Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Bent Heavens” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Bent Heavens

Daniel Kraus (Goodreads Author)

3.42 · Rating details · 762 ratings · 267 reviews

Liv Fleming's father went missing more than two years ago, not long after he claimed to have been abducted by aliens. Liv has long accepted that he's dead, though that doesn't mean she has given up their traditions. Every Sunday, she and her lifelong friend Doug Monk trudge through the woods to check the traps Lee left behind, traps he set to catch the aliens he so despera ...more

Get A Copy

Hardcover, 291 pages

Published February 25th 2020 by Henry Holt & Company

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Bent Heavens, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Little Creeping Things by Chelsea Ichaso

2020 YA Mysteries and Thrillers

78 books — 88 voters

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

Quidditch Through the Ages by Kennilworthy Whisp

Greenest Books Ever

1,894 books — 579 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 3.42 ·

Rating details

· 762 ratings · 267 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Bent Heavens

Jun 10, 2020 Gabby rated it did not like it

Shelves: disappointed, dnf, sci-fi, own, 1-star-books, just-no, horror, young-adult, annoying-characters, lost-interest

Yeah, it's gonna be a hard pass for me.

Here's the vlog where I read this book: https://youtu.be/O_5X4UhwaOY ...more

flag 45 likes · Like · see review

Jan 23, 2020 ✨Brithanie Faith✨ rated it really liked it

4/5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I, too feel as though I've been abducted by aliens after reading this novel. I'm still not entirely sure what I just read, but it was pretty great nonetheless!

If you're looking to dip your toe into young adult sci-fi/horror then this might be the book for you! The horror aspects of this were pretty mild, but at times it was definitely unsettling.

Aliens- and conspiracies- and inner conflict aside, Bent Heavens also t ...more

flag 20 likes · Like · see review

Oct 28, 2019 Crowinator rated it it was amazing

Shelves: genre-science-fiction, genre-horror, ya, arcs, booklist-review, other-monsters, 2019-reads, everything-is-turning-out-so-dark, memorably-scary-or-disturbing, psychological-thrillers

"She widened her eyes as much as she could and took it all in, because she’d seen worse, participated in worse, was worse.”

I'm amending my star rating from 4 to 5 stars because I just cannot stop thinking about this book.
...more

flag 19 likes · Like · see review

Feb 22, 2020 Mogsy (MMOGC) rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, arcs-and-galleys, netgalley, review-copy, young-adult, horror

4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2020/03/01/...

For so long, I’ve been on the lookout for a YA horror that truly terrifies me, and I think I’ve found it. That’s not to say author Daniel Kraus doesn’t make a few plays toward YA traditions in Bent Heavens, but after reading it, I certainly feel as though I’ve been through a hellish, insanity-inducing nightmare and barely made it back with my mind intact.

Our story stars Liv Fleming, whose father Lee went missing more than 4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2020/03/01/...

For so long, I’ve been on the lookout for a YA horror that truly terrifies me, and I think I’ve found it. That’s not to say author Daniel Kraus doesn’t make a few plays toward YA traditions in Bent Heavens, but after reading it, I certainly feel as though I’ve been through a hellish, insanity-inducing nightmare and barely made it back with my mind intact.

Our story stars Liv Fleming, whose father Lee went missing more than two years ago, shortly after he started becoming mentally unstable and claiming that he had been a victim of alien abduction. The resulting paranoia had led Lee to take his daughter and her childhood friend Doug out into the woods to set traps for the aliens, which never ended up snaring anything more interesting than the odd squirrel. Still, even with her dad gone now, Liv continues to go out with Doug to the woods each day to check on the traps, partly out of tradition and partly out of hope. Even though what Lee had claimed about his abduction seemed impossible, neither do the teens want to believe that the man, whom they had both loved and respected, had been completely out of his head.

