of what his motives are or what he’s up to. But I also just didn’t like him as a character, even for being a gray character. His motives never did make sense to me.
The MC Liv just had no likable traits either… and it didn’t really feel like any of her thoughts were actually her own.
This book has a few twists and those twists are near the end… where this book gets totally bonkers unbelievable. Though it was kind of messed up and I didn’t see it coming. So props there kind of.
I liked the idea of the book and I was kind of intrigued as to why the characters decided to handle it this way, especially Doug, being it wasn’t actually his father. But this book just left me wanting.
But again, it is graphic. It pushes boundaries I don’t think YA should. Like why not make them adults in college if they really want the school setting? But yeah just be warned…. This reads waaaay more adult than it should.
There were a few questionable things said about a Mexican character as well… which I won’t even get into. Just know it made me feel weird.
Don’t know if I’ll check this author out again or not. Not really interested in his other stuff, so I don’t think forcing myself to read it would be a fair chance at redemption. If he puts anything out in the future though… then maybe. But I don’t think I would jump at the chance even then.
December 21, 2019
3.0 Stars
The premise of this novel was so incredibly intriguing that I had to check out this novel for myself. However, the synopsis was almost bit misleading because I did not get the story that I expected. It’s hard to say more without giving away spoilers, but I know that this book is going to be divisive among readers.
In many ways the story reminded me of the author’s previous work, The Shape of Water. I liked that one, but I did not love it. I feel similar about Bent Heavens. The writing was good, the characters were decent, but I did not find the actual mystery to be as intriguing as it should have been.
Despite being classified as young adult, I personally felt this novel read like adult fiction. Other than the ages of the protagonists, I honestly don’t know why this book was targeted at a younger audience. The story goes to some very dark places and has a level of maturity that I would not normally associate with YA literature.
The science fiction elements in this book were very light. For the most part, this one read more like a contemporary story and could easily be consumed by readers who do not typically read science fiction.
Overall, I would recommend this one to readers looking for a slow-burn character story with some gut-punching emotional moments.
Disclaimer: I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher.
The premise of this novel was so incredibly intriguing that I had to check out this novel for myself. However, the synopsis was almost bit misleading because I did not get the story that I expected. It’s hard to say more without giving away spoilers, but I know that this book is going to be divisive among readers.
In many ways the story reminded me of the author’s previous work, The Shape of Water. I liked that one, but I did not love it. I feel similar about Bent Heavens. The writing was good, the characters were decent, but I did not find the actual mystery to be as intriguing as it should have been.
Despite being classified as young adult, I personally felt this novel read like adult fiction. Other than the ages of the protagonists, I honestly don’t know why this book was targeted at a younger audience. The story goes to some very dark places and has a level of maturity that I would not normally associate with YA literature.
The science fiction elements in this book were very light. For the most part, this one read more like a contemporary story and could easily be consumed by readers who do not typically read science fiction.
Overall, I would recommend this one to readers looking for a slow-burn character story with some gut-punching emotional moments.
Disclaimer: I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher.
February 4, 2023
3½⭐
…the bullet points
➨ ya-ish horror
➨ torture & mutilation (body horror)
➨ aliens???
➨ conspiracy theories
➨ family (not so) secrets
➨ absolutely bonkers ending
This freaking amazing cover just kept drawing me in…until finally I caved and listened to it. While I didn’t love it, I did like certain aspects of it quite a lot. All of those aspects happen in the last quarter of the book and I can’t give those away, so that’s all I’m going to say about that. The only reason this is labeled “ya” is because the MCs are in high school…that’s it. Otherwise, it is decidedly adult because of the graphicness and maybe for that quick little sexual encounter that screamed that this was written by a man…since it read like every high school boy’s wet dream.
…about the narration
➨ 🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️/5
➨ Amara Jasper was quite good...I really like her.
...the score
➨ 6.89/10 | Opening-6.5 | Characters-6 | Plot-8 | Atmosphere-7 | Writing Style-6 | Ending-8 | Overall Enjoyment- 6.7
…the bullet points
➨ ya-ish horror
➨ torture & mutilation (body horror)
➨ aliens???
➨ conspiracy theories
➨ family (not so) secrets
➨ absolutely bonkers ending
This freaking amazing cover just kept drawing me in…until finally I caved and listened to it. While I didn’t love it, I did like certain aspects of it quite a lot. All of those aspects happen in the last quarter of the book and I can’t give those away, so that’s all I’m going to say about that. The only reason this is labeled “ya” is because the MCs are in high school…that’s it. Otherwise, it is decidedly adult because of the graphicness and maybe for that quick little sexual encounter that screamed that this was written by a man…since it read like every high school boy’s wet dream.
…about the narration
➨ 🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️/5
➨ Amara Jasper was quite good...I really like her.
...the score
➨ 6.89/10 | Opening-6.5 | Characters-6 | Plot-8 | Atmosphere-7 | Writing Style-6 | Ending-8 | Overall Enjoyment- 6.7
September 13, 2020
*2.5 stars*
Daniel Kraus books are weird and crazy and that's usually why I enjoy them, but this was not it. If you want the best from Daniel Kraus imo pick up Zebulon Finch or Scowler because this was just??? Not?? what I wanted??
This book focuses a lot on torture and while the author's note makes it clear why Daniel Kraus wrote about it, it was just really uncomfy to read. I didn't like that. Also, the characters' relationships didn't feel nearly as real as, say--Zeb and the that soldier guy in Zebulon, or even Zeb and the Dr. Like, Liv has this whole love interest that was in the book for 4 minutes and he had this whole thing at the end but it just felt stupid and cringy because I didn't feel their romance. Also, Liv and her best friend Doug are the main characters, but their relationship and Liv's motivations were SO WEIRD. Half of the time Liv LOVED Doug to a weird degree--there would be sentences like "how did the world make such a brave person like Doug?" (not kidding that's basically verbatim), but then there would be times where she wanted nothing to do with him?? Liv would flip-flop from wanting to torture this alien to wanting to help it to wanting to torture it to help it to KILL IT?? It made zero sense I had no idea what she was doing man.
There's a big plot twist 3/4ths of the way through the book that I really wished was developed more because instead of feeling shocking, it just felt stupid. I guessed part of it and was like "nooooo that can't be it" and it was and I was eye-rolling hard. If the world was built more around the plot-twist I think I would have liked it a lot more, but because it didn't make sense I just questioned the validity of it, ya know?
This book isn't horrible--I just think Daniel Kraus can and has done better. I think for this story to have worked, this book needed to be way longer. For real, like as least as long as a Zeb book. We needed to DIVE into Liv's relationship with her dad, her relationship with Doug, her relationship with Bruno (her love interest). We needed to DIVE into this plot-twist. Instead it all just felt very surface level.
I'm disappointed :(
Daniel Kraus books are weird and crazy and that's usually why I enjoy them, but this was not it. If you want the best from Daniel Kraus imo pick up Zebulon Finch or Scowler because this was just??? Not?? what I wanted??
This book focuses a lot on torture and while the author's note makes it clear why Daniel Kraus wrote about it, it was just really uncomfy to read. I didn't like that. Also, the characters' relationships didn't feel nearly as real as, say--Zeb and the that soldier guy in Zebulon, or even Zeb and the Dr. Like, Liv has this whole love interest that was in the book for 4 minutes and he had this whole thing at the end but it just felt stupid and cringy because I didn't feel their romance. Also, Liv and her best friend Doug are the main characters, but their relationship and Liv's motivations were SO WEIRD. Half of the time Liv LOVED Doug to a weird degree--there would be sentences like "how did the world make such a brave person like Doug?" (not kidding that's basically verbatim), but then there would be times where she wanted nothing to do with him?? Liv would flip-flop from wanting to torture this alien to wanting to help it to wanting to torture it to help it to KILL IT?? It made zero sense I had no idea what she was doing man.
There's a big plot twist 3/4ths of the way through the book that I really wished was developed more because instead of feeling shocking, it just felt stupid. I guessed part of it and was like "nooooo that can't be it" and it was and I was eye-rolling hard. If the world was built more around the plot-twist I think I would have liked it a lot more, but because it didn't make sense I just questioned the validity of it, ya know?
This book isn't horrible--I just think Daniel Kraus can and has done better. I think for this story to have worked, this book needed to be way longer. For real, like as least as long as a Zeb book. We needed to DIVE into Liv's relationship with her dad, her relationship with Doug, her relationship with Bruno (her love interest). We needed to DIVE into this plot-twist. Instead it all just felt very surface level.
I'm disappointed :(
February 27, 2020
Well, this is something I probably wouldn’t have looked at if I didn’t get the email from the publisher. It’s being marketed as YA and I’m not sure how because it’s quite graphic.
I liked Liv. She’s struggling with grief and doesn’t quite know how to deal with it, so she’s lashing out and pretty much being a dick. Her relationship with Doug is interesting and I feel like a lot of that is what kept me reading. There are a few other characters, but this story is 100% focused on Liv.
Plot wise, it was okay. I thrive on dialogue and most of this story is inner monologue and sort-of-flashbacks. I spent a good portion of the story wondering how much of Lee’s story was going to be true and once something was caught, I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. As I said above, it’s really graphic. There’s loads of violence and blood and I was feeling really bad for the thing they caught.
Overall, it was a fairly dry read, but the last 25% of the book was amazing, very shocking, and raised my rating from 3 to 4 stars.
**Huge thanks to Henry Holt BFYR for the invite to read**
I liked Liv. She’s struggling with grief and doesn’t quite know how to deal with it, so she’s lashing out and pretty much being a dick. Her relationship with Doug is interesting and I feel like a lot of that is what kept me reading. There are a few other characters, but this story is 100% focused on Liv.
Plot wise, it was okay. I thrive on dialogue and most of this story is inner monologue and sort-of-flashbacks. I spent a good portion of the story wondering how much of Lee’s story was going to be true and once something was caught, I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. As I said above, it’s really graphic. There’s loads of violence and blood and I was feeling really bad for the thing they caught.
Overall, it was a fairly dry read, but the last 25% of the book was amazing, very shocking, and raised my rating from 3 to 4 stars.
**Huge thanks to Henry Holt BFYR for the invite to read**
February 18, 2020
[Content Warning: Depictions of physical torture, mutilation,
Okay, listen.
This isn't a nice book.
In fact, it's a pretty damn depressing book.
It's a book that roams the dark and shadowy place that Mufasa warns about. Nothing good can come of chasing it but death and singing hyenas.
Which is why I'm here, on my knees, asking you tochase read it.
Contradiction, thy name is Bent Heavens.
This is my third Daniel Kraus read (well, two and three-quarters--I still have to finish Zebulon Finch) and here's what I've gathered about the guy so far: when you leaf through the pages of Dictionary: Daniel Kraus Edition, you'd find burnt holes under the entries "comfortable," "pleasant," and "simple." Kraus doesn't do soft. He doesn't do pretty. Interpersonal horrors and intimate darkness--darkness made almost beautiful by its closeness--are spaces in which he thrives (which is why he works well with Guillermo del Toro, I suppose). He has a knack for taking discomfort and instinctual revulsion and turning them into compelling art.
Calling this book "art" might be an arguable point for some, but it is definitely compelling.
The first half is pretty slow, focused on the psychological ramifications of having a father who went missing and returned, telling everyone he'd been taken and experimented on by aliens, and then promptly disappeared again. It's a stripped-down, realistic take of your typical abduction plotline; less of flashing lights and crop circles, and more of the abductee's obsessions and fears and the toll they have on his family. It sets up the lonely and insulated environment for the main character quite well.
The second half is where things get truly heavy.
Let's talk about the elephant in the room: this story has alien torture. Not as graphic as I'd thought it would be, but still pretty graphic. One of the characters quotes and takes inspiration from George W. Bush's policies on torture of al Qaeda prisoners, and they become the springboard for everything that follows. And there's a lot that follows: an exploration of prisoner/prison guard psychology; the ease with which people dehumanize and justify their dehumanization. What happens when tragedy meets anger in an echo chamber, Kraus asks, and then proceeds to muddy waters by slipping weariness into the mix. And more so than the anger, the latter is what really stuck with me. Atrocities you commit because you've been ground down and you're exhausted and it's easier to let someone else's rage fuel you than to scrounge up your own and realize you're not that angry--at least, not enough to brutalize. No. Much easier to give someone else the reins and follow.
I think passivity is a difficult trait to portray, as you're fighting against reader expectations of what a protagonist should be, with popular media teaching us to love active characters and scoff at the inactive ones, but the author does a brilliant job of it. There are scenes that ride the edge of suffocation and frustration, and I would've hated them if they weren't written so honestly. At the same time, I hated them because they were written so honestly.
The prose is the biggest complaint I have. I wish Kraus had used the first-person POV; it's where he works best, and it would fits the narrative better, making the introspective scenes more, well, introspective. But maybe that's exactly why he didn't use it. Because he wanted a buffer between the readers and everything that happens with the characters. A deep dive into Liv's emotions might have been too raw. Regardless, the third person POV combined with Kraus' style--surplus descriptions and use of adjectives--has the unfortunate side effect of making things comically overdramatic at the wrong moments. And while the dialogue is mostly fine, sometimes it gets a little cringey:
My second complaint isn't really a complaint, just another rendition of Why the Hell Is This Marketed As YA. I've looked at Kraus's books in the past and thought, "I'm not sure what age group this belongs to," and that feeling is doubled here. It's very mature, despite the high school characters, and the themes would feel more at home in an adult horror/thriller.
If nothing else, though, I recommend it for the ending because it's probably the most bonkers thing I've read in a while. I'd call it entertaining if I didn't feel bad about finding it entertaining. Horrifically delightful? Delightfully horrific? It's like watching a train plummet straight into a ravine, and then seeing a land kraken erupt out of nowhere and bash the locomotive to pieces. And you can only laugh at the chaos inbetween whispers of "What the fuck."
So yeah. Not a nice book.
It's twisted and claustrophobic and heartbreaking and...
And I couldn't stop thinking about it.
So, come on, Simba. Take a walk on the dark side.
(Review copy provided by the publisher.All opinions are my own)
~~~
Find me on:
Blog | Twitter | Instagram
Okay, listen.
This isn't a nice book.
In fact, it's a pretty damn depressing book.
It's a book that roams the dark and shadowy place that Mufasa warns about. Nothing good can come of chasing it but death and singing hyenas.
Which is why I'm here, on my knees, asking you to
Contradiction, thy name is Bent Heavens.
This is my third Daniel Kraus read (well, two and three-quarters--I still have to finish Zebulon Finch) and here's what I've gathered about the guy so far: when you leaf through the pages of Dictionary: Daniel Kraus Edition, you'd find burnt holes under the entries "comfortable," "pleasant," and "simple." Kraus doesn't do soft. He doesn't do pretty. Interpersonal horrors and intimate darkness--darkness made almost beautiful by its closeness--are spaces in which he thrives (which is why he works well with Guillermo del Toro, I suppose). He has a knack for taking discomfort and instinctual revulsion and turning them into compelling art.
