I've had a bit of a break in my 2016 reading and this was a great book to get back into the habit. It was fun.

The narrative switches between Anouk, a 17 year old American girl in 2016 that's heavily channeling Xanthippe from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Aurelie, a 17 year old French aristocrat running from revolutionaries in 1790. Chapters rarely exceeded 8 pages long and that made it easy to zip through chapter after chapter, switching stories fairly quickly. Both stories left me fascinated, flipping through quickly, eager to see the connections.

In tone, A Drop of Night was reminiscent of the movie Cube (which, granted, came out before the characters in the book were even born) with an injection of fantastical horror. ( )

Recommended If You Like: books that are really far out there and take huge risks, something unlike anything you've read before, scary scenes, very creepy villains, flashbacks containing historical fiction with twists, strong female protagonists

The Book:

A group of teenagers have been flown to France, told they have been selected to be among the first to see and help unearth a massive underground palace.

But their true purpose has yet to be revealed, and they find themselves caught up in terrifying circumstances seemingly beyond their control.

What I Liked:

This is a gripping read. I had trouble putting it down when it was time to get off the bus or go to sleep. Bachmann is really good at building tension and suspense.

I loved that the strongest characters were female, both in the flashbacks and during the modern day scenes.

Anything I Didn't Like?

This book is really far out there in terms of the big reveal of what is truly going on. It's not what I had expected, and for me, it was too strange. But that is entirely a personal opinion, and, browsing on other blogs and review sites, this does seem to be a book that splits readers.

So...?

I really appreciate that Bachmann has gone for something really new and different here, and fully committed to it. For me, it was just too much, but others have loved it. ( )

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Five teenagers on a trip to explore an underground palace, when everything begins to go crazy, will they make it out alive?

Opening Sentence: “We are fleeing along the upper gallery when the windows explode.”

The Review:

Anouk feels like she has won a chance of a life time when she gets picked to go on an expedition to excavate the Palais du Papillon. She arrives at the airport to meet the other teenagers picked: Hayden, Will, Jules and Lilly. Anouk is initially aloof, because she has her own secrets to keep, and she doesn’t want the other teens to find them out. When they arrive in France and at the villa they are staying at, she begins to suspect something is off, and questions the leader of the expedition. When he hands out pills after dinner, Anouk is the only one who doesn’t want to take them and attempts to hide that from the adults.

When she wakes underground, she gets the other kids up except for Hayden who won’t wake, and they take off into the palace underground. From there everything begins to go crazy, and as they run through the twisted traps and killing rooms, Anouk wonders if they will ever make it out alive? It becomes clear almost instantly that this palace is going to challenge them mentally and physically. While they try to avoid traps, something/someone is hunting them, and they are trying to figure out who all is locked down in this palace. Anouk knows that no one is looking for them and they will have to push themselves to their limits in order to survive.

I am kind of wavering on whether I outright love this, or just really like it. I was sucked in and read the entire book in one sitting. I had to know what was going on. I was literally on the edge of my seat trying to figure things out and by the end I was totally blown away. A pure mixture of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. I really enjoyed how the characters evolved. Anouk was a total aloof brat at the beginning of the book, but those same qualities are kind of what helps the teens in the end. Because she is so jaded and mistrustful, she doesn’t willingly go along with taking the mystery pill, and that makes all the difference. She is also extremely gifted with languages and the other teens all seem to have special skills, and they quickly start bonding and figuring things out as a team.

I said I was wavering on the love or strongly like of this book, but only because I just haven’t quite processed how I feel. On the hand this is a brilliant mind game type of a book, the answers are so out there and shocking that it feels like a roller coaster ride by the end. I think I am leaning towards love, but that’s because this book is right up my alley. I adore that combination of horror and fantasy with major twists and so much darkness. A Drop of Night delivers that and so much more, it is a page turning thriller and just when you think you have something figured out, you find that you are totally wrong.

I saw the comparison of I Know What You Did Last Summer meets Frankenstein. I am not sure I agree with those comparisons. At least the I Know What You Sid Last Summer, that kind of implies the teens have done something bad and covered it up, and then try to survive a killer. Only one of those things really applies to this story, I will not disagree with the Frankenstein aspect, because I think that kind of suits this book. All in all, this book is great and it will definitely appeal to those who love horror and dark books.

Notable Scene:

“Jules is frowning, probably wondering what the odds are that everyone on this team is an asocial freak.”

“It turns out having medical reasons to be mean and angry doesn’t actually help you become less mean and angry.”

“An underground palace as large as the Sun King’s Court but buried 100 feet down was probably too ridiculous and excessive luxury to even consider.”

“I don’t know what it is, but something feels wrong.”

“I close my eyes and hope he didn’t notice me in the dimness.”

“Perdu’s tied up at the end of the panic room like a psychotic freaking Smeagol.”

FTC Advisory: Greenwillow/HarperTeen provided me with a copy of A Drop Of Night. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )