Book Review: "The Shuddering" by Ania Ahlborn

If there are any books I enjoy it is the fun sub-genre of horror which teaches you to pay attention to your own sense of hubris. It may be the very thing that gets you into difficulty. In this case, Ania Ahlborn also shows us an almost folk horror like atmosphere, something though set in the cold. I only had a few minor issues with the coherency of this novel and the long stretches of relationship drama which didn't really add much to the intensity of the horror. Be that as it may, the book was still a fun and enjoyable read and before you ask, yes I have read Brother - but unfortunately for all of us I did that on my one-year hiatus from this site some time ago.

Well, this novel starts with a strange story at the beginning. A man ventures out from his home where he lives with his wife and he goes into the snow and the forest. This man is an experienced axe man but before we can blink, he is confronted by monsters that shake the trees, they gang up on him and they begin to fight their way towards his home. His wife has no idea but in efforts to get them away from ever approaching her, he screams for them to stand up and fight. Only later realising that one has torn out his neck, he has a massive gaping wound missing. He bleeds out in the snow as the others surround him and tear at his limbs. His last thought is of his wife, twirling in her wedding dress.

Ania Ahlborn presents us with a story with no context, no backstory, just pure unbridled terror. She creates a terrifying atmosphere from the natural freezing temperatures and the snowy atmosphere where boots sink into the powdery ground beneath, stifling movement. When our main cast approach a rich father's cabin in the woods for a holiday of snowboarding - one last time before leaving behind their hometown - they are about to get far more than they bargained for. I genuinely loved the way this book opened up to us. But then again, I still have a few issues...

One of my main issues is that part way through the book there is simply too much family and relationship drama. This all seems a bit shoehorned in and takes us away from the story a little. I would have rather enjoyed reading more about those monsters that stalk the woods at night and where people think they came from or if there's any theories about them. I found myself growing bored of the constant love-island-esque arguments about who's dating and who's not. I didn't really have much of a hook-character but I thought it would still work out due to how much I was loving the atmosphere and the horror.

When it comes to those side stories where people we have never met get attacked by these monsters, I found myself far more interested in what they were going to do and where they were going. As I write this, I'm still going over the ending to the book in my head because I feel like a bunch of young adults trying to fight these things is a bit of a cliché. I would again, have liked it more if there were more of these side stories of unknown and fleeting characters making their way to the snowy mountains and not just for snowboarding (I mean if rich people own cabins there, there must be more to do than simply winter sports).

All in all, it was still a fun read. I love books set in snowy mountain regions where unknown monsters hide and lurk, sneaking up on prey. The author could have leaned into the urban legend about the monsters a bit more because there really isn't much apart from the gore and horror. Otherwise, the book was fun and light and felt like a teenage-slasher movie. If you're looking to read a shorter and lighter horror that doesn't have too much intensity and really is just raw horror then this is probably for you. Though, I cannot decide whether it was for me...