Amy Lukavics

Amanda Verner is happy to have her family leave their cramped cabin behind for the prospects of the prairie. She prays that this will be exactly what she needs to leave her old nightmares behind. But when they arrive at the abandoned cabin they hope to make home, it's to find it drenched in blood and surrounded by stories of families murdered by their own kin.

I'm here to tell you, this is one creepy book. It might not seem that scary at first, and that's what makes it such a good read. The show more creepiness creeps up on you. It's a brilliant slow build, made especially impressive by the fact that this is not a long book. Lukavics manages to draw you in from the start by letting you into Amanda's life and mind, then begins to drop little hints that all is not well. By the time the bigger scares hit me, I was reading with my hand over my mouth in shock, totally terrified and unable to stop turning pages. This one part with scarecrows (and that's all I will say so as not to spoil anything) still has the power to make me shudder, and I finished the book over twelve hours ago.

If you want a quick, scary read that you will not be able to put down and that will stay with you after you've turned the last page, I highly recommend you get your hands on a copy of this one. show less

Daughters Unto Devils by Amy Lukavics is a chilling horror novel that ever so slightly reminds one of the Little House books but this one totally embraces the dark side. Sixteen year old Amanda is the oldest child in her family, she and her family live in a small cabin in the woods. She has been meeting a boy in secret but now that she is pregnant, he has left her to deal with the consequences on her own. The last winter was a very difficult one for the family as they were snowed in for show more months. Their pregnant mother was sick and gave birth to a deaf and blind child, and Amanda goes a little stir-crazy and believes she saw a devil coming for her.

Her Pa decides to move the family to the prairies where he assures them they will have a better life and winters will be easier. They find an empty cabin but something terrible has happened there as the inside is coated with blood. They clean up the cabin and move in, but their troubles have just started. The author gives us plenty of horror along with the blood and gore. Building on the isolation they are experiencing Amanda has feelings of being watched, or thoughts of possession by devils or other evil.

Daughters Unto Devils is an effective horror story that made me feel uneasy and chilled. The author slowly builds the creepiness until you are not sure exactly what is happening or who to trust but there is no denying the creepy atmosphere or the sense of doom that is building as the book goes along. This is a debut novel and if you enjoy good horror, Amy Lukavics is surely an author to watch out for. show less

Readers can have unusual expectations about horror books that bring out the critic in so many reviews. As for Daughters Unto Devils, I am stumped by reviews that question why the family moved into a blood soaked cabin, but the book gives very good reasons and explains how the father cleans it up so it is livable. If you actually read the entire book, you would know.
The characters develop into people the reader cares about, yet the readers know there probably will be a horrible end to their show more lives. This is a horror book, after all. There is enough description in the setting to give a visual image without boring you to death with excessive details.
The chronology of events tie in nicely with each other revealing important information at the right time. The author sneaks in small stories and details that the reader forgets about until they are punched in the face with it later. The creep factor hits a high note from the moment the family moves to the prairie and doesn't finish until the very last sentence. show less

There is no doubt that The Women in the Walls is creepy and gory and filled with wonderful horror goodness. Unfortunately, it is also a sad case of the wrong book at the wrong time. I did not experience any of the emotions or sensations that come with a good horror novel no matter how much I wanted or hoped I would. Instead, Ms. Lukavics’ version of a haunted house tale left me feeling nothing.

Some of my issues are around Lucy herself. As the main character around whom all of the show more mysterious happenings occur, you know you are supposed to find her sympathetic. Her father ignores her, her beloved aunt has disappeared, and her cousin is descending into madness. She is left alone in a cold and isolated mansion for great swaths of the novel, stuck with her own thoughts and feelings and trying to make sense of what is happening to her family. She exposes her weaknesses to the reader with no small sense of shame. In spite of all of this, she does not evoke sympathy. Instead, her penchant for inaction makes her almost complicit in what comes later and is sure to annoy readers.

The rest of the novel feels very manipulative. The clues that things are not what they seem are a bit too obvious, almost as if there was the written equivalent of a neon sign pointing to a line or passage and stating “This is important!” The characters are stiff and dodgy. The mansion is too blatantly isolated, and the lack of visitors outside of Club members too noticeable. Everything is just a bit too…everything. There is nothing subtle about any of it. From the setting to the tone to the characters, there is an in-your-face quality to all of it that wants to scare you but has none of the power to do so.

To compound matters, there is a distinct lack of answers to many of the questions that are pushed in your face, and the ending is extremely rushed. Three-fourths of the novel are Lucy trying to figure out what she should do about her growing concerns, and the last quarter is a frantic rush to the final page. The explanations you do receive – about the Club, about Lucy’s family inheritance, about her father’s role in everything – are paltry at best and confusing at worst. Because the characters never receive more than a cursory introduction, you do not know enough about the Acosta family to understand what is unfolding. Plus, Ms. Lukavics makes the mistake of introducing new characters at the very end who end up with a large part in the final crisis. In short, it is a maddening ending that frustrates more than entertains or scares.

Again, I suspect the issues with The Women in the Walls are my problem and not the fault of the book itself. Look on Goodreads and you will see plenty of positive reviews from people who loved it. I struggled with not feeling anything for Lucy and therefore being completely uninterested in her fate. I also had issues with the forced suspense and seemingly random ending. This may be one I try again as an audiobook. Then again, I may just let it go and move on to the next book. show less