Unfortunately this one didn't work for me. I found the plot a bit incoherent and muddled and the writing style was too purple for my tastes. I did think the character of Harris was unsettling, which was good, but overall, I just thought it wasn't a great read.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Egmont Audio for providing me with.a free copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book offers an interesting premise, but it never quite lives up to its potential. In fact, it never lives up to much. The characters fall flat and the plot seems to have no real peak which makes it quite the slog to get through, with nothing major happening. Even the plot struggles to maintain the readers interest and, frankly, the comparison to M R James is unfounded.

‘Pulp fiction just got a whole lot scarier...’

My thanks to Saga Egmont Audio for a review copy via NetGalley of the unabridged audiobook edition of ‘The Pale One’s’ by Bartholomew Bennett. It is narrated by Homer Todiwala.

This is a strange little novella, more weird, surrealist fiction than horror; the kind that subtly disturbs rather than presents lashings of gore or jump scares.

The protagonist is a used bookseller who regularly visits charity shops seeking books that he might turn a good profit on. In one he meets Harris, a decidedly odd fellow. Harris is described as “a greasy little smoke-like presence, a figure more dark wool overcoat than actual person, riffling through one of the boxes of sheet music in a brisk, cursory fashion suggestive of scant interest in the contents.”

He finds himself coerced into joining Harris on his quest to collect his ‘pale children’, the unloved, battered books and those things left behind by readers between the pages. It gets progressively stranger.

With respect to the audiobook, Homer Todiwala, was brilliant. He is an experienced narrator, who has worked across various genres, including narrating a number of Salman Rushdie’s titles. His narration drew me into the story, experiencing its weirdness alongside him.

Overall, a strange, dreamlike novella. While I am not certain that I understood it, I found Bartholomew Bennett’s writing haunting and lyrical.

What a confusing story. I began this book twice, because at first I thought I had missed something and that was why I wasn't understanding the story, but the second time around I understood it was just really confusing.

Even though I tried, I couldn't grasp the gist of the story. The Pale Ones is supposed to follow the story of a used books collector with an air of mystery and an unknown past. But all it does is go over rounds of confusing descriptions and almost random scenes.

I'm not sure the author really got the hang of his story or knew how to bring to the page his ideas, that I might add are really compelling. Maybe with a few more edits and working around some central plot more defined this could be a fantastic reading, but sadly it's just not there yet.

Thank you to the author, publisher, narrator and Net Galley for providing a free e-audio version of this title in exchange for my review.

Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this book. It is very short, however it drags along. I had no idea what was happening, why it was important, or how this was a horror novella. So, before rating, I went back and re-listened to it, all in one sitting, thinking it would happen. But no, I'm still not sure what I listened to.

2 stars for 'did not like it'

An exciting psychological horror/ thriller audiobook, surreal and sinister with a sense of foreboding. If you have ever listened to The Magnus Archives, it really gives me those sort of vibes - weird and creepy.

It is certainly hard to follow in places, I feel like it could have had some of the ideas strung together a little more for the ease of the reader, and some more dramatic events near the end rather than leaving most of it to the imagination. That being said I would still certainly read more like this.

I thought the narrator was excellent, really bringing this short story to life. As with very few narrators, I would go out of my way to find books read by them.

The Pale Ones by Bartholomew Bennett is a puzzler.
It has all the right elements for a really good short story. It has a mood and atmosphere, and Bartholomew Bennett can write a good sentence. Yet this story seemed a little like a semi-string of consciousness exercise. With things happening and scene changes that seemed abrupt. Part of that may be due to the fact it is more a novella than a novel. I got a kindle copy to make sure that I hadn't missed something in the narrated talking book version--
While most of the story was well written and parts of it were creepy I'm not sure I would classify it as a horror story.
The narration by Homer Todiwala was very well done.
Thank you to #NetGalley, and #SagaEgmont for the ALC of #ThePaleOnes.

I really dislike when the novel's description is so at odds woth the actual novel. It makes me feel like I was played just to get me to read the book. I might be okay with this if the story was enjoyable in its own right but in this case I just feel mislead and annoyed.

Bennet can write, there's no doubt of that. Their prose is polished and appealing. Unfortunately, that's all that I enjoyed about the story.

I love unreliable narrator stories and I love vague, unexplained spooky stories but there is a point where the subtle and vague turn into lacking and incomprehensible and "The Pale Ones" definitely crosses that line.

With a tad more, this could have been an interesting story but instead it just leaves the reader not knowing what they read and not at all that compelled to try and reason it out.

I also don't know why this book is shelved as horror. A few bizarre moments hardly equates to horror and I didn't feel any of the building dread that other reviewers have mentioned.

This book was a big miss for me.

That said, the narration was extremely well done. Todiwala's tone, pacing, and voice were perfect and I honestly think the only thing that kept me from DNF'ing this book was the quality of the narration.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me a free digital copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very quick read and the narrator was great, however I am unimpressed.
I found this story a bit confusing in that it felt like it was incomplete and would have been better off as a full novel or 2 novellas as to expand this book. The book itself is more thriller than horror, unremarkable, uneventful until around chapter 11. More descriptions of people and how the MC feels than creepy events.