But then one day, just when Liv was about to give up hope and take down the traps once and for all, she and Doug find a strange, monstrous-looking creature caught in one of them. With shock and horror, they realize Lee had been right, which now puts his disappearance in a whole new light. Desperate to find out what had become to her father, Liv reluctantly goes along with Doug’s plan to keep the alien a secret while they figure out how to communicate with it and force it reveal Lee’s whereabouts.

Much of this occurs in the first half of the book, where the content remains quite tame. It’s what happens later on—as the story descends into dark, uncomfortable and disturbing territory—that makes Bent Heavens such a chilling, skin-crawling read. The beauty in it, too, is that there is not just a single dimension to this terror. It’s difficult to describe without giving away too much of the plot, but I will say the reason why I thought this novel was so effective is because of the combination of graphic detail and an atmosphere of unease. Kraus doesn’t pull any punches, and many of the ideas in here are meant to make you squirm, or like you’ve just taken a sucker punch to the gut. One-part body horror, one-part psychological thriller, this novel is designed to explore the darkness of human nature and the lengths we go to justify certain choices.

Bent Heavens is a “mature” YA horror in that sense, one I would hesitate to recommend to everyone, let alone every teen, because there are moments that get too “real” for comfort despite the story’s speculative fiction undertones. So be aware, this book is not for the faint of heart, and if you do not want to read about themes related to pain, cruelty and torture, I would stay far away.

Personally speaking, though, the darkness was what I loved about this book, the bold way it was written, knowing the complex emotions it would stir up and not caring. In fact, in some ways I wish this had been a purely adult novel, so we could have dispensed with certain YA conventions such as the exaggerated, high-school-style affectations in the dialogue or over-embellished prose. Liv herself is pumped full of adolescent angst, and she’s also involved in a lot of petty school-related drama that ultimately served little purpose. Furthermore, there was a pitiful attempt to shoehorn in a romance when the story really didn’t need one. Bruno’s presence seemed entirely unnecessary, and by the end of the book you realize he was just there as a tool to further plot development. Worse was how underdeveloped his character was, and rarely do Liv’s thoughts of him go beyond ogling his good looks. There’s meaningful diversity and then there’s token representation, and unfortunately, Bruno’s shallow portrayal makes it feel like the latter.

That said, the overall storyline was solid and tightly paced, even with the aforementioned diversions and the needless hanky-panky with Bruno, because in the greater scheme of things, any flaws were just minor distractions. On the whole, Kraus did a phenomenal job tracing Liv’s evolution of thought, which serves as a reflection on the darker side of human psychology. Because of this, none of the main characters are going to feel all that sympathetic, but likely this is by design. And finally, there’s the ending, which admittedly had a twist that I saw coming, yet it was still so nauseatingly and viscerally awful and devastating that I think the intended emotional impact was still felt.

So yes, Bent Heavens is a book that will stay with me for a long time. I would recommend it—but with caveats. You’ll probably need to be in a certain frame of mind to read and appreciate it, but if a truly unsettling horror is what you’re looking for and the novel’s description piques your interest, I would give it a try. ...more

flag 20 likes · Like · see review

May 13, 2020 Sam rated it liked it

Ugh. I went in expecting a very different story than what I got (difficult to elaborate without spoiling things) but I think the message of the book is very important. Instead of a sci-fi adventure story this is more of an exploration of violence and what makes people human. What really motivates people to inflict pain? Who deserves dignity and why? Very thought-provoking, graphic, and odd.

flag 19 likes · Like · see review

Feb 18, 2020 Tracy Robinson rated it it was amazing

YES!!! What a great read.

Family. Sacrifice. Suffering. Conspiracy. All of these things craft the main threads throughout Bent Heavens. This book was my first experience reading Kraus’ work. Prior to this I had only watched The Shape of Water, a collaboration with Guillermo del Toro that was also released as a novel. I even have two more Kraus books waiting in the wings, and after reading this one, I will be digging in sooner rather than later.

