[BOOKS OF THE DEAD] The Shuddering - Ania Ahlborn

The Shuddering - Books of the Dead Review

Welcome to Books of the Dead. A monthly series by published author and founder of The Readers in the Rue Morgue Book Club Victoria Brown where she deep dives into some her favourite (and not so favourite) authors and books.

Author: Ania Ahlborn 

Publication Date: 18/06/2013

Synopsis: Ryan Adler and his twin sister, Jane, spent their happiest childhood days at their parents’ mountain Colorado cabin―until divorce tore their family apart. Now, with the house about to be sold, the Adler twins gather with their closest friends for one last snowboarding-filled holiday. While commitment-phobic Ryan gazes longingly at Lauren, wondering if his playboy days are over, Jane’s hopes of reconciling with her old boyfriend evaporate when he brings along his new fiancée. As drama builds among the friends, something lurks in the forest, watching the cabin, growing ever bolder as the snow falls…and hunger rises. After a blizzard leaves the group stranded, the true test of their love and loyalty begins as the hideous creatures outside close in, one bloody attack at a time. Now Ryan, Jane, and their friends must fight―tooth and nail, bullet and blade―for their lives. Or else surrender to unspeakable deaths in the darkened woods.

Thoughts:

I don’t like doing bad reviews, I don’t, I really don’t. Especially as a writer myself! And I can argue with myself about the idea of art being subjective etc., but it doesn’t make me feel any better. I wish I liked this book more.

Having read Ahlborn’s book ‘Seed’ a few years back and absolutely devouring it, I went into ‘The Shuddering’ expecting the same love and admiration for the writing and the story, but I was disappointed. The set-up seemed perfect: a secluded winter ski cabin, with creepy creatures who only come out when it snows, and a dysfunctional group of characters who would be forced to work together to get out of this situation alive. 

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I’ll start with what I enjoyed, I guess. The book opens with an elderly couple who have lived in this snowy location for decades. They know the area, they know the woods, but that doesn’t help them when the elderly man is violently mutilated by long, skinny, grey-skinned creatures (who are apparently meant to be wendigos? I did not catch that at all) who attack him when he is out gathering firewood. The descriptions were gory, visceral, and vile. I loved that. Then it went downhill very fast (no bad ski pun intended). 

The writing, to be fair to Ahlborn, was great. She’s very talented when it comes to setting a tone and describing body horror, and if that was the main crux of the story, I think I would’ve enjoyed it more. This book, however, felt like it was trying to be more character driven than it needed to be, and I didn’t care enough about any of the characters to be emotionally invested in what happened to them. Literally every character but one – the final girl Jane – dies, and I didn’t care. And even if I didn’t care about them as characters, usually the deaths are at least entertaining enough to feel worth it, but all the deaths just felt…flat. 

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I do wonder if my lack of connection to the characters was due to their privileged yuppy problems being at the forefront of the narrative, but even after having some distance from the book, I’m not sure that’s the issue. I wish the story had stuck with the old couple; they seemed far more interesting than the ‘Riverdale’-esque melodrama with monsters that I got from the main characters. 

I’m not sure what else to say about ‘The Shuddering’ other than I was disappointed. It started off well but went nowhere. Points to Ahlborn for her body horror writing and the great premise, but I can’t remember anything else I liked about this book. 

Verdict: ⭐️⭐️½

-Victoria Brown, Author of The Death Ship: Recovering The Bodies of Titanic's Dead

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