Horseman by Christina Henry

Title: Horseman

Author: Christina Henry

Publisher: Berkley 2021

Genre: Horror

Pages: 302

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf; Books to Movies

Where I Got It: HPB December 2024

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 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?

Somehow I missed that Christina Henry published a book based on Sleepy Hollow. I got very excited seeing this in the used book store and immediately bought it. The book did not disappoint. We get a story set about 30 after the events in Washington Irving’s story. We are thrown back into the town of Sleepy Hollow and have to parse out what is real and what is legend. In the course of the book, we see the world through Ben’s eyes, a young man who does not fit into society’s conventions. There was a timeless quality to the book that really sucked me in and creeped me out at the same time. As the story slowly unfolds, I was eager to the turn the pages and learn more. I could not put this one down at all.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Lost Boy by Christina Henry

Title: Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook

Author: Christina Henry

Publisher: Titan Books 2017

Genre: Horror; Fantasy

Pages: 292

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fairytale Retellings; Spooky Season

Where I Got It: Library

There is one version of my story that everyone knows. And then there is the truth. This is how it happened. How I went from being Peter Pan’s first—and favorite—lost boy to his greatest enemy.

Peter brought me to his island because there were no rules and no grownups to make us mind. He brought boys from the Other Place to join in the fun, but Peter's idea of fun is sharper than a pirate’s sword. Because it’s never been all fun and games on the island. Our neighbors are pirates and monsters. Our toys are knife and stick and rock—the kinds of playthings that bite.

Peter promised we would all be young and happy forever. Peter lies.

This book has been on my TBR list for years now. I had previously enjoyed Henry’s brand of mixing horror and fairy tales and this one definitely hit the spot. Right away, we know that we are going dive deep into how Jamie become Captain Hook. I was hoping for a villainous portrayal of Peter Pan and I got exactly what I was hoping for. In fact, he was much more horrendous than even I imagined. (I have always very much disliked the Peter Pan character from literature and the movie/tv versions.) We quickly learn how demented Peter is and attempt to navigate his impossible situations alongside Jamie and the other Lost Boys. In a short amount of time, I really came to care for those kids. But I knew that this story was not going to end well. Overall, this one is not for squeamish people and especially not for anyone who cannot handle violence involved children.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Ghost Tree by Christina Henry

Title: The Ghost Tree

Author: Christina Henry

Publisher: Berkley 2020

Genre: Horror

Pages: 415

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fall TBR

When the bodies of two girls are found torn apart in the town of Smiths Hollow, Lauren is surprised, but she also expects that the police won't find the killer. After all, the year before her father's body was found with his heart missing, and since then everyone has moved on. Even her best friend, Miranda, has become more interested in boys than in spending time at the old ghost tree, the way they used to when they were kids.

So when Lauren has a vision of a monster dragging the remains of the girls through the woods, she knows she can't just do nothing. Not like the rest of her town. But as she draws closer to answers, she realizes that the foundation of her seemingly normal town might be rotten at the center. And that if nobody else stands for the missing, she will.

A very fun monster book full of small town secrets, coming of age, and conflict between the insiders and outsiders. I’ve enjoyed other Christina Henry works, and this was a return to the slightly grotesque fast-moving story that I love from her. We dive right in with a very gory murder of two girls and then speed through the book trying to figure out the mystery before anyone else gets killed. Lauren felt like a very typical almost 15 year old with her insecurities and internal identity struggles. I wasn’t annoyed by the whining or immaturity as Henry doesn’t overdo it. We aren’t reminded every page about Lauren’s feeling. Instead, we get a bit of a range of focus on different characters from the town. My favorite were the interactions between David and anyone else. I guessed who the monster had inhabited, but relished the big reveal at the end. I really loved this spooky monster book.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Mermaid by Christina Henry

Title: The Mermaid

Author: Christina Henry

Publisher: Berkley 2018

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 325

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

Once there was a mermaid called Amelia who could never be content in the sea, a mermaid who longed to know all the world and all its wonders, and so she came to live on land.