Rating:
2 stars because I like the narrator.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

This was a quick read, with a great narrator. I did feel a bit lost throughout, and it felt a little slow at the beginning then rushed at the end. The feeling of dread that builds was spot on though, and kept me reading.

A quick gothic horror read.

Story didn’t pick up for me until chapters 9-10. From then on, it was a very quick read.

That being said, the story felt unfinished and confusing for me most of the time. I spent the first part of the book wondering if I was missing chapters or accidentally skipped ahead on the audiobook. Since I was listening to the story, rather than reading the physical version, I had to rewind a lot to make sure I was following along correctly since there was no backstory or context to what was happening in the book.

Once the story picked up and I knew what was happening it was creepy and interesting until the end. The ending did feel a tad rushed and left some questions, but I feel it was well done.

Thanks so much NetGalley and Saga Audio for the arc audiobook!

With some creepy pieces I liked were this book was going, but the storyline was a bit confusing. I often felt lost and not really sure what the book was actually about. The narrator was fantastic, and he kept me going till the end. I hoped that the creepiness would pull me in, but I think this book was just not for me.

Thank you Netgalley and Saga Egmont Audio for this ARC.

ARC audiobook provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

“The Pale Ones” is a short book, really more of a novella, that follows the narrator, a used bookseller, as he is pulled in by a purported older bookseller, Harris, to embark on a trip north to procure more used books to sell. As their travels proceed from stop to stop, the narrator slowly becomes more and more disconcerted by strange happenings and hints of things lurking just outside of his grasp. Harris appears to transform along the way, becoming more and more unlikeable, fueling the narrator’s anger and unease, as well as giving an extra edge to the mysterious occurrences he encounters. Is there something lurking just out of sight? What exactly is the narrator experiencing? Is Harris who he says he is? How will the trip end? As the novella nears its conclusion, the questions pile up and things just get weirder and weirder. Maybe the real question is: can the reader trust the narrator?

Let me first preface my review by saying I’m a true book nerd, and the description of this novella, a book about books, drew me in. As a result, I was absolutely thrilled to get the chance to read this novella. The description had me hooked, and the author didn’t disappoint in his prose and world-building. The author’s descriptions of the environments the duo travels through are fantastic, as are his descriptions of the characters. This beautiful writing style magnetized me, keeping me engaged through to the very end.

That being said, I thought I would love this book. The fact is: I didn’t. The plot was slow and overall uneventful. The entire plot can be summed up with two questions: (1) are a few strange occurrences indicative of something not natural; or (2) are we dealing with an unreliable narrator? These two questions mixed with the author’s excellent prose could have led to a magnificent horror novella. However, the storyline only gets the reader partway into exploring and answering each of those questions. It is as if the author started down both avenues, but gave up ¼ of the way through. Add a few hundred pages, and you may just get the whole story flushed out. The author seems to attempt to wrap up the novella in a hurry at the end, but it just left me frustrated as it definitely doesn’t end on a high note.

My copy of this novella was an audiobook, so I must comment on the narrator. I do believe he did a good job. He paced the novella as best as he could given the storyline, and the voices he gave to the characters really brought them to life.

Overall, this novella just fell flat for me. It is disjointed and kind of rambling, and the plot is generally lacking. Yes, the atmosphere and prose are beautifully written; however, the storyline is simply inadequate. I’m horribly disappointed as I had such high hopes for this book. I’m honestly baffled by the high reviews some people have given this novella, as it just doesn’t hold up. Unfortunately, I just can’t recommend this novella. The only reason I gave this novella two stars is because the author did paint the atmospheric picture beautifully and had excellent prose, and the narrator did a good job. However, that just doesn’t make this novella worthwhile.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

I have no idea how to review this book. It felt like several unfinished thoughts strung together and, ultimately, a waste of time. I had high hopes, but the characters were all severely unlikeable and unrelatable.

This short and wholly original horror story is unlike anything I’ve ever read before. Harris is a bookseller, seemingly passing the secrets of the trade to a young apprentice. During one of their trips to “pick” for books, the strangeness begins, and strangeness is the only word I can think of to describe what happens. There’s no gore or guts here, just a subtle, insidious creeping sense of dread.

Audiobook Review

This was the best sounding but most confusing book I have read in a long time. The narration by Homer was absolutely top notch and I would highly recommend having them in more audiobooks.

Now onto the story...well I cannot say much about it because I understood very little. The atmosphere was top notch and this could have been spun into a Stephen King type horror very easily, but the fact that I listened to this entire book and I have no idea what happened is not good. I am not sure if Harris was/did paranormal things or if the books really were there for these "children", nor do I know if what happened at the end actually happened because it seems that this is an unreliable narrator.

I am also confused about the relationship issues, was he just a drunk who lost his partner and that was it?

But just the fact that the narration was so good makes this a 3 star read.