Calling this book "art" might be an arguable point for some, but it is definitely compelling.
The first half is pretty slow, focused on the psychological ramifications of having a father who went missing and returned, telling everyone he'd been taken and experimented on by aliens, and then promptly disappeared again. It's a stripped-down, realistic take of your typical abduction plotline; less of flashing lights and crop circles, and more of the abductee's obsessions and fears and the toll they have on his family. It sets up the lonely and insulated environment for the main character quite well.
The second half is where things get truly heavy.
Let's talk about the elephant in the room: this story has alien torture. Not as graphic as I'd thought it would be, but still pretty graphic. One of the characters quotes and takes inspiration from George W. Bush's policies on torture of al Qaeda prisoners, and they become the springboard for everything that follows. And there's a lot that follows: an exploration of prisoner/prison guard psychology; the ease with which people dehumanize and justify their dehumanization. What happens when tragedy meets anger in an echo chamber, Kraus asks, and then proceeds to muddy waters by slipping weariness into the mix. And more so than the anger, the latter is what really stuck with me. Atrocities you commit because you've been ground down and you're exhausted and it's easier to let someone else's rage fuel you than to scrounge up your own and realize you're not that angry--at least, not enough to brutalize. No. Much easier to give someone else the reins and follow.
I think passivity is a difficult trait to portray, as you're fighting against reader expectations of what a protagonist should be, with popular media teaching us to love active characters and scoff at the inactive ones, but the author does a brilliant job of it. There are scenes that ride the edge of suffocation and frustration, and I would've hated them if they weren't written so honestly. At the same time, I hated them because they were written so honestly.
The prose is the biggest complaint I have. I wish Kraus had used the first-person POV; it's where he works best, and it would fits the narrative better, making the introspective scenes more, well, introspective. But maybe that's exactly why he didn't use it. Because he wanted a buffer between the readers and everything that happens with the characters. A deep dive into Liv's emotions might have been too raw. Regardless, the third person POV combined with Kraus' style--surplus descriptions and use of adjectives--has the unfortunate side effect of making things comically overdramatic at the wrong moments. And while the dialogue is mostly fine, sometimes it gets a little cringey:
"You're a barrel of monkeys today."
"I didn't ask for this ride."
"Will you take ten chill pills?"
My second complaint isn't really a complaint, just another rendition of Why the Hell Is This Marketed As YA. I've looked at Kraus's books in the past and thought, "I'm not sure what age group this belongs to," and that feeling is doubled here. It's very mature, despite the high school characters, and the themes would feel more at home in an adult horror/thriller.
If nothing else, though, I recommend it for the ending because it's probably the most bonkers thing I've read in a while. I'd call it entertaining if I didn't feel bad about finding it entertaining. Horrifically delightful? Delightfully horrific? It's like watching a train plummet straight into a ravine, and then seeing a land kraken erupt out of nowhere and bash the locomotive to pieces. And you can only laugh at the chaos inbetween whispers of "What the fuck."
So yeah. Not a nice book.
It's twisted and claustrophobic and heartbreaking and...
And I couldn't stop thinking about it.
So, come on, Simba. Take a walk on the dark side.
(Review copy provided by the publisher.All opinions are my own)
~~~
Find me on:
Blog | Twitter | Instagram
March 1, 2020
Clunk.
That's the sound of of me being let down again. Daniel Kraus got off to an amazing start with his book Monster Variations and since then, every book of his I've read has been less than stellar. This one, in particular, was a clunker.
The plot was a clunker because you can see where it's going the whole way. I don't accept "but it's a YA book" as an excuse. YA does not equal stupid. Once the "Crossing the Threshold" portion of this book takes place, I think it's obvious to every reader, what should have been at very least a consideration of it's main characters, but it isn't obvious to them and the do all kinds of dumb things because of it.
You don't have to read past the book jacket cover to know that this book is going to involve some aliens and supernatural elements. I had no problem suspending my disbelief for those parts. The disconnect with this book wasn't the unbelievable aspects; it's with the actions, choices and unbelievable human beings in the book.
Simply put, once they find "it," the protagonist and her sidekick have unbelievable and unrealistic reactions. If you know a teen who upon finding what they believe to be an extra terrestrial caught in a trap they've set, that they'd do anything but put it on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat and try to go viral and become famous, I'll eat my shoe. But that never even occurs to either character in this book.
Liv, the protagonist, is turned into a damsel in distress and is bullied into doing terrible things by a boy who she doesn't even really like--a boy she pities. But add a little pressure to her life and she needs this big strong boy to do all the dirty work and make all the decisions and gets talked into doing cruel, abusive and terrible things. There reason given for it is thin at best. And like some kind of mindless bimbo she just keeps going along with it. It's terrible.
It's the humans in this book who are unrealistic. It's the people and their reactions that are inhuman. Kraus tries to play with the grand literary theme of Man's Inhumanity Toward Man but he fails to bring anything of substance to it. He certainly doesn't bring anything new or interesting. He definitely doesn't give us anything more than the weakest of background or psychology involved in it. In the Author's Note at the very end we, at least, get an understanding of what Kraus wanted to do. This is a book/story that was motivated by the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on the CIA's Torture Program that used "enhanced" interrogation techniques. I don't have any problems there. I don't mind a writer who has a political motivation--in fact, I admire a writer who has something to say, along with telling a good story. But this is just terrible. The parallels are weak. The cause of these actions aren't given a strong enough reason. And again, the characters, who are clearly supposed to fall into the kind of hive-mind mentality of mutual enabling that allows this kind of torture to take place, don't do so in anything nearing a convincing way.
I can't possibly recommend this book. It's out of touch. It draws the female protagonist as a helpless victim. The YA audience understands what it means to be cruelly tortured. They understand how easy it is to fall in line with an alpha doing terrible things to someone and ganging up on that person. This is a theme that is perfect for the YA audience--the problem is that I don't think Kraus understands his audience. I think he's writing the YA audience of himself at that age. And it's a different time.
Skip this one. I can't possibly recommend it. It fails on every single level.
That's the sound of of me being let down again. Daniel Kraus got off to an amazing start with his book Monster Variations and since then, every book of his I've read has been less than stellar. This one, in particular, was a clunker.
The plot was a clunker because you can see where it's going the whole way. I don't accept "but it's a YA book" as an excuse. YA does not equal stupid. Once the "Crossing the Threshold" portion of this book takes place, I think it's obvious to every reader, what should have been at very least a consideration of it's main characters, but it isn't obvious to them and the do all kinds of dumb things because of it.
You don't have to read past the book jacket cover to know that this book is going to involve some aliens and supernatural elements. I had no problem suspending my disbelief for those parts. The disconnect with this book wasn't the unbelievable aspects; it's with the actions, choices and unbelievable human beings in the book.
Simply put, once they find "it," the protagonist and her sidekick have unbelievable and unrealistic reactions. If you know a teen who upon finding what they believe to be an extra terrestrial caught in a trap they've set, that they'd do anything but put it on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat and try to go viral and become famous, I'll eat my shoe. But that never even occurs to either character in this book.
Liv, the protagonist, is turned into a damsel in distress and is bullied into doing terrible things by a boy who she doesn't even really like--a boy she pities. But add a little pressure to her life and she needs this big strong boy to do all the dirty work and make all the decisions and gets talked into doing cruel, abusive and terrible things. There reason given for it is thin at best. And like some kind of mindless bimbo she just keeps going along with it. It's terrible.
