Long Lankin

Lindsey Barraclough is a decent writer, and Long Lankin has a setting and concept that should have created a solid, young adult horror novel. What Lindsey didn't have was a good editor. Like so many horror/fantasy writers Barraclough has an almost OCD-like desire to pile on the scene setting and world-building to the exclusion of plot.

In this case the author seems more interested in creating a portrait of a particular place and time than she is in crafting a compelling story. The action is set in a small village on the English coast sometime in the late 1950s. Two young sisters, Cora and Mimi, are sent from London to live with their Aunt Ida in a house outside the village. Naturally enough, Ida lives in a large, rambling, decaying house that doubles down on the spookiness: cobwebs, frightening portraits of ancestors on the wall, strange noises, hidden passages, and locked rooms that YOU MUST NOT GO INTO UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! The immediate neighbourhood isn't much better. There's a gloomy, semi-abandoned church that YOU MUST NEVER GO NEAR! A cemetery that you are FORBIDDEN TO ENTER! filled with ruined, gaping tombs. And a marsh surrounding Ida's house that will SUCK DOWN ALL WHO SET FOOT IN IT! THIS MEANS YOU! Add in an ancient family curse and a child-eating creature and the scene is set.

The above sounds like a surfeit of ingredients for a fun, scary read, but it's pretty much ruined by the author's self-indulgence. Most of this novel is a loving, but misguided, attempt to recreate life in England in the 1950s. Barraclough piles on the period detail with a vengeance. Every detail of lower-middle-class life gets a mention, right down to name-branding all kinds of household products. Things reach a nadir when an entire chapter is devoted to a lengthy description of a village cricket match that's both twee and pointless. And there are pages and pages of this kind of cheap nostalgia. Part of it seems to be an attempt to replicate the style of a particular kind of English kids' lit; the type popularized by Enid Blyton and Arthur Ransome in which a gang of kids get together to solve a mystery in between larking about and sitting down to scarf cream teas. Adult readers might find this kind of homage entertaining, but young readers are probably going to be bored witless. I was.

An editor should have noticed that by the halfway mark very little has happened. We've heard a few things go bump in the night, glimpsed things that might be scary, but beyond that it's been a long, uneventful walk down memory lane. That same editor should have asked Barraclough to trim her novel by a third, if only to prevent trees being felled for no purpose. As I said before, she's a decent writer, but a smooth prose style isn't worth much when the plot is spinning its wheels. It's easy to rip a writer for making mistakes, but no novel gets published without an editor's OK, and in this case the editor in question has done an above average writer a great disservice.

Read more of my reviews at JettisonCocoon dot com.

This is the best dark fiction I have read so far this year.

While I was reading it, I compared it to the Stephen King novel, It, as both books had a very similar theme. I thought that this book was better.

Why? Because it was strictly British with no boomercentric pop culture references; even though these two novels are set in the same time period. Also, we don't delve into the details of the characters lives and learn a lot of personal things that have nothing to do with the story.

The monster is better. I really loved the Beowulf reference during the final battle with Long Lankin.

I am just a sucker for a novel with a moldering old manor house, a Domesday Book family with a curse and an ancient monster out of legend. You just can't get much better than that.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a traditional, creepy ghost story.

Pet Lover's Advisory: SPOILER!
A good dog dies a brave death in this story. The death is not a gratuitous manipulation of the reader's emotions, but integral to the story. Not bloody, gory, disgusting, but he does die......so be warned!

From the very first page, Long Lankin has such a bleak tone that you know you're in for an eerie read. At the onset, Cora and Mimi are in a bad situation. Being shipped off to an unsuspecting elderly relative by their distracted father and then dropped off to make their way up the long road to their destination by the uncouth man their father entrusted their safety to doesn't speak well for the happiness quotient. When they lay eyes on their great aunt's house for the first time, you just know that things are about to get worse. The stage is set for a spooky read. Just how spooky remains to be seen, but rest assured that you are in for a frightening story.

Long Lankin is told from the perspective of three characters: Cora, the outspoken older sister to Mimi; Roger, one of the Bryers Guerdon neighborhood boys who becomes Cora's friend; and Mrs. Eastfield, Cora and Mimi's troubled, reclusive great aunt. Each character has their own distinctive speech pattern and personality, insuring that as many details as possible are covered from multiple perspectives. I really came to enjoy each character over time, though I was very much put off by Mrs. Eastfield, at first. Once you learn more about her, however, you come to realize that she is a woman in torment from her past, all thanks to the story's antagonist: Long Lankin. Oh, my. Long Lankin (aka Cain Lankin) has to be the most frightening monsters I have read about in a long time and reminded me very much of Rawhead and Bloody-Bones, a figure from Yorkshire folklore that is absolutely horrifying. I made the mistake of finishing the novel at night and let me tell you, I was very jumpy as I read about the main conflict with Long Lankin. Don't say I didn't warn you.

It took me a little while to grow accustomed to the style in which Long Lankin is written. I soon got into the dialog and the pacing and came to realize just how beautifully done it all was. The alternating perspectives are a little different than one usually sees in multiple p.o.v. books. Rather than alternating chapters, the three characters take turns sharing their thoughts, feelings, and observations on an event as they each experience them. This really brought the story to life and injected so much detail into the narrative. The pacing may seem slow at first, but it soon begins to make sense. The truly frightening horror stories take time to build and Long Lankin is no different. It added to the level of foreboding inherent in the plot and didn't allow me to let my guard down for a second. It is very easy to be on edge the entire time you are reading this book.

I haven't been this freaked out by a story since I read Rawhead Rex by Clive Barker. Much like that story, Long Lankin will stay with me for years to come. Part monster tale, part ghost story, Long Lankin provides an unbelievable amount of thrills and chills and leaves you jumping at your own shadow. As a fan of a good scare, I am a happy customer after finishing Long Lankin. I will be reading this one again in the future just so I can see what other nuances I discover. If you enjoy a good horror story, you must try Long Lankin.

Obligatory legal statement: This digital review copy was provided to me free of charge by the publisher via Netgalley. No monetary compensation was received in exchange for this fair and unbiased review.

This review originally appeared on my blog, Starting the Next Chapter, on July 10, 2012.

Officially the creepiest book I have ever read, oh my god. It was terrifying! Just looking at the cover makes me shudder. The poem was so chilling and I loved how it was woven throughout the book. I hadn't heard of Long Lankin before but apparently it's a real legend and scary as hell. I just loved how the story unfolded, the history and abandoned churches and forgotten papers. I thought it was done well and not that info dumpy. Cora and Roger were great main characters and I found it interesting how their POV could range from a paragraph to a whole chapter. The book was extremely atmospheric, I loved the small English town 1950s feel, the perfect gothic descriptions, and the vernacular which really added a lot to the setting. I'm seriously surprised I was able to read this at night haha! I know some might find the storytelling slow but I enjoyed the pacing. I liked the normalcy of everyday life and rich characterization mixed with the chilling supernatural elements. My only complaint was that the ending was slightly abrupt. All in all a great albeit frightening read.

As a long time fan of the folk rock band, Steeleye Span's rendition of the song "Long Lankin" I was excited to see someone had used it as the inspiration for a book. I always thought it would be great for that and I really wanted to like this book so much more than I did.

The book tells the story of two girls, Cora and her 4 yr old sister, Mimi who are forced to live with an old aunt in a creepy old house in English countryside. Terrible things have happened to children in the past who lived in this house and Cora and her friend, local boy, Roger, must do their best to protect little Mimi from the danger that still resides in the nearby marshes.

The author worked very hard a creating an eerie atmosphere and she was successful in that, but sometimes I think it was at the expense of the plot. Honestly, what this book needed is better editing. I was always told that when writing a story, every scene must do something to move the plot along. I didn't see how a long chapter devoted to a cricket match accomplished that. There were also long, meandering passages of description that I can only imagine would bore a kid. One such sentence went on for almost a paragraph by itself.

Although I don't usually mind multiple POV stories, I didn't care much for the constant changes of point of view between Cora, Roger, and Aunt Ida. A big problem for me was that the voices of Roger and Cora were not always distinctive enough. I frequently had to double check to see who was supposed to be talking. I didn't find Cora a particularly sympathetic character throughout much of the book and Mimi was little more than a prop. I was also confused as to why the story started out in present tense and somewhere along the line switched to past.

However, I didn't dislike the book. I just think that had it been tightened up and focused more on plot than atmosphere, this could have been quite an exciting book. I felt like every time it started getting good, suddenly the kids would go wander off to play in the woods or go eat or we'd get some new description of life in 1950's England.

Leslie Barraclough is a talented writer and I hope for any future novels, she finds a better editor!

