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Survive the Night
We're all gonna die down here. . . .
Julie lies dead and disemboweled in a dank, black subway tunnel, red-eyed rats nibbling at her fingers. Her friends think she’s just off with some guy—no one could hear her getting torn apart over the sound of pulsing music.
In a tunnel nearby, Casey regrets coming to Survive the Night, the all-night underground rave in the New York City subway. Her best friend Shana talked her into it, even though Casey just got out of rehab. Alone and lost in the dark, creepy tunnels, Casey doesn’t think Survive the Night could get any worse . . .
. . . until she comes across Julie’s body, and the party turns deadly.
Desperate for help, Casey and her friends find themselves running through the putrid subway system, searching for a way out. But every manhole is sealed shut, and every noise echoes eerily in the dark, reminding them they’re not alone.
They’re being hunted.
Trapped underground with someone—or something—out to get them, Casey can’t help but listen to her friend’s terrified refrain: “We’re all gonna die down here. . . .” in this bone-chilling sophmore novel by the acclaimed author of The Merciless.
Julie lies dead and disemboweled in a dank, black subway tunnel, red-eyed rats nibbling at her fingers. Her friends think she’s just off with some guy—no one could hear her getting torn apart over the sound of pulsing music.
In a tunnel nearby, Casey regrets coming to Survive the Night, the all-night underground rave in the New York City subway. Her best friend Shana talked her into it, even though Casey just got out of rehab. Alone and lost in the dark, creepy tunnels, Casey doesn’t think Survive the Night could get any worse . . .
. . . until she comes across Julie’s body, and the party turns deadly.
Desperate for help, Casey and her friends find themselves running through the putrid subway system, searching for a way out. But every manhole is sealed shut, and every noise echoes eerily in the dark, reminding them they’re not alone.
They’re being hunted.
Trapped underground with someone—or something—out to get them, Casey can’t help but listen to her friend’s terrified refrain: “We’re all gonna die down here. . . .” in this bone-chilling sophmore novel by the acclaimed author of The Merciless.
263 pages, Hardcover
First published July 7, 2015
About the author
Danielle Vega
14 books1,753 followersDanielle Vega is the author of THE MERCILESS and SURVIVE THE NIGHT. She's also the author of BURNING, under the name Danielle Rollins.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,161 reviews
August 14, 2015
I truly hated this book.
1. The plot made so little sense that when my friends and I were done reading it, we just sat around staring blankly at each other for awhile saying things like "but wait..." "so, but..." "wait, what?"
2. I'm pretty sure the ending is supposed to be one of those "BUT DID IT REALLY HAPPEN" type things but there was absolutely nothing about the way the book was written that made you feel like that's actually possible.
3. The main character was ridiculous and often when her VERY LIFE WAS IN DANGER she was too busy worrying about whether her best friend and her ex were walking too close together and being jealous about it. Wait, 3 of my friends have been brutally murdered tonight? No big deal, my ex and I might get back together!
4. The main character just got out of rehab apparently, and her 'best friend' spent the whole book pressuring her into drinking and doing other dangerous activities (like shaming the MC for wearing a seatbelt while the terrible 'best friend' is driving 90+ mph on a highway playing chicken with a truck). NOT COOL, BOOK. Especially when the mc keeps making excuses for that friend, saying "she was really there for her when she needed her, though." Nevermind the fact that she's literally the worst person on the planet, she was nice once!
5. The terrible best friend also DRUGS THE MAIN CHARACTER. She drugs the one who just got out of rehab, yeah. When the mc gets (rightfully) upset about it, the terrible best friend says SHE WAS ASKING FOR IT. AND THAT SHE SHOULD THANK HER.
Nope.
Nope nope nope.
This book is ridiculous and trashy at best, damaging and offensive at worst and I don't recommend it to anyone. While the Merciless was just unnecessarily graphic and kind of silly (and so I can understand why some people enjoyed it), Survive the Night is a truly horrible book. I hate knowing there are young people out there reading this. Ugh.
1. The plot made so little sense that when my friends and I were done reading it, we just sat around staring blankly at each other for awhile saying things like "but wait..." "so, but..." "wait, what?"
2. I'm pretty sure the ending is supposed to be one of those "BUT DID IT REALLY HAPPEN" type things but there was absolutely nothing about the way the book was written that made you feel like that's actually possible.
3. The main character was ridiculous and often when her VERY LIFE WAS IN DANGER she was too busy worrying about whether her best friend and her ex were walking too close together and being jealous about it. Wait, 3 of my friends have been brutally murdered tonight? No big deal, my ex and I might get back together!
4. The main character just got out of rehab apparently, and her 'best friend' spent the whole book pressuring her into drinking and doing other dangerous activities (like shaming the MC for wearing a seatbelt while the terrible 'best friend' is driving 90+ mph on a highway playing chicken with a truck). NOT COOL, BOOK. Especially when the mc keeps making excuses for that friend, saying "she was really there for her when she needed her, though." Nevermind the fact that she's literally the worst person on the planet, she was nice once!
5. The terrible best friend also DRUGS THE MAIN CHARACTER. She drugs the one who just got out of rehab, yeah. When the mc gets (rightfully) upset about it, the terrible best friend says SHE WAS ASKING FOR IT. AND THAT SHE SHOULD THANK HER.
Nope.
Nope nope nope.
This book is ridiculous and trashy at best, damaging and offensive at worst and I don't recommend it to anyone. While the Merciless was just unnecessarily graphic and kind of silly (and so I can understand why some people enjoyed it), Survive the Night is a truly horrible book. I hate knowing there are young people out there reading this. Ugh.
August 14, 2019
in a desperate attempt to squeeze some spooky-reads into october; a month where i'd foolishly made promises to read so many books that were so unspooky, i decided to plow through some YA horror because the pacing of teen fiction is perfect for little book snacks between responsibilities.
but i should have left this one alone.
true, i read it in a couple of hours and it is technically a horror novel so i guess it fit my needs, but i never felt scared or spooked or even entertained.
the cover is the best thing about the book
see? sparkles!
unfortunately, the prose does not sparkle at all.
there are two problems here: tone and characters.
if i had to summarize this book, it would probably be "careless but well-dressed teenagers work out their problems underground until someone gets murdered and things get weird."
you know how This is Not a Test pretends it is being a zombie story before it gradually dawns on the reader that this book has a completely different and more rewarding agenda and that it's using a horror backdrop to address real-life issues and that you don't even need zombies when there is already so much horror in the world? this feels like it's gonna be that for a really long time. fresh outta rehab, casey ditches her parent-approved slumber party with the wholesome soccer girls in mcmansion pennsylvania to ride off to new york city with the group of wild badgirls who are responsible for her needing to go to rehab in the first place. after an awkward reunion with her ex-boyfriend sam, who is playing a show at a club in brooklyn, all the pennsylvanians decide to go to this notorious super secret underground (literally underground) rave and party like it's 1994. and then it's just like any annoying teen party - casey tries to get back with her ex and acts bitchy towards competitors, girls go wild, drinking and drugs and terrible music occur, and it's not until page 100 that a body finally drops. and even after that - when casey and her remaining friends are running through the subway tunnels, the memory of their friend's blood and guts fresh in her mind, it's still mostly about her wanting that boy back and taking a closer look at what she values in a friend. which is perfectly reasonable because the horror elements are way spread out and, along with "considering the consequences of our actions," are mostly just punctuation and afterthought. and while a book like This is Not a Test can get away with making zombies the opening act to focus on a meatier headliner, this one doesn't fare so well. it tries - there are serious issues introduced into the narrative: rehab and peer pressure and addiction and bullying, but they aren't treated as serious issues and it's all just froth. shana makes casey drink alcohol in the car over because
Shana groans. "Please tell me you're not going to be all boring now?"
"She just got back," Aya says. "Give her a break."
"What?" Shana rolls her eyes. "She went for drugs, not alcohol."
she later spikes casey's drink with ecstasy for helpfulness and the book's like "grr i am so cross with you, shana" instead of treating it like an assault, which it pretty much is.
which leads to the problems i had with the characters.
golly, they make bad decisions. i mean, they're teenagers, so it comes with the territory; i know i made some choices in my youth i wouldn't make now, but come on! leaving aside the fact that the "invitation" to the rave comes from a shirtless and barefoot man with rotting teeth who is dressed like a clown and smells like garbage who physically picks casey up and licks her cheek before lighting a sparkler and making the announcement (and considering this is an all-ages club, is a real good way to get yourself in trouble, so it's a dodgy marketing move) but leaving aside that going to a rave that uses a smelly clown as its spokesperson is still somehow appealing, once they get to manhattan, shana asks a homeless fella for directions and follows his spacey observations which leads to all these kids removing a manhole cover and descending a ladder to get to a rave. a rave. one of them is barefoot by this point because big-girl shoes hurt. she has also climbed a dumpster, flashed her panties and yelled a lot. many characters will willingly remove their shoes in this book. like, to play twister on a deserted subway platform with other kids who make bad decisions. later, they don't really fret about walking down subway tunnels that are slowly being flooded - subway water-soup up to their knees, up to their thighs, then later there is swimming and spitting of water.
i know one does as one must in survival situations, but it's never really mentioned how disgusting this is. cold, yes. annoying, yes. i think the water is described as "smelling like vomit" once, but vomit is the least of your concerns splashing around in a flooded subway tunnel.
oh, and one of the ladies is wearing leather pants. which can't be good in the water and i'm pretty sure would eventually make it impossible to move. that's another thing- i understand the willingness to ruin a pair of leather pants when it's life or death, but early on, casey discloses about how long it took her to pick out her outfit for maximum impression, but then she's totally fine playing paint-twister and wiping the paint all over her jeans like "this old thing?" who does that? but that's all mostly minor brainfarty poor decision-making from kids drunk and excited to be underground and in nyfc. this one is unforgivable: the teen who is the first to get murrrrrderrrred wants to leave the rave early. when the mean bouncer at the manhole-entrance says that no one can leave before 5 am, she tells her friends that she's going to bounce with the homeless fella who got them in in the first place because he knows a secret exit.
and no one says "this is not a good idea because we know nothing about this homeless fella!"
and no one says "this is not a good idea because you are intoxicated!"
and no one says "this is not a good idea because what are you going to do in the wall street area of nyfc after midnight when you live in pennsylvania and the car is still parked in brooklyn?"
and no one says "this is not a good idea because wandering through the subway tunnels in your fancy clothes with a stranger is never a good idea, even if you know him and he's not a loon!"
and no one says "this is not a good idea and i will come with you!" because they are terrible friends.
bad characters making bad decisions in a book that is only occasionally remembering it's supposed to be horror, so it will trot out some splatter and gore and casey will lose another friend and then she will go back to getting mad that shana is standing too close to sam and what the heck is that all about? and then she'll probably fall over. casey falls a lot.
and ugh, that ending. it's dumber than a barefoot teen in the financial district.
apparently they put forgiveness in the drinking water in pennsylvania. and apparently i am alone in thinking that a soccer-shaped balloon is maybe undermining the gravity of the situation. or maybe not - this book is pretty terrible at psychological repercussions and you could tack its ending onto a story about a girl who got the chicken pox and it would be a seamless graft.
i still want to read vega's first book, because it sounds like a cool blend of horror and camp, which i think can work so well when it's done thoughtfully
but what cannot work is a combination of horror and uninteresting.
come to my blog!
but i should have left this one alone.
true, i read it in a couple of hours and it is technically a horror novel so i guess it fit my needs, but i never felt scared or spooked or even entertained.
the cover is the best thing about the book
see? sparkles!
unfortunately, the prose does not sparkle at all.
there are two problems here: tone and characters.
if i had to summarize this book, it would probably be "careless but well-dressed teenagers work out their problems underground until someone gets murdered and things get weird."
you know how This is Not a Test pretends it is being a zombie story before it gradually dawns on the reader that this book has a completely different and more rewarding agenda and that it's using a horror backdrop to address real-life issues and that you don't even need zombies when there is already so much horror in the world? this feels like it's gonna be that for a really long time. fresh outta rehab, casey ditches her parent-approved slumber party with the wholesome soccer girls in mcmansion pennsylvania to ride off to new york city with the group of wild badgirls who are responsible for her needing to go to rehab in the first place. after an awkward reunion with her ex-boyfriend sam, who is playing a show at a club in brooklyn, all the pennsylvanians decide to go to this notorious super secret underground (literally underground) rave and party like it's 1994. and then it's just like any annoying teen party - casey tries to get back with her ex and acts bitchy towards competitors, girls go wild, drinking and drugs and terrible music occur, and it's not until page 100 that a body finally drops. and even after that - when casey and her remaining friends are running through the subway tunnels, the memory of their friend's blood and guts fresh in her mind, it's still mostly about her wanting that boy back and taking a closer look at what she values in a friend. which is perfectly reasonable because the horror elements are way spread out and, along with "considering the consequences of our actions," are mostly just punctuation and afterthought. and while a book like This is Not a Test can get away with making zombies the opening act to focus on a meatier headliner, this one doesn't fare so well. it tries - there are serious issues introduced into the narrative: rehab and peer pressure and addiction and bullying, but they aren't treated as serious issues and it's all just froth. shana makes casey drink alcohol in the car over because
Shana groans. "Please tell me you're not going to be all boring now?"
