'Direwood' by Catherine Yu - Book Tour & Review

9/20/2022

Direwood by Catherine Yu - Book Tour Schedule

Continue below to read my review of the book and be sure to follow this link - [TOUR SCHEDULE] to check out the rest of the stops on the 'DIREWOOD' book tour brought to you by TBR & BEYOND TOURS, PAGE STREET PUBLISHING/PAGE STREET KIDS, and CATHERINE YU!

Direwood
Catherine Yu

Publisher: Page Street Publishing/Page Street Kids

Pub Date: Sept. 20th, 2022

Genres: Young Adult Horror

Synopsis:

In this velvet-clad 1990s gothic horror, Aja encounters a charming vampire who wants to lure her into the woods―just like her missing sister.

No one ever pays attention to sixteen-year-old Aja until her perfect older sister Fiona goes missing. In the days leading up to Fiona’s disappearance, Aja notices some extraordinary things: a strange fog rolling through their idyllic suburban town, a brief moment when the sky seems to rain blood, and a host of parasitic caterpillars burrowing their way through the trees. Aja’s father, the neighbors, and even her ex-friend Mary all play down this strange string of occurrences, claiming there must be some natural explanation. It seems everyone is willing to keep living in denial until other teens start to go missing too.

Aja is horrified when she meets Padraic, the vampire responsible for all the strange occurrences. His hypnotic voice lures her to the window and tells her everything she’s longed to hear―she’s beautiful and special, and he wants nothing more than for Aja to come with him. Aja knows she shouldn’t trust him, but she’s barely able to resist his enthrallment. And following him into the woods may be the only way to find Fiona, so she agrees on one condition: He must let her leave alive if she is not wooed after one week. Though Aja plans to kill him before the week is out, Padraic has his own secrets as well.

In the misty woods, Aja finds that Padraic has made his nest with another vampire in a dilapidated church infested by blood-sucking butterflies. Within its walls, the vampires are waited on and entertained by other children they’ve enthralled, but there is no sign of Fiona. Before her bargain is up, Aja must find a way to turn her classmates against their captors, find her sister, and save them all―or be forced to join the very monsters she wants to destroy.

Content Warning: body and bug horror, death, on-page violence, and racial microaggressions

r e v i e w
rating: ★ ★ ★ (3 / 5 stars)

You had me at velvet-clad vampire.

I loved Padraic, both the name and the aesthetic of him as a character. He's easily my favorite part of the story and whenever he enters a scene it's automatically more interesting. In part due to my own romanticization of this style of vampire, but also because there's a visible shift whenever he graces the page. He's charismatic and intriguing from moment he utters his first words, if somewhat disturbing at times.

He's not the only protagonist here to play of course and that keeps things interesting.

Aja was just okay for me. She's another 'my perfect sister/I'm the outcast' character, which personally I find is far too prevalent in these types of tales. I do realize though, this is sometimes the personal experience of the writer and perhaps instead.. it's far too common a feeling within families, which is sad.

Thematically, I enjoyed the gothic horror elements Yu employed. The red rain and the creepy insects were a great addition to setting the feel of the story. I may never get out of my mind's eye the images of the butterflies.. so it's visually impactful in a long-lasting way.

Though the story is Young Adult Horror, at times it feels younger. Yu has a ton of creative potential and I'd like to see her develop characters a bit more and flex her use of language in future works.

If you're looking for a quick read with some unnerving horror elements, give this one a try.

About the Author:

Catherine Yu writes dark speculative fiction.

She was born in Nanjing and is now based in New York. She is a graduate of Odyssey Writing Workshop.

Direwood is her debut novel.

AUTHOR LINKS: CATHERINEYUWRITES.COM | GOODREADS | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER

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