Once there was a man called P. T. Barnum, a man who longed to make his fortune by selling the wondrous and miraculous, and there is nothing more miraculous than a real mermaid.

Amelia agrees to play the mermaid for Barnum and walk among men in their world, believing she can leave anytime she likes. But Barnum has never given up a money-making scheme in his life, and he's determined to hold on to his mermaid.

I was excited for a dark retelling of a mermaid story. What I got was a bit of a bore. Barnum is not a great historical figure or book character. He’s definitely a bit of a villain. Despite all of that, I was fairly interested in that story. Seeing how a real life mermaid becomes an exhibit for Barnum’s museum could have been a good novel. And yet, Henry decided to interject a big romance plot line and lost me. The romance plot line was plodding and boring and really dragged down the story. I got to the end without my dark storyline and felt very disappointed.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Looking Glass by Christina Henry

Title: Looking Glass (The Chronicles of Alice Novellas)

Author: Christina Henry

Publisher: Ace 2020

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 301

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

Lovely Creature
In the New City lives a girl with a secret: Elizabeth can do magic. But someone knows her secret--someone who has a secret of his own. That secret is a butterfly that lives in a jar, a butterfly that was supposed to be gone forever, a butterfly that used to be called the Jabberwock...

This was such a fun story! We finally get to see what happened to Alice’s birth family after she escaped from the sanatorium. We get to meet her two sisters (one of which she didn’t even know existed) and experience life in the New City. I loved the inclusion of the Jabberwock and the connection between Alice and Elizabeth. I would have loved to read a entire novel with this point of view…

Girl in Amber
Alice and Hatcher are just looking for a place to rest. Alice has been dreaming of a cottage by a lake and a field of wildflowers, but while walking blind in a snowstorm she stumbles into a house that only seems empty and abandoned...

This story was super creepy and I loved it! I have really enjoyed the sections of the series that deal with the villains and this story introduces a terrible new villain for Alice to defeat. It had me itchy all over with its imagery. Very creepy! Love it!

When I First Came to Town
Hatcher wasn't always Hatcher. Once, he was a boy called Nicholas, and Nicholas fancied himself the best fighter in the Old City. No matter who fought him he always won. Then his boss tells him he's going to battle the fearsome Grinder, a man who never leaves his opponents alive...

The low point of the collection. I just didn’t really care about Hatcher’s back story or connections. The only portion that I enjoyed was when Nicholas encounters Cheshire and Rabbit. Otherwise, this story was too long and drawn out.

The Mercy Seat
There is a place hidden in the mountains, where all the people hate and fear magic and Magicians. It is the Village of the Pure, and though Alice and Hatcher would do anything to avoid it, it lies directly in their path...

Strange story, but fitting in this series. There’s a new villain, a deeper exploration of Alice’s magical powers, and one more big obstacle for our main couple. I do wish that we had spent a bit more time with the magician that Alice spent the winter with, but oh well. At least, we get some semblance of a happily ever after for Alice and Hatcher.

The Chronicles of Alice

#1 Alice
#2 Red Queen
Looking Glass (novellas)

Next up on the TBR pile:

Red Queen by Christina Henry

Title: Red Queen (The Chronicles of Alice #2)

Author: Christina Henry

Publisher: Ace 2016

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 304

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

The land outside of the Old City was supposed to be green, lush, hopeful. A place where Alice could finally rest, no longer the plaything of the Rabbit, the pawn of Cheshire, or the prey of the Jabberwocky. But the verdant fields are nothing but ash—and hope is nowhere to be found.

Still, Alice and Hatcher are on a mission to find his daughter, a quest they will not forsake even as it takes them deep into the clutches of the mad White Queen and her goblin or into the realm of the twisted and cruel Black King.

The pieces are set and the game has already begun. Each move brings Alice closer to her destiny. But, to win, she will need to harness her newfound abilities and ally herself with someone even more powerful—the mysterious and vengeful Red Queen...

