Happy Samhain everyone! In the spirit of the creepy crawley season (and honestly, I’m totally rocking my Alice in Wonderland dress and ADSOM-inspired top hat right now), I decided to get out of the woodwork (once again) to do a Halloween-y top ten list!
Alright, maybe it’s not so much a top ten but a “list of books that were kind of creepy to Mari because she’s technically a wuss when it comes to the horror genre.”
But it’s a list! A LIST!
Ten Creepy Books that are Creepy
Tunnel of Bones by Victoria Schwab – I will say right now that children’s books tend to scare me a bit more than adult books do. There’s something about children ghosts and the way the child’s narrative mind goes above and beyond. Or maybe it’s just Schwab being, well, Schwab and everything she does is almost perfect.
The Diviners by Libba Bray – I really need to get back to this series at some point! The first book was really creepy, and the antagonist was full of HELLA NOPE.
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake – Honestly, this isn’t as creepy as it was meant to be, but there were parts in the book that made me anxious. That said, I probably won’t pick up the next books because, to be honest, I liked how the book ended. Even if it was a cliffhanger (GASP! SURPRISE!)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman – You’d think Coraline would be scarier, considering the whole deal with the Other Mother and button eyes. But honestly, I was more creeped out by this book. I think it might also have had to do with the fact that I read Ocean at night, and almost in the cover of dark, which DID NOT HELP.
Shifting Shadows by Patricia Briggs – Alright, so NOT technically creepy, unless you count certain stories that dealt with ghosts and powerful and scary-ass witches. Okay, so maybe some of the stories gave me the shivers.
Uprooted by Naomi Novik – Not exactly the type of story that would make you jump with scare. It’s not even very scary, but at the same time, Novik managed to make the WOODS a terrifying place to be. Seriously, I refused to go near trees for some time after reading this book. (I loved this book to bits, though, not gonna lie.)
The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson – Another series I should get back to at some point! This was creepy because the murders are very Jack the Ripper-esque. The fact that it takes place in London and deals with the supernatural adds to the creepiness factor.
Asylum by Madeleine Roux – There are several things that I NOPE OUT OF REAL QUICKLY, and one of them’s asylums. Lawd, my playthrough of Until Dawn was pretty damn good, and I only sometimes flinch at the dollhouse and jump-scare scenes. But hooooly hell, the minute the story takes me to the asylum? I’m whimpering like a baby. Roux’s book wasn’t as bad as I thought, but it was still pretty scary because of the setting.
The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco – I’VE WATCHED THE GRUDGE AND I CANNOT UNSEE THAT. So going into The Girl from the Well with a Grudge mindset was just…yeah, I’m traumatized now.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson – A short story but a definite classic to things that are creepy! I love this idea of duality, and this takes me back to the random fanfiction I’ve written with this theme in mind. In any case, I really like how Stevenson’s story is a dark tale of two halves and knowing that there’s a monster inside all of us still resonates to this day.
Story and Somnomancy 