"She just got back," Aya says. "Give her a break."
"What?" Shana rolls her eyes. "She went for drugs, not alcohol."
she later spikes casey's drink with ecstasy for helpfulness and the book's like "grr i am so cross with you, shana" instead of treating it like an assault, which it pretty much is.
which leads to the problems i had with the characters.
golly, they make bad decisions. i mean, they're teenagers, so it comes with the territory; i know i made some choices in my youth i wouldn't make now, but come on! leaving aside the fact that the "invitation" to the rave comes from a shirtless and barefoot man with rotting teeth who is dressed like a clown and smells like garbage who physically picks casey up and licks her cheek before lighting a sparkler and making the announcement (and considering this is an all-ages club, is a real good way to get yourself in trouble, so it's a dodgy marketing move) but leaving aside that going to a rave that uses a smelly clown as its spokesperson is still somehow appealing, once they get to manhattan, shana asks a homeless fella for directions and follows his spacey observations which leads to all these kids removing a manhole cover and descending a ladder to get to a rave. a rave. one of them is barefoot by this point because big-girl shoes hurt. she has also climbed a dumpster, flashed her panties and yelled a lot. many characters will willingly remove their shoes in this book. like, to play twister on a deserted subway platform with other kids who make bad decisions. later, they don't really fret about walking down subway tunnels that are slowly being flooded - subway water-soup up to their knees, up to their thighs, then later there is swimming and spitting of water.
i know one does as one must in survival situations, but it's never really mentioned how disgusting this is. cold, yes. annoying, yes. i think the water is described as "smelling like vomit" once, but vomit is the least of your concerns splashing around in a flooded subway tunnel.
oh, and one of the ladies is wearing leather pants. which can't be good in the water and i'm pretty sure would eventually make it impossible to move. that's another thing- i understand the willingness to ruin a pair of leather pants when it's life or death, but early on, casey discloses about how long it took her to pick out her outfit for maximum impression, but then she's totally fine playing paint-twister and wiping the paint all over her jeans like "this old thing?" who does that? but that's all mostly minor brainfarty poor decision-making from kids drunk and excited to be underground and in nyfc. this one is unforgivable: the teen who is the first to get murrrrrderrrred wants to leave the rave early. when the mean bouncer at the manhole-entrance says that no one can leave before 5 am, she tells her friends that she's going to bounce with the homeless fella who got them in in the first place because he knows a secret exit.
and no one says "this is not a good idea because we know nothing about this homeless fella!"
and no one says "this is not a good idea because you are intoxicated!"
and no one says "this is not a good idea because what are you going to do in the wall street area of nyfc after midnight when you live in pennsylvania and the car is still parked in brooklyn?"
and no one says "this is not a good idea because wandering through the subway tunnels in your fancy clothes with a stranger is never a good idea, even if you know him and he's not a loon!"
and no one says "this is not a good idea and i will come with you!" because they are terrible friends.
bad characters making bad decisions in a book that is only occasionally remembering it's supposed to be horror, so it will trot out some splatter and gore and casey will lose another friend and then she will go back to getting mad that shana is standing too close to sam and what the heck is that all about? and then she'll probably fall over. casey falls a lot.
and ugh, that ending. it's dumber than a barefoot teen in the financial district.
apparently they put forgiveness in the drinking water in pennsylvania. and apparently i am alone in thinking that a soccer-shaped balloon is maybe undermining the gravity of the situation. or maybe not - this book is pretty terrible at psychological repercussions and you could tack its ending onto a story about a girl who got the chicken pox and it would be a seamless graft.
i still want to read vega's first book, because it sounds like a cool blend of horror and camp, which i think can work so well when it's done thoughtfully
but what cannot work is a combination of horror and uninteresting.
come to my blog!
August 11, 2015
4.5 stars. I REAALLY enjoyed this book! I randomly picked it up in Barnes&Noble and I couldn't be happier that I did. As someone who frequently goes to raves, I knew this book would be a perfect fit for me. While the writing isn't the absolute best, the plot kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I also like how it approaches teenage hood from a different perspective than what we see in YA. In Survive the Night, Casey starts out the story after going to rehab for abusing prescription drugs. She lies to her parents and sneaks off into the city to go to a rave (which I have done myself and 0/10 would not recommend). She isn't the goody two shoes all YA protagonists seem to be, considering sometimes she realizes that this lifestyle is bad for her yet she continues anyways. I've heard some mixed reviews about this book and I can understand why it wouldn't fit for certain people but personally, I thought it was a very entertaining story and I'm really glad I picked it up. Possible full review coming on my YouTube channel soon!!!
July 9, 2015
Gods. I had hopes for this one. The premise had me intrigued... and that cover!! This is definitely a case of "never judge a book by its cover."
I have many issues with this book, but I'll try to keep this concise.
1) The pacing. Oh. Em. Gee. Things start off sllllooooowwwwwwww. Look, I know we have to meet the characters and get an idea of their personalities and backgrounds, but a story of this magnitude needs something to kick things off. And a barely delved into addiction being overshadowed by a break-up? Meh. Strike one already. By 33%, nothing remotely interesting had happened, and it was at that point I almost DNFed. Hindsight has me wishing I'd been smart enough to do just that, but in the interest of giving it the benefit of the doubt, I continued. Then, once things start happening, it's just super repetitive. The ending was too rushed and nonsensical.
2) The "horror" aspect. So, in the beginning, I was hoping this wouldn't turn out to be a drug-induced hallucination, and it wasn't. After finishing, there was nothing I wanted more than that very thing. The reality of the "monster" was so ridiculous, unexplained,and just purely LAME that I couldn't care less if everyone died --- with the exception of one character who was NOT the MC. The cheese factor was over the top, truly. It's not scary. Instead, the author uses gore in attempts to make things creepy. OH! And another thing... this octopus-lobster-whatever killing machine was also able to take over bodies? How? Why?
3) The stupidity. Every single character holds a cell phone. With battery power. Yet not once do they attempt to make a call for help. Not even after they see police breaking up the party and get trapped. It's not as if it's been alluded to earlier that there is no service in the subway. It's just void, unmentioned. STUPID. Wouldn't that be the very first thing EVERYONE would do???? Yes, it is. Let's not forget the ludicrous part of hanging out with the girl who got you into drugs. Because, you know, right after I get out of rehab, that's what I'd do. My life was ruined, and yeah... Perfect. Now let's hit up a rave. Idiocy.
4) The love story. Too much of it. I'm down for a good romance just as much as the next girl. But please don't make the majority of a horror book about a failed relationship. Just no. I see why it was done. Regret. Sacrifice. Blah blah blah. It was a cheap plot device especially considering how the story ends. I mean, really what was the point? And, HOW would someone have functioned with the type of injury Sam had at the end? Ugh. Don't make people care for a character only to use them later as a shock tactic.
5) The ending. Le sigh. You know, even after all of the stupid, I thought *maybe* it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe the author would redeem herself a bit, and it was all a dream. Or, the aforementioned hallucination. Even as cliche and cheesy as those outcomes are, I would have been okay with it enough to rate the book higher. Maybe it could have been used as a growth curve for Casey... Instead, it felt like the ending of a 1980s B horror film. Nothing is resolved, kids are dead, and the monster lives. The MC is alive, will go on with her life, but always be waiting for her friends to come back to kill her. So is this thing able to come out of the subway system, take over bodies, and track her down??? Will there be a craptastic sequel? Lord, I hope not.
The bottom line?
Avoid. Do not waste the $10. Nor the time. This reads the way I imagine the cheesy 80s horror movie screenplays did. Take your money and read Stephen King.
I have many issues with this book, but I'll try to keep this concise.
1) The pacing. Oh. Em. Gee. Things start off sllllooooowwwwwwww. Look, I know we have to meet the characters and get an idea of their personalities and backgrounds, but a story of this magnitude needs something to kick things off. And a barely delved into addiction being overshadowed by a break-up? Meh. Strike one already. By 33%, nothing remotely interesting had happened, and it was at that point I almost DNFed. Hindsight has me wishing I'd been smart enough to do just that, but in the interest of giving it the benefit of the doubt, I continued. Then, once things start happening, it's just super repetitive. The ending was too rushed and nonsensical.
2) The "horror" aspect. So, in the beginning, I was hoping this wouldn't turn out to be a drug-induced hallucination, and it wasn't. After finishing, there was nothing I wanted more than that very thing. The reality of the "monster" was so ridiculous, unexplained,and just purely LAME that I couldn't care less if everyone died --- with the exception of one character who was NOT the MC. The cheese factor was over the top, truly. It's not scary. Instead, the author uses gore in attempts to make things creepy. OH! And another thing... this octopus-lobster-whatever killing machine was also able to take over bodies? How? Why?
3) The stupidity. Every single character holds a cell phone. With battery power. Yet not once do they attempt to make a call for help. Not even after they see police breaking up the party and get trapped. It's not as if it's been alluded to earlier that there is no service in the subway. It's just void, unmentioned. STUPID. Wouldn't that be the very first thing EVERYONE would do???? Yes, it is. Let's not forget the ludicrous part of hanging out with the girl who got you into drugs. Because, you know, right after I get out of rehab, that's what I'd do. My life was ruined, and yeah... Perfect. Now let's hit up a rave. Idiocy.
4) The love story. Too much of it. I'm down for a good romance just as much as the next girl. But please don't make the majority of a horror book about a failed relationship. Just no. I see why it was done. Regret. Sacrifice. Blah blah blah. It was a cheap plot device especially considering how the story ends. I mean, really what was the point? And, HOW would someone have functioned with the type of injury Sam had at the end? Ugh. Don't make people care for a character only to use them later as a shock tactic.
5) The ending. Le sigh. You know, even after all of the stupid, I thought *maybe* it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe the author would redeem herself a bit, and it was all a dream. Or, the aforementioned hallucination. Even as cliche and cheesy as those outcomes are, I would have been okay with it enough to rate the book higher. Maybe it could have been used as a growth curve for Casey... Instead, it felt like the ending of a 1980s B horror film. Nothing is resolved, kids are dead, and the monster lives. The MC is alive, will go on with her life, but always be waiting for her friends to come back to kill her. So is this thing able to come out of the subway system, take over bodies, and track her down??? Will there be a craptastic sequel? Lord, I hope not.