It's the humans in this book who are unrealistic. It's the people and their reactions that are inhuman. Kraus tries to play with the grand literary theme of Man's Inhumanity Toward Man but he fails to bring anything of substance to it. He certainly doesn't bring anything new or interesting. He definitely doesn't give us anything more than the weakest of background or psychology involved in it. In the Author's Note at the very end we, at least, get an understanding of what Kraus wanted to do. This is a book/story that was motivated by the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on the CIA's Torture Program that used "enhanced" interrogation techniques. I don't have any problems there. I don't mind a writer who has a political motivation--in fact, I admire a writer who has something to say, along with telling a good story. But this is just terrible. The parallels are weak. The cause of these actions aren't given a strong enough reason. And again, the characters, who are clearly supposed to fall into the kind of hive-mind mentality of mutual enabling that allows this kind of torture to take place, don't do so in anything nearing a convincing way.
I can't possibly recommend this book. It's out of touch. It draws the female protagonist as a helpless victim. The YA audience understands what it means to be cruelly tortured. They understand how easy it is to fall in line with an alpha doing terrible things to someone and ganging up on that person. This is a theme that is perfect for the YA audience--the problem is that I don't think Kraus understands his audience. I think he's writing the YA audience of himself at that age. And it's a different time.
Skip this one. I can't possibly recommend it. It fails on every single level.
May 21, 2023
CONTENT WARNING: -Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, literal Torture, body gore, eye gore, grief, Alcohol use on page, Alcoholism, prescription medication use on page, terminal illness, mutilation, experimentation, Cancer, blood, and Death of parent. **Unaliving oneself mentioned.**.
-Moderate: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, confinement, fire/fire injury, kidnapping, medical trauma, physical abuse, mental, and psychological abuses, toxic friendship, manipulation, hating the ‘other’, mental illness, bullying, frienemies, vom on page, and talk of animals gnawing off their own legs to get out of a trap. Also, animal traps used.
This brutal, dark, and violent novel doesn’t read like it’s YA at all. In fact I’m seriously stunned it’s labeled as such, because of all the seriously dark content in it. I would certainly NOT recommend it to any tweens, or teens that are too sensitive to handle what happens in this novel. Even I, a seasoned and older, well read person, kept grimacing at all the body horror. It was really rough!
And even though the whole novel was difficult in many ways, I was held spellbound by the beginning and middle of it, desperate to know what was going to happen next. I then guessed the huge twist well ahead of when I’m guessing I should have, and I saw that coming from far away. Then the ending came along, and just about made me cry… and not because it was sad (which is really, truly was). But because the whole thing ended so… not badly, but idk, sad/depressing/cruelly. The whole situation with Bruno really made me bummed out. And where the hell was any compassion in this novel? It’s like the whole town was missing it, lock, stock and barrel. It was wild. So even though Liv ultimately finds compassion stronger than hatred, there are no happy endings here, only devastating consequences.
The whole story was much deeper and more introspective than I expected, exploring the capacity for violence against the ‘Other’, the complex dynamics of friendship especially when wrapped in grief and isolation, the ripple effect each life has on the other, and ultimately, how well any of us knows other people.
One of the big moments was projected relatively early on, but even guessing it didn't lessen the impact for the MC, whose head you're in pretty quickly. Like many teens, she's so up in her own head with unrecognized mourning and trauma, that she misses a lot of evidence of things in front of her (especially when it comes to subtle social dynamics) and is understandably defensive as a first reaction. Which totally tracks. But I felt like she made a lot of excuses for the decisions she made, even to herself. And that type of character drives me nuts. No, I don’t expect anyone to be perfect. I mean, who is…? But this seemed excessive, and I felt she would have dealt with her life a lot better if she had some kind of counselor, even just the school counselor. Her mom also needed to step up and take some control of their lives, please.
Also, who uses the fricken costume Dept for their tryst and then doesn’t clean up after themselves…??? You know someone is going to have to wear that costume in the future, and to um…. Finish like that, all over it, and then not have it cleaned by someone, or try to clean it up yourself is just GROSS. I know these are high school kids, but come on…!! You’re gross, it’s gross, and do better!
Anyway, this review by my dear friend Mogsy is much better at explaining this novel for you people on the fence, about whether you should try this novel out. Please read it, and then decide?
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Amara Jasper is the narrator for this audiobook version of this novel, and I adored them. I sincerely hope that they have a long, long career in narrating audiobooks (if that is what they want), in the future. Thank you for such a wonderful performance, here.
Even with all its issues, this novel started out really strong, and stayed that way until almost the end. The book itself was very fast paced, but the ending especially galloped to its …..end. And yet it didn’t really tell us what we really wanted to know; it left us all hanging. I hate that.
4 stars, but only because I loved the first 3/4ths of this novel so much.
-Moderate: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, confinement, fire/fire injury, kidnapping, medical trauma, physical abuse, mental, and psychological abuses, toxic friendship, manipulation, hating the ‘other’, mental illness, bullying, frienemies, vom on page, and talk of animals gnawing off their own legs to get out of a trap. Also, animal traps used.
This brutal, dark, and violent novel doesn’t read like it’s YA at all. In fact I’m seriously stunned it’s labeled as such, because of all the seriously dark content in it. I would certainly NOT recommend it to any tweens, or teens that are too sensitive to handle what happens in this novel. Even I, a seasoned and older, well read person, kept grimacing at all the body horror. It was really rough!
And even though the whole novel was difficult in many ways, I was held spellbound by the beginning and middle of it, desperate to know what was going to happen next. I then guessed the huge twist well ahead of when I’m guessing I should have, and I saw that coming from far away. Then the ending came along, and just about made me cry… and not because it was sad (which is really, truly was). But because the whole thing ended so… not badly, but idk, sad/depressing/cruelly. The whole situation with Bruno really made me bummed out. And where the hell was any compassion in this novel? It’s like the whole town was missing it, lock, stock and barrel. It was wild. So even though Liv ultimately finds compassion stronger than hatred, there are no happy endings here, only devastating consequences.
The whole story was much deeper and more introspective than I expected, exploring the capacity for violence against the ‘Other’, the complex dynamics of friendship especially when wrapped in grief and isolation, the ripple effect each life has on the other, and ultimately, how well any of us knows other people.
One of the big moments was projected relatively early on, but even guessing it didn't lessen the impact for the MC, whose head you're in pretty quickly. Like many teens, she's so up in her own head with unrecognized mourning and trauma, that she misses a lot of evidence of things in front of her (especially when it comes to subtle social dynamics) and is understandably defensive as a first reaction. Which totally tracks. But I felt like she made a lot of excuses for the decisions she made, even to herself. And that type of character drives me nuts. No, I don’t expect anyone to be perfect. I mean, who is…? But this seemed excessive, and I felt she would have dealt with her life a lot better if she had some kind of counselor, even just the school counselor. Her mom also needed to step up and take some control of their lives, please.
Also, who uses the fricken costume Dept for their tryst and then doesn’t clean up after themselves…??? You know someone is going to have to wear that costume in the future, and to um…. Finish like that, all over it, and then not have it cleaned by someone, or try to clean it up yourself is just GROSS. I know these are high school kids, but come on…!! You’re gross, it’s gross, and do better!
Anyway, this review by my dear friend Mogsy is much better at explaining this novel for you people on the fence, about whether you should try this novel out. Please read it, and then decide?
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Amara Jasper is the narrator for this audiobook version of this novel, and I adored them. I sincerely hope that they have a long, long career in narrating audiobooks (if that is what they want), in the future. Thank you for such a wonderful performance, here.
Even with all its issues, this novel started out really strong, and stayed that way until almost the end. The book itself was very fast paced, but the ending especially galloped to its …..end. And yet it didn’t really tell us what we really wanted to know; it left us all hanging. I hate that.
4 stars, but only because I loved the first 3/4ths of this novel so much.
February 25, 2020
My Review- Thank you Henry Holt Books For Young Readers for gifting me an E-ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own.
I rate this book 3.5 out of 5 Stars. It is out today to buy at your favorite retailers!
I was so excited to see something new and fresh in the YA world! I love Alien stories, and I really enjoyed this one. Don’t let the fact that this is YA fool you though. It is pretty damn intense, and dark. I am not an avid horror reader, but this was the perfect book to open my eyes to the genre.
Parts of this book do get pretty gruesome, there is some body mangling/gore so if you are weak stomached or triggered but such things, proceed with caution. For me, the writing was dark and delish, and it had me sitting on the edge of my seat, with my heart racing, and the urge to look over my shoulder. Not to mention the Alien Abduction dreams that this book induced!
I haven’t read any other books by Daniel Kraus, but I am ready for more!
I rate this book 3.5 out of 5 Stars. It is out today to buy at your favorite retailers!
I was so excited to see something new and fresh in the YA world! I love Alien stories, and I really enjoyed this one. Don’t let the fact that this is YA fool you though. It is pretty damn intense, and dark. I am not an avid horror reader, but this was the perfect book to open my eyes to the genre.
Parts of this book do get pretty gruesome, there is some body mangling/gore so if you are weak stomached or triggered but such things, proceed with caution. For me, the writing was dark and delish, and it had me sitting on the edge of my seat, with my heart racing, and the urge to look over my shoulder. Not to mention the Alien Abduction dreams that this book induced!
I haven’t read any other books by Daniel Kraus, but I am ready for more!
December 7, 2022
look, I'm not gonna lie and say this was good, because it really wasn't, but I REALLY appreciate YA with the guts to be the most disturbing thing some kid has ever read. if I had read this as a Youth, it would have changed the trajectory of my life forever. this shit was gnarly and visceral, with some really great bits of imaginative writing (the eyeball jar bit...whoough). if you want a YA horror book that'll feed you visions of fucked-up creatures, and fucked-up kids, and fucked-up war crimes, this is it. just make sure you don't squint at the plot too hard, or it'll fall apart.
Read
February 14, 2020WHOA. That. Was. INTENSE.
I've read one Daniel Kraus book before, The Shape of Water, so I had some hint of what I'd be in for. I thought it would be interesting to see what his YA is like. I buddy read with a friend who ended up DNF-ing the book because of all the body horror, and I completely understand that choice. I also find it unpleasant reading those parts and have stopped reading other books for similar reasons. If you're really averse to disgusting and physically horrific scenes, you may want to skip this one.
The premise for Bent Heavens, however, had me really intrigued, so I read on. And just like The Shape of Water, Bent Heavens is full of paranoia and darkness and human depravity and people who take things too far, but it also has moral quandries and people with compassion trying to do the right thing. And above all, it's really, really different... and thought-provoking. There was a moment so stunning it made me gasp aloud.
I will say that this did not read at all like YA to me, and if you're expecting the usual YA trappings, you may be disappointed. However, if you're looking for something that is very different, intriguing, dark, and deeply unsettling, pick this one up.
Free ARC received from Fierce Reads in exchange for promotions. All opinions are my own.
I've read one Daniel Kraus book before, The Shape of Water, so I had some hint of what I'd be in for. I thought it would be interesting to see what his YA is like. I buddy read with a friend who ended up DNF-ing the book because of all the body horror, and I completely understand that choice. I also find it unpleasant reading those parts and have stopped reading other books for similar reasons. If you're really averse to disgusting and physically horrific scenes, you may want to skip this one.
The premise for Bent Heavens, however, had me really intrigued, so I read on. And just like The Shape of Water, Bent Heavens is full of paranoia and darkness and human depravity and people who take things too far, but it also has moral quandries and people with compassion trying to do the right thing. And above all, it's really, really different... and thought-provoking. There was a moment so stunning it made me gasp aloud.
I will say that this did not read at all like YA to me, and if you're expecting the usual YA trappings, you may be disappointed. However, if you're looking for something that is very different, intriguing, dark, and deeply unsettling, pick this one up.
Free ARC received from Fierce Reads in exchange for promotions. All opinions are my own.
June 19, 2023
As much as I enjoyed the imagination and writing here, I wasn't as fully invested in the entire story as I'd hoped, but what I will say is, this one really makes me want to read more of Kraus's work. The last few chapters here really showed his genius storytelling.
Whalefall is just around the corner, and I am one hundred percent there for it.
I'm giving this 3.5 stars and happy to round it to 4 for Goodreads.
Whalefall is just around the corner, and I am one hundred percent there for it.
I'm giving this 3.5 stars and happy to round it to 4 for Goodreads.
July 9, 2025
Nudna, powolna i nic nie wnosząca do mojego życia
Dialogi i postacie mega płaskie.
Chyba nie lubię twórczości tego autora.
Dialogi i postacie mega płaskie.
Chyba nie lubię twórczości tego autora.
July 13, 2020
Bent Heavens is the reason that I fight for YA books to stay YA. That adults readers should not be allowed to push the genre past what it was meant to be. We don’t go to the Middle Grade section and expect romance. We shouldn’t go to the YA section and expect what Kraus wrote. YA should be like a movie rating, a way for a child to feel safe when they’re selecting a book. It shouldn’t be a genre that means the protagonist is a young adult. As a kid, I liked knowing that I was safe. Nothing explicit would be written. Nothing would cross that line into adulthood that I wasn’t ready for.
When did YA get categorized as a writing style, because the writing style (fine… and the protagonist) are the only reasons that I would categorize Bent Heavens as YA. This book should be shelved deep into the horror section so that readers know what they’re getting themselves into. I knew what was between the pages and I still, a full grown adult, wasn’t ready for what I read. I expected a line not to be cross. It was crossed and left in the dust.
So what was so wrong with the book?
If you’ve been with me for a while, you know I’m slow in giving a one star review. This year has really tested that, but I do try and refrain from dealing such a blow to authors. Only when a book is poorly written and offensive do I do it. I didn’t even give a star rating on Goodreads until today. Until what I read sat with me longer.
It sat with me so long and yet I still want to throw up thinking about it.
I was left deeply disturbed. I wouldn’t want my child to have to process the thoughts that I did.
Here’s the thing, Bent Heavens wasn’t exactly that graphic. My imagination did all that for Kraus with very little effort. It’s the psychological war in my head that has me reeling. The darkness that seeped through the page. And after all the turmoil that I stayed through, the ending left me without a clue as to how things would turn out for the characters. The most unsatisfying ending to say the least.
If I knew that was how it was going to end, I wouldn’t have stayed. I’m still surprised that I did.
There’s already a lot going on for my brain to process, why did the writing have to be so convoluted as well? At least that was one saving grace. The writing kept pulling me out of the story enough that I was able to keep one foot in the real world. Imagine if I had been fully lost in all of it? Would I even still be sane? The jury is out on that one.
Kraus’s writing was the perfect study of how not to write a book. And this isn’t even his first one. This is the man that wrote Shape of Water, a book that was made into a movie. How did he fall victim to the overly pretension writing? That kind of writing was forgotten fifty years ago. I haven’t even mentioned the issue of his similes, which were many. Almost one every paragraph. Stop being all fancy Kraus - the rule is one per page.
Still, I sit here looking at these words and shaking my head. How did this pass through countless hands to be deemed okay? What editor read the words thinking that they were perfect? It makes me wonder how the publishing industry really works.
