Audiobook10 hours
Fiendish
Written by Brenna Yovanoff
Narrated by Carla Mercer-Meyer
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
Clementine DeVore spent ten years trapped in a cellar, pinned down by willow roots, silenced and forgotten. Now she's out and determined to uncover who put her in that cellar and why.
When Clementine was a child, dangerous and inexplicable things started happening in New South Bend. The townsfolk blamed the fiendish people out in the Willows and burned their homes to the ground. But magic kept Clementine alive, walled up in the cellar for ten years, until a boy named Fisher set her free.
Back in the world, Clementine sets out to discover what happened all those years ago. But the truth gets muddled in her dangerous attraction to Fisher, the politics of New South Bend, and the Hollow, a fickle and terrifying place that seems increasingly temperamental ever since Clementine reemerged.
When Clementine was a child, dangerous and inexplicable things started happening in New South Bend. The townsfolk blamed the fiendish people out in the Willows and burned their homes to the ground. But magic kept Clementine alive, walled up in the cellar for ten years, until a boy named Fisher set her free.
Back in the world, Clementine sets out to discover what happened all those years ago. But the truth gets muddled in her dangerous attraction to Fisher, the politics of New South Bend, and the Hollow, a fickle and terrifying place that seems increasingly temperamental ever since Clementine reemerged.
Related to Fiendish
Related audiobooks
Shining Sea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The River Has Teeth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghost House Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Shallow Graves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cold Is in Her Bones Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rattled Bones Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Never-Contented Things: A Novel of Faerie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5House of Furies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Half-Witch: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Beast Is an Animal Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sugar Skulls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Telling Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Dream House: A Novel by CutiePieMarzia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Here There Are Monsters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Evil Librarian Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devil's Kiss Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This Is Not a Ghost Story Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Court of Shadows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragon's Keep Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ticker Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Lights Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Dark Companion Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Everafter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Magic Dark and Strange Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Her Dark Curiosity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bitterwine Oath Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blood Countess Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5By a Charm and a Curse Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Marked Girl Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
YA Paranormal, Occult & Supernatural For You
The Truth About Night Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fairies' Path (Fate: The Winx Saga Tie-in Novel) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Elatsoe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shatter Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle, Book 1) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rage and Ruin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Midnight Club Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Curious Tides Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Storm and Fury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blue is for Nightmares Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Angelfall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For Girls Who Walk Through Fire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beholder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Scorpio Races Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Within These Wicked Walls: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When Stars Come Out Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Snake Falls to Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grace and Glory Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Spells Trouble: Sisters of Salem Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Secret Circle Vol I: The Initiation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Turned (Book #1 in the Vampire Journals) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mister Impossible (The Dreamer Trilogy #2) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5White Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Truth About Blood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gorgeous Gruesome Faces Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Full Tilt Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gilded Wolves: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5City of Nightmares Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Fiendish
Rating: 3.5241935451612907 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
62 ratings12 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Having now read three of Brenna Yovanoff's books, I can officially say --- without a shadow of a doubt --- that I am a HUGE fan.She paints her world with vivid strokes, seamlessly blending the horrific with the beautiful, and I totally love it.That being said, when I reached the end of Fiendish I was left feeling . . . incomplete. Like, I knew I was missing something, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what.I think some of it had to do with how things were revealed to Clementine, which I understand had to be that way to preserve the feeling of the story, but I guess I wish that more backstory would have been divulged later on in the book.Or not necessarily even that, but maybe more details about certain past events? I don't know. I told you I couldn't quite place what was missing.Oh well. Here's hoping there's a sequel in the works that will help me discover that which I have missed and leave me feeling a bit more content for that discovery. *crosses fingers*
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I dont think I will be adding this book to my list of favorites, but I did enjoy reading it. The story and descriptions are creepy and good and the idea original. Magic and the supernatural are incorporated into the story in a lot of different ways which I really liked. The aunt with a sense of what tattoos to give people, old tarot cards, little charms and strange creatures and overwhelming light...all of these things fitted together really well.
