Maybe Archie Coomes has been watching too many horror movies.

The story follows teenager Archie Coomes and a group of his pals as they investigate the sinister happenings that are quickly taking over their peaceful seaside Oregon town. What's going on with the appearance of three strangers who seem new to being human? Why do old photographs indicate some ancient evil at the heart of the town’s founding? And why are all the adults suddenly replaced with sticky, odd-smelling replicants? It's up to our kid protagonists to find out and save the day!

I found The Stars Did Wander Darkling to be a fun, creepy, attention-grabbing story, that has echoes of Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Stranger Things, and the Goonies in its DNA. It's 1980s Oregon setting was engrossing for me (I love the state of Oregon). I love the folk horror vibes - and even the folk horror/black metal stylings of the cover text. It's squarely in my aesthetic wheel house- so kuddos, to Carson Ellis. However, a long and slow buildup culminates in a rushed climax and resolution (that's a bit ambiguous) which is keeping me from getting this book a glowing 5 star review.

I will say I found the final chapter to be cinematic, disturbing, and sad. SO it does end in an effective manner. It just rushes to get there.

The book references a lot of nostalgic media that younger readers wouldn't know but it's a fun bit of a trip for older readers. This book is full of authentic chills and splashes of gore (which surprised me!) - and I think is suitable for middle school readers on up.

I'd be curious to read a sequel to this book, as I think there were a lot of great seeds planted for expanding the lore Meloy sets up.

The Stars Did Wander Darkling by Colin Meloy is an enjoyable classic coming of age horror novel about the bonds of friendship, respecting the land, and the horrors of history. It's ending is a bit rushed but overall, the book is a spooky and nostalgic delight. ( )

A tamed down Steven King -like horror book for Year 7-8 students. Archie's dad goes digging where he shouldn't and wakes up three strange spirit men who are hell-bent on destroying Archie's home town and everyone in it. It starts with a penny on the doorstep. Archie throws it away and it suddenly reappears. Then his Dad has a weird change in personality and suddenly this zombie like state starts extending to other adults in the community. Only Archie and his friends, who have badly timed a sleep out in the woods while all this is happening, realise something is amiss. And what does it have to do with the founding father's deserted mansion perched high on a cliff top over the spot where Archie's dad's company ( and half the town) and now frantically digging?
Small town + weird stuff + strange adults + kids who are not believed = great horror. ( )

I loved this. Many thanks to Colin Meloy for this super creepy middle reader horror that is on par with the writing of Joe Hill, Stephen Graham Jones, and even Stephen King. I was completely immersed in the lives of these four young friends in the town of Seaham in the 80s. Wonderful, very real characters and reminiscent of Stranger Things as well as It - in all the best ways. As for the creep factor, let’s just say I was sufficiently disturbed by the vivid imagery and bizarre goings on that take place. Overall, it’s the friendships that are the beating heart of this story even through scary times of new experiences - supernatural or otherwise. ( )

The Stars Did Wander Darkling is a good, fun-filled read for those who are looking for milder horror elements, but who are still looking for spooky elements. There were some nice spooky elements in this book and I definitely appreciated the 1980s nostalgia having grown up during that time period, but the long build-up and the disappointing ending as well as a meandering story line made me lose interest in what was happening and I really had to push myself to finish the book.

First of all, I do think the atmosphere and level of creepiness were fine for this level. I loved reading horror novels at this age and would have loved more of this stuff available when I was young so I dabbled a lot in adult horror at a young age. The author did manage to create a setting that had a lot of atmosphere that focused on family and friendships and what happens when something suddenly changes within one's world at that age. The exploration of maturity and friendship was good, and I thought the author did a good developing a bit of story line around the concept of what happens when friends discover they no longer have anything in common and start drifting apart. Personally, I don't think he delved far enough into those themes of friendship and family.

The story line started off fairly strong and I did think it was rather interesting. Halfway through, something changed and a lot of tropes were introduced, something I don't typically mind in a juvenile fiction book, but there were a lot of things glossed over and forgotten about as well, like injuries miraculously cured and events that weren't fully explored or explained. It made for a disjointed reading experience and I started to lose interest in the meandering story line. Unfortunately, I didn't care for the ending as it was too neatly wrapped up without a lot of detail, details that would have enriched the reading experience. I think it is easy to underestimate the reader at that age and their quest for answers, but they can see through the gaps in the story lines quite easily and ask a million questions that were not answered in the book.

I did enjoy the characters, but they were mostly one-dimensional without a lot of development, not overly complex. I did like how the author explored the friendships, but it is hard to really delve into those friendships if you don't really delve into character development, so I felt like the exploration was done on a superficial level so there was a lack of empathy on my part with regards to how they felt as a result. So and so might be moving away? There should have been a bigger impact on my emotions, but I personally didn't really care. Move on. This is due to the writing style.

Verdict
The Stars Did Wander Darkling had a great cast of characters and a good story line, but the ending is abrupt and most of the consequences to what happened were just brushed over as if nothing happened. I get that there was supposed to be some questions with regards to the ending, but all it did was leave me feeling bewildered and confused. Overall, while I do think this was a fairly solid piece of writing with some nice horror elements within it, there were definitely things that missed their mark. ( )

Creepy, a story that pulls you in and vaguely reminded me of Stephen King's It. The four friends are highly relatable kids, doing their best to deal with a situation that's way beyond their reality. And deal they do, save for one of them. The ending is a bit too ambiguous for me, but everything else is great. ( )