If I can say one positive thing about Bent Heavens, it’s that the ideas behind the story are good. If it was shelved accordingly, I see a nitch that would like the story. I don’t mind the ideas that got me pondering. I may be disgusted but I don’t hate the thought process. If anything else, Bent Heavens shows the darkness humans can reach no matter how good they think they are.
All of this and I’ve yet to touch on the plot… I guess it was fine. I really have nothing to say.
When did YA get categorized as a writing style, because the writing style (fine… and the protagonist) are the only reasons that I would categorize Bent Heavens as YA. This book should be shelved deep into the horror section so that readers know what they’re getting themselves into. I knew what was between the pages and I still, a full grown adult, wasn’t ready for what I read. I expected a line not to be cross. It was crossed and left in the dust.
So what was so wrong with the book?
If you’ve been with me for a while, you know I’m slow in giving a one star review. This year has really tested that, but I do try and refrain from dealing such a blow to authors. Only when a book is poorly written and offensive do I do it. I didn’t even give a star rating on Goodreads until today. Until what I read sat with me longer.
It sat with me so long and yet I still want to throw up thinking about it.
I was left deeply disturbed. I wouldn’t want my child to have to process the thoughts that I did.
Here’s the thing, Bent Heavens wasn’t exactly that graphic. My imagination did all that for Kraus with very little effort. It’s the psychological war in my head that has me reeling. The darkness that seeped through the page. And after all the turmoil that I stayed through, the ending left me without a clue as to how things would turn out for the characters. The most unsatisfying ending to say the least.
If I knew that was how it was going to end, I wouldn’t have stayed. I’m still surprised that I did.
There’s already a lot going on for my brain to process, why did the writing have to be so convoluted as well? At least that was one saving grace. The writing kept pulling me out of the story enough that I was able to keep one foot in the real world. Imagine if I had been fully lost in all of it? Would I even still be sane? The jury is out on that one.
Kraus’s writing was the perfect study of how not to write a book. And this isn’t even his first one. This is the man that wrote Shape of Water, a book that was made into a movie. How did he fall victim to the overly pretension writing? That kind of writing was forgotten fifty years ago. I haven’t even mentioned the issue of his similes, which were many. Almost one every paragraph. Stop being all fancy Kraus - the rule is one per page.
Still, I sit here looking at these words and shaking my head. How did this pass through countless hands to be deemed okay? What editor read the words thinking that they were perfect? It makes me wonder how the publishing industry really works.
If I can say one positive thing about Bent Heavens, it’s that the ideas behind the story are good. If it was shelved accordingly, I see a nitch that would like the story. I don’t mind the ideas that got me pondering. I may be disgusted but I don’t hate the thought process. If anything else, Bent Heavens shows the darkness humans can reach no matter how good they think they are.
All of this and I’ve yet to touch on the plot… I guess it was fine. I really have nothing to say.
February 27, 2020
You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
3.5*
This is such a wonderfully bizarre book. Dark at times, and absolutely strange, it will leave you stunned in the best of ways. So let's chat about what was great and what was less so!
The Good:
• This is absolutely unlike anything else I have read. The unique genre mashup just works, somehow, even though I'll fully admit that I was skeptical.
• The ending is perfect. You know how I talked about when endings ruin books? Well, what about when endings make books? For me, the ending made me adore this book! I obviously cannot talk about it other than to say I thought it was phenomenally done, and it made me appreciate the book a lot more.
• It's incredibly dark. But please note, that some of the stuff is absolutely triggering, in the form of some really messed up torture/abuse. But if you are down with dark, it's really quite messed up, especially the way that some of the characters justify their actions. (And frankly, it says a lot about current societal issues and people overlooking and/or justifying monstrous acts, just my two cents.)
• There's no doubt it will provoke all the thoughts. Oh yes, this one is going to make you think, and wonder how you'd react to a lot of various scenarios. Many are spoilery, but one that is in the synopsis sparks questions: What would you do if your beloved family member claimed to be kidnapped by aliens? Is there any way you'd believe them? And that's just the beginning!
The Not-As-Good:
• I felt almost no connection to the main character. And the connection I did feel, I didn't really like her? I mean, I understand that she's flawed and trying to get through a lot of junk so I was able to cut her some slack, but I think that had I felt a little better connection, I would have been able to overlook some of her more unpleasant qualities.
• The pacing is a little messy. When it picks up, it's quite good, but in the slower moments, it's definitely a bit of a slog. I still think it is worth reading, and dealing with the slower bits though.
Bottom Line: Unique and full of surprises, it's definitely worth the ride.
3.5*
This is such a wonderfully bizarre book. Dark at times, and absolutely strange, it will leave you stunned in the best of ways. So let's chat about what was great and what was less so!
The Good:
• This is absolutely unlike anything else I have read. The unique genre mashup just works, somehow, even though I'll fully admit that I was skeptical.
• The ending is perfect. You know how I talked about when endings ruin books? Well, what about when endings make books? For me, the ending made me adore this book! I obviously cannot talk about it other than to say I thought it was phenomenally done, and it made me appreciate the book a lot more.
• It's incredibly dark. But please note, that some of the stuff is absolutely triggering, in the form of some really messed up torture/abuse. But if you are down with dark, it's really quite messed up, especially the way that some of the characters justify their actions. (And frankly, it says a lot about current societal issues and people overlooking and/or justifying monstrous acts, just my two cents.)
• There's no doubt it will provoke all the thoughts. Oh yes, this one is going to make you think, and wonder how you'd react to a lot of various scenarios. Many are spoilery, but one that is in the synopsis sparks questions: What would you do if your beloved family member claimed to be kidnapped by aliens? Is there any way you'd believe them? And that's just the beginning!
The Not-As-Good:
• I felt almost no connection to the main character. And the connection I did feel, I didn't really like her? I mean, I understand that she's flawed and trying to get through a lot of junk so I was able to cut her some slack, but I think that had I felt a little better connection, I would have been able to overlook some of her more unpleasant qualities.
• The pacing is a little messy. When it picks up, it's quite good, but in the slower moments, it's definitely a bit of a slog. I still think it is worth reading, and dealing with the slower bits though.
Bottom Line: Unique and full of surprises, it's definitely worth the ride.
September 26, 2020
Well that was incredibly heartbreaking.
July 31, 2020
"It stirred awake Liv’s practical side, not quite soppy with wine, damp and sullen in the knowledge that outer space wasn’t heaven. If anything, it was hell."
My first ever experience with aliens was from watching The X-Files. Mulder and Scully investigated some strange happenings and made believers out of all of us. They also brought my mind into the world of conspiracy theories. Some things in life are too farfetched to believe and that’s where these theories manifested. "I want to believe!"
Bent Heavens wasn’t a book that was on my radar, like at all. It was brought to my attention by friends who knew how I felt about Aliens and Conspiracy Theories. They knew that my mind goes a mile a minute when it comes to unexplained things. Then the publisher sent me a copy and all was right in my twisted little world.
I have to admit, I almost gave up a few times when I first started reading this. It started off a lot slower than I like books to do and it seemed to dig itself a nice little hole. But I was determined to read this book to see what the fuss was about. A light broke through the clouds about sixty pages in and I was glued after that.
Daniel Kraus creates this world where everything was questioned and throws you off course. Nothing was as it seemed and it had my mind on overdrive. The story and settings were good and the characters were easy to connect with. The mystery about aliens and theories were well developed and intriguing. But it lost me at the end, some scenes were too graphic (even for me), and why did the author play Bruno so dirty?
Bent Heavens was a decent read but be cautious while reading. Parts of this book got quite intense and showed the dark side of a theory consuming your life. It wasn’t a pretty picture. And my heart still hurts for Bruno.