I did wish that the town history had been better explored, perhaps by cutting back on the romance portions of the book. Those parts made me a bit uncomfortable due to the main characters weird aging process. It didnt make sense to me that she would have grown up psychologically at the same rate as everyone else, even with the explanations for this the book gives, and it seemed like a bad move to have a romantic relationship happening. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not quite what I was expecting, but this book had a great feeling of eerieness and foreboding that carried on throughout. The characters were easy to tell apart and determine how they should interact with one another. My only issue was with Clementine. If she had been "asleep" for that many years, how did she suddenly know how to do everything that others could do without learning how? Most things she had never seen before, but she automatically knew how to do them. That didn't quite make sense to me.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was not the story I thought it would be. However it was entertaining, and I enjoy it. The characters were fine, none that really grabbed me like I had hoped they would. Overall 4 of 5 stars I would say 3.5 if I had that option.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fiendish is a dark and modern retelling of Sleeping Beauty. Clementine is placed under a powerful spell as a child, one that keeps her sleeping for ten years while roots grow through the cellar where she is hidden. She ages as she sleeps. A local boy named Fisher finds her and draws her out of the dark. The town she wakes to is divided, with the crooked (a term for magical) people of the willows on uncomfortable terms with the people in town.Although there are a number of threats to be faced, the core of this stories is Clementine's relationships with her family and with Fisher. I love the way Yovanof weaves dark and unsettling images and events with a modern southern small town. A fun read.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5A decent read but overall this book wasn't what I was hoping for. The characters were underdeveloped and it was difficult to find a plot for over two-thirds of the books. The ending was definitely interesting but there was very little build up to it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5People throw the word "southern gothic" around a lot with novels like this, but Yovanoff manages to get something really deep in the bones. The cadence of the language, the small things (not just throwaway references to Cheerwine).
My only complaint is that it felt a bit short, like I would have liked to see what she could have done if given more room. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fiendish by Brenna Yovanoff is not your typical young adult fantasy tale. It is dark, brooding, and within its prose lies a deep and sad understanding of society at large. That is probably why I love these stories so much.Clementine DeVore is a young girl, trapped in a cellar, tied up by roots as the years have passed. She has been down in the cellar of her abandoned home for ten years. Forgotten and deserted. But now she has been found by the only one who can feel her. Fisher can hear the soft heartbeat in the old vacant home. The one that was burned down so many years ago. He hears the heartbeat and it calls to him. He frees Clementine, but he knows her appearance will only tear at the fragile threads that hold his small town together. New South Bend is a small town with many secrets. The peace between the people of the town and the people of the Willows has been broken by a murderous violence before. Fear and prejudice drives the townspeople, and the magic of the few remaining people of the Willows, the few who are called the fiendish are what separate them. Clementine was hidden long ago and now that she has returned strange happenings are beginning again. Is it Clementine? Is it the creatures who live just beyond? Or is it the past returning to repeat itself. Why was Clementine, as a small child, buried deep in the cellar and by who? Clementine must find out just what happened all those years ago during the time known as the reckoning. Before it happens again.Fiendish is clever and powerful writing. The setting is a small town on the cusp of another world, where dangerous and magical creatures exist. But when terrible things begin to happen, the townspeople turn on those that are different with deadly and bloody results. We have seen this played out through history as the one who is different, is always blamed for what is happening by a populace who just doesn't understand what is happening around them.Brenna Yovanoff does not write cutesy happily ever after stories of fairies and elves and lucky charms. Her creatures are a throwback to the original tales of the Brother's Grimm and we should all be thankful of that.The main character of Clementine DeVore is original and well rounded. A young girl who returns after a decade of being buried in her family home. A home that was burned down and her mother murdered. You can even forgive the obvious teen romance aspect of the book as Clementine and Fisher are pre-ordained to be drawn to one another by the spells of another. What is so terrific in this novel is the intricately woven back story to the reckoning and why Clementine was buried by her own family and what really drives this second reckoning that threatens her and what remains of her kind. I won't tell you about that, it is a plot that has to be read to be enjoyed. And that is what separates Fiendish from so many young adult fantasy books, it actually has a plot. Not the standard, cookie cutter, YA book about a young girl who saves everyone and gets a boyfriend too because he is just so cute!A very good read!