Overall I really enjoyed this book, but I didn’t love it as much as Alice. The first book really connected the original story to a darker, grittier version of Alice in Wonderland. We get direct characters and action parallels. I was expecting more of the same style, but this book departed from the direct comparisons. Instead, we get more of a dark fairy tale story incorporating different elements (enchanted forest, people turning into wolves, goblins, giants). I loved the beginning with Alice and Hatcher emerging from the tunnel into the burned meadow. I loved the ending when Alice got to connect with the Red Queen and defeat the White Queen. But some of the middle got a bit lost for me and I wanted more connection to Alice in Wonderland. I wanted more Chesire and maybe the duchess or Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Not quite as successful for me as the first book.

The Chronicles of Alice

#1 Alice
#2 Red Queen
Looking Glass

Next up on the TBR pile:

Alice by Christina Henry

Title: Alice (The Chronicles of Alice #1)

Author: Christina Henry

Publisher: Ace 2015

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 304

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

In a warren of crumbling buildings and desperate people called the Old City, there stands a hospital with cinderblock walls which echo the screams of the poor souls inside.

In the hospital, there is a woman. Her hair, once blond, hangs in tangles down her back. She doesn’t remember why she’s in such a terrible place. Just a tea party long ago, and long ears, and blood...

Then, one night, a fire at the hospital gives the woman a chance to escape, tumbling out of the hole that imprisoned her, leaving her free to uncover the truth about what happened to her all those years ago.

Only something else has escaped with her. Something dark. Something powerful. And to find the truth, she will have to track this beast to the very heart of the Old City, where the rabbit waits for his Alice.

CW: Sexual assault, rape

I finally got to read this gritty adult version of Alice in Wonderland. Whoever had checked it out from the library kept it for a year during the pandemic. Terrible! But I got it and tore through this book. I love dark retellings of classic stories and this one delivers on that promise. We get Alice and Hatcher (Mad Hatter) traveling through the Old City to attempt to defeat the Jabberwock. We get encounters with the Walrus, the Carpenter, the Caterpillar, the Rabbit, and (my absolute favorite) Cheshire. I adored Cheshire in this book. You definitely shouldn’t trust him, but he is incredibly entertaining. I loved the inclusion of the rose garden. This book wrapped up the Jabberwock storyline but leaves the overall storyline open further adventures in the world. I can’t wait to read the next in the series. But be forewarned, this is a very gritty adult take on Alice in Wonderland, not for children or even teens.

The Chronicles of Alice

#1 Alice
#2 Red Queen
#3 Looking Glass

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Girl in Red by Christina Henry

Title: The Girl in Red

Author: Christina Henry

Publisher: Berkley 2019

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 292

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Monthly Motif - Color; Horror

It's not safe for anyone alone in the woods. There are predators that come out at night: critters and coyotes, snakes and wolves. But the woman in the red jacket has no choice. Not since the Crisis came, decimated the population, and sent those who survived fleeing into quarantine camps that serve as breeding grounds for death, destruction, and disease. She is just a woman trying not to get killed in a world that doesn't look anything like the one she grew up in, the one that was perfectly sane and normal and boring until three months ago.

There are worse threats in the woods than the things that stalk their prey at night. Sometimes, there are men. Men with dark desires, weak wills, and evil intents. Men in uniform with classified information, deadly secrets, and unforgiving orders. And sometimes, just sometimes, there's something worse than all of the horrible people and vicious beasts combined.

Red doesn't like to think of herself as a killer, but she isn't about to let herself get eaten up just because she is a woman alone in the woods....

I picked this one up at the suggestion of the Reading Glasses podcast and sped through it on edge the entire time. I love dark fairy tale-esque stories and this one really packed on the dark. Red is such a compelling character. The world building is complex and yet relatable. Often I am not a fan when a character and/or author mentions something, but doesn’t explain, but clearly is leaving it until later in the book. This story did that a few times and yet I wasn’t annoyed. Perhaps because I really enjoyed Red’s voice I couldn’t wait for her to reveal the entire story of how she got to the current point in her journey. I loved the play on the Red Riding Hood story complete with “wolf.” And then we get the final horrifying twist to the story. I was here for every single reveal. So good!

Next up on the TBR pile: