Beth’s Reviews > Chapelwood > Status Update
Beth
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I read Maplecroft, the first book of this duology, as an ARC around the time it came out. I enjoyed it, but somehow in the intervening nearly ten years never got around to reading this one. As often happens with long gaps in my series reading, a sense of murky Northeastern America seaside atmosphere remains in my mind from the first book, but not much of the plot.
— May 27, 2024 10:55AM
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Beth’s Previous Updates
Beth
is on page 259 of 434
I think this is intended to be a slow burn, but instead often feels sluggish and boring. I'd have expected more intensity post the halfway point.
— Apr 18, 2025 06:24AM
Beth
is on page 228 of 434
Made it past the halfway hump! Now that our cast has all gathered in the same place, I'm enjoying it a lot more. I still feel the first 150 pages or so could have been tighter, more suspenseful, less repetitive.
— Apr 04, 2025 04:29PM
Beth
is on page 154 of 434
I'm about where I was when I got distracted and stopped reading this book about a year ago. Funny that I'd wandered away just as the MC from the previous book had her "call to adventure."
(I didn't remember Simon Wolf as a character in _Maplecroft_. Well, it has been over ten years since I read it.)
— Apr 02, 2025 03:15PM
(I didn't remember Simon Wolf as a character in _Maplecroft_. Well, it has been over ten years since I read it.)
Beth
is on page 110 of 434
I'm not expecting the same book as the first, but so far this second book is rather slow and repetitive, and not providing enough atmosphere, suspense, monsters, etc. to compensate.
— Apr 01, 2025 08:23AM
Beth
is on page 35 of 434
Had a failed run on this one back in May that ended at p. 150. Let's see if I can get a little further (or even finish it) this time.
— Oct 02, 2024 09:13AM
Beth
is on page 150 of 434
I like the idea of the basement under city hall being a dark, damp abandoned site-like place where old paperwork and junked office furniture is eaten by something unknown.
(book otherwise remains only moderately interesting to read, unfortunately)
— May 30, 2024 04:14PM
(book otherwise remains only moderately interesting to read, unfortunately)
Beth
is on page 70 of 434
There are a couple of striking parts in these first pages, but on the whole there's far less Cthulhian creepy-crawliness than I'd like. The (soon to be ex-) City Commissioner's recent section near-entirely repeated information we've seen already in other characters'.
— May 28, 2024 02:29PM
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Marc *Dark Reader with a Thousand Young! Iä!*
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rated it 2 stars
May 27, 2024 11:19AM
This takes place many years after the first book, so it's apt. Basically all you need to know is: Lizzie Borden, instead of killing her parents, actually axe-murdered Lovecraftian monsters, then did more of the same when they assaulted her house later. Her sister who helped then has since died, and Borden here has gone to a new place, so don't worry about other past characters.
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I remembered the basic setup as you described, so if that's all I need, we're good to go. I see you didn't have a high opinion of this one, but I'm not a Cthulhu monster myself, so maybe things will go differently for me.
