ARC Review: Young Gothic by M.A. Bennett

youngcreativepress

2 years ago

Synopsis:

Filled with deadly secrets and the monsters you thought only existed in your mind …

You’ve heard of Frankenstein’s monster, you’ve heard of Dracula, but have you heard of the Villa Diodati? Eve, Griffin, Hal and Ren embark on a summer they’ll never forget at the birthplace of all things Gothic.

The summer is beset by mysterious happenings, as the monsters they create begin to clamber out of their minds. Events rise to a horrible climax when, on a dark and stormy night, one of the villa’s guests is found dead and each of our foursome becomes a suspect in a gruesome murder.

It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime. But when the stuff of nightmares becomes their reality, will they make it out alive?

Review:

Young Gothic has been my most anticipated ARC of 2024 so far and it did not disappoint. I do have a couple of pain points with it, but no book is completely perfect. Let’s get the negatives out of the way first.

My biggest issue was the different narratives. Hal and Eve’s narratives were great but I didn’t enjoy the stereotypes of Ren and Griffin’s. The latter did fit their characters well but I don’t think they needed to be as over the top as they were, you could even go as far to say Griffin’s was a racial stereotype. Griffin uses the term “popo” at one point it felt really forced and unnatural, especially in a book by a white author.

My other issue was the overuse of character descriptions. Eve was constantly described as having “cat eyes” and Hal’s “sardonic tone” was mentioned in almost every chapter. It definitely painted a vivid picture of what they looked and acted like, which is great, but reading the same descriptions over and over gets a little old.

I have to kick off the positives by mentioning how gorgeous this cover is. I’ll admit it’s what drew me to the book initially. The character designs are stunning and when you get further into the book, you start to understand why they are depicted the way they are.

The tense atmosphere was incredible in the beginning. There’s nothing creepier than a gothic mansion, especially one that is staffed by people who can’t talk. It really makes you wonder what secrets they’re being forced to keep. The creepiness only intensified when you found out that the teens were being left in the mansion on their own every night.

The plot was super interesting and I liked all of the questions it posed. It’s not the most complex mystery in the world, but it does leave you with a lot of questions. Especially as more and more information gets revealed. The latter half of the book was completely wild in the best way possible.

I liked that Young Gothic was split into parts based on ‘the rules of horror’ – this was very clever. It gave the book an ‘expect the unexpected’ vibe and allowed it to be tropey without being too cheesy.

Overall, I would definitely recommend checking out Young Gothic if you’re looking for an intense YA thriller. Unfortunately, I can’t comment too much on the story without giving away the twist, but trust me, it’s an interesting one.