Rating: 1 out of 5
Genre: Sci-Fi / Fantasy, YA, Horror
People who should read this: If you like dark ghost stories, chilling plots, and a lot of romance.
Bent Heavens is the reason that I fight for YA books to stay YA. That adults readers should not be allowed to push the genre past what it was meant to be. We don’t go to the Middle Grade section and expect romance. We shouldn’t go to the YA section and expect what Kraus wrote. YA should be like a movie rating, a way for a child to feel safe when they’re selecting a book. It shouldn’t be a genre that means the protagonist is a young adult. As a kid, I liked knowing that I was safe. Nothing explicit would be written. Nothing would cross that line into adulthood that I wasn’t ready for.
When did YA get categorized as a writing style, because the writing style (fine… and the protagonist) are the only reasons that I would categorize Bent Heavens as YA. This book should be shelved deep into the horror section so that readers know what they’re getting themselves into. I knew what was between the pages and I still, a full grown adult, wasn’t ready for what I read. I expected a line not to be cross. It was crossed and left in the dust.
So what was so wrong with the book?
If you’ve been with me for a while, you know I’m slow in giving a one star review. This year has really tested that, but I do try and refrain from dealing such a blow to authors. Only when a book is poorly written and offensive do I do it. I didn’t even give a star rating on Goodreads until today. Until what I read sat with me longer.
It sat with me so long and yet I still want to throw up thinking about it.
I was left deeply disturbed. I wouldn’t want my child to have to process the thoughts that I did.
Here’s the thing, Bent Heavens wasn’t exactly that graphic. My imagination did all that for Kraus with very little effort. It’s the psychological war in my head that has me reeling. The darkness that seeped through the page. And after all the turmoil that I stayed through, the ending left me without a clue as to how things would turn out for the characters. The most unsatisfying ending to say the least.
If I knew that was how it was going to end, I wouldn’t have stayed. I’m still surprised that I did.
There’s already a lot going on for my brain to process, why did the writing have to be so convoluted as well? At least that was one saving grace. The writing kept pulling me out of the story enough that I was able to keep one foot in the real world. Imagine if I had been fully lost in all of it? Would I even still be sane? The jury is out on that one.
Kraus’s writing was the perfect study of how not to write a book. And this isn’t even his first one. This is the man that wrote Shape of Water, a book that was made into a movie. How did he fall victim to the overly pretension writing? That kind of writing was forgotten fifty years ago. I haven’t even mentioned the issue of his similes, which were many. Almost one every paragraph. Stop being all fancy Kraus - the rule is one per page.
Still, I sit here looking at these words and shaking my head. How did this pass through countless hands to be deemed okay? What editor read the words thinking that they were perfect? It makes me wonder how the publishing industry really works.
If I can say one positive thing about Bent Heavens, it’s that the ideas behind the story are good. If it was shelved accordingly, I see a nitch that would like the story. I don’t mind the ideas that got me pondering. I may be disgusted but I don’t hate the thought process. If anything else, Bent Heavens shows the darkness humans can reach no matter how good they think they are.
All of this and I’ve yet to touch on the plot… I guess it was fine. I really have nothing to say.
Happy Reading
Love Kait
Reading Challenge: 91/175