Like they forget what has just been revealed to them, and show no interest in learning about or countering the villain. In the Ruins, every time a new ability of the spooky monster is revealed the characters kinda shrug, get scared, and move on. So part of the horror is seeing those abilities revealed, and the characters learning weaknesses or counters. Your heroes figure out the rules, get maimed or killed learning them, and then either succeed or fail based on their ability to understand or subvert those rules.Īt the beginning of Dracula, people don’t know how vampires work, what they can and can’t do. It’s about hapless young folk discovering an ancient evil in the jungle right? The problem is, there’s no deeper digging or unravelling of that evil. I'm prepared for this particular opinion to be unpopular. I'll reply to you what I said to someone who PM'd me asking for me. Other Subreddits that might interest you:

Horror Award Nominees & Winners, 1975-2013 R/horrorlit's TOP 10 GREATEST NON-SUPERNATURAL HORROR NOVELS OF ALL TIME!!! R/horrorlit's TOP 10 GREATEST HORROR SHORT STORIES OF ALL TIME!!! R/horrorlit's TOP 10 GREATEST HORROR NOVELS OF ALL TIME!!!! If you would like to mask a potential spoiler, use the following format: (/spoiler)Īll times in ET (EST/EDT) unless otherwise noted. Spoiler tags are left to user discretion. Some rule violations may result in a temporary or permanent ban on the first strike. We do ask that you help us keep a high level of discourse by avoiding image-only posts, blog spam, surveys, plugging your own unpublished or self-published fiction, and linking to fundraisers or items for sale. No book is off-limits since horror is subjective. Here is your place to share your love or loathing for horror lit, but remember to be respectful.Ībusive comments and posts will get you banned but having a dissenting opinion is acceptable.

The Ruins by Scott Smith