As the synopsis notes, we follow the MC, Liv, as she YES!!! What a great read.

Family. Sacrifice. Suffering. Conspiracy. All of these things craft the main threads throughout Bent Heavens. This book was my first experience reading Kraus’ work. Prior to this I had only watched The Shape of Water, a collaboration with Guillermo del Toro that was also released as a novel. I even have two more Kraus books waiting in the wings, and after reading this one, I will be digging in sooner rather than later.

As the synopsis notes, we follow the MC, Liv, as she traverses a personal and public hellscape that would challenge even the toughest adult. I just love her. She is flawed and a mess and beautiful all at once. I work with teenagers on a daily basis and Kraus just really nails the high school environment and pressures. All from the perspective of a female. It’s impressive.

I’m a fairly fast reader. Some of that is due to just who I am and some is due to necessity. I, like so many of us, have a busy, crazy life full of lots of things that demand my attention. All of which takes away time from reading a book. This book is one that even when I was away from it (against my will), I thought of it. I needed to know what happened. Two days ago, I finished this while sitting in the grocery store parking lot. I needed to read the last 50 pages and everything else could wait. Even food.

I see many readers who don’t normally read or enjoy YA (hey – I don’t read much YA at all) mentioning they’d like to expand out a bit. This book may have a teenage protagonist and some teenage issues, but this is very much an adult fiction book. Emotional and physical trauma exist within these pages in a tug-of-war that left me reeling. It’s because I was so invested in the characters that I found myself flipping these pages, desperate to know what would happen. This book made me laugh, cringe, and cry: that’s a winner for me.

TLDR? A relatively small cast of characters, in a small, nowhere Iowan city, experience otherworldly and very real traumatic experiences throughout the book. A blistering pace combined with conspiracy, revenge, love, and heartbreak combine to create a binge-worthy read for readers of YA and adult horror/sci-fi fiction. Add this one to your TBR – I need to discuss! ...more

flag 15 likes · Like · see review

Feb 02, 2019 Kelly added it

Shelves: ya-fiction, read-in-2019

This is going to blow a lot of readers' brains. It is part alien story, part story about conspiracy theories, part story about the power of the media, part story about growing up without much in rural Iowa, and part story about family. It's by turns heartening and heartbreaking, and it's a story featuring a main character who is unlikable and angry and violent...and also one full of compassion, discovering a moral compass, and wrestling with unbelievable grief and frustration, taking it out thro ...more

flag 14 likes · Like · see review

Feb 25, 2020 OutlawPoet rated it liked it

I don't know how much I can emphasize that, despite the ages of the characters, despite the parent trouble and the bully trouble and the general teen angst, this book is not YA.

It's brutal, dark, and depressing.

I also need to tell you that it's not E.T. Remember E.T.? Find the ugly/cute big-eyed alien, have compassion, try to save it?

Nope.

I'm not going to spoil it for you. I'll just say that, in this case, E.T. should have stayed home.

It's a well written book and the author clearly didn't even t ...more

flag 13 likes · Like · see review

Dec 21, 2019 Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) rated it liked it

Shelves: review-copy, science-fiction

3.0 Stars
The premise of this novel was so incredibly intriguing that I had to check out this novel for myself. However, the synopsis was almost bit misleading because I did not get the story that I expected. It’s hard to say more without giving away spoilers, but I know that this book is going to be divisive among readers.

In many ways the story reminded me of the author’s previous work, The Shape of Water. I liked that one, but I did not love it. I feel similar about Bent Heavens. The writing w ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Feb 26, 2020 Stacee rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley, title-in-the-story, read-in-2020

Well, this is something I probably wouldn’t have looked at if I didn’t get the email from the publisher. It’s being marketed as YA and I’m not sure how because it’s quite graphic.

I liked Liv. She’s struggling with grief and doesn’t quite know how to deal with it, so she’s lashing out and pretty much being a dick. Her relationship with Doug is interesting and I feel like a lot of that is what kept me reading. There are a few other characters, but this story is 100% focused on Liv.

Plot wise, it ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Feb 25, 2020 Tracy (The Pages In-Between) rated it liked it

My Review- Thank you Henry Holt Books For Young Readers for gifting me an E-ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I rate this book 3.5 out of 5 Stars. It is out today to buy at your favorite retailers!

I was so excited to see something new and fresh in the YA world! I love Alien stories, and I really enjoyed this one. Don’t let the fact that this is YA fool you though. It is pretty damn intense, and dark. I am not an avid horror reader, but this was the perfect ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Feb 13, 2020 Kelsea added it

Shelves: reviewed, to-send-links, arc, genre-ya-horror

WHOA. That. Was. INTENSE.

I've read one Daniel Kraus book before, The Shape of Water, so I had some hint of what I'd be in for. I thought it would be interesting to see what his YA is like. I buddy read with a friend who ended up DNF-ing the book because of all the body horror, and I completely understand that choice. I also find it unpleasant reading those parts and have stopped reading other books for similar reasons. If you're really averse to disgusting and physically horrific scenes, you may ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Sep 12, 2020 Clare Carter rated it it was ok

Shelves: these-books-aint-it

*2.5 stars*

Daniel Kraus books are weird and crazy and that's usually why I enjoy them, but this was not it. If you want the best from Daniel Kraus imo pick up Zebulon Finch or Scowler because this was just??? Not?? what I wanted??

This book focuses a lot on torture and while the author's note makes it clear why Daniel Kraus wrote about it, it was just really uncomfy to read. I didn't like that. Also, the characters' relationships didn't feel nearly as real as, say--Zeb and the that soldier guy in *2.5 stars*

Daniel Kraus books are weird and crazy and that's usually why I enjoy them, but this was not it. If you want the best from Daniel Kraus imo pick up Zebulon Finch or Scowler because this was just??? Not?? what I wanted??

This book focuses a lot on torture and while the author's note makes it clear why Daniel Kraus wrote about it, it was just really uncomfy to read. I didn't like that. Also, the characters' relationships didn't feel nearly as real as, say--Zeb and the that soldier guy in Zebulon, or even Zeb and the Dr. Like, Liv has this whole love interest that was in the book for 4 minutes and he had this whole thing at the end but it just felt stupid and cringy because I didn't feel their romance. Also, Liv and her best friend Doug are the main characters, but their relationship and Liv's motivations were SO WEIRD. Half of the time Liv LOVED Doug to a weird degree--there would be sentences like "how did the world make such a brave person like Doug?" (not kidding that's basically verbatim), but then there would be times where she wanted nothing to do with him?? Liv would flip-flop from wanting to torture this alien to wanting to help it to wanting to torture it to help it to KILL IT?? It made zero sense I had no idea what she was doing man.

There's a big plot twist 3/4ths of the way through the book that I really wished was developed more because instead of feeling shocking, it just felt stupid. I guessed part of it and was like "nooooo that can't be it" and it was and I was eye-rolling hard. If the world was built more around the plot-twist I think I would have liked it a lot more, but because it didn't make sense I just questioned the validity of it, ya know?

This book isn't horrible--I just think Daniel Kraus can and has done better. I think for this story to have worked, this book needed to be way longer. For real, like as least as long as a Zeb book. We needed to DIVE into Liv's relationship with her dad, her relationship with Doug, her relationship with Bruno (her love interest). We needed to DIVE into this plot-twist. Instead it all just felt very surface level.

I'm disappointed :( ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Sep 26, 2020 Kristy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: library-books

Well that was incredibly heartbreaking.

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Jul 30, 2020 Stay Fetters rated it liked it

"It stirred awake Liv’s practical side, not quite soppy with wine, damp and sullen in the knowledge that outer space wasn’t heaven. If anything, it was hell."

My first ever experience with aliens was from watching The X-Files. Mulder and Scully investigated some strange happenings and made believers out of all of us. They also brought my mind into the world of conspiracy theories. Some things in life are too farfetched to believe and that’s where these theories manifested. "I want to believe!"

Ben ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Feb 16, 2020 Carolyn rated it really liked it

Liv Fleming’s father went missing two years ago, after claiming to have been abducted by aliens. What Liv does and becomes because of this made this book so hard to read, mainly because of the brutality but it’s also filled with grief, love, belonging and not belonging, hope and hopelessness. At times I had to take a break from this book. Surprising twists and turns near the end kept me from putting this book down. I’ll be thinking about this for a long time. So, I’m still thinking about Liv’s s ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

May 10, 2020 Jenna rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio-o

3.75 rounded up. This was so much darker than I expected. When I started to realize where it was going I hoped I was wrong. When my premonition was proven correct in the most horrible way my stomach hurt from the horror of it. This is a brutally sad story. Humans are always the most savage in the end.

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Apr 26, 2020 Claude's Bookzone rated it liked it

Shelves: body-horror, content-warning-see-text, really-weird, young-adult-book, mental-health, mystery, horror, disturbing, twisted, dafuq-did-i-just-read

CW: (view spoiler)

Well that was a lot like being in a theme park. First you are sitting peacefully on the boring log flume and then suddenly you are in the House of Horrors with a machete wielding Jason (or Doug) jumping out at you, then you arrive at the ridiculous House of Crazy Mirrors and don’t know what’s real or not, then you head home feeling a little nauseous after all the crap you have ingested over the course of th ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Mar 06, 2020 Tammy rated it liked it

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.The nitty-gritty: A bloody, scary good time, skillfully written and paced, Bent Heavens kept me flipping pages, even though I had some issues with a few elements.

I’ve seen some fantastic reviews for Bent Heavens, and so I went into it with high hopes, knowing this was a thriller/horror story revolving around aliens. And without spoiling things ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jul 27, 2019 Josh rated it really liked it

This book messed with me. I won an advanced reader at an event the Greene County Library hosted with Daniel Kraus and as Kraus said, it’s a mix of ET and torture. The writing throughout is great and at times disturbing. The descriptions of certain characters is cringe inducing and disgusting. If you’re up for a little teen and torture, give this one a try.

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Feb 03, 2020 Kathy rated it really liked it

Shelves: got-under-my-skin, young-adult, thriller, horror, winter-2019-to-2020, contemporary, heart-wrencher, grimdark, psychological-themes, aliens

[Content Warning: Depictions of physical torture, mutilation, (view spoiler)

Okay, listen.

This isn't a nice book.

In fact, it's a pretty damn depressing book.

It's a book that roams the dark and shadowy place that Mufasa warns about. Nothing good can come of chasing it but death and singing hyenas.

Which is why I'm here, on my knees, asking you to ~~chase~~ read it.

Contradiction, thy name is Bent Heavens.

This is my third Daniel Kraus read (well, two an ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

May 22, 2020 Tony rated it it was amazing

The disappearance of a parent lead to a heart-breaking chain
of events in convincing genre-bending YA horror thriller

Although Daniel Kraus’s forthcoming collaboration with zombie godfather George A Romero The Living Dead will undoubtedly pick up the headlines in the horror world, I would suggest also checking out the excellent Bent Heavens. Kraus has a superb back-catalogue of dark/horror YA fiction, including the highly recommended Rotters, and this latest release maintains his high standard. Su The disappearance of a parent lead to a heart-breaking chain
of events in convincing genre-bending YA horror thriller

Although Daniel Kraus’s forthcoming collaboration with zombie godfather George A Romero The Living Dead will undoubtedly pick up the headlines in the horror world, I would suggest also checking out the excellent Bent Heavens. Kraus has a superb back-catalogue of dark/horror YA fiction, including the highly recommended Rotters, and this latest release maintains his high standard. Surprisingly, in the UK he remains a relatively unknown quantity and Bent Heavens merits a proper release on this side of the pond.

