The Sacrifice

Thank you to the publisher, Sourcebooks Fire, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of The Sacrifice in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Gist

You know what? I’m kind of tired writing these negative, or shall we say unfavourable reviews. There have been a lot of them lately.

So, here I am, excited to start Rin Chupeco’s newest story. I loved her Bone Witch trilogy and Never Tilting World duology, but there was something missing in The Sacrifice.

The Details

I loved the premise, the setting, the contradiction between such a beautiful location and the terrible things that happen on the island.

It was impossible for me to connect with either the story as a whole or the characters.

The story is narrated from a local’s point of view. When they refer to any of the other characters, they give them nicknames, such as “Armani” or “straw hat”. Yet, in conversations the characters’ real names are mentioned, making it very difficult to figure out who is who.

Also, I assume the author wanted to make reveal of the mystery of the evil on the island a slow burn, because we barely get any kind of information of what makes this island so bad.

For a long time it is eluded to that they should leave the island, since it is not safe. But why? Give us something!

I started to not care about the mystery and the horror.

Everything is kept so at a distance that I couldn’t fully immerse myself in the story. I felt like I was hovering above it and try as I might, I was unable to connect to any of it.

The Verdict

Overall, sadly this couldn’t satisfy my itch for a good horror story.

Generally speaking, I do enjoy Chupeco’s writing. I still have the second part of Never Tilting World to finish, which I hope I can start soon.