The bottom line?
Avoid. Do not waste the $10. Nor the time. This reads the way I imagine the cheesy 80s horror movie screenplays did. Take your money and read Stephen King.
July 4, 2015
See this review at YA Midnight Reads
Horror is a genre within YA that I personally believe brims with unexplored possibility. As a bit of a horror buff myself, I do love the genre itself but even more so the impact it can have on the reader. From personal experience I’ve felt the aftereffects of well done horror far past the credits of a movie or the closing words of a novel. I suppose my personal definition of a successful horror then would be if it elicited undeniable long-lasting fear. I now am going to share a quote from Stephen King about horror which has really resonated with me and outlines the reasons for my low rating for Survive the Night.
"The 3 types of terror: The Gross-out: the sight of a severed head tumbling down a flight of stairs, it’s when the lights go out and something green and slimy splatters against your arm. The Horror: the unnatural, spiders the size of bears, the dead waking up and walking around, it’s when the lights go out and something with claws grabs you by the arm. And the last and worse one: Terror, when you come home and notice everything you own had been taken away and replaced by an exact substitute. It’s when the lights go out and you feel something behind you, you hear it, you feel its breath against your ear, but when you turn around, there’s nothing there…"
It’s now with great personal disappointment for me to inform you that Survive the Night failed to bring any true terror to me. Instead I found it relied heavily on ‘the gross out’ factor for what I can only assume was shock value. I personally am a fan of gore, however I do believe there should be some sort of technique behind its usage. It should be timed right for maximum impact and not just used over and over again to the point where it becomes expected and frankly predictable. The fact is Survive the Night’s entire basis for horror was demonstrated through extreme and constant gore that became contrite and eye roll worthy- and this is coming from somebody who enjoys gore. I never felt terror at all.
Furthermore, the characters in Survive the Night felt like cardboard cutouts devoid of anything interesting or likable. In horror this does sometimes occur and it really is unfortunate. In my view some of the best horror I’ve experienced involves fleshed out characters that really manage to ingrain themselves in your mind. That’s not the case for Casey, the main character who clearly has a destructive obsession friendship with Shana (think stereotypical wild child who literally is never developed beyond that) which involves a whole lot of drugs, partying and alcohol. There were also some other characters who I honestly don’t even remember their names. This includes the love interest, which I suppose goes to show my complete disconnect from the romance. I think it says something when I felt so uncaring towards all of the characters I really didn’t feel any worry about the fact they were being hunted.
The story begins with Casey leaving rehab, which I personally think was glossed over in the novel. You have a character who ended up with an addiction to prescription meds and it almost just seemed like another thing pointlessly added to the novel, perhaps to make us feel some sort of sympathy towards her. If that were the case that technique didn’t work at all. Instead it drove me up the wall as the issue of addiction was just casually tossed around and how Casey makes ‘smart’ decisions- like going to a underground rave with the girl who got her addicted to drugs and being completely rude to anybody who tried to help her (her dad in particular).
I had a lot of questions finishing this one also. There were so many plot holes, it felt like I was reading Swiss cheese. An example of a glaring plot hole (which has also been noticed by other reviewers) is the mentions of cell phones. These characters have them, and actively use them as a source of light in the dark tunnels. Yet??? Nobody?? Tries?? To????? Make??? A? Call????? There is not a single mention of there being no cell reception so theoretically that should be an option. It should especially since they’re under the subway system and have notable access to locations that are high up. It is little details like cell phones that can make a horror story crumble if not paid attention to.
And yes, I do get that sometimes things are unexplainable yada yada. However, that doesn’t excuse the fact that honestly there were more questions raised in Survive the Night than any sort of explanations, information or motivations. Seriously, when you discover who/what lurks in the tunnels that is hunting the characters…you’ll laugh. It comes across as ridiculous and there’s literally zero explanation which makes everything even more laughable. There’s just no way I can personally stretch my perception of reality far enough to accept what Vega is putting down when I’m not even given a abstract motive from ‘the hunter.’
Overall, I found Survive the Night to be a novel that simply didn’t work for me. I found the horror aspects to be completely lackluster, poorly explained and solely relying on the gross out factor. Rehab and drug addiction was tossed around like it was nothing. The characters were completely unmemorable, made awful decisions and I wasn’t able to even sympathize for them or their plight. I do however, wish to see more horror novels in YA. In my view it’s such an unexplored sub-genre full of potential.
Horror is a genre within YA that I personally believe brims with unexplored possibility. As a bit of a horror buff myself, I do love the genre itself but even more so the impact it can have on the reader. From personal experience I’ve felt the aftereffects of well done horror far past the credits of a movie or the closing words of a novel. I suppose my personal definition of a successful horror then would be if it elicited undeniable long-lasting fear. I now am going to share a quote from Stephen King about horror which has really resonated with me and outlines the reasons for my low rating for Survive the Night.
"The 3 types of terror: The Gross-out: the sight of a severed head tumbling down a flight of stairs, it’s when the lights go out and something green and slimy splatters against your arm. The Horror: the unnatural, spiders the size of bears, the dead waking up and walking around, it’s when the lights go out and something with claws grabs you by the arm. And the last and worse one: Terror, when you come home and notice everything you own had been taken away and replaced by an exact substitute. It’s when the lights go out and you feel something behind you, you hear it, you feel its breath against your ear, but when you turn around, there’s nothing there…"
It’s now with great personal disappointment for me to inform you that Survive the Night failed to bring any true terror to me. Instead I found it relied heavily on ‘the gross out’ factor for what I can only assume was shock value. I personally am a fan of gore, however I do believe there should be some sort of technique behind its usage. It should be timed right for maximum impact and not just used over and over again to the point where it becomes expected and frankly predictable. The fact is Survive the Night’s entire basis for horror was demonstrated through extreme and constant gore that became contrite and eye roll worthy- and this is coming from somebody who enjoys gore. I never felt terror at all.
Furthermore, the characters in Survive the Night felt like cardboard cutouts devoid of anything interesting or likable. In horror this does sometimes occur and it really is unfortunate. In my view some of the best horror I’ve experienced involves fleshed out characters that really manage to ingrain themselves in your mind. That’s not the case for Casey, the main character who clearly has a destructive
The story begins with Casey leaving rehab, which I personally think was glossed over in the novel. You have a character who ended up with an addiction to prescription meds and it almost just seemed like another thing pointlessly added to the novel, perhaps to make us feel some sort of sympathy towards her. If that were the case that technique didn’t work at all. Instead it drove me up the wall as the issue of addiction was just casually tossed around and how Casey makes ‘smart’ decisions- like going to a underground rave with the girl who got her addicted to drugs and being completely rude to anybody who tried to help her (her dad in particular).
I had a lot of questions finishing this one also. There were so many plot holes, it felt like I was reading Swiss cheese. An example of a glaring plot hole (which has also been noticed by other reviewers) is the mentions of cell phones. These characters have them, and actively use them as a source of light in the dark tunnels. Yet??? Nobody?? Tries?? To????? Make??? A? Call????? There is not a single mention of there being no cell reception so theoretically that should be an option. It should especially since they’re under the subway system and have notable access to locations that are high up. It is little details like cell phones that can make a horror story crumble if not paid attention to.
And yes, I do get that sometimes things are unexplainable yada yada. However, that doesn’t excuse the fact that honestly there were more questions raised in Survive the Night than any sort of explanations, information or motivations. Seriously, when you discover who/what lurks in the tunnels that is hunting the characters…you’ll laugh. It comes across as ridiculous and there’s literally zero explanation which makes everything even more laughable. There’s just no way I can personally stretch my perception of reality far enough to accept what Vega is putting down when I’m not even given a abstract motive from ‘the hunter.’
Overall, I found Survive the Night to be a novel that simply didn’t work for me. I found the horror aspects to be completely lackluster, poorly explained and solely relying on the gross out factor. Rehab and drug addiction was tossed around like it was nothing. The characters were completely unmemorable, made awful decisions and I wasn’t able to even sympathize for them or their plight. I do however, wish to see more horror novels in YA. In my view it’s such an unexplored sub-genre full of potential.
July 31, 2015
I received an ARC from a Goodreads First Reads giveaway. That, in no way, has affected my opinion of the book.
Now let me just say that I was pumped for this book and was disappointed when it got lost in the mail and arrived about 3 weeks later than it was supposed to! Least to say, I had super high expectations because I love survivalist thrillers, especially when someone is going around killing all of the main characters and their friends!
But this book really only incited frustration and anger in me!
The book starts out with the MC Casey getting out of rehab after abusing her prescription pain killers for her knee injury she got a few months ago. Honestly, just her brief mentions of how rehab was when she was there was more interesting than the slop of a story presented to us! Anyways, Casey is supposed to go to a sleepover at her former bffs house located in the McMansions of suburbs. As soon as Casey's dad drives away and she steps up on the porch, her new bff Shana pulls up and Casey ditches her old soccer friends and runs off with Shana. At first I really liked shana's character, but as soon as she started bullying Casey and her other two friends in the car, Ava and Julie, that was when my like turned into dislike. I don't mind bitchy characters as long as they keep their destructive behavior to themselves. And shana is a thrill junkie and also a drug user. Least to say, Shana, Ava, and Julie are Casey's druggie friends. So Shana will bully her friends into doing dangerous things or trying other drugs, and basically placing them in danger because she wants to and is selfish like that. And these girls just roll over and take it! If this was a book about a girl learning to become herself and standing up to the people who bully them into doing things they don't, then I would have some appreciation for the story.
Sadly, Casey never really does get a backbone. She kind of gets one towards the middle and end, but relies on her ex or some other male figures to hold her up completely. Yup. She stays as a drug induced Bella swan.
Anyways, Shana shows us how ridiculously stupid she is by playing chicken with other cars in the opposing lanes at high speeds while they head to their destination. And by high speeds, I mean FUCKING 95 MPH!!!!!!
Who the flying fuck does that?!?! Seriously?!?!
So they head to this club and Shana decides to "hold" Casey's Tylenol bottle since she's getting a headache. And this is a club where her ex is playing with his band!
At this point, Casey gets annoying with how she constantly keeps harping about how she will never love another person as much as she loves her ex and how could he leave her and all of this bullshit! And for the rest of the book, this topic is CONSTANTLY BEING BROUGHT THE FUCK BACK UP!!!!!!!
She doesn't stop about her "ex this" or her "ex that!" To the point that every time it would come up, I'd roll my eyes so hard they'd almost fall out of my head. Let's just say there were too many sighs of exasperation.
Then comes the part where this creepy fucktard grabs Casey and acts like he's going to kidnap her, while also acting like a complete mental case, before revealing that it's all a stunt for the illegal "Survive the Night" rave party that's located in the abandoned sewers and subways under NYC. Again, illegal as fuck partying with drugs and these dumbass kids we're stuck with for narratives go to this fucking party.
So then it moves on to them walking in the alleys, trying to find the entrance to the party and Ava is walking around barefooted because she decided to wear super tall high heels and not bring a change of shoes. Yes these are teenagers and sometimes teenagers don't think ahead, but come on!!!! Anyone who's ever worn heels knows to bring a change of small ballet flats in your purse!!!
Now, anyone who knows me knows that I can't stand stupid people or stupid characters! So these characters in this book frustrated me. Another reviewer compared this book to those early 2000s teen scary movies, and it fits. This was like one of those movies where I was SCREAMING at the characters to not do stupid shit!
Anyways, they chat with this homeless guy and Casey gets flashbacks of the times she'd run around with Shana and would be forced into more uncomfortable and dangerous situations, making me hate these two even more, while also going on and on about her ex and how he's the only boy she's ever loved and how he's so perfect. Gag me with a spoon please!
Moving on, they find the entrance to the party and go down the manhole, only to realize it's the only entrance/exit of the place for miles on end. Everyone is partying and having a good time and all that bullshit. However, Casey is getting a little panicky and can't leave because of the super huge bouncer blocking anyone and everyone from leaving since they have to "Survive the Night" and can't leave until 5am. So Casey continues to flip the fuck out even though it's only 11pm, and Shana goes off to get her a drink to calm down.
And knowing how stupid, dangerous and reckless Shana is, it's no surprise that she drugs Casey's drink because she's an asshole! And Casey is dumb enough to trust her!
So Casey is super hopped up on ecstasy and hallucinating like crazy! She realizes that Shana did this to her and wants to find her to tell her off, but she also realizes that Julie is missing, so instead decides to wander off in her drug daze to find her friend.
There are a lot of cool descriptions of people's faces melting off and other hallucinatory occurrences that makes the character wonder what's real and what's the hallucination. However, it never really delves enough into it to make it believable. Or maybe it didn't work for me because I was just fed up with the MC and her bullshit candy ass!
Anyways, Casey is wandering a semi empty tunnel, using her phone as a weak flashlight and stumbles across Julie's onyx ring that she would NEVER take off. This then causes Casey to panic and wander farther until she comes across Julie's dismembered body. I don't know if it's just me, but the descriptions for the horror scenes weren't that good. They weren't descriptive enough that I didn't feel the danger, disgust and horror for what's been done.
So Casey panics and flips the fuck out, which is understandable. However, I should mention that before running into Julie's dead body, she also walked across the homeless guy who showed them the way to the entrance. However, he's wandering about in a daze and Casey keeps hallucinating that there's something wrong with him and something slithering inside of the slash across his back as he wanders off to the party. Anyways, Casey starts screaming and running about and vomits, which somehow makes her hallucinations go away immediately.
IT DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT!!!!
YOU CAN'T FUCKING BARF THE DRUGS OUT AND IMMEDIATELY THINK THAT IT'LL MAKE THE DRUGS STOP AND LEAVE YOUR SYSTEM!!!!
THATS NOT HOW IT WORKS!!!!!!
Okay. This is frustrating me just writing this review, so I'm gonna shorten and summarize it more so I don't fucking throw my tablet out of the window!!
Moving on! Casey then runs about trying to find someone to tell them about Julie's dead body and runs into her ex. She leads him back to where Julie's body was, and there's nothing, just Casey's phone that she dropped.
Then the story takes a little break from the horror and Casey and her ex, who I can't remember what the fuck his name is for the life of me, have a little heart to heart chat and then start making out!!
They make out after she has barfed all over the fucking ground just a few paragraphs earlier!!!! Disgusting!!!!! And then to make it worse, they're just about to start having sex on the floor of a dirty sewer/subway tunnel until Shana walks up and interrupts them!!!
THANK YOU SHANA!!!! EVEN THOUGH YOURE A USELESS BITCH OF A CHARACTER WHO BULLIES EVERYONE!!!!! Thank you for stopping the gross sex scene on the FLOOR of a subway/sewer tunnel!!!!! And I slash subway/sewer because the book keeps interchanging them so I never know where the fuck they really are since no one seems to know the difference in the story.
It's frustrating me even trying to finish this review, so to sum it up, the group wanders the tunnels while the cops come and quickly shut down the rave, but not bothering to check all of the tunnels, the dumbass characters never think to use their cell phones to call for help, even though there's no mention that they don't have reception, the group is trying to find a way out since the man holes are all sealed, and the big fucking monster is the kraken on steroids with kitchen knives attached to its fucking tentacles as it kills Ava, woody, and the BF.
Shana supposedly gets possessed by it when Casey gets out and is put in the hospital. She thinks the kraken is possessing Shana, but I refuse to believe that since Casey's blood tests show high amounts of ecstasy in her system.
So my belief is that this was a whole deluded trip because this book makes NO FUCKING SENSE!!!! Anyway, that's the gist of it and I hate this book. Biggest disappointment since I was so looking forward to it for a good scary story!!! Boo!!! I know a lot of people say this author's other book is good, but I'd rather not take my chances.
Now let me just say that I was pumped for this book and was disappointed when it got lost in the mail and arrived about 3 weeks later than it was supposed to! Least to say, I had super high expectations because I love survivalist thrillers, especially when someone is going around killing all of the main characters and their friends!
But this book really only incited frustration and anger in me!
The book starts out with the MC Casey getting out of rehab after abusing her prescription pain killers for her knee injury she got a few months ago. Honestly, just her brief mentions of how rehab was when she was there was more interesting than the slop of a story presented to us! Anyways, Casey is supposed to go to a sleepover at her former bffs house located in the McMansions of suburbs. As soon as Casey's dad drives away and she steps up on the porch, her new bff Shana pulls up and Casey ditches her old soccer friends and runs off with Shana. At first I really liked shana's character, but as soon as she started bullying Casey and her other two friends in the car, Ava and Julie, that was when my like turned into dislike. I don't mind bitchy characters as long as they keep their destructive behavior to themselves. And shana is a thrill junkie and also a drug user. Least to say, Shana, Ava, and Julie are Casey's druggie friends. So Shana will bully her friends into doing dangerous things or trying other drugs, and basically placing them in danger because she wants to and is selfish like that. And these girls just roll over and take it! If this was a book about a girl learning to become herself and standing up to the people who bully them into doing things they don't, then I would have some appreciation for the story.
Sadly, Casey never really does get a backbone. She kind of gets one towards the middle and end, but relies on her ex or some other male figures to hold her up completely. Yup. She stays as a drug induced Bella swan.
Anyways, Shana shows us how ridiculously stupid she is by playing chicken with other cars in the opposing lanes at high speeds while they head to their destination. And by high speeds, I mean FUCKING 95 MPH!!!!!!
Who the flying fuck does that?!?! Seriously?!?!
So they head to this club and Shana decides to "hold" Casey's Tylenol bottle since she's getting a headache. And this is a club where her ex is playing with his band!
At this point, Casey gets annoying with how she constantly keeps harping about how she will never love another person as much as she loves her ex and how could he leave her and all of this bullshit! And for the rest of the book, this topic is CONSTANTLY BEING BROUGHT THE FUCK BACK UP!!!!!!!
She doesn't stop about her "ex this" or her "ex that!" To the point that every time it would come up, I'd roll my eyes so hard they'd almost fall out of my head. Let's just say there were too many sighs of exasperation.
Then comes the part where this creepy fucktard grabs Casey and acts like he's going to kidnap her, while also acting like a complete mental case, before revealing that it's all a stunt for the illegal "Survive the Night" rave party that's located in the abandoned sewers and subways under NYC. Again, illegal as fuck partying with drugs and these dumbass kids we're stuck with for narratives go to this fucking party.
So then it moves on to them walking in the alleys, trying to find the entrance to the party and Ava is walking around barefooted because she decided to wear super tall high heels and not bring a change of shoes. Yes these are teenagers and sometimes teenagers don't think ahead, but come on!!!! Anyone who's ever worn heels knows to bring a change of small ballet flats in your purse!!!
Now, anyone who knows me knows that I can't stand stupid people or stupid characters! So these characters in this book frustrated me. Another reviewer compared this book to those early 2000s teen scary movies, and it fits. This was like one of those movies where I was SCREAMING at the characters to not do stupid shit!
Anyways, they chat with this homeless guy and Casey gets flashbacks of the times she'd run around with Shana and would be forced into more uncomfortable and dangerous situations, making me hate these two even more, while also going on and on about her ex and how he's the only boy she's ever loved and how he's so perfect. Gag me with a spoon please!
Moving on, they find the entrance to the party and go down the manhole, only to realize it's the only entrance/exit of the place for miles on end. Everyone is partying and having a good time and all that bullshit. However, Casey is getting a little panicky and can't leave because of the super huge bouncer blocking anyone and everyone from leaving since they have to "Survive the Night" and can't leave until 5am. So Casey continues to flip the fuck out even though it's only 11pm, and Shana goes off to get her a drink to calm down.
And knowing how stupid, dangerous and reckless Shana is, it's no surprise that she drugs Casey's drink because she's an asshole! And Casey is dumb enough to trust her!
So Casey is super hopped up on ecstasy and hallucinating like crazy! She realizes that Shana did this to her and wants to find her to tell her off, but she also realizes that Julie is missing, so instead decides to wander off in her drug daze to find her friend.
There are a lot of cool descriptions of people's faces melting off and other hallucinatory occurrences that makes the character wonder what's real and what's the hallucination. However, it never really delves enough into it to make it believable. Or maybe it didn't work for me because I was just fed up with the MC and her bullshit candy ass!
Anyways, Casey is wandering a semi empty tunnel, using her phone as a weak flashlight and stumbles across Julie's onyx ring that she would NEVER take off. This then causes Casey to panic and wander farther until she comes across Julie's dismembered body. I don't know if it's just me, but the descriptions for the horror scenes weren't that good. They weren't descriptive enough that I didn't feel the danger, disgust and horror for what's been done.
So Casey panics and flips the fuck out, which is understandable. However, I should mention that before running into Julie's dead body, she also walked across the homeless guy who showed them the way to the entrance. However, he's wandering about in a daze and Casey keeps hallucinating that there's something wrong with him and something slithering inside of the slash across his back as he wanders off to the party. Anyways, Casey starts screaming and running about and vomits, which somehow makes her hallucinations go away immediately.
IT DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT!!!!
YOU CAN'T FUCKING BARF THE DRUGS OUT AND IMMEDIATELY THINK THAT IT'LL MAKE THE DRUGS STOP AND LEAVE YOUR SYSTEM!!!!
THATS NOT HOW IT WORKS!!!!!!
Okay. This is frustrating me just writing this review, so I'm gonna shorten and summarize it more so I don't fucking throw my tablet out of the window!!
Moving on! Casey then runs about trying to find someone to tell them about Julie's dead body and runs into her ex. She leads him back to where Julie's body was, and there's nothing, just Casey's phone that she dropped.
Then the story takes a little break from the horror and Casey and her ex, who I can't remember what the fuck his name is for the life of me, have a little heart to heart chat and then start making out!!
They make out after she has barfed all over the fucking ground just a few paragraphs earlier!!!! Disgusting!!!!! And then to make it worse, they're just about to start having sex on the floor of a dirty sewer/subway tunnel until Shana walks up and interrupts them!!!
THANK YOU SHANA!!!! EVEN THOUGH YOURE A USELESS BITCH OF A CHARACTER WHO BULLIES EVERYONE!!!!! Thank you for stopping the gross sex scene on the FLOOR of a subway/sewer tunnel!!!!! And I slash subway/sewer because the book keeps interchanging them so I never know where the fuck they really are since no one seems to know the difference in the story.
It's frustrating me even trying to finish this review, so to sum it up, the group wanders the tunnels while the cops come and quickly shut down the rave, but not bothering to check all of the tunnels, the dumbass characters never think to use their cell phones to call for help, even though there's no mention that they don't have reception, the group is trying to find a way out since the man holes are all sealed, and the big fucking monster is the kraken on steroids with kitchen knives attached to its fucking tentacles as it kills Ava, woody, and the BF.
Shana supposedly gets possessed by it when Casey gets out and is put in the hospital. She thinks the kraken is possessing Shana, but I refuse to believe that since Casey's blood tests show high amounts of ecstasy in her system.
So my belief is that this was a whole deluded trip because this book makes NO FUCKING SENSE!!!! Anyway, that's the gist of it and I hate this book. Biggest disappointment since I was so looking forward to it for a good scary story!!! Boo!!! I know a lot of people say this author's other book is good, but I'd rather not take my chances.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 15, 2015
Another absolutely stellar book from Danielle Vega. If you loved Merciless, Survive the Night will not disappoint. That’s not to say that StN tells the same story. Not at all. We meet Casey as she’s recounting her time in rehab after her issues with Oxytocin. When she is going to Madison’s house for a sleepover, I thought that maybe it would be too close to Merciless, but it veers off from there when she ditches to go with Shana, Aya, and Julie to a club in New York. Which turns into Survive the Night, the all-night rave in the subway tunnels. [Full Review Here]
August 2, 2020
3.5 Stars
While not as strong as the Merciless series, I still enjoyed this YA horror book as an escapist read. The teenagers are rather unlikeable and annoying in their high, drunk state, which was likely done on purpose. I can other readers not liking the type of horror in this one, but I actually quite enjoyed it. Vega is known for writing some grisly gruesome scenes and she did not disappoint in this one. I would recommend this one to people who enjoy YA horror with some guts.
While not as strong as the Merciless series, I still enjoyed this YA horror book as an escapist read. The teenagers are rather unlikeable and annoying in their high, drunk state, which was likely done on purpose. I can other readers not liking the type of horror in this one, but I actually quite enjoyed it. Vega is known for writing some grisly gruesome scenes and she did not disappoint in this one. I would recommend this one to people who enjoy YA horror with some guts.
October 24, 2017
This book is just so hard to describe and to rate. I'm going to just say it's a 3.5 stars.
Survive the Night is about a girl named Casey who used to be a goody two-shoes, what her new best friend Shana, calls a soccer Barbie. Casey hurt her knee pretty bad during a game and had to get surgery. The hospital is where she met Shana. Shana is a typical bad girl, who is way into drugs, drinking and finding adventure in everything. Casey finds it thrilling to hang out with someone like Shana and ditches her soccer friends like Madison for the unknown.
After Casey gets out of rehab for oxycodone, she ends up going to a rave with Shana and friends (Julie, Aya, Sam and Woody) in an abandoned subway tunnel. This is where the book gets really weird.
Let me try and sum up this book without too many spoilers. We have a girl who falls in love with an edgy life style. She envies Shana in a way because to Casey, Shana is fearless. The drugs and alcohol are just a fun side effect to being besties with this out of control girl. But one night the fun gets out of hand and Casey's parents find out and ship her off to rehab. This whole section is cliche teen drama. I've seen it in a ton of movies and t.v. shows. Then Casey gets out and the first thing she does is sneak out with Shana again. Another cliche scene comes up. Shana is secretly jealous of Casey and tries to sabotage their friendship.
Now that we have established this is a YA book, bring on the horror. Chapter nine is where the action begins. So we have death and lost kids in the underground, abandoned, subway tunnels. Will they make it out alive? Will they be killed by a psycho murderer? The end "villian" was so unbelievably cheesy. I was thinking 'Creepshow' by Stephen King. That might be a spoiler, I don't know. I just didn't think it fit with the rest of the book. Or maybe it did. I mean the whole book reads like a cheesy 80's teen horror.
What I disliked the most was the ending. The conclusion was so.... maybe I was hoping for a 'Ring' kind of ending. Again major cheese vibes.
With all that said, did I like this book? Book cover, is amazing. Teen horror trash is a thing, and I definitely didn't get bored reading this one. Just don't take it seriously. I like Danielle Vega's horror books and will continue reading them.
Survive the Night is about a girl named Casey who used to be a goody two-shoes, what her new best friend Shana, calls a soccer Barbie. Casey hurt her knee pretty bad during a game and had to get surgery. The hospital is where she met Shana. Shana is a typical bad girl, who is way into drugs, drinking and finding adventure in everything. Casey finds it thrilling to hang out with someone like Shana and ditches her soccer friends like Madison for the unknown.
After Casey gets out of rehab for oxycodone, she ends up going to a rave with Shana and friends (Julie, Aya, Sam and Woody) in an abandoned subway tunnel. This is where the book gets really weird.
Let me try and sum up this book without too many spoilers. We have a girl who falls in love with an edgy life style. She envies Shana in a way because to Casey, Shana is fearless. The drugs and alcohol are just a fun side effect to being besties with this out of control girl. But one night the fun gets out of hand and Casey's parents find out and ship her off to rehab. This whole section is cliche teen drama. I've seen it in a ton of movies and t.v. shows. Then Casey gets out and the first thing she does is sneak out with Shana again. Another cliche scene comes up. Shana is secretly jealous of Casey and tries to sabotage their friendship.
Now that we have established this is a YA book, bring on the horror. Chapter nine is where the action begins. So we have death and lost kids in the underground, abandoned, subway tunnels. Will they make it out alive? Will they be killed by a psycho murderer? The end "villian" was so unbelievably cheesy. I was thinking 'Creepshow' by Stephen King. That might be a spoiler, I don't know. I just didn't think it fit with the rest of the book. Or maybe it did. I mean the whole book reads like a cheesy 80's teen horror.
What I disliked the most was the ending. The conclusion was so.... maybe I was hoping for a 'Ring' kind of ending. Again major cheese vibes.
With all that said, did I like this book? Book cover, is amazing. Teen horror trash is a thing, and I definitely didn't get bored reading this one. Just don't take it seriously. I like Danielle Vega's horror books and will continue reading them.
November 14, 2020
At this point I think it’s safe to say that I’m a big Danielle Vega fan. I LOVED her Merciless series and I thoroughly enjoyed this book as well. I really liked the whole idea of the book, being stuck underground at an all night rave in the sewers and the chaos that ensues. It gave me serious Lovecraftian vibes which I did not expect and I enjoyed the hell out of that! You never really see what’s coming for these teens and it was perfect that way. My only minor complaint is that I really disliked the characters, they just kind of made me roll my eyes and sigh at certain points. But despite that the story was excellent and full of gore and murder which is just how I like it!
August 8, 2015
The only reason I rated this book a one star is because I couldn't rate it zero stars... I cannot believe what I just read. There is no way for my brain to comprehend tonight. More when I'm a little more awake/well spoken. For now just know I hated it.
July 2, 2017
This took me back to summer 98' where movies like scream and I know what you did last summer were all the rage. It checked all the boxes for fun summer scare, where it doesn't have to be October 31st to pack some chill. I breezed through this book half because it has quick chapters and pacing that keeps it moving but also because you just can't help but wanna know what's gonna happen next. This book has started a serious love affair with Danielle Vega and her work.
May 15, 2018
First 2/3 gets 5 stars
Last 1/3 gets 2
After reading the Merciless series I had higher expectations
Last 1/3 gets 2
After reading the Merciless series I had higher expectations
March 20, 2021
After much deliberation and careful consideration, I have decided that this. Book. Sucks. There are so many things wrong with this book. Starting with the fact that I was completely disappointed in who the killer turned out to be. It wasn't the jealous best friend. It wasn't the boyfriend. It wasn't even a human! It turned out to be a monster with tentacles and claws. It was so random and just, why? I was hoping for a major plot twist and an unexpected, yet explainable, murderer. But no. It had to be a monster with tentacles. It had to be the sewer version of the Kraken. It just had to. Also, were the organizers of Survive the Night friends with the monster? If not, then why did they call it Survive the Night? Another thing that makes no sense. Why was Shana's life take drugs and skip school, attend the Survive the Night rave, get killed by a monster, and then come back to life in her best friend's hospital with a mini Kraken inside of her? Where did that mini Kraken come from? Why the hospital? The monster basically turned Shana into a female Venom, and then she tried to kill everybody. Makes no sense. Although, I do have to applaud Danielle Vega on her ability to make books suspenseful. I was on the edge of my seat for a good 60% of the book (I tuned out after I realized the murderer was some supernatural creature). Overall, if your ok with weird endings and murder stories where everybody except the main character dies at the hand of a sewer Kraken, then this book is for you. If you don't, then don't read this book.
January 2, 2018
That was pretty intense... Great book if you like YA monster horror.
July 10, 2015
Review first appeared on my blog: Book Addict 24-7
I received a copy via the publisher in exchange for an honest review
2.5 Stars
Survive the Night is Danielle Vega's second novel and after the success of The Merciless, I'm sure a lot of readers are anxiously waiting to get their hands on a copy of this book. Having enjoyed the [very possibly] controversial storyline of her first novel, I was looking forward to reading another jarring read. If you follow my blog, then you've probably seen my posts about an older female customer who keeps demanding we put this book in adult fiction or get rid of it altogether from our bookstore. Yeah, I love books like that because they push the boundaries and make some people act like it's okay to think that they're entitled enough to tell others what they can or cannot read. Despite the success of the last book, I'm not sure about this one. Though terrifying in theory, the writing lacked that immediate pull that Vega's last book had on me.
The thing I've noticed about Vega's writing is that the first half of her books are a bit on the slow side. I understand the need to introduce the characters and set up the relationships, and I completely get the need describe how the characters find themselves in dangerous situations. However, the possible greatest downfall of this book is that the aforementioned character build-up felt either forced, rushed, or lacking. Despite the introduction of the friendships and ex-boyfriend relationship, I found it a little difficult to feel any personal connection to the relationships the characters shared.
Despite the lackluster chemistry between the characters, I still mourned their loss. I'm not going to say who died and who survived, but I will say that Vega stayed true to her writing and gave us a shocking and terrifying experience. Though I will admit that at times I thought the violence bordered on overdone and purely for the shock value that Vega's readers may have come to crave.
I'm so torn between loving this and feeling just "meh" about the whole thing. I don't know if it's because The Merciless was so daring, or because this storyline felt so unfinished and rushed. Everything felt like a horror movie shot with that shaky first person camera that we're starting to see everywhere. It's a good story at its core, but the delivery felt like it was trying too hard to get a reaction out of the reader and be wholly original. I know it's not fair to compare Vega's first book with this one, especially because the first one dealt with human depravity and religion (to a certain extent), but while The Merciless was shocking in its newness and devil-may-care attitude, Survive the Night felt like it was written just to shock and not to awe, if that makes any sense.
Okay, despite my rambling about the presentation of the storyline, I had fun while reading this. Was I expecting something that would give me nightmares? Perhaps, but as I keep saying, having expectations is the reader's greatest downfall. If you don't expect anything, then you won't be seeing a story in a certain light. For example, if you think you'll enjoy The Merciless, then read this one first, so you can be surprised and you can note the differences in writing style. Dammit, I'm ranting again.
Okay, let's try this again. The protagonist, Casey, is a girl who's just experienced a major life changing event. When given the chance to start over again, she finds herself repeating old patterns. Sure, it's a lot easier said than done, but her speedy departure from the right path, without any mental struggle, doesn't bode well for this character. Shortly after we are introduced to Casey, we meet her wild friends. I didn't like them at all. The way they were described just made me feel sad for them. I did like her ex and his best friend because they were the ones who kept the story going.
My dislike of Casey's friends did change, of course, when things went bloody during the rave. There were instances where I wanted to throttle some of the characters because of how frustrating they were and how their deaths could have been avoidable. Casey's character growth was predictable and at the end of the day, it felt like she was basically starting all over again, like the story went in a full circle (major life event, recuperation, rehabilitation, then major life event again.)
An example of the whole thing being avoidable is that the party is described as an event that is absolutely packed with people, yet no one notices a large group of kids wandering off. Also, the police conveniently appear and break up the party when Casey and her friends are not there, but then decide to leave almost immediately after. No officer stays behind in case some teenagers come out of the tunnels? No officer goes to check the tunnels to see if there's any illegal activities going on? I mean, it's not like people go off on their own during these wild parties to do anything particularly naughty (wink, wink). The coincidences in this book make the whole thing a little weaker because, sure, stories are based on the decisions a character or two or more makes, but how many coincidences (whether realistic or not) do you need to create in order to have the perfect setting for a blood bath?
Don't get me wrong, this book had its absolutely terrifying parts. I even tweeted about them and how I kept hearing noises in my house. For what it's worth, this was an effective horror story if the introduction hadn't felt so dry. I was so excited to read this, but the excitement came close to going away by the time I actually reached the good stuff, and even then, it was like watching a teen horror flick.
If you've read Vega's last book (and I WILL keep referring to it because I loved it so much), then you know that there's some weird sense of conclusion to it. There are some answers and you're left to do what you will with what you're given. The conclusion for this one was slightly disappointing and a bit confusing. Things aren't really explained and I know that it's sometimes okay to not explain things at the end of the novel, but it just felt a bit lacking. I wanted to know what was after these kids, how it got to where it was, and what the hell happened at the end. I want to know why what happened hadn't happened before and why it was happening now (coincidentally) to these particular characters. I want to know why this one party was so obviously flawed, for lack of a better term, compared to the others. And I want to know how that last bit even happened, especially when it hadn't happened before.
One final thought: Let's talk about the synopsis. It spoils too much and sets you up for a slightly different story (it of course alludes to a story that immediately begins with a horrifying scene). Here's my idea of how the synopsis should look like for this book:
While Casey's life changed completely a few months ago, she's ready to start anew with her friends and ex-boyfriend. But then, after she realizes that she's addicted to the kind of adrenaline one only gets from a near-death experience, she winds up at a late night rave in an abandoned subway station, which is admittedly not a very smart thing to do. Something lingers in the darkness, just beyond the candlelights and groping dancers. What Casey sees next will forever change her life.
My issue with the original synopsis is how hard it tries to be scary. I like to think that if you allude to something without explicitly telling the reader what's going to happen, then a reader is more likely to want to know more. Looking back on it now, I realize that Vega's first novel also has an over-described synopsis. When it comes to books that hint at horror and terror, I like to think that less is more. Sure, horror is all about the bloody, over-emphasized idea of a character getting killed, but that doesn't mean a synopsis needs to be so transparent.
Would I recommend this to other readers? Sure. Especially if you're into horror and shock-value. I will give Vega credit for writing entertaining young adult horror novels. Once past the slower introduction, the action really picks up fast. I couldn't put this down once the horror bits began because I needed to know what was going to happen next. I will most likely read Vega's next book because despite everything I've said, her writing is entertaining, especially for when you're home alone on a spooky night.
Happy reading!
I received a copy via the publisher in exchange for an honest review
2.5 Stars
Survive the Night is Danielle Vega's second novel and after the success of The Merciless, I'm sure a lot of readers are anxiously waiting to get their hands on a copy of this book. Having enjoyed the [very possibly] controversial storyline of her first novel, I was looking forward to reading another jarring read. If you follow my blog, then you've probably seen my posts about an older female customer who keeps demanding we put this book in adult fiction or get rid of it altogether from our bookstore. Yeah, I love books like that because they push the boundaries and make some people act like it's okay to think that they're entitled enough to tell others what they can or cannot read. Despite the success of the last book, I'm not sure about this one. Though terrifying in theory, the writing lacked that immediate pull that Vega's last book had on me.
The thing I've noticed about Vega's writing is that the first half of her books are a bit on the slow side. I understand the need to introduce the characters and set up the relationships, and I completely get the need describe how the characters find themselves in dangerous situations. However, the possible greatest downfall of this book is that the aforementioned character build-up felt either forced, rushed, or lacking. Despite the introduction of the friendships and ex-boyfriend relationship, I found it a little difficult to feel any personal connection to the relationships the characters shared.
Despite the lackluster chemistry between the characters, I still mourned their loss. I'm not going to say who died and who survived, but I will say that Vega stayed true to her writing and gave us a shocking and terrifying experience. Though I will admit that at times I thought the violence bordered on overdone and purely for the shock value that Vega's readers may have come to crave.
I'm so torn between loving this and feeling just "meh" about the whole thing. I don't know if it's because The Merciless was so daring, or because this storyline felt so unfinished and rushed. Everything felt like a horror movie shot with that shaky first person camera that we're starting to see everywhere. It's a good story at its core, but the delivery felt like it was trying too hard to get a reaction out of the reader and be wholly original. I know it's not fair to compare Vega's first book with this one, especially because the first one dealt with human depravity and religion (to a certain extent), but while The Merciless was shocking in its newness and devil-may-care attitude, Survive the Night felt like it was written just to shock and not to awe, if that makes any sense.
Okay, despite my rambling about the presentation of the storyline, I had fun while reading this. Was I expecting something that would give me nightmares? Perhaps, but as I keep saying, having expectations is the reader's greatest downfall. If you don't expect anything, then you won't be seeing a story in a certain light. For example, if you think you'll enjoy The Merciless, then read this one first, so you can be surprised and you can note the differences in writing style. Dammit, I'm ranting again.
Okay, let's try this again. The protagonist, Casey, is a girl who's just experienced a major life changing event. When given the chance to start over again, she finds herself repeating old patterns. Sure, it's a lot easier said than done, but her speedy departure from the right path, without any mental struggle, doesn't bode well for this character. Shortly after we are introduced to Casey, we meet her wild friends. I didn't like them at all. The way they were described just made me feel sad for them. I did like her ex and his best friend because they were the ones who kept the story going.
My dislike of Casey's friends did change, of course, when things went bloody during the rave. There were instances where I wanted to throttle some of the characters because of how frustrating they were and how their deaths could have been avoidable. Casey's character growth was predictable and at the end of the day, it felt like she was basically starting all over again, like the story went in a full circle (major life event, recuperation, rehabilitation, then major life event again.)
An example of the whole thing being avoidable is that the party is described as an event that is absolutely packed with people, yet no one notices a large group of kids wandering off. Also, the police conveniently appear and break up the party when Casey and her friends are not there, but then decide to leave almost immediately after. No officer stays behind in case some teenagers come out of the tunnels? No officer goes to check the tunnels to see if there's any illegal activities going on? I mean, it's not like people go off on their own during these wild parties to do anything particularly naughty (wink, wink). The coincidences in this book make the whole thing a little weaker because, sure, stories are based on the decisions a character or two or more makes, but how many coincidences (whether realistic or not) do you need to create in order to have the perfect setting for a blood bath?
Don't get me wrong, this book had its absolutely terrifying parts. I even tweeted about them and how I kept hearing noises in my house. For what it's worth, this was an effective horror story if the introduction hadn't felt so dry. I was so excited to read this, but the excitement came close to going away by the time I actually reached the good stuff, and even then, it was like watching a teen horror flick.
If you've read Vega's last book (and I WILL keep referring to it because I loved it so much), then you know that there's some weird sense of conclusion to it. There are some answers and you're left to do what you will with what you're given. The conclusion for this one was slightly disappointing and a bit confusing. Things aren't really explained and I know that it's sometimes okay to not explain things at the end of the novel, but it just felt a bit lacking. I wanted to know what was after these kids, how it got to where it was, and what the hell happened at the end. I want to know why what happened hadn't happened before and why it was happening now (coincidentally) to these particular characters. I want to know why this one party was so obviously flawed, for lack of a better term, compared to the others. And I want to know how that last bit even happened, especially when it hadn't happened before.
One final thought: Let's talk about the synopsis. It spoils too much and sets you up for a slightly different story (it of course alludes to a story that immediately begins with a horrifying scene). Here's my idea of how the synopsis should look like for this book:
While Casey's life changed completely a few months ago, she's ready to start anew with her friends and ex-boyfriend. But then, after she realizes that she's addicted to the kind of adrenaline one only gets from a near-death experience, she winds up at a late night rave in an abandoned subway station, which is admittedly not a very smart thing to do. Something lingers in the darkness, just beyond the candlelights and groping dancers. What Casey sees next will forever change her life.
My issue with the original synopsis is how hard it tries to be scary. I like to think that if you allude to something without explicitly telling the reader what's going to happen, then a reader is more likely to want to know more. Looking back on it now, I realize that Vega's first novel also has an over-described synopsis. When it comes to books that hint at horror and terror, I like to think that less is more. Sure, horror is all about the bloody, over-emphasized idea of a character getting killed, but that doesn't mean a synopsis needs to be so transparent.
Would I recommend this to other readers? Sure. Especially if you're into horror and shock-value. I will give Vega credit for writing entertaining young adult horror novels. Once past the slower introduction, the action really picks up fast. I couldn't put this down once the horror bits began because I needed to know what was going to happen next. I will most likely read Vega's next book because despite everything I've said, her writing is entertaining, especially for when you're home alone on a spooky night.
Happy reading!
Read
March 1, 2023Dnf @ 16%
September 23, 2015
Spoilers ahead!
2.5 stars just like her other book I read. This book sounded so freaking amazing when I first heard about it. Friends go to a underground rave and someone starts killing them off. Sounds perfect right? It was just for awhile. Until the "creature" appeared. What creature has fucking tentacels and claws big as kitchen knifes?? I seriously thought the creepy homeless guy was killing everyone. THAT would have been a better than a creature that Casey probably thought she saw because she was flying high on drugs.
I wish we knew what actually happened down in the tunnels. Who really knows? Everyone was so fucking high the whole time. I bet this didn't even happen. Casey is still in rehab and Shana snuck her in some drugs and she imagined the whole thing....
Danielle Vega please actually write a explained ending for your next book please.
2.5 stars just like her other book I read. This book sounded so freaking amazing when I first heard about it. Friends go to a underground rave and someone starts killing them off. Sounds perfect right? It was just for awhile. Until the "creature" appeared. What creature has fucking tentacels and claws big as kitchen knifes?? I seriously thought the creepy homeless guy was killing everyone. THAT would have been a better than a creature that Casey probably thought she saw because she was flying high on drugs.
I wish we knew what actually happened down in the tunnels. Who really knows? Everyone was so fucking high the whole time. I bet this didn't even happen. Casey is still in rehab and Shana snuck her in some drugs and she imagined the whole thing....
Danielle Vega please actually write a explained ending for your next book please.
March 28, 2018
...
WHAT
4/5 Almost entirely awarded for fun factor. This book was a quick, one-sitting read that I consumed like popcorn. Is it terrifying? No, but fans of the Merciless Series will be satisfied by the expected level of Danielle Vega gore. Did it have a deep underlying message about prescription drug addiction, peer pressure, and one's struggle to find autonomy? Perhaps if you were looking at it from exactly the right angle. More importantly, was it a good time? Undoubtedly so.
Lovers of B-movies and CW shows rejoice! Survive the Night was bizarre, unrealistic, and filled with beautiful teens in beautiful clothes experiencing strangely contrived problems. Featuring best friend rivalry, catty boy drama, and crawling down a manhole to go to a sketchy rave (all quintessential teen experiences), this book was a wild ride. I thoroughly enjoyed it for what it was (in the same way that one can enjoy Jason X... the movie where Jason literally goes to space). Although I will admit that the big killer reveal actually killed me
I recommend this book to readers with a) the free time to invest in such a cheese-fest and b) an understanding that "bad" characters may be written intentionally.
4/5 Almost entirely awarded for fun factor. This book was a quick, one-sitting read that I consumed like popcorn. Is it terrifying? No, but fans of the Merciless Series will be satisfied by the expected level of Danielle Vega gore. Did it have a deep underlying message about prescription drug addiction, peer pressure, and one's struggle to find autonomy? Perhaps if you were looking at it from exactly the right angle. More importantly, was it a good time? Undoubtedly so.
Lovers of B-movies and CW shows rejoice! Survive the Night was bizarre, unrealistic, and filled with beautiful teens in beautiful clothes experiencing strangely contrived problems. Featuring best friend rivalry, catty boy drama, and crawling down a manhole to go to a sketchy rave (all quintessential teen experiences), this book was a wild ride. I thoroughly enjoyed it for what it was (in the same way that one can enjoy Jason X... the movie where Jason literally goes to space). Although I will admit that the big killer reveal actually killed me
I recommend this book to readers with a) the free time to invest in such a cheese-fest and b) an understanding that "bad" characters may be written intentionally.
July 18, 2015
Danielle Vega has done it. She not only managed to scare the crap out of me, she also managed to tell a captivating story that kept me hooked from start to finish. Survive The Night seriously impressed me.
The whole book takes place over one night and I can’t tell you how much I love stories like that. Casey and her friends set out for a night of adventure and instead they get a night of terror. The Survive the Night rave takes place once a year in the abandoned subway tunnels beneath New York City. There have always been rumors that people are killed in the subway but nobody really takes those rumors seriously. That all changes when Casey stumbles upon the body of her friend Julie, gruesomely murdered by someone or something hidden in the subway tunnels. And, of course, instead of being able to leave the same way they entered the subway, their way is blocked and they must set off through the tunnels to find a way out before it’s too late.
To be completely honest, the characters weren’t the greatest but I didn’t care that much about that. Casey was the only one that I really ended up liking. She made some serious mistakes but she was trying to change things. She was easily led astray by people that she thought were her friends. Shana was bad news. She drugged Casey, she encouraged her bad habits, and she betrayed her every chance she got. I wanted her to get what was coming to her. Casey did not deserve how her supposed friend treated her. As for Aya and Julie, they cracked me up but they weren’t anything too special. Sam and Woody were the same way. Sam seemed like a sweetheart but he had some secrets and he hurt Casey too. He was just so judgmental. I didn’t like that about him.
The creep factor was definitely up there with this one, at least for me. I admit to being easily scared but books don’t usually have that capability. That was not the case with Survive the Night. There was a lot of gore but that wasn’t the only scare thing. I never knew what was going to happen from page to page. I didn’t have a clue who or what was coming for Casey and her friends. I was jumpy and biting my nails from start to finish.
Overall, Survive the Night was everything I hoped it would be. Danielle Vega’s sophomore novel is one that I will surely be recommending to all horror fans and anyone looking to give the genre a try.
The whole book takes place over one night and I can’t tell you how much I love stories like that. Casey and her friends set out for a night of adventure and instead they get a night of terror. The Survive the Night rave takes place once a year in the abandoned subway tunnels beneath New York City. There have always been rumors that people are killed in the subway but nobody really takes those rumors seriously. That all changes when Casey stumbles upon the body of her friend Julie, gruesomely murdered by someone or something hidden in the subway tunnels. And, of course, instead of being able to leave the same way they entered the subway, their way is blocked and they must set off through the tunnels to find a way out before it’s too late.
To be completely honest, the characters weren’t the greatest but I didn’t care that much about that. Casey was the only one that I really ended up liking. She made some serious mistakes but she was trying to change things. She was easily led astray by people that she thought were her friends. Shana was bad news. She drugged Casey, she encouraged her bad habits, and she betrayed her every chance she got. I wanted her to get what was coming to her. Casey did not deserve how her supposed friend treated her. As for Aya and Julie, they cracked me up but they weren’t anything too special. Sam and Woody were the same way. Sam seemed like a sweetheart but he had some secrets and he hurt Casey too. He was just so judgmental. I didn’t like that about him.
The creep factor was definitely up there with this one, at least for me. I admit to being easily scared but books don’t usually have that capability. That was not the case with Survive the Night. There was a lot of gore but that wasn’t the only scare thing. I never knew what was going to happen from page to page. I didn’t have a clue who or what was coming for Casey and her friends. I was jumpy and biting my nails from start to finish.
Overall, Survive the Night was everything I hoped it would be. Danielle Vega’s sophomore novel is one that I will surely be recommending to all horror fans and anyone looking to give the genre a try.
February 9, 2018
Honestly what the fuck was the point of any of that??
I'm so confused by what I just read... First of all, it took 140 pages for it to completely get passed the blurb so nothing was really surprising cause I knew it was going to happen. Next when things started happening after that it seemed so abrupt and random. I kept expecting some twist at the end to kind of explain what was happening, but there was nothing. Like the whole monster thing seemed so lame and not scary at all to me. The horror in general was either comical or boring. Also the ending was super confusing?? If I were to describe this book in one word it would be boring. The merciless was so much better than this one because at least the merciless was interesting. This book was trash and I do not recommend.
I'm so confused by what I just read... First of all, it took 140 pages for it to completely get passed the blurb so nothing was really surprising cause I knew it was going to happen. Next when things started happening after that it seemed so abrupt and random. I kept expecting some twist at the end to kind of explain what was happening, but there was nothing. Like the whole monster thing seemed so lame and not scary at all to me. The horror in general was either comical or boring. Also the ending was super confusing?? If I were to describe this book in one word it would be boring. The merciless was so much better than this one because at least the merciless was interesting. This book was trash and I do not recommend.
October 20, 2018
All but one of my GR friends has rated this book 3+ stars so I'm not sure why the average rating is so low. Don't let that number scare you away—this was actually a pretty damn good read. Okay, it might not win any awards or anything, but if you're in the mood for a creepy horror novel to finish in one sitting then this is a great one to pick. The characters actually had a decent background stories and lots of conflict amongst one another, and the setting was very spooky. It gave me flashbacks of running through the sewers in the first Silent Hill game and having to get up to turn the light on because I was so freaked out. I liked The Merciless more than this book, but this was a fun, quick standalone.
September 22, 2016
so I'm just gonna never sleep again. cool? cool.
July 14, 2015
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Warning: While this book is YA it does have more gore than you'd usually find. I personally don't have a problem with it and I actually loved it, but I know some people aren't cool with that so!
I was a huge fan of Vega's first book, The Merciless, the ending is still with me. So when I found out about Survive The Night I was extremely excited. Even though most horror books don't scare me, they're still my favourite genre and the fact that there's some being written by an amazing female writer makes me so happy. I knew going into this book to expect an open, unanswered ending and that''s what we got. What I wasn't expecting was what happened in between.
I thought this was going to be a whodunit slasher, but I was wrong. Very, very wrong. I don't know what this was. I'm still trying to process everything I read. It was very, very bizarre and that isn't a bad thing it's just not what I was expecting.
Casey, the main character, just got out of rehab for a painkiller addiction and is supposed to be at a sleepover for her soccer team. Instead she ditches that and heads out with some other friends of hers: Shana, Aya and Julie. They go to a club where Casey's ex-boyfriend's band is playing. Casey gets cornered by this guy who's advertising a rave. The girls decided to try and find it and bring along Casey's ex, Sam, and the singer of the band, Woody. Once they finally find the rave (which is in some kind of underground subway tunnels/sewer system) Shana drugs Casey (amazing best friend material right there!). This is when things take an interesting turn.
Casey is totally drugged out and she finds Julie's body. There's an extremely gory description. I was like "okay so this is when the mystery begins!" and I was already creating suspects in my mind. We overhear two girls talking about a homeless guy being a serial killer and the gang was lead here by a homeless guy who Casey also sees before she finds Julie, but I knew that was too obvious. My money was on Shana or the boyfriend. I was very, very, very wrong.
Casey tries to tell her friends about Julie, but her body is conveniently gone. Police come and break up the rave and of course the characters are stuck in some tunnels, this is when they all see Julie's body and Aya starts freaking out with her "we're all gonna die". When the group finds their way out of the tunnels their way out is blocked and they're stuck with a possible psychopath. This begins their journey of trying to escape and I pictured one of those shaky, camera-held horror movies that were really popular in the mid 2000s. The journey was pretty horrific. I mean I wouldn't like to have been in their position. I'm not claustrophobic, but Danielle Vega managed to describe the situation extremely well and I was starting to think I was stuck down there with everyone.
I'm waiting for the killer to strike again when Casey sees a giant tentacle.
Yeah.
A tentacle.
The rest of the group can see it too. This unknown creature is swimming in the water in the tunnels.
At this stage I'm starting to wonder if Casey's still drugged out and hallucinating and was actually the one killing everyone and justifying it to herself by creating this alien creature. I would have been happy if this was the case because I love psychological thrillers and even though I liked Casey and would have felt so bad for her it would have made an interesting story.
Apparently this wasn't the case though?
Aya is the next to be killed. The rest of the gang manage to find an exit, but Woody is killed before they reach it. There is actually a really touching moment here between Sam and Casey that almost made me tear up. Casey, Shana and Sam are making their way out up a ladder when the tentacle grabs Shana and drags her back down. So Casey and Sam are out and you think everything's going to be okay, but nope. Sam has this huge cut on his back that just keeps getting bigger. And he bleeds out in Casey's arms.
Casey wakes up in hospital and sees Shana standing over her - except it's not really Shana. It's this alien creature that was in the tunnels. It was extremely confusing and I"m still not sure what happened, but basically Casey kills the creature that everyone thinks was actually Shana. The official story is that Shana was on a real bad trip and killed everyone in the tunnels and then Casey killed her in self-defense. Also apparently all the bodies have disappeared? Even Sam's.
It ends were Casey talks about how she swears that she catches glimpses of her dead friends, but then realises it's not them. Or that's what she keeps telling herself, anyway.
So yeah, it was quite confusing and there were so many unanswered questions. We never really found out what the creature was or why it was there. There was no explanation as to how Shana was at the hospital when she never made it out of the tunnels. There was no answer about whether the creature was possessing people and stealing their bodies or whatever. I mean I love that this was nothing like I expected it to be, but at the same time I kind of wish it wasn't? Like, I think I would have enjoyed it way more if it was your typical teen slasher or even if Casey was the guilty one.
Some people may have found the beginning a bit slow, but I liked the backstory. Shana was a genuinely fucked up character who I actually felt sorry for. There was a moment were she was asking Casey if she thought she'd be able to get clean (she was also addicted to drugs) and Casey tells her yes, but her she really thinks no. Casey and Shana had a very toxic friendship, which is one of my favourite tropes in YA so that was a plus for me. Otherwise.... I don't know? Also, despite the slower beginning this was a really quick read which I absolutely LOVE because I have no attention span ever. So I think that contributes to my rating.
I'm giving this four stars, but it feels more like it should be three and a half. I really do love Danielle Vega though and I love what she's trying to do. I love that this is real horror and there's only a little bit of romance. I really love all the characters she creates. Like I mentioned there were just too many holes and I get horror is all about that, but it just feels like there was too many. Sometimes you can take trying to create the most bizarre and twisting story too far and I think that happened here. But yeah, it's definitely one of those books you need to experience for yourself because just like The Merciless it's going to stay with me for a very long time.
Warning: While this book is YA it does have more gore than you'd usually find. I personally don't have a problem with it and I actually loved it, but I know some people aren't cool with that so!
I was a huge fan of Vega's first book, The Merciless, the ending is still with me. So when I found out about Survive The Night I was extremely excited. Even though most horror books don't scare me, they're still my favourite genre and the fact that there's some being written by an amazing female writer makes me so happy. I knew going into this book to expect an open, unanswered ending and that''s what we got. What I wasn't expecting was what happened in between.
I thought this was going to be a whodunit slasher, but I was wrong. Very, very wrong. I don't know what this was. I'm still trying to process everything I read. It was very, very bizarre and that isn't a bad thing it's just not what I was expecting.
Casey, the main character, just got out of rehab for a painkiller addiction and is supposed to be at a sleepover for her soccer team. Instead she ditches that and heads out with some other friends of hers: Shana, Aya and Julie. They go to a club where Casey's ex-boyfriend's band is playing. Casey gets cornered by this guy who's advertising a rave. The girls decided to try and find it and bring along Casey's ex, Sam, and the singer of the band, Woody. Once they finally find the rave (which is in some kind of underground subway tunnels/sewer system) Shana drugs Casey (amazing best friend material right there!). This is when things take an interesting turn.
Casey is totally drugged out and she finds Julie's body. There's an extremely gory description. I was like "okay so this is when the mystery begins!" and I was already creating suspects in my mind. We overhear two girls talking about a homeless guy being a serial killer and the gang was lead here by a homeless guy who Casey also sees before she finds Julie, but I knew that was too obvious. My money was on Shana or the boyfriend. I was very, very, very wrong.
Casey tries to tell her friends about Julie, but her body is conveniently gone. Police come and break up the rave and of course the characters are stuck in some tunnels, this is when they all see Julie's body and Aya starts freaking out with her "we're all gonna die". When the group finds their way out of the tunnels their way out is blocked and they're stuck with a possible psychopath. This begins their journey of trying to escape and I pictured one of those shaky, camera-held horror movies that were really popular in the mid 2000s. The journey was pretty horrific. I mean I wouldn't like to have been in their position. I'm not claustrophobic, but Danielle Vega managed to describe the situation extremely well and I was starting to think I was stuck down there with everyone.
I'm waiting for the killer to strike again when Casey sees a giant tentacle.
Yeah.
A tentacle.
The rest of the group can see it too. This unknown creature is swimming in the water in the tunnels.
At this stage I'm starting to wonder if Casey's still drugged out and hallucinating and was actually the one killing everyone and justifying it to herself by creating this alien creature. I would have been happy if this was the case because I love psychological thrillers and even though I liked Casey and would have felt so bad for her it would have made an interesting story.
Apparently this wasn't the case though?
Aya is the next to be killed. The rest of the gang manage to find an exit, but Woody is killed before they reach it. There is actually a really touching moment here between Sam and Casey that almost made me tear up. Casey, Shana and Sam are making their way out up a ladder when the tentacle grabs Shana and drags her back down. So Casey and Sam are out and you think everything's going to be okay, but nope. Sam has this huge cut on his back that just keeps getting bigger. And he bleeds out in Casey's arms.
Casey wakes up in hospital and sees Shana standing over her - except it's not really Shana. It's this alien creature that was in the tunnels. It was extremely confusing and I"m still not sure what happened, but basically Casey kills the creature that everyone thinks was actually Shana. The official story is that Shana was on a real bad trip and killed everyone in the tunnels and then Casey killed her in self-defense. Also apparently all the bodies have disappeared? Even Sam's.
It ends were Casey talks about how she swears that she catches glimpses of her dead friends, but then realises it's not them. Or that's what she keeps telling herself, anyway.
So yeah, it was quite confusing and there were so many unanswered questions. We never really found out what the creature was or why it was there. There was no explanation as to how Shana was at the hospital when she never made it out of the tunnels. There was no answer about whether the creature was possessing people and stealing their bodies or whatever. I mean I love that this was nothing like I expected it to be, but at the same time I kind of wish it wasn't? Like, I think I would have enjoyed it way more if it was your typical teen slasher or even if Casey was the guilty one.
Some people may have found the beginning a bit slow, but I liked the backstory. Shana was a genuinely fucked up character who I actually felt sorry for. There was a moment were she was asking Casey if she thought she'd be able to get clean (she was also addicted to drugs) and Casey tells her yes, but her she really thinks no. Casey and Shana had a very toxic friendship, which is one of my favourite tropes in YA so that was a plus for me. Otherwise.... I don't know? Also, despite the slower beginning this was a really quick read which I absolutely LOVE because I have no attention span ever. So I think that contributes to my rating.
I'm giving this four stars, but it feels more like it should be three and a half. I really do love Danielle Vega though and I love what she's trying to do. I love that this is real horror and there's only a little bit of romance. I really love all the characters she creates. Like I mentioned there were just too many holes and I get horror is all about that, but it just feels like there was too many. Sometimes you can take trying to create the most bizarre and twisting story too far and I think that happened here. But yeah, it's definitely one of those books you need to experience for yourself because just like The Merciless it's going to stay with me for a very long time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 8, 2024
Thank you so much to Penguin Audio and Danielle Vega for my copy of this book. It was about Casey, a girl fresh from rehab who’s parents apparently let her go to an all night rave immediately. No worries, it’s just in the underground tunnels under the New York City subway. And it’s okay, she’s with her friends Shana, who essentially forced her to take drugs, and Julie, who is found murdered in the tunnels.
Thoughts: It wasn’t for me. The premise was ridiculous. The group was all drugged and irresponsible, and somehow locked in the sewers even though everyone else got out. There was something hunting them, but maybe not because they were hallucinating. There was some rehab backstory, but it wasn’t interesting or very relevant. The plot was very disjointed with random things thrown together and very slow. The monster made no sense and there wasn’t much sense of foreboding. I could go on, but I think I will just say it’s not for me at all. 1-star
Thoughts: It wasn’t for me. The premise was ridiculous. The group was all drugged and irresponsible, and somehow locked in the sewers even though everyone else got out. There was something hunting them, but maybe not because they were hallucinating. There was some rehab backstory, but it wasn’t interesting or very relevant. The plot was very disjointed with random things thrown together and very slow. The monster made no sense and there wasn’t much sense of foreboding. I could go on, but I think I will just say it’s not for me at all. 1-star
June 25, 2015
It is going to be hard to write this review without spoilers because honestly. HONESTLY, this book was absolutely terrible. Usually I'm all for a good YA book because usually they end up being pretty decent, if not a bit hokey. I feel like if you start a YA book you have to assume it's going to be a little hokey and that's OK. What isn't OK is when the story builds and it feels like the author has decided to say "oh to hell with it" and give up. And not just regular give up, like leave a bunch of loose ends, but to give you an ending so completely ridiculous you swear you've walked into a really lame horror movie.
And I say this as a huge fan of R.L. Stine, but this book came off like a really bad Goosebumps novel. R.L. Stine had more action in his books aimed at elementary and middle school kids than this. Yeah, that's right, a murderous "thing" with tentacles is NOT SCARY. It's not even good plot material. It just is not.
Now, I got hopeful when I started it because we have Casey, who was a typical all-American kid, who after a sports injury finds herself addicted to prescription pain medication. Mostly because she's found a loser friend, Shana, who is basically the friend we hope our children never, ever have. So Casey ends up in rehab, and during her first forays into the world post-rehab, she finds herself hanging out with Shana because Casey is basically oblivious to which friends are good and which ones are not. Anyways. So she's hanging out with her, along with a few others including her former boyfriend, Sam.
Somehow, they hear about this "Survive the Night" party, which is essentially a rave in the underground system of New York city where it's like sewers and abandoned train tunnels. So they go, like completely irresponsible children, and (dun, dun, dun) people start dying. At first I was sure this would turn out as Casey relapsing and it all being a really terrible drug induced hallucination (which would have been cheap, but in hindsight, far better than what it actually was) but no. It's not that, and that's not even a spoiler, so calm down.
What it ends up being is so incredibly stupid and awful that I won't even give it the dignity of a spoiler. I'll tell you one thing, if I had actually paid for this book I would have demanded a refund. Seriously. It was that terrible. Normally when I read a book and don't like it, I want to be able to suggest it to someone because surely someone else will love it, even if I didn't. The only group I think would love this are 15 year old girls who haven't read anything great. Just saying.
And I say this as a huge fan of R.L. Stine, but this book came off like a really bad Goosebumps novel. R.L. Stine had more action in his books aimed at elementary and middle school kids than this. Yeah, that's right, a murderous "thing" with tentacles is NOT SCARY. It's not even good plot material. It just is not.
Now, I got hopeful when I started it because we have Casey, who was a typical all-American kid, who after a sports injury finds herself addicted to prescription pain medication. Mostly because she's found a loser friend, Shana, who is basically the friend we hope our children never, ever have. So Casey ends up in rehab, and during her first forays into the world post-rehab, she finds herself hanging out with Shana because Casey is basically oblivious to which friends are good and which ones are not. Anyways. So she's hanging out with her, along with a few others including her former boyfriend, Sam.
Somehow, they hear about this "Survive the Night" party, which is essentially a rave in the underground system of New York city where it's like sewers and abandoned train tunnels. So they go, like completely irresponsible children, and (dun, dun, dun) people start dying. At first I was sure this would turn out as Casey relapsing and it all being a really terrible drug induced hallucination (which would have been cheap, but in hindsight, far better than what it actually was) but no. It's not that, and that's not even a spoiler, so calm down.
What it ends up being is so incredibly stupid and awful that I won't even give it the dignity of a spoiler. I'll tell you one thing, if I had actually paid for this book I would have demanded a refund. Seriously. It was that terrible. Normally when I read a book and don't like it, I want to be able to suggest it to someone because surely someone else will love it, even if I didn't. The only group I think would love this are 15 year old girls who haven't read anything great. Just saying.
August 27, 2017
I f*cked up bad with this book. Everyone knows that you don't read horror in the evening. You especially don't read horror at 1am in the morning, with your fidgety dog sleeping outside your door and the flashing light from your old phone blinking green. However, I f*cked it up and did just that.
The things that happened in this book were both ridiculous AND ridiculously terrifying. Everything was confusing. Some descriptions weren't elaborated on, and some descriptions were described in way too much detail for my night addled brain to be okay with. I didn't, still don't, understand quite what was happening in some parts. I don't want to spoil anything for you, so I'm going to be using key words: blue eyes, where are the claws, what is that on the back??? I stumbled through a quarter of this book extremely bewildered – I just couldn't picture the [insert non-spoilery description of bad guy] in my head.
The things that happened in this book were both ridiculous AND ridiculously terrifying. Everything was confusing. Some descriptions weren't elaborated on, and some descriptions were described in way too much detail for my night addled brain to be okay with. I didn't, still don't, understand quite what was happening in some parts. I don't want to spoil anything for you, so I'm going to be using key words: blue eyes, where are the claws, what is that on the back??? I stumbled through a quarter of this book extremely bewildered – I just couldn't picture the [insert non-spoilery description of bad guy] in my head.
October 24, 2015
another good horror book by Danielle!
again this book is pretty gruesome/gory so if thats not your thing Id avoid this book.
I really enjoyed this one, maybe a little more then The Merciless. It had a great build up leading up to the reveal of whats going bump in the dark of the sub way tunnels....
a lot of intense hold your breath scenes, gasps, and some interesting twists and turns along the way.
another perfect read for this time for year!
again this book is pretty gruesome/gory so if thats not your thing Id avoid this book.
I really enjoyed this one, maybe a little more then The Merciless. It had a great build up leading up to the reveal of whats going bump in the dark of the sub way tunnels....
a lot of intense hold your breath scenes, gasps, and some interesting twists and turns along the way.
another perfect read for this time for year!
July 20, 2015
UPDATE: THIS COVER IS GORGEOUS CANNOT WAIT TO HAVE IT ON DISPLAY IN MY BOOKSHELF!!!!!!
I CANNOT WAIT TO READ DANIELLE'S NEW BOOK! I FINISHED THE MERCILESS IN A DAY AND IF THIS IS AS GOOD AS THE MERCILESS IS, I NEED IT NOW.
I CANNOT WAIT TO READ DANIELLE'S NEW BOOK! I FINISHED THE MERCILESS IN A DAY AND IF THIS IS AS GOOD AS THE MERCILESS IS, I NEED IT NOW.
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