Dead Things Are Closer Than They Appear

Format: Audiobook

Rating: 3.5/5⭐️

Vibes:

· Teenage cringe

· Zombies

· Magic

I think the gist of my review will be that this was a good book and I would have enjoyed it 10 years ago, or maybe would have enjoyed it if I read the physical version rather than listened to an audiobook.

🗝 Summary

Our protagonist, Sid Spencer, is one of the very few Asians in her small touristy town, and as such has never really felt like she fit in. Cue all the awkwardness and discomfort of high school! Alienated after writing a love letter to her crush which is then used by his teammates to make Sid a joke, she loses both her friend/crush and her best friend as they date each other instead.

A typical high school drama… Until the apocalypse happens. You see, this tourist town is actually on a fault line that has Guardians who keep the magic locked away. And now that someone has killed a Guardian and unlocked a bit of the magic, the undead are here and no one can get into the city… or out of it.

🗝 My Feelings

Dead Things Are Closer Than They Appear continued to be a pretty typical high school drama just in a strangely magical apocalyptic setting. Was the unescapable cringe tone of the audiobook’s narrator (props to her, she really nailed that high school cringe) just too much for me? Yeah, probably. I mean it really ramped everything that I most likely would have read without a second thought to “oh god, I can’t listen to this anymore from secondhand embarrassment”.

Taking that out of the picture, I think the powers that people received from the fault line were really interesting, and that they related back to the individual themselves was cool. The big bad in this story thinking that forcing things to put him on top was very typical “straight white man thinks the world owes him everything” and it was so nice to see him beaten down a notch.

Thinking back on this story now, without the audiobook narrator in my ear, I could see this being much better than what I am rating it, but this is an audiobook review and so the rating will remain the same.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an audiobook eARC in exchange for this honest review.

Quite interesting novel and a few minor things did bug me for personal reasons, but the story itself was super cool. I did like the narration and the words were amplified well in audioformat.

Dead Things Are Closer Than They Appear is a thrilling and imaginative debut by Robin Wasley. The story unfolds in a small town where magic has been suppressed for centuries. When this magic is accidentally unleashed, a teenage girl named Sid finds herself caught up in a dangerous adventure. Wasley expertly blends elements of fantasy, horror, and coming-of-age, creating a captivating and unforgettable world. The characters are well-developed and relatable, and the plot is filled with twists and turns that keep readers on the edge of their seats. Fans of YA fiction and supernatural thrillers will be captivated by this thrilling novel. Magic, zombies, character quirks, and a cat; yes, please.
VERDICT - Good addition for teens who enjoy fantasy.

Dead Things Are Closer Than They Appear by Robin Wasley is a young adult fantasy and horror mashup with an interesting premise and some intriguing magic. The beginning of this book really sucked me in because I'm a huge coffee lover and all of the detailed descriptions of coffee just called to me. The plot was fast paced and full of action and twists. The powers and abilities were really cool. I don't think I've ever read anything quite like this one before. The narration was wonderful. The narrator's voice really brought the story to life and added so much emotional depth to the characters.

Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I was unable to download this file on my laptop or on my netgalley shelf app. Therefore I cannot give an honest review of this text.

The story itself was fascinating but I didn't love the writing style. For such a dark story it felt pretty juvenile, but that's definitely just a personal preference thing. I was able to look past that while reading though because the story is so action packed.

Thank you Netgalley for providing a digital ARC.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

DNF at 58%

I tried… really hard with this one. I finally just let myself tap out before 60%. I could tell I wasn’t enjoying it so much as I was reading but I hoped it would get better (it didn’t). I didn’t like the audiobook narrator or the main character but I did appreciate that Wong’s voice fit the main character. I just didn’t like either so it was difficult for me to try to enjoy. Sid (the main character’s name) was very much “I’m not like other girls. I’m plain, my hair doesn’t do this or that. No one looks at me” – please it’s halfway through 2024 ENOUGH. Since the book was in first person pov and solely hers, we got this line of thinking constantly from the start of the book

I also didn’t really care for much of the other characters. They weren’t really interesting to me, they were written okay, but other than that, nothing. Plus their dialogue, especially with Sid, was lacking. Dialogue is a big part of enjoying a book for me, especially with an audiobook and I could very much tell I wasn’t listened properly. I might’ve been interested if the book was multi-pov instead of just Sid’s. Or maybe just her pov but not first person (as I think that was one of the reasons for not finishing).

