Not interested in watching my video review of This Wretched Valley? Then look below for the major bullet points.
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Rating: 2 out of 5
Genre: Horror
Hello friends!
In this blog, I’m reviewing This Wretched Valley by Jennifer Kiefer. As usual, the first half of the review will be spoiler-free, and more about my overall thoughts. The second half will contain spoilers, so look away if you haven’t read the book yet.
The beginning sucks you in. The setup is perfectly eerie. It’s easy to become interested in what happened. But did the book hold up to the hook?
I’m unfamiliar with the Dyatlov Pass incident, the inspiration for this story. The idea was all new to me. If you’re also unfamiliar, the incident is from 1959. Nine Soviet Hikers were found dead of unusual circumstances — including one with a missing tongue.
The dog does not die in the book.
The book’s themes are extremely apparent. Obvious clues were laid out. This Wretched Valley was missing the rule of three – having three levels of foreshadowing. The only hidden part was whether the dog was alive or dead and you know that now.
Kiefer’s writing is amazing. It elevated the book and is the only reason I enjoyed any of it, or gave it 2 stars. I hate that I don’t like the book more. Kiefer’s writing is a breath of fresh air when quality narrative has taken a downward trend in the market. I feel that we’re losing the art of writing for the shock and awe value.
I’m sorry if this does spoil the book (so look away if you don’t want to take the chance, but I feel that the readers should be warned), but This Wretched Valley turns into a slasher. There aren’t any character arcs. From the beginning, you know that no one is going to be left alive. And I’m over hopeless stories with a lot of killing. I’m not here to witness the pain of people dying. I need something more. I need heroism. I need miracles. I need hope at the end of the day.
Have we run out of original horror stories? Where is all the originality? Could Kiefer have dug a little dipper? Could there have been a better explanation for what was happening?
Now look away if you don’t want spoilers.
Kiefer wanted there to be hope that the final girl was still alive, but the minute that her hand was absorbed into the rock, I knew that she was gone. That’s why they couldn’t find her body. The rock ate her. This is a great example of how there were no levels to the foreshadowing. Her disappearance was too obvious.
I needed better reasons (or even some reasons) for why everything was happening. Was the land cursed? Was it because of the first settlers’ bad luck? Was it a disease? Was there some native burial ground that everyone was trampling one? Where does the evil come from? Why are the ghosts stuck? And why are they turned so vile?
Eye roll for the delusional killer.
I was really hoping that this had something to do with aliens. Not weird-ass blood thirsty ghosts being stuck.
Why are there references to the earth eating the bodies? Again, I needed a reason.
The characters fall into insanity needed to be believable.
Happy Reading!
Love,
Kait