A review of Deadtime Stories the Witching Game by Annette Cascone and Gina Cascone

In the description of this book it promised to "give you more than goose bumps."  That couldn't be further from the truth.  At best, this book was mildly creepy.  A ghostly woman who loves to kill people is trapped in a mirror for, probably, the rest of time and is accidentally let out by a bunch of kids who have no idea about old creepy mirrors OR ghosts of any kind. Really people?  For someone who, like me, loves to have terrible nightmares after they read a horror story this book would be like a walk in the park making daisy chains and singing about fluffy pink ponies.  No, this book was not what I wanted.  

            According to Goodreads 70% of people liked this book.  I looked as hard as I could but there were no one star reviews, and only two people rated it one star without giving a review.  One of those people was me.  

            So what's really so bad about it?  Was it the poor writing style?  What about the underdeveloped characters?  Or maybe it was the predictable, bland plotline that was more like an episode of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic than a real book.  Would you like me to go on?  Didn't think so.  *sigh*  Children these days just aren't into the kind of horror they should be.  If they want something really scary that will really give them nightmares they should read Ghost Knight by Cornelia Funke, or anything by Stephen King if they want to read from the best.  I would recommend Goosebumps by R.L. Stine before I would recommend this.  And I don't like Goosebumps. 

            Don't even get me started on the graveyard scene!  I read that part alone, at night, in the dark, and I was bored.  Does every boring kids' ghost story have this predictable graveyard scene?  From what I've seen, yes, it does. 

            As you can see, I am seriously disappointed with this book.  With a name like Deadtime Stories and a picture like the one that was on the cover this should be the kind of book that left me shivering under my fuzziest blankets.  But it didn't.  It was more like reading a cute book about bunnies and cupcakes, not Bloody Mary.

            And now we come to my next complaint.  The real Bloody Mary wasn't the person from Deadtime Stories - she was Mary Tudor, Queen of England before Elizabeth I, known for her bloody executions of those who opposed her.  If you're going to write a book about someone named Bloody Mary at least do your research. 

            And did anyone else notice how much this book was like Coraline?  Creepy things, being trapped in another world-like place, having to battle the evil thing in the end but knowing it will come back someday to get you.  If I knew how much this book was like Coraline (a really creepy and well-written book) I would have just read that, I wouldn't have wasted my time on this book. 

            Because of all of the problems listed above I will rate this book a half star.  Wait, one star is the lowest I can go?  Really?!  Okay, one star.  BUT it's the lowest one star rating any book has ever gotten.