There's something in the woods...
Death has visited Rowan Rose since it took her mother when Rowan was only a little girl. But that changes one bleak morning, when five horses and five riders thunder into her village and through the forest, disappearing into the hills. Days later, the riders' bodies are found, and though no one can say for certain what happened in their final hours, their remains prove that whatever it was must have been brutal.
Rowan's village was once a tranquil place, but things are different now. Something followed the path those riders made. It has come down from the hills, through the forest, and into the village. And beast or man, it has brought death to Rowan's door once again.
Only this time, its appetite is insatiable.
Well, I read some decent review of The Glass Casket by McCormick Templeman and wanted to give it a go. And while it was intriguing and mysterious, it was also a bit confusing, a little slow, and an ending that leaves a lot to be desired. Still a decent read, but one I was hoping would be better. And let me also just say, that this cover makes no sense to me in conjunction to the story. Why are her fingers in her mouth...?
As I said, this story starts out a little slow. The entire part one for that matter (as the book is divided into three parts), but it's also where our story gets started. There are some interesting details, such as the deaths of five soldiers in the woods and basically how it's mysterious. The village wants to write it off as an animal attack, but it's clear from the getgo, that that is not the case.
Rowan's life gets a little more complicated when her cousin she barely knows comes to visit and her father forbids her to talk to her. Matters get a little worse when her best friend, Tom, and obvious crush, falls in love with Fiona. Yeah, an insta-love thing, but at least it wasn't Rowan doing the insta-love.
By the end of part one we have more death breaching the story and more is soon to follow. People are dying left and right and it's all very mysterious. For there aren't enough clues to try to figure out what or who it could be doing the killing.
There was some romance involved as well, and not just with Tom and Fiona, but a kind of tension that is forever between Rowan and Tom's brother, Jude. The two practically hate one another, but I enjoyed their bantering. And there's a clear secret going on in the mix and becomes more obvious as the story rolls along, but I have to admit, I enjoyed that part too!
What I didn't like and what kind of ruined the reading experience was how everything gets revealed/wrapped up at the end. It's like shoot, bang, done. It was just so sudden, I had more questions revolving around the whys of things, but answers weren't forthcoming. It just there. That's how it is. And I didn't like that at all, I mean where's the details? The motive? Some history explaining who was who and all that? Nothing.
Even worse, there was like some sort of little hint we were supposed to see at the end as one last character was reflecting on something or other. I felt like I knew what it was, but still there's this impression of something greater going on and that I didn't get at all. I just saw the "reflection".
The Glass Casket was indeed, a delightfully creepy read, but it also lacks a few things here and there. Especially, a more fine-tuned ending. It reads as a standalone which kind of makes the lacking ending a little more disappointing. Still worth a read if you like creepy and mysterious, but be opened to a lackluster ending.
Overall Rating 2.5/5 stars