There was so much packed into the book (of what I read) and it wasn’t done well in my opinion, which was also an issue for me. There were Guardians and Guardians had the keys. Everyone outside the town didn’t believe or maybe they did and came to see if they could see anything. Only the Guardians had powers and then suddenly everyone had powers. Just too confusing. I very much don’t mind a lot of world-building in my books but I mind if they’re not done well. The book is over 400 pages, which would account for more world-building (which is fine) but at least explain it all properly? The bit I was reading (before I chose to stop reading) introduced alternative worlds? Don’t get me wrong, I love that concept, but introduce it SOONER??

“Dead Things Are Closer Than They Appear” by Robin Wasley is one of those books that I loved SO MUCH that it took me a while to finish it & to write this review because I just didn’t want it to end (this is a case of wanting to savor the book). I didn’t want to say goodbye to Sid Spencer & her incredible found family & this incredible fantasy world that I want to spend more time in. This book was pitched to me as having Buffy vibes & that is so accurate. What we have here are just a bunch of literal kids (& a few very young adults) who are trusted with more responsibility than they should ever need to shoulder - saving the world. Or at least their world, their town, & their families.

From page one I fell in love with Wasley’s writing style. It is so unique & fun & clever & emotional. (It feels like I highlighted half this book). She has such a way with creating this world & its characters, they truly feel so real & alive. And as I listened to the audiobook (mostly), I also need to give a shout out to the narrator, Eunice Wong, because wow was this an insanely good performance. Wong brought the words to life & the performance was so well paced & planned. I found myself constantly getting anxiety, but that’s a good thing in this case because it came from Wong’s ability to really ramp up her performance to match the fear & anxiety that Sid was experiencing. I had to often give myself a break & remind myself that I am not currently running from shells & trying to figure out what happened to my own sibling. So bravo - 10/10 performance! Thank you for the anxiety ha.

And this book has one of the BEST found families in a book. Ever. This book shows us over & over how we survive through the love of others & the support of our community, even if we feel like we don’t have either at any time. I was laughing & crying & gasping so often. I’m sure I screamed at one point? It’s truly impossible to try & summarize all the thoughts & feelings about this book, so instead, I’ll continue screaming about it to everyone in my life because (1) it NEEDS to be read by everyone & (2) I need more people to talk about it with.

Team Hyacinth forever, by the way. I want to be her when I grow up.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media & NetGalley for providing an advanced copy of the audiobook for review. All thoughts & opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

This seemed like it had so much potential but just didn't stick for me as much as I thought it would! There was some great world building but the characters were a bit one dimensional, and at times there were too many to keep track of while listening. It was a good read, I just didn't love it. The narrator did good.

While I don't have anything bad to write about Dead Things Are Closer Than They Appear, I also don't have anything good to write about it. I pretty much immediately forgot about it after finishing it. I personally just didn't find the story very engaging, but I'm sure other readers might appreciate it more than I did - the overall premise is rather interesting.

This book called out to me from booksta last week, and thanks to @dreamscape_media I got to enjoy it!

This was a really fun/locked room (locked town?) style novel. I would classify it as fantasy horror- but it’s definitely still grounded in real world connections and fears. My biggest complaint was that we didn’t get enough time building the interesting dynamics, and a dynamic that I fond especially boring got a lot of late in the game page time.

I read this book as part of my work on an YA award committee, so, unfortunately, I am unable to give a review due to the rules of the committee.

I will be giving this book 5 stars because that is the standard rating I am giving for all books I read for the committee.

I do want to thank the publisher for this copy of the book. Please know that I did read it and consider it for my work on this committee. I will be sharing this book in my job with my students and promoting it in my library!

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I appreciate the chance to read this advanced reader copy of Dead Things Are Closer Than They Appear by Robin Wasley.