Do you believe?
My first ever experience with aliens was from watching The X-Files. Mulder and Scully investigated some strange happenings and made believers out of all of us. They also brought my mind into the world of conspiracy theories. Some things in life are too farfetched to believe and that’s where these theories manifested. "I want to believe!"
Bent Heavens wasn’t a book that was on my radar, like at all. It was brought to my attention by friends who knew how I felt about Aliens and Conspiracy Theories. They knew that my mind goes a mile a minute when it comes to unexplained things. Then the publisher sent me a copy and all was right in my twisted little world.
I have to admit, I almost gave up a few times when I first started reading this. It started off a lot slower than I like books to do and it seemed to dig itself a nice little hole. But I was determined to read this book to see what the fuss was about. A light broke through the clouds about sixty pages in and I was glued after that.
Daniel Kraus creates this world where everything was questioned and throws you off course. Nothing was as it seemed and it had my mind on overdrive. The story and settings were good and the characters were easy to connect with. The mystery about aliens and theories were well developed and intriguing. But it lost me at the end, some scenes were too graphic (even for me), and why did the author play Bruno so dirty?
Bent Heavens was a decent read but be cautious while reading. Parts of this book got quite intense and showed the dark side of a theory consuming your life. It wasn’t a pretty picture. And my heart still hurts for Bruno.
Do you believe?
February 17, 2020
Liv Fleming’s father went missing two years ago, after claiming to have been abducted by aliens. What Liv does and becomes because of this made this book so hard to read, mainly because of the brutality but it’s also filled with grief, love, belonging and not belonging, hope and hopelessness. At times I had to take a break from this book. Surprising twists and turns near the end kept me from putting this book down. I’ll be thinking about this for a long time. So, I’m still thinking about Liv’s story. The amount of bravery she showed at the end was incredible. I’m glad a young female character displayed this.
May 10, 2020
3.75 rounded up. This was so much darker than I expected. When I started to realize where it was going I hoped I was wrong. When my premonition was proven correct in the most horrible way my stomach hurt from the horror of it. This is a brutally sad story. Humans are always the most savage in the end.
April 26, 2020
CW:
Well that was a lot like being in a theme park. First you are sitting peacefully on the boring log flume and then suddenly you are in the House of Horrors with a machete wielding Jason (or Doug) jumping out at you, then you arrive at the ridiculous House of Crazy Mirrors and don’t know what’s real or not, then you head home feeling a little nauseous after all the crap you have ingested over the course of the day.
Please do not read this book if you are at all upset by the idea of torturing helpless beings. It’s really awful stuff and I wasn’t sure if I could read on but I ended up pushing through. I know some people have said this is a book about dealing with grief and how that impacts your behaviour but I have to categorically say that I don’t believe anyone would take the actions of the two MCs unless they were also psychopaths. So yes, it is a book about psychopaths dealing with grief. As much as psychopaths can.
This is an incredibly ‘out there’ and bizarre book. After the story entered the House of Crazy Mirrors section I felt like it improved a bit. Improved? Well, I became a bit more intrigued anyway. I won’t be rushing out to recommend it to anyone but I neither would I discourage anyone from reading it. It's like one of those situations where something horrific is happening but you can't look away. Those people who have read it will know that there really isn’t much more you can say. Please read the content warnings before reading if you are sensitive to pain and torture scenes.
The 3 stars are because it is so crazy that I can't stop thinking about what was going through the writers head as he wrote it. Otherwise it would have been 2 Stars.
Well that was a lot like being in a theme park. First you are sitting peacefully on the boring log flume and then suddenly you are in the House of Horrors with a machete wielding Jason (or Doug) jumping out at you, then you arrive at the ridiculous House of Crazy Mirrors and don’t know what’s real or not, then you head home feeling a little nauseous after all the crap you have ingested over the course of the day.
Please do not read this book if you are at all upset by the idea of torturing helpless beings. It’s really awful stuff and I wasn’t sure if I could read on but I ended up pushing through. I know some people have said this is a book about dealing with grief and how that impacts your behaviour but I have to categorically say that I don’t believe anyone would take the actions of the two MCs unless they were also psychopaths. So yes, it is a book about psychopaths dealing with grief. As much as psychopaths can.
This is an incredibly ‘out there’ and bizarre book. After the story entered the House of Crazy Mirrors section I felt like it improved a bit. Improved? Well, I became a bit more intrigued anyway. I won’t be rushing out to recommend it to anyone but I neither would I discourage anyone from reading it. It's like one of those situations where something horrific is happening but you can't look away. Those people who have read it will know that there really isn’t much more you can say. Please read the content warnings before reading if you are sensitive to pain and torture scenes.
The 3 stars are because it is so crazy that I can't stop thinking about what was going through the writers head as he wrote it. Otherwise it would have been 2 Stars.
March 17, 2020
I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.The nitty-gritty: A bloody, scary good time, skillfully written and paced, Bent Heavens kept me flipping pages, even though I had some issues with a few elements.
I’ve seen some fantastic reviews for Bent Heavens, and so I went into it with high hopes, knowing this was a thriller/horror story revolving around aliens. And without spoiling things for you, I will say it was very scary and compulsively readable. BUT I have to admit I was disappointed with the twist at the end when we finally get some answers, which is the main reason for my middle-of-the-road rating. So overall this was a mixed bag read for me, although lots of readers are giving it four and five stars.
I also need to caution readers, particularly those who are triggered by torture scenes, this story is pretty harsh in places and was very difficult to read at times. I’m not opposed at all to graphic violence, but in this case I feel compelled to add a hidden spoiler below as a warning to sensitive readers (see spoiler at the end of this review).
The story takes place during high schooler Liv Fleming’s senior year. The past few years have been rough on Liv and her mother Aggie, after Liv’s father, Lee Fleming, disappeared for four days and returned naked and haunted, insisting that he had been abducted and tortured by aliens. Eight months after his return, Lee disappears again, this time for good. Ever since that day, Liv and her good friend Doug have kept a promise to Lee to check his elaborate traps in the woods, traps Lee set to catch any “skinners” that might come after him (his name for the aliens). So for the past two years, every Sunday morning, Liv faithfully follows Doug into the woods to check the traps, which usually yield nothing more than a careless squirrel or two.
But one day, something else gets caught, a disfigured, humanoid being with lumpy skin and bulging eyes. Doug is convinced it’s a skinner, and he takes it back to Lee’s garden shed and ties it up. Liv is horrified but also feels sorry for the creature, but Doug is ruthless and determined to get justice for Lee at any cost. As Liv begins to spend more and more time with Doug and "A," as they begin calling the creature, her life becomes tangled up with Doug's mission of vengeance as her old life slowly slips away.
I want to talk about the elements I loved first. Kraus is such a good writer, and his pacing was excellent. The story is broken up into four distinct sections, and each one ramps up the terror and suspense just a little more—that is until you get to the last section, which dials things up to 100! I loved the way he incorporated a few elements that carried through the entire story. For example, Lee Fleming was a high school English teacher and he used a book of poetry called Resurrection Update by James Galvin to teach his students. An old copy of the book plays a part in Lee’s eventual disappearance, and I thought it was interesting that when I Googled the book, it turned out to be real (and yes, I Google stuff in books all the time!). I love details like this because it shows that the author put a lot of time and thought into his story.
I also loved the character development, especially that of Doug. Doug is the weird kid at school and he doesn’t have many friends. He falls into that nerd/geek category because he spends time designing corn mazes, of all things. But as the story progresses, he completely changes into something nearing evil. His relationship with Liv changes as well, and that might have been the scariest aspect of all. Let’s just say the real monsters in this book are not aliens and leave it at that.
Kraus also knows how to scare the pants off his readers. There were so many creepy elements in this story, and he spreads them out in a way that keeps the mystery going for quite a while. One of the most bizarre things to me was the idea of building and setting alien traps in the woods. Lee Fleming gave each of his traps a horrific name, like the Amputator, Hangman’s Noose and Neckbreaker, for example. Lee’s obsession with building these traps in secret was also unnerving, and as much as I wanted to turn the pages faster to see what would happen, I was also terrified at the same time. The tension was so skillfully done, so if you love that sense of horror and uncertainty that comes with this type of storytelling, you will probably enjoy this book.
Those positives aside, however, I still had a few issues. As I mentioned before, the twist near the end came out of nowhere (at least to me), although looking back there are plenty of clues that I should have picked up on. But the twist still made me mad, I guess because I was hoping the story would go in a certain direction, and then it didn’t.
There is a lot of high school drama in the background too, so if you don’t like that sort of thing, beware. And the the drama doesn’t really add much to the story, although it does establish that Liv has a fairly normal life with friends and school activities, that is until the weird stuff starts happening. We also meet a new kid at school named Bruno who becomes a love interest for Liv, but I think the story would have been just as good, if not better, without him. His presence creates a weird love triangle of sorts with Liv and Doug, and he does make an intuitive leap at one point in the story that helps Liv solve the mystery of her father, but it felt blatantly shoehorned in and rather awkwardly done.
The ending went completely off the rails for me, in that ridiculous way that some horror stories do. What could have been an eerily believable tale turns almost laughable with over-the-top action, as if the author was trying desperately to tie up all the loose ends. I know this is horror fiction and it’s not real (or at least I hope it isn’t!), but for me to enjoy a story that’s grounded in reality, I need those speculative elements to make a certain amount of sense.
But overall, I found this to be a compulsive and thrilling read, even if I didn’t enjoy everything about it. Horror fans who aren’t afraid of graphic violence and enjoy over-the-top storytelling are going to love this, but squeamish readers should proceed with caution.
Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.
Liv and Doug capture an alien-like creature and bring it back to the old tool shed on Liv’s property, tie it up, and proceed to inflict various types of torture on it, with the purpose of getting it to tell them what happened to Liv’s father. That was bad enough, but what I really hated was that I pictured this alien creature in my head as E.T., and to me these torture scenes felt like animal cruelty. Animal lovers beware!This review originally appeared on Books, Bones & Buffy
I’ve seen some fantastic reviews for Bent Heavens, and so I went into it with high hopes, knowing this was a thriller/horror story revolving around aliens. And without spoiling things for you, I will say it was very scary and compulsively readable. BUT I have to admit I was disappointed with the twist at the end when we finally get some answers, which is the main reason for my middle-of-the-road rating. So overall this was a mixed bag read for me, although lots of readers are giving it four and five stars.
I also need to caution readers, particularly those who are triggered by torture scenes, this story is pretty harsh in places and was very difficult to read at times. I’m not opposed at all to graphic violence, but in this case I feel compelled to add a hidden spoiler below as a warning to sensitive readers (see spoiler at the end of this review).
The story takes place during high schooler Liv Fleming’s senior year. The past few years have been rough on Liv and her mother Aggie, after Liv’s father, Lee Fleming, disappeared for four days and returned naked and haunted, insisting that he had been abducted and tortured by aliens. Eight months after his return, Lee disappears again, this time for good. Ever since that day, Liv and her good friend Doug have kept a promise to Lee to check his elaborate traps in the woods, traps Lee set to catch any “skinners” that might come after him (his name for the aliens). So for the past two years, every Sunday morning, Liv faithfully follows Doug into the woods to check the traps, which usually yield nothing more than a careless squirrel or two.
But one day, something else gets caught, a disfigured, humanoid being with lumpy skin and bulging eyes. Doug is convinced it’s a skinner, and he takes it back to Lee’s garden shed and ties it up. Liv is horrified but also feels sorry for the creature, but Doug is ruthless and determined to get justice for Lee at any cost. As Liv begins to spend more and more time with Doug and "A," as they begin calling the creature, her life becomes tangled up with Doug's mission of vengeance as her old life slowly slips away.
I want to talk about the elements I loved first. Kraus is such a good writer, and his pacing was excellent. The story is broken up into four distinct sections, and each one ramps up the terror and suspense just a little more—that is until you get to the last section, which dials things up to 100! I loved the way he incorporated a few elements that carried through the entire story. For example, Lee Fleming was a high school English teacher and he used a book of poetry called Resurrection Update by James Galvin to teach his students. An old copy of the book plays a part in Lee’s eventual disappearance, and I thought it was interesting that when I Googled the book, it turned out to be real (and yes, I Google stuff in books all the time!). I love details like this because it shows that the author put a lot of time and thought into his story.
I also loved the character development, especially that of Doug. Doug is the weird kid at school and he doesn’t have many friends. He falls into that nerd/geek category because he spends time designing corn mazes, of all things. But as the story progresses, he completely changes into something nearing evil. His relationship with Liv changes as well, and that might have been the scariest aspect of all. Let’s just say the real monsters in this book are not aliens and leave it at that.
Kraus also knows how to scare the pants off his readers. There were so many creepy elements in this story, and he spreads them out in a way that keeps the mystery going for quite a while. One of the most bizarre things to me was the idea of building and setting alien traps in the woods. Lee Fleming gave each of his traps a horrific name, like the Amputator, Hangman’s Noose and Neckbreaker, for example. Lee’s obsession with building these traps in secret was also unnerving, and as much as I wanted to turn the pages faster to see what would happen, I was also terrified at the same time. The tension was so skillfully done, so if you love that sense of horror and uncertainty that comes with this type of storytelling, you will probably enjoy this book.
Those positives aside, however, I still had a few issues. As I mentioned before, the twist near the end came out of nowhere (at least to me), although looking back there are plenty of clues that I should have picked up on. But the twist still made me mad, I guess because I was hoping the story would go in a certain direction, and then it didn’t.
There is a lot of high school drama in the background too, so if you don’t like that sort of thing, beware. And the the drama doesn’t really add much to the story, although it does establish that Liv has a fairly normal life with friends and school activities, that is until the weird stuff starts happening. We also meet a new kid at school named Bruno who becomes a love interest for Liv, but I think the story would have been just as good, if not better, without him. His presence creates a weird love triangle of sorts with Liv and Doug, and he does make an intuitive leap at one point in the story that helps Liv solve the mystery of her father, but it felt blatantly shoehorned in and rather awkwardly done.
The ending went completely off the rails for me, in that ridiculous way that some horror stories do. What could have been an eerily believable tale turns almost laughable with over-the-top action, as if the author was trying desperately to tie up all the loose ends. I know this is horror fiction and it’s not real (or at least I hope it isn’t!), but for me to enjoy a story that’s grounded in reality, I need those speculative elements to make a certain amount of sense.
But overall, I found this to be a compulsive and thrilling read, even if I didn’t enjoy everything about it. Horror fans who aren’t afraid of graphic violence and enjoy over-the-top storytelling are going to love this, but squeamish readers should proceed with caution.
Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.
Liv and Doug capture an alien-like creature and bring it back to the old tool shed on Liv’s property, tie it up, and proceed to inflict various types of torture on it, with the purpose of getting it to tell them what happened to Liv’s father. That was bad enough, but what I really hated was that I pictured this alien creature in my head as E.T., and to me these torture scenes felt like animal cruelty. Animal lovers beware!This review originally appeared on Books, Bones & Buffy
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