Book Information:
Horseman by Christina Henry
Series: Standalone
Genre: Fairy tale, horror
Pages: 351
Published: September 28, 2021
Publisher: Titan Books

Book Blurb:

“Everyone in Sleepy Hollow knows about the Horseman, but no one really believes in him. Not even Ben Van Brunt’s grandfather, Brom Bones, who was there when it was said the Horseman chased the upstart Crane out of town. Brom says that’s just legend, the village gossips talking.

More than thirty years after those storied events, the village is a quiet place. Fourteen-year-old Ben loves to play “Sleepy Hollow boys”, reenacting the events Brom once lived through. But then Ben and a friend stumble across the headless body of a child in the woods near the village, and the sinister discovery makes Ben question everything the adults in Sleepy Hollow have ever said. Could the Horseman be real after all? Or does something even more sinister stalk the woods?”

My thoughts:

I’m a big fan of Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow (1999) so when I found out there was a YA retelling of the legend of Sleepy Hollow, I was initially very excited.

I enjoyed 2/3 of this book and thought it was quite good. The way in which the Hollow’s victims died was pretty horrific and so early on I was expecting a very spooky and autumnal horror story. The mystery and how the story unfolded was done well and I was keen to read on and discover the answers to the questions presented in the story. The way in which the Horseman was presented was also very compelling.

Around halfway through we had a couple chapters of just exposition, which it didn’t really fit in with how the story had been told up until this point. The final chunk of this book took place after a 10-year time jump and this completely killed the book for me. I wasn’t really motivated to continue reading apart from just wanting the book to be over so I knew what the ending would be. I found the ending pretty underwhelming. It’s such a shame because the first 2/3 of this book is pretty interesting and I really liked the characters we follow, their family dynamic and the themes of accepting each other.

(Minor spoilers)
I have major gripes with the Van Brunt household burning down scene. Our MC Ben and his grandmother Katrina were exposed to smoke for a long time. Ben carrying Katrina out of a burning building and then both of them having a full-on conversation directly after is so unrealistic and completely took me out of the immersion of the scene. Two minutes of smoke inhalation is enough to cause serious damage to your lungs if not kill. They were exposed for such a long amount of time, especially Katrina and she’s an old frail lady! It was stupid and to be honest it was after this scene that I really switched off from the book.

Overall, it was alright. Needed more spookiness and another set of edits I think to smooth out the kinks in some of the chapters. ⭐⭐