The cover and the blurb really caught my attention but unfortunately the story did not.
3 stars because the character development and world building were great. But it felt like it could have been shorter.
Definitely recommend if you love a good YA but it just wasn’t for me.

A magical world broke open. And Sid feels like she is in the apocalyptic world and she just wants to find her brother. A brother she just found out after a near death experience that is now a guardian, a keeper of magic fault line. And his life is now in danger from a man who wants to kill all of the guardians and take their power.

I really enjoyed this book. It keep me interested though the whole thing and wanting to know what happened next.

I was approved for the audiobook of Dead Things Are Closer Than They Appear on NetGalley and forgot!! This book came out on February 13th and the audiobook was released on February 27th and when I finally listened to it I loved it!

The reason this book was on my radar was because of Kelly Andrews posting about it on her stories. It seemed an appropriately creepy book for the author of Your Blood, My Bones (of which I was lucky to read an early copy!) to be promoting and the book did not disappoint! To anyone familiar with YBMB, DTACTTA is like what would happen if Wyatt, Peter, and James hadn’t done the things they did. If you’ve ever seen Cabin in the Woods, DTACTTA is a lot like what happens after the you-know-what is released. It also reminded me of every single apocalypse episode of Buffy.

Sid was so easy for me to relate to–especially regarding the trauma of curly hair!–but also because of the way she describes feeling like an outsider in her town and in her family, but then having developed such a strong connection with her brother. Despite the apocalyptic overtones of this book, and the romantic undertones, it deals a lot with otherness, family dynamics, the complications of friendship, the choice of helping whether it benefits one or not, and the complexities of empathy.

This book was full of quotable material, resilient teens who save the day, and enough romance to keep it light when zombies are at your door. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys the above-mentioned as well as fans of The Darkest Minds. 5 stars!

With a title like that, it seems like it would be hard to go wrong. This book was in introduction to an interesting world with a magic system that emphasized how different people are. I've got a softness for zombie stories, and I enjoyed the action in this story. Several times, I was hanging on for the next word as I worried about the fate of the characters -- consequences are real and people really get hurt.
The thing that made this book stand out to me was how the author described the mental and psychological trauma the characters were dealing with. Unlike so many YA books with superficial emotions, this book showed the impact of what people would go through in such a frightening world.
The narrator was fantastic, with terrific emotion. It was a fun listen.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me listen to this audiobook

Has all the elements to be a fantastic fantasy, however it was not captivating. To many elements in the plot.

I haven't really been into reading a lot of YA recently, but I'm glad I picked this book up. It was super fun, and it was like a combination of some of my favorite things. I haven't really bin into the zombie troupe for a while either. I feel like the Walking Dead did it to....well, death. Wasley gave us an interesting fresh take and I had a lot of fun with this one!

Thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review

If I knew nothing else about this book, the clever title alone would entice me to read it.

Sid’s painfully normal and occasionally humiliating (it depends on the day) life takes a dramatic turn when the fault line beneath her town sealing magic away from the world is broken. Next thing she knows, zombies are chomping people, her family and siblings are unreachable and possibly missing, and she’s left alone with Chad the cat (who only loves Sid’s brother) during an apocalypse. Could her day get any worse?

Socially awkward characters are my people, so I connected with Sid right away. Brian is such a sweetheart. He and his stepsisters recently lost their parents, and he’s determined to become their guardian and keep what’s left of their family together. Sid and Brian together are adorable, but his sister Jasmine might top their score. I honestly couldn’t decide if she or Chad the cat (who has a surprising scene near the end) is my favorite supporting character.

The action begins almost immediately, and the story moves as a brisk pace – it definitely didn’t feel like 400+ pages. The premise of Guardians with various powers protecting the fault line intrigued me, and I enjoyed how it played out. Zombies and magic only make it better. I loved the themes of found family, adoption, and friendship, and representation is wonderful. I listed to the audiobook and narrator Eunice Wong is excellent.

Recommended for readers who enjoy awkward crushes during an apocalypse, empowering character arcs, and humorous narratives.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.