Dear Faye's Reviews > The Suffering

THIS IS THE DA BEST YA ASIAN HORROR BOOK EVERRRRR!!!!
This book seriously left me flabbergasted - and in a good way. I loved The Girl from the Well - it was scary and legitimate, it felt legitimate, and it really captured the thoughts of a ghost really well. I mean, of course I don't know how ghosts think, but the thoughts of Okiku in that book felt more realistic and so out there and so... vengeful and lonely in such a ghost-ly way. That's why I was so wary of picking up the second installment because I didn't want it to tarnish my love for the first book.

But of course, naive Faye was being naive because this book ROCKED MY SOCKS!

Or, to put it in more accurate terms... IT SCARED THE LIGHTS OUT OF ME!

I never expected this book to be so much better than its first installment, especially since we don't get Okiku's POV here at all - only Tark's - but goodness gracious me, I started reading this at 3:00 AM (a.k.a. the hour where ghosts and spirits and demons are supposedly at their strongest) and felt every hair on my body stand up on end due to fright and a very wild imagination. I had to sleep with my back facing the mirror, just in case... you know... GHOSTS AND STUFF. So what is Tark and company to do when an American ghost adventure crew and his friend Kagura go missing in Japan in their pursuit to find a legendary, lost village?

The best thing about this book that made it so scary to me was the mystery and history Tark and his friends had to unravel and solve in order to get out of their rather unfortunate situation alive. Have you guys ever heard of the Aokigahara in Japan? It's basically a huge land of trees and forage in this mountain where there is this sense of peacefulness and melancholy althroughout. It is also called Suicide Forest because this is a popular spot for people to hang and kill themselves. The fact that a century ago, there was a village here that did ancient, dark rituals? Aha, now you have yourself a pretty intriguing, mystifying, and creepy premise. This aspect here really made the book come alive for me... I could just imagine Tark and Okiku innocently walking in the forest looking for their friends, and then BAM, a village appears right in front of them that has been left to rot for years. Where is everybody? Why are there creepy dolls in the houses? HOLY SHIT, IS THAT A DEAD GIRL CRAWLING AT US AND MAKING STRANGE CACKLING SOUNDS OF DEATH?!



The mystery of the village, the backstory, how they were all presented and laid-out were just so well-done. It had the essence of that mysticism and uneasiness that you usually find in Japanese horror when you combine a bit of history, dark magic, and of course, mythology/urban legends. It had the atmosphere done right, too! I was legitimately scared while reading this. THIS IS NOT A JOKE. I WAS CLUTCHING MY BABY BOSTON TERRIER IN ONE ARM WHILE HOLDING MY COPY IN ANOTHER BECAUSE I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE I WAS STILL IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING. If you have played Fatal Frame (Japanese puzzle horror game where you walk around villages and houses trying to solve a riddle while battling ghosts with a camera), or have watched Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, then you should know what I'm talking about, and you should be expecting the same here. Creepy dolls used as vessels, dead girls coming at you full of vengeance and wrath, an ancient dark magic ritual and a tragic history... yep, this is what I'm talking about, baby.

The air changes. Then that invisible spider crawls up my spine, tickling the hairs behind my neck. I have come to know this spider these last couple of years. It whispers there's something else in the room, breathing with you, watching you, grinning at you. I hate that damn spider. For one moment, the doll's stringy brown hair flitters a shiny black under the fluorescent lights. For one moment, the doll's glassy gaze takes on the faintest tinge of malicious self-awareness. For one moment, that thing's head breaks through the water's surface and looks at me.

 



And there was Tark... Tark's POV made everything else so much better. He had this humor that was so amazingly done and quite realistic. I really love this guy. He was someone who didn't care what others think about him, and someone who didn't scorn the fact that he was stuck with a ghost 24/7. Then again, Okiku was a pretty kick-ass female ghost so I wouldn't be complaining, either! I love how despite the fact that he was scared of what's to come (unlike other pseudo alpha male heroes, this guy doesn't battle it out with a vengeful ghost without preparing just because he can), he's still so determined to protect those who are dear to him. He still gets scared. As in piss-my-pants-scared-and-vomit-my-guts-out-scared, but he's so brave for still walking forward and facing whatever atrocities not only to save his friends but also for the innocent souls that were still writhing in agony and suffering.

Plus, did I mention how he was funny?

Don't look behind you. Don't look behind you. Don't look behind you. That's how people die in movies. Don't look behind you.

I look behind me.

*SNORT*

I scan the room with my flashlight, trying to listen for any sounds of scratching and thumping, but I don't seem to be sharing the space with anyone else, incorporeal or otherwise. Then I devote a minute or two to rocking myself on the floor and whimpering, because holy hell, that was scary as fuck.

DON'T WORRY, TARK. I  AM WHIMPERING RIGHT BESIDE YOU.

Six girls meant six dolls. I now understand the purpose of one-man tag in this village. To contain their ghosts, I'll have to play with each of them.

"Oh, shit," I say again, just because I can. The thought of playing another game of one-man tag is enough to make me weep, let alone six more.

I WISH YOU LUCK, BIG GUY. BUT I BELIEVE IN YOU.

And damn, the mystery, plot, atmosphere, creepiness - they all fucking delivered, man. I was a very happy woman when I finished this book, even more so with the ending. THAT ENDING. THAT FLAWED, REALISTIC, AND YET SO UNBELIEVABLY AMAZING ENDING THAT LEFT ME TEARY-EYED. I didn't expect it to end the way it did, but it was perfect, let me tell you. Tark and Okiku is such a great team and I'm fervently, crazily wishing we won't see the end of them.

Dear Ms Chupeco,

Seriously, this isn't the end of Tark and Okiku's adventures right?! THERE WILL STILL BE MORE GHOST ADVENTURES SET IN JAPAN, RIGHT?! I would be so sad if this will be the end of everything, because this two are perfect, you write amazingly great mystery and creepy scenes, and I simply. Want. MOOOORE!!!!

Please, guys, read it. Don't be put off by the series cover makeover (really, why did they do this?! The original cover was such a great concept! D:) because this is top-notch horror and mystery all in one. It seriously feels like watching a scary Asian movie, giving you the scary feels only an Asian horror movie can give.