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Horseman (2021)

by Christina Henry

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2558103,928 (3.67)23
"Revisit the village of Sleepy Hollow and discover that the oldest legends can be the hungriest, in this atmospheric, terrifying new novel from the author of Alice and The Girl in Red. 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 Ichabod Crane out of town-or snuffed out Crane's life by throwing his own head from a fell steed. 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?"--… (more)
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» See also 23 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 8 (next | show all)
Overall this was a good book. I'd give it 4 out 5 stars. It ties into the origin story (The legend of Sleepy Hollow by Irving) quite well. It has Brom and Kat and even Ichabod is around. It revolves around Brom and Kat's grandchild. It's a whirlwind of a story and at first I wasn't sure what I thought, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked the story. Plus, that cover is BOMB. ( )
  Beammey | Dec 21, 2023 |
A delightful, spooky book that perfectly captures the isolated, superstitious character of one of literature’s most famous fictional towns, Sleepy Hollow. Henry provides the best of both worlds, building on the lore of Washington Irving’s work while adding a modern, fresh interpretation of the characters and story. Thoroughly enjoyable. ( )
  Autolycus21 | Oct 10, 2023 |
I usually love Henry’s writing. The cover design is gorgeous. What started off really good seemed to lose its way 2/3’s through. It wasn’t that the ending didn’t make sense, it just wasn’t interesting. It was like a huge build up with little payoff. I would recommend reading ‘Lost Boy’ by her instead. ( )
  bookburner451 | Nov 19, 2022 |
DNF @30%
While it was nice to visit with Bram and Katrina after all these years the narrative of their grandchild is slow and draggy. Too much telling, not enough showing. I'm not convinced any horror reader would consider this to be "terrifying" as claimed.
  IreneCole | Jul 27, 2022 |
I'm done with this. I'm around 85% done and I've gotten to the point that it is painful picking it up. I'm avoiding the couch and reading. I'd rather do anything else.

I love Henry's books. I consider her [b:Alice|23398606|Alice (The Chronicles of Alice, #1)|Christina Henry|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1531783537l/23398606._SY75_.jpg|42955198] books among my top pick favorites. They are full of dangerous, yet strong, believable characters all wrapped up in magical fairy tale worlds. I like her writing enough that I forgave most of her sins in [b:The Girl in Red|42881101|The Girl in Red|Christina Henry|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1545249589l/42881101._SY75_.jpg|66672643].

Now we've come to this. Why was this published in book form? This should have been a short story at best, or at least a novelette. A short story could have been a teaser, released around Halloween to draw in and introduce new readers to Henry's normally excellent writing to a wider audience since Irving's Sleepy Hollow story is such a widely known and shared story around Halloween.

Her simple rewrite could have been awesome without the over-ripe plot exposition, ridiculous red herrings and Ben's devotional fawning. It could have been much more enlightening and frightening if it played it straight to the morals and conventions of the day in the thoughts of Ben during her blooming sexuality and gender confusion. Instead, it was simply annoying because Henry applied modern morals and conventions across the board, with only a small nod to how the larger community of Sleepy Hollow functioned in the late 1700s immediately following the Revolutionary War. The original story came from of the Revolution. If Henry referenced the Revolution, I missed it.

There was so much potential within the story to become a step toward Ben's acceptance by the wider community to do her own thing, but she just came off as annoying and spoiled, slavishly following in her Grandfather's footsteps. It irritated me to no end that she was clueless and incurious about her extended family. She fawned over her male relatives to the point that her own story was lost. Her interest in her mother and grandmother came only when her male relatives failed at something.

If you are going to deny your main character an interesting and rich life in your story, please, just write a short story, don't make us endure a two-dimensional little brat with zero self-awareness.

I honestly hope that Henry's editors wake up because I genuinely love her writing and her gritty re-tellings. I sincerely hope that 'Horseman' is just an horrible anomaly in her catalog.

I'm having a really hard time finding a book to follow this. It's been two days and I have yet to find one. This is making me exceedingly grumpy. ( )
  rabbit-stew | Jun 26, 2022 |
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"Revisit the village of Sleepy Hollow and discover that the oldest legends can be the hungriest, in this atmospheric, terrifying new novel from the author of Alice and The Girl in Red. 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 Ichabod Crane out of town-or snuffed out Crane's life by throwing his own head from a fell steed. 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?"--

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