Asylum is a thrilling and creepy photo-novel perfect for fans of the New York Times bestseller Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.
For sixteen-year-old Dan Crawford, New Hampshire College Prep is more than a summer program—it’s a lifeline. An outcast at his high school, Dan is excited to finally make some friends in his last summer before college. But when he arrives at the program, Dan learns that his dorm for the summer used to be a sanatorium, more commonly known as an asylum. And not just any asylum—a last resort for the criminally insane.
As Dan and his new friends, Abby and Jordan, explore the hidden recesses of their creepy summer home, they soon discover it’s no coincidence that the three of them ended up here. Because the asylum holds the key to a terrifying past. And there are some secrets that refuse to stay buried.
Featuring found photos of unsettling history and real abandoned asylums and filled with chilling mystery and page-turning suspense, Madeleine Roux’s teen debut, Asylum, is a horror story that treads the line between genius and insanity.
This is a book that I decided to audio versus reading the physical copy. The reason for this is . . . well, I don’t care for the picture in text gimmick. I didn’t care for Miss Peregrine’s with that and Asylum has a similar deal (though not to the same extent). Don’t get me wrong, the pictures were creepy. I just don’t think the pictures are needed if the story itself is good.
And the story was decent. It had a beginning, middle, and end. It wasn’t an oh my god horrifying kind of horror, but it also wasn’t bad. It did make the gears turn and the shivers to go up the spine. The concept was good. Sure, I could handle more and wanted more in the horror factor, but for what it was, I liked it.
The ending did feel a bit off. It felt a bit like a Deus Ex Machina in style and a bit left field, but it wasn’t horrible. I did like the final conflict and was wanting more of it, though the book ended in a sort of cliffhanger.
I did recommend this to my sister and I would say to the person who likes Miss Peregrine’s because of the photographs, read this book. For the person who likes a little bit of creep to their reading time, read this book. It felt like a slightly older Goosebumps.
Final Rating: 3/5
Casia's Corner 