Wow, the cover of this book is downright eerie! Kind of reminds me of The Shining with the two girls holding hands. Anyhow, I was really enthusiastic to read this novel once I received it. Two sisters being sent to live with their cold aunt in an isolated village in which some phantasmic creature is lurking. My first thought: COUNT ME IN! It's a shame that once I dug into the novel with such ravenous excitement, I was met with a slight tedium and feeling not completely satisfied. The plot started off fairly well. We got to meet the characters, Cora and her little sister Mimi being taken to Guerdon Hall by an all too lax Mr. Bates. Then we were introduced to Roger and his younger brother, and the mysterious Auntie Ida. The first few pages were intriguing, but soon I found myself struggling to pay any attention to what I was reading. Don't get me wrong here, Barraclough's writing is nice and fluid, and the way she describes the setting is so detailed, however the plot just started to drag. There were a few suspenseful scenes that were thrown in every now and then, but they weren't really enough to keep me fully absorbed in the story. I nearly fell asleep at some places. It wasn't till the last third of the book that things started to really pick up. I also liked the three main protagonists and I thought it was nice that we got to see through their different points of view, but in my opinion, it wasn't very necessary. I felt that some of Roger's chapters were simply filler to keep the story dragging.

Overall, I give this novel three stars because the writing is nice and the characters are likable, however, the story could have progressed better. This book is not for everyone, if you're looking for a moderately spooky book with children in it and slow pace, then this is for you. If you want to read a story with more high-speed thrill and drastic creepiness, I suggest looking elsewhere.

Wow, this book was creepy! I didn't think it'd be that scary since it's a YA novel, but it was. I feel like bricking up all of my windows, just to be safe. Do not read this book alone at night, whatever you do. Trust me. You will be sorry. Barraclough will trick you into thinking you're safe when you're really not. She does this repeatedly throughout the novel, yet somehow, you never learn. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Long Lankin is one of those novels that gets into your head, and while you're reading it, the outside world disappears. I really enjoyed getting to know all of the characters, and every single character was well-developed. Aunt Ida was a bit unsettling, to say the least, but most of the characters were quite enjoyable. Cora was a very intriguing and brave character. It was clear that she'd do anything for her little sister, Mimi. She never backed down, and she was willing to do what it took to save Mimi. Roger served as the comic relief, of sorts. I'm glad that someone was there to lighten the mood, or the book may have been to intense for me. Roger was a sweet kid, though, and I really enjoyed his and Cora's interactions.

The plot was compelling, intriguing, and horrifying. This is one of those books that you can't put down, and even though some parts are scary, so you sit there making horrified faces at the book while you read, and hold the book as far away from your face as you can in order to "protect yourself" from it, you still can't put it down. That's the mark of a good horror story, if you ask me. I'm pretty sure my cat thought I was having some sort of facial muscle spasms/nervous twitches while I was reading this book. At least I read it during daylight hours.

The pacing for this book was pretty spot on, but the ending did feel rushed. I felt like the entire ending could have been explained more and slowed down a bit. Overall, though, the pacing worked for me. I never felt like the story was dragging, and it only moved too quickly at the very end. The information was woven gracefully into the narrative, and I didn't feel like there weren't any massive info dumps to break up the flow of the story.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, even if it did creep me out. Barraclough is obviously a master of suspense, and she did a terrific job of alternating back and forth between giving the reader a false sense of security and scaring them. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good scary story!

First book I've enjoyed that much in years. Can't wait to read more from this author!

I've been looking forward to reading this book for so long! And not only because it has a completely gorgeous, creepy, intriguing cover . . No, that was only part of it, however much that made me look into it in the first place. I've been trying to read more YA horror and I've heard such good things about Long Lankin. I really enjoyed this read, though I think that it could have been much better.

For one, the entire time I was frustrated because the whole town seemed to realize someone would die if they stayed in that house. Why, then, couldn't they just take someone away and then let the danger be gone so they could all live happily, without the entire horror story coming along? I can't imagine that all of them would be so heartless. Anyway. Moving along!

The novel is extremely slow-paced, though this leads to a deeper display of the characters, the time period, and world building. It's a sort of puzzle for a while but an entirely predictable one as the cover and the song printed at the beginning let the reader know what's coming for them right from the start. There were some long, drawn out scenes that seemed highly unnecessary . . Like a cricket game that was described in great detail and the only lasting impact was a single question one of the kids managed to ask that almost got them an answer they needed. Almost.

I did like it a lot, in retrospect, but it isn't a read that I'd go back to again and again. The ending was wonderful and action packed, just like I'd hoped it would be, and it definitely redeemed a lot. I'd recommend this to fans of horror who don't mind waiting for at least 350 pages to go by before things get really heated.

Very interesting story. It definitely sucks you right in and you can't put it down until it's over. Great read.