Eighteen-year-old Liv Fleming leads this genre-bending thriller which dances around horror, science fiction in a very convincing, Ohio, small-town setting. Teenage readers will easily tap into the troubled psyche and angst of a girl whose world was turned upside down when her father disappeared two years earlier. Her pain and grief from the lack of closure radiates from the page. She believes him to be dead, but a tiny part of her suspects he is still alive somewhere and has never given up hope, taking solace by competing for the school’s track team and remaining emotionally distant and detached from her friends.

It is the circumstances of the disappearance of her father which makes this story fascinating with the occasional flashback thrown in. Lee Fleming was a very popular English teacher at the school Liv attended and before he disappeared indefinitely, vanished for a much shorter period before reappearing, naked, on the school campus. He was not the same man and was deeply psychologically traumatised claiming to have been abducted by aliens, or at least having vague memories of being experimented upon. Officially, it was presumed he suffered some sort of breakdown and the family struggled to cope with the emotional fallout.

After his initial naked reappearance Lee Fleming directed, as he did every year, the school’s annual musical and reimagines “Oliver!” in a way which hints at aliens, abductions and other crazy stuff which lead to the show being halted in embarrassment. Early in the story Liv finds out the school will be staging a new version of “Oliver!” and is deeply upset by the insensitivity as the wounds are still very raw. This kicks off a chain of events which lead to her getting into trouble at school, which are not helped by the fact her mother is failing to cope at home.

The relationship between Liv and her absent father and the sense of loss she feels lie at the heart of Bent Heavens and plays a major part in this convincing emotional drama. She is conflicted, confused, and struggling to cope within a realistic high school setting. Daniel Kraus does not ram usual high school tropes down our throats and the changes are subtle as Liv begins to pull away from her track group friends. She was an engaging central character and some of the scenes, such as when she loses control with the drama teacher were superb and any teen reader will surely connect with her pain.

I do not know whether Daniel Kraus has come across the Iain Banks Scottish cult classic The Wasp Factory as Bent Heavens shares some of its vibe. Once Lee Fleming returns after his first disappearance, he becomes obsessed with aliens and constructs a series of six very dangerous traps in the woodland surrounding his house and names them; Amputator, Hangman’s Noose, Crusher, Neckbreaker, Abyss and Hard Passage. If you have ever read The Wasp Factory the traps might ring some bells and soon the creations catch something significantly larger than a squirrel.

In other articles Ginger Nuts commentaries, I have lamented the lack of male lead characters in current YA fiction and Bent Heavens is yet another example of the boys being kicked into touch. I found this very disappointing at Doug Monk was a fascinating, tragic, and ultimately underused character. This troubled teenager was the same age as Liv and was taken under the wing of Lee, who Doug hero worshipped. Touchingly, even two years after the disappearance Doug still maintained and checked the dangerous alien catching traps created by Lee. The dynamics between the two teenagers was great, but I would have liked to have seen more of the boy who suffered the loss of Lee as much as Liv. It was also touching that Liv also continued to watch out for Doug at school and, ultimately, he was a very sad and broken character and their relationship could have been explored further.

I found Ben Heavens to be a great read and it has enough strings in its bow to attract differing types of teen readers with its convincing blend of horror, drama, and thriller. In the end the story did not go where many readers might expect it to and is backed up a killer twist (although I saw it coming) which was also rather heart-breaking. I will be interested in finding out whether genuine teen readers figure it out. Reading it from an adult’s point of view, Liv probably solved the ‘mystery’ too easily, but YA audience should be happy with how things conclude.

Ultimately, even though Liv might not have been the most sympathetic of characters, her pain and grief were convincingly portrayed in a powerful novel about the lengths people will go to know the truth. Even if the answers are going to provide more pain, there is at least closure. I have this book in my school library and look forward to recommending it to kids aged around thirteen or older.

4.5/5
...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Sep 19, 2020 Caroline rated it liked it

A disappointing read. I have really enjoyed Kraus’ previous novels - Scowler and Zebulon Finch especially. They were original, intriguing and detailed. This felt underwritten in comparison, maybe even rushed. The story was basic and barely there and the characters underdeveloped. I really didn’t like the main character, Liv. She was rude, whiny and often pathetic. Most characters acted irrationally and did things I thought normal people would not do in the same situation.

The ending redeemed it ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Apr 11, 2020 Tracy (Cornerfolds) rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-2020, ya, scifi, horror

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jun 22, 2020 BunTheDestroyer rated it it was amazing

OH MY GOOOOODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 14, 2021 Howard rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, audiobooks, science-fiction

4 Stars for Bent Heavens (audiobook) by Daniel Kraus read by Amara Jasper. This story was dark and twisted. It really went in directions that I wasn’t expecting. The narration was good too.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Mar 01, 2020 Albert Riehle rated it it was ok

Clunk.

That's the sound of of me being let down again. Daniel Kraus got off to an amazing start with his book Monster Variations and since then, every book of his I've read has been less than stellar. This one, in particular, was a clunker.

The plot was a clunker because you can see where it's going the whole way. I don't accept "but it's a YA book" as an excuse. YA does not equal stupid. Once the "Crossing the Threshold" portion of this book takes place, I think it's obvious to every reader, wh Clunk.

That's the sound of of me being let down again. Daniel Kraus got off to an amazing start with his book Monster Variations and since then, every book of his I've read has been less than stellar. This one, in particular, was a clunker.

The plot was a clunker because you can see where it's going the whole way. I don't accept "but it's a YA book" as an excuse. YA does not equal stupid. Once the "Crossing the Threshold" portion of this book takes place, I think it's obvious to every reader, what should have been at very least a consideration of it's main characters, but it isn't obvious to them and the do all kinds of dumb things because of it.

You don't have to read past the book jacket cover to know that this book is going to involve some aliens and supernatural elements. I had no problem suspending my disbelief for those parts. The disconnect with this book wasn't the unbelievable aspects; it's with the actions, choices and unbelievable human beings in the book.

Simply put, once they find "it," the protagonist and her sidekick have unbelievable and unrealistic reactions. If you know a teen who upon finding what they believe to be an extra terrestrial caught in a trap they've set, that they'd do anything but put it on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat and try to go viral and become famous, I'll eat my shoe. But that never even occurs to either character in this book.

Liv, the protagonist, is turned into a damsel in distress and is bullied into doing terrible things by a boy who she doesn't even really like--a boy she pities. But add a little pressure to her life and she needs this big strong boy to do all the dirty work and make all the decisions and gets talked into doing cruel, abusive and terrible things. There reason given for it is thin at best. And like some kind of mindless bimbo she just keeps going along with it. It's terrible.

It's the humans in this book who are unrealistic. It's the people and their reactions that are inhuman. Kraus tries to play with the grand literary theme of Man's Inhumanity Toward Man but he fails to bring anything of substance to it. He certainly doesn't bring anything new or interesting. He definitely doesn't give us anything more than the weakest of background or psychology involved in it. In the Author's Note at the very end we, at least, get an understanding of what Kraus wanted to do. This is a book/story that was motivated by the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on the CIA's Torture Program that used "enhanced" interrogation techniques. I don't have any problems there. I don't mind a writer who has a political motivation--in fact, I admire a writer who has something to say, along with telling a good story. But this is just terrible. The parallels are weak. The cause of these actions aren't given a strong enough reason. And again, the characters, who are clearly supposed to fall into the kind of hive-mind mentality of mutual enabling that allows this kind of torture to take place, don't do so in anything nearing a convincing way.

I can't possibly recommend this book. It's out of touch. It draws the female protagonist as a helpless victim. The YA audience understands what it means to be cruelly tortured. They understand how easy it is to fall in line with an alpha doing terrible things to someone and ganging up on that person. This is a theme that is perfect for the YA audience--the problem is that I don't think Kraus understands his audience. I think he's writing the YA audience of himself at that age. And it's a different time.

Skip this one. I can't possibly recommend it. It fails on every single level. ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Feb 26, 2020 Shannon (It Starts At Midnight) rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2020, read-for-review, february-2020

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight

3.5*

This is such a wonderfully bizarre book. Dark at times, and absolutely strange, it will leave you stunned in the best of ways. So let's chat about what was great and what was less so!

The Good:

• This is absolutely unlike anything else I have read. The unique genre mashup just works, somehow, even though I'll fully admit that I was skeptical.

• The ending is perfect. You kno ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Mar 18, 2020 Melissa Jacobson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: action, drool-worthy-cover, five-stars, stand-alone-books, my-favorites, contemporaries, fiction, made-me-cry, mystery, science-fiction

Trigger warnings - death of a parent, torture

I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review

OH.MY.GOD.

I am screaming, I am shaking. I am quaking. This book ripped me to shreds and it is easily the best book I have read so far in 2020. Daniel Kraus has been a longtime favorite author of mine so when I saw he was writing a book about a possible alien abduction I knew I had to pick it up. Because I am nothing if not an avid lover of science fiction and aliens. I literally hav ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Feb 29, 2020 Paul Ataua rated it liked it

Started off well and I had a strange sensation of having stumbled on something special, but the story suddenly slowed down and became painfully drawn out. From about a third of the way through, it became just a matter of patiently waiting to see where the story would end up. All in all, it was a potentially great idea, but the message, albeit one we would do well to heed, was just a little too simplistic.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend It | Stats | Recent Status Updates

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

Horror

121 users

Young Adult

65 users

Science Fiction

62 users

Mystery

20 users

Fiction

19 users

Science Fiction > Aliens

16 users

Audiobook

9 users

Thriller

9 users

Contemporary

8 users

Dark

5 users

See top shelves…

About Daniel Kraus

Daniel Kraus

474 followers

DANIEL KRAUS is a New York Times bestselling author. With Guillermo del Toro, he co-authored THE SHAPE OF WATER, based on the same idea the two created for the Oscar-winning film. Also with del Toro, Kraus co-authored TROLLHUNTERS, which was adapted into the Emmy-winning Netflix series. Kraus’s THE DEATH & LIFE OF ZEBULON FINCH was named one of Entertainment Weekly‘s Top 10 Books of the Year, and ...more

Books by Daniel Kraus

The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch, Vol. 1: At the Edge of Empire

The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch, Vol. 2: Empire Decayed (The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch, #1)

More…

News & Interviews

Sally Thorne's Latest Rom-Com Leaves a Lasting Impression

Sally Thorne, author of The Hating Game and 99 Percent Mine, explores what it means to take risks for love, and for yourself, in her newest...

Trivia About Bent Heavens

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from Bent Heavens

“Writing, he'd said, is the most dangerous thing there is. Because when you write, you're only creating half the ideas. The reader brings the other half. And when you have two people involved in a plot, what's that called?

Her answer: boring .
His response: a conspiracy.” — 0 likes

More quotes…

See a Problem?

Preview — Bent Heavens by Daniel Kraus

Bent Heavens

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About Daniel Kraus

Books by Daniel Kraus

News & Interviews

Trivia About Bent Heavens

Quotes from Bent Heavens

See a Problem?

Preview — Bent Heavens by Daniel Kraus

Bent Heavens

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About Daniel Kraus

Books by Daniel Kraus

News & Interviews

Trivia About Bent Heavens

Quotes from Bent Heavens

new topic
Discuss This Book