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The Merry Dredgers
The Merry Dredgers | Jeremy C. Shipp
1 post | 1 read | 3 to read
Seraphina must infiltrate a bizarre and dangerous cult to determine why her sister is in a coma after a mysterious accident at the hands of the cult members. Seraphina Ramon will stop at nothing to find out the truth about why her sister Eff is in a coma after a very suspicious "accident." Even it means infiltrating the last place Seraphina knows Eff was alive: a once-abandoned amusement park now populated by a community of cultists. Follow Seraphina through the mouth of the Goblin: To the left, a wolf-themed roller coaster rests on the blackened earth, curled up like a dead snake. To the right, an animatronic Humpty Dumpy falls off a concrete castle and shatters on the ground, only to reform itself moments later. Up ahead, cultists giggle as they meditate in a hall of mirrors. This is the last place in the world Seraphina wants to be, but the best way to investigate this bizarre cult is to join them.
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Yuki_Onna
The Merry Dredgers | Jeremy C. Shipp
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This was my jam!
Seraphina, a struggling actress holding herself up financially as a rental princess for children's parties, infiltrates a cult of enlightenment seekers lodging in an abandoned amusement park to investigate the horrible accident her sister had there.
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Yuki_Onna Dark/thriller/horror/weird book? Yes!! Suspicious cults, not following one of the three established monotheistic religions? Yes! Student protagonists who are different with artistic jobs and a twisty sense of humour? Yes! Vivid visions/dreams/nightmares? Yes! Abandoned amusement parks? Especially hilarious weird amusement parks? Heck yesss!!!
So why is this 'just' 4****, not a 5* straight? 🤔
...->
1y
Yuki_Onna I felt the characters were quite flat, even Phina. The book is so thoroughly story driven that the characters weren't fleshed out well. Thus it wasn't easy to tell all the 'minor' Dredgers apart, especially. After the halfway point of the book, the story slipped into the background, too, as a mere stage for describing the amusement park rides & rites. At times, it felt more like striking scene after scene pasted together than real storytelling. -> (edited) 1y
Yuki_Onna All those minor points of critique apart, this was a thoroughly enjoyable book for me. As most people know, I love thriller/weird stories set in derelict carnivals, yet I never seem to find the trope handled very well. This was one of the most satisfying executions of abandoned amusement park horror I've read so far! 🎡🥳

Received this book by the publisher as a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

(edited) 1y
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