From Goodreads:"Asylum is a thrilling and creepy photo-novel perfect for fans of the New York Times bestseller Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.
For sixteen-year-old Dan Crawford, New Hampshire College Prep is more than a summer program—it's a lifeline. An outcast at his high school, Dan is excited to finally make some friends in his last summer before college. But when he arrives at the program, Dan learns that his dorm for the summer used to be a sanatorium, more commonly known as an asylum. And not just any asylum—a last resort for the criminally insane.
As Dan and his new friends, Abby and Jordan, explore the hidden recesses of their creepy summer home, they soon discover it's no coincidence that the three of them ended up here. Because the asylum holds the key to a terrifying past. And there are some secrets that refuse to stay buried.
Featuring found photos of unsettling history and real abandoned asylums and filled with chilling mystery and page-turning suspense, Madeleine Roux's teen debut, Asylum, is a horror story that treads the line between genius and insanity. "
I'm the type of person who will start four different books, read about 10% of each and then decide which one I want to continue reading and finish first. It is the easiest way to get myself to really delve into a book whenever I start getting burnt out on reading. I ended up starting Asylum, The Little Prince, The Tiger Rising, and Lucy in the Sky at the same time. I read about 10% of each book and then continued which one really grabbed my attention. I honestly didn't figure I would like the book Asylum by Madeleine Roux, but I loved it! Before I tell you my thoughts I'll go ahead and give you my brief summary.
Our main character Dan is attending a college prep school for five weeks over the summer. He meets Abby and Jordan and they become close friends. The big twist to this story is that the college dorms they are staying in used to be an asylum. Dan ends up sharing a room with Felix who went and checked out a locked room that belonged to the asylums warden. Felix tells Dan all about it and Dan convinces his new friends Abby and Jordan to go check it out. Dan eventually becomes obsessed with the asylum and its dark history. He soon finds that his full name, Daniel Crawford, is the same as the wardens. Dan keeps blacking out and finds that he only remembers bits and pieces from the summer. Things escalate as someone is murdered and another is found close to dead. The story continues this high energy pace until we finally find out details of what was happening, or at least what we believe is happening. The story concludes, but leaves it open for the second book, Sanctum, which I started promptly after finishing Asylum.
I absolutely loved this book. I don't typically read books in the horror/mystery/thriller genre, but I am so glad that I did. The book is lengthy with 313 pages, but has lots of pictures throughout the book, plus the chapters are really short. I really enjoyed the pictures that were included in the book because they were incorporated into the storyline. When Dan talked about the missing letters on the warden's door I was able to flip a page and see what it looked like. Reading a book is all about visualizing what is happening. You have to be able to see the picture in your mind to be able to understand what is happening sometimes. What is interesting about reading and visualizing is that ten people can read the same book and have very different views on the characters and what they look like, no matter how much description is given. That's why I loved having the pictures included in the book. I was able to read and visualize what I thought something would look like and then I would often flip the page and see the object or note that Dan was talking about. This book format was like the adult version of a children's picture book. And if an adult version of a picture book doesn't excite you, then I don't know what will.
Another big selling point of this book was that I was constantly engaged and interested in the book. I wanted to know what the real connection was between Daniel Crawford the student and Daniel Crawford the warden. I was also constantly wondering what was up with Dan and why he kept blacking out and forgetting things that had happened, that he had apparently been present for. I never really got a good solid answer which irritated me, but also intrigued me enough to start the second book. I was so interested not only in what was happening with Dan, but what the history was with the asylum. I seriously wanted to read a full backstory on the asylum, but then again the book wouldn't have been quite as interesting if I knew everything from the beginning. I also think that another big part that kept me intrigued was that most chapters were left hanging and the ending was a cliffhanger as well. The book was so well written and simple to read with the right amount of suspense, horror, and mystery.
I am so excited to read Sanctum and Catacomb because I am so pulled into the Asylum series. I also found the book Escape From Asylum and it is a stand alone book that is also a prequel to Asylum. I'm excited to read the rest of the series before I go back and read the stand alone, which also had the history of Brookline Asylum. This book deserves 5 stars for its unique style. I am so glad that I ordered this book through Scholastic, and even happier that I bought Sanctum and Catacomb at a Books-A-Million sale. It is a young adult book that is geared towards high school kids, but I'm an adult and I enjoyed it. If you want a creepy/horror/mystery/suspense filled book then this book is absolutely for you!
No comments:
Post a Comment