Sunday, 19 October 2014

Book Review (396): The Fall - Bethany Griffin


The Fall

Genre: Horror
Age Appropriate: Young Adult

The Fall is based on the Edgar Allen Poe story The Fall Of The House Of Usher, while I've never read this story or anything by him at all, this book has left me intrigued enough to at some point seek out some of his works.

This was written in a jumbled way with each chapter jumping around to the main character Madeleine's various ages throughout the story, but all mixed up, we start the book when she's eighteen then move to say her ninth, then something else etc, while it was an interesting way to write the book quite often once I'd started a new chapter I'd have to go back to read how old she was in the chapter heading, so while I did end up confused at times I still really enjoyed this book.

The Usher family is cursed, especially those that inhabit The House Of Usher, the house seems to be alive and with each generation finds a favorite and does it's best to keep that person beholden in it's interiors forever, until their untimely deaths at a young age which is the fate of the Usher family legacy, that and the sickness which causes fits and the loss of any sense of time.

Madeleine has been chosen over her twin brother Roderick as the chosen heir of the house, when she was younger she believed that the house protected her, it wasn't until after Roderick is sent away to school to hopefully escape the curse that she soon realises that the house is evil, and it destroys everyone and everything that resides in it.

With the appearance of a young Dr Winston who will be assisting the other two doctors in residence at the house, it's not long till he too succumbs to the evilness that hides in the walls and Madeleine finds herself even more of a prisoner than she ever was, she plans to find a way to escape and leave the house forever, but will the house ever let her go or will she end up like all the rest of her ancestors that met a tragic end, never to leave.

I wasn't a fan of the open-ended finale to to this book, I'd rather be told by the author what happens instead of trying to figure it out myself, that is the one thing I found most disappointing about this story.

But all in all this was a creepy tale that was made even more disturbing reading it at night and hearing noises, my imagination did run wild, especially with the events that happen inside the house in this book, this would be a perfect Halloween read for those who like to scare themselves with tales like this.

Quite enjoyable.

I give this 4/5 stars.


1.I didn’t ever really give up on writing, I just went through a long period where all I wanted to do was READ. I’d write a paragraph, read a book or two, write another paragraph. And for a long time, all of my creativity was consumed by teaching.
2.At some point the creativity reasserted itself and I wrote Handcuffs. It was a book that I needed to write, and I still love it very much.
3.After Handcuffs I spent some time figuring out what I wanted to write, what I could add to the world of literature that was different and unique. After several learning manuscripts, I wrote my Masque of the Red Death.
4.It’s actually quite bizarre to see myself listed as the author of Masque of the Red Death (Poe’s story is The Masque of the Red Death).

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