Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge
Goodreads Rating: 4 stars
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
I have had this book on my To Read list for a very long time. Since my book club’s theme for October was something spooky/Halloween, I decided to go with this book.
The writing style was different for my tastes and it took a little while to get into, but once I got adjusted, I did like the story. The reason I gave the actual rating 3.5 stars is because the narration of the overall story (it jumps back and forth from first person to third person) and also because it seems a lot of information had been left out (I will get to this later).
This story is about a little midwestern town in which every year on Halloween, all boys 16 to 18 must compete in the Run. At the start of this Run a scarecrow with a jack-o-lantern head is brought to life and stuffed with candy. The object of the Run is to be the first boy to bust open this creature, releasing all the candy. For the sake of spoilers, I will not give away any other information.
The idea was interesting, but I feel like a lot was missing. For instance, the story briefly talks about the Harvester’s Guild, who is in charge of the run. The story mentions, again briefly, that no one can leave the town unless they are drafted for war or the creature wins the Run. The story does go into why, or how this all started. I think knowing this information would definitely have made it better overall.
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