The second book of this fun and original book series about supernatural beings contained by Kate the Camping Ground Manager.
- Entertainment factor: ★★★★★
- Scare factor: ★★★☆☆
- Supernatural beings factor: ★★★★★
- Fun factor: ★★★★☆
- Originality factor: ★★★★★
- Gore factor: ★★★★☆
This is the second book of the How to Survive Camping book series. In the first part The Man with No Shadow we met Kate who is the campground manager. This job is in her family for ages. After her parents died, she now is in charge and tries to handle things the best way she can. The land on which the camping ground is situated is old land. And old land means that it is inhabited by supernatural beings. Some are just evil and dangerous and will kill you. Others will harm you, some are mostly harmless and some are even helpful. To make it easier for her campers Kate has made a survival guide, a set of rules to live by while on the camping grounds, to prevent people from getting killed. Although that’s not always feasible.
We met the Man with the Skull Cup who offers you to drink from it. Don’t refuse it. We also met the Lady with the Many Eyes who’s benevolent. There are the Dancers who can cure curses. The Girl Weeping at her window who killed Kate’s mother. The Thing in the Dark, the Children with No Wagon, The Vanishing House. And of course the Man with No Shadow who’s the antagonist of the story. After Kate has effectively defeated him, she can prepare herself for a very bad year. Prepare for this second book in the series.
It consists of 247 pages.
Plot
After Kate suffered a great loss, now she must go on and keep things under control. Things however don’t get any easier. The fruit and vegetables of the store are infested with spiders and that’s only the beginning. There’s a new enemy that has surfaced, The Lady in Chains. She kills with her chains and is relentless. Even the Harvesters, a group of beings wearing a raincoat and who have no face have beef with her after she killed one of their own.
Things are starting to shift. The Harvesters want to make a deal with Kate to find their missing member and get revenge on The Lady in Chains. The Man with the Skull Cup seems to be on Kate’s side, helping her and even saving her. She learns that the supernatural beings are making a choice, either they stand with Kate or want to kill her. The reason: the Old Land is slowly becoming Ancient Land. Land that can’t be controlled by humans. And it’s all Kate’ fault.
Continue reading below this announcement.
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This design of a Creepy Crawling Spider Eye is made with pen and alcohol markers. You can buy this design on a Unisex Baseball Shirt and other apparel in my shop at Threadless.
Short Review
It’s a continuing story that picks up where we have left Kate. While we meet old enemies, frenemies and friends, we also get to know other supernatural beings. The interesting part is that they not just do their own thingy, but are starting to shift towards sides. Especially the Harvesters and the Man with the Skull Cup make interesting characters who become more to the story than just supernatural beings who make life at the camping ground a lot harder. They are new unlikely allies, who still can not be fully trusted, but Kate has no choice. Kate also gets help from the Old Sheriff, his wife Sorcha and her aunt Aleda.
Kate herself is becoming a more interesting character too. In the first book she had to do hard things in order to keep everything under control, Which even meant kill people or let them be killed to keep others and the town safe. These are hard decisions and she was afraid it made her evil and ruthless. This is more explored in this story. And there’s a big twist in the story.
The story is more focused on the prime nemesis The Lady in Chains who is cause for a lot of gruesome bloody scenes. There are more gruesome scenes about past events that happened to her cousin or other people who lived on the land. Although the horror is violent, Kate’s voice has some dry humor and the short intermezzos of the camping guide are very hilarious and deadpan. It’s not a laughing out loud humor, but it’s subtle and just too bizarre as are the original supernatural beings that are scary funny.
It also turns into a very fun and original meta-story, which is the root of the land turning Ancient and was set in motion in the first book. It’s a very fun original idea that has consequences for the rest of the book series. As it is told by Kate herself she even breaks the fourth wall, giving it an extra meta-perspective.
The Lady in Chains is a great entertaining second novel that expands the universe and explores more of Kate, her business and the supernatural beings.It puts things on edge for the third book.
Read more review of this book series:
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Did You Know I Also Make Art and Designs?
you can buy my designs on apparel or stationary, mugs and more. You can learn more about it on my art & design shop page or go directly to one of my shops.