Book Blogger Hop is a weekly feature hosted by Billy at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. Each week, a new book related question is posted and everyone can share their answers. This week’s question is:
What novel would you recommend that blends characteristics of your favorite genre with horror concepts, and why?
I really love this question, and it took me a while to think about what my answer should be. I think I’m going to go with the Splintered series by A.G. Howard. I just re-read/listened to this one recently and while it is firmly in the YA fantasy genre (it’s a retelling of Alice in Wonderland) there are some elements that I would say could easily lend itself to horror, particularly with the way certain characters are described. This Wonderland isn’t the happy, colorful place that Lewis Carroll showed us, but is dark and twisted – the idea is that when Alice Liddel went there, she was too young to be able to explain what she saw, so when she “told” Carroll about it, she described it in ways that she knew how.
Let’s use the White Rabbit as an example. Carroll describes him as a rabbit in a waistcoat, but in Splintered, here is how “Rabid White” described:
“It’s not the White Rabbit or any kind of rabbit at all. It’s a tiny, dwarfish creature the size of a bunny. The legs, arms, and body are humanoid but fleshless – a bleached-out skeleton. White gloves cover cadaverous hands; white lace-up boots protect his feet. The exception to the skeletal appearance is his bald head and his face of an old man, covered with flesh as pale as an albino’s. His eyes – wide and inquisitive like a doe’s – glow pink. Long white antlers sprout from behind each of his small human ears.”
That’s terrifying. An Rabid is a fairly innocent and harmless character. There are many other gruesome characters throughout the series, each one turning the original Wonderland story on its head, from zombie flowers, to trees that can eat people and cause them to mutate into terrifying versions of themselves, to a queen who wears the still-beating hearts of fairies as beads on her dresses. If that doesn’t sound like horror, I don’t know what does!
Be sure to check out the other posts in this week’s Book Blogger Hop and let me know what other books you like that have some horror thrown in!
Categories: Book Blogger Hop
Life With No Plot 
Wow! That is a lot! An interesting twist on the tale though. I am curious about it.
Have a great weekend!
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
It’s wonderfully twisted and weird. Very YA trope-y though, which even I admit can get a little annoying at times, but still a very enjoyable read.
Yes, sometimes YA can get a bit annoying so I know what you mean!
Still love it though!
Which is the main thing ☺️
I think this is the first time I’ve really thought about this question. I like your answer. It’s fun to think of a book that combines your favorite genre with a bit of horror, I think.
I don’t read much horror, so I really had to think about it. Definitely a fun question this week!
So I bought the three books in this series in 2016, and I’ve never read them…This post just renewed my interest in doing so, and now I’m probably going to do that sooner rather than later. I hope you have a great weekend.
Here’s my BBH if you wish to visit – https://justanothergirlandherbooks.blogspot.com/2024/10/book-blogger-hop-novel-recommendations.html
Yay! They’re really a lot of fun, especially if you’re already an Alice fan.
I love retellings and it does sound like a scary one. Great for Halloween!
Book Beginnings/Friday Book Blog Hop