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Clementine DeVore, seventeen, is determined to learn what happened ten years ago that led to her magical imprisonment and problems in her town, but a dangerous attraction to Fisher, the boy who freed her, town politics, and the terrifying Hollow get in the way.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The old families living down in the Willows have powers. 10 years ago, thei powers collided, causing the creatures of the Hollow to emerge, and the local townspeople to burn the old families' homes. Clementine DeVore, returned to the living after 10 years in a suspended state, sees it start to happen again.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fiendishly Good!Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I'd had this book on my TBR list ever since I learned that it was being published. When I got the opportunity to read it, I absolutely jumped at the opportunity to do so.Author Brenna Yovanoff has done a truly amazing job with this story. The world-building and character development are complex. The history alone could fill an entire other book, and I see great potential for a sequel or other standalone book in the same world. I was a little disappointed at the numerous editing errors, as most of them were related to repeated words and erroneous word usage, and all could have been corrected by a visual edit as opposed to a spelling/grammar check program, but truth be told, I just couldn't allow that to affect my rating. I simply enjoyed the book that much.The author did a great job of grabbing my attention and holding it steadfast straight through the last page. The imagery was fantastic. There's a line in the book about a character with such terrible and wonderful power running through him and crackling around him that he might just crack the world. That stayed with me and was truly one of many exciting moments in the story. The reader should have no difficulty imagining the town, its inhabitants, or its magic and history. It's really that well-done. Kudos to the author for a fiendishly good read!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Actual Rating: 3.5 starsFor more reviews, Cover Snark and more, visit A Reader of Fictions.What’s funny about Fiendish is that I was really tempted to DNF after the first chapter. I was confused and it didn’t make any damn sense. Plus, I’ve been DNFing left and right and that’s been working for me. However, I pushed on a couple of chapters and Fiendish got really good. So basically, I am here to tell you that, even if you find the start really puzzling and off-putting, keep going because it will make sense. If you’re into southern gothic witchy horror, you will not want to miss Yovanoff’s latest.Yovanoff has an outstanding way with setting a mood. Every bit of her writing and setting comes together into this dreamy, gothic sense that pervades absolutely every bit of the book. It’s enchanting really and helps catch the reader up and make the strange world within convincing. She has a way of making this paranormal story seem magical and completely ordinary all at the same time. The writing itself isn’t particularly complex, but somehow it all comes together perfectly and does just what it needs to do. Gothic writing isn’t generally my thing, but I think Yovanoff does it beautifully here.Fiendish has a great hook. The first chapter, as I said is confusing, a hodgepodge of strange images and memories all swirled together. After that, though, the heroine, Clementine DeVore, is rescued from a cellar she’s been trapped in for 10 years. How did she survive? Magic. Deal with that, okay. Magic pervades this book and either you like that or you don’t. Clementine was down there in some sort of stasis, occasionally seeing through the eyes of someone else, her own sewn shut, trapped from the age of seven. At this point, I had to know what was going on in this town, even before I was really engaged. This kept me reading.Which is good, because this book is creepy in such a good way. This town, you see, borders on this magical place called the Hollow and there are witchy people living in the town. There are also normal people who hate the witchy people, most of whom try to hide their craft. The powers are tied to the elements, like dirt, fire, water, air. Down in the hollows, there are helldogs and fiends and magic is so potent. It all has a very organic feel and, damn, is it terrifying when the reckoning comes and the magic spills over.Also, in case you couldn’t tell from the horror label, but this book is dark dark dark. It’s not the sort of story with an easy resolution. There is pain and things are uncomfortable as all hell. This is not a pretty, fluffy fantasy, nor is it for the faintest of heart. I’m not too easily scared by books, but there were a couple of memorably haunting scenes in this one.The characters are interesting, which I mean in its true definition not in the one where interesting means awful or boring. Clementine, actually, is probably the least compelling of the set for me. Shiny, her cousin, is sassy, bitchy and fiery. Rae’s the one magical person who seems truly capable of control, even as things fall apart, sort of the Velma of the group. There’s creepy old man Heintz with his horrible zoo and his abused daughter Davenport. The cast is as strange and atmospheric as the magic they wield.The only thing that left me cold was the romance. Because of reasons, Clementine sort of saw Fisher while she was trapped in the cellar. It’s the paranormal clichés with Fisher being a bad boy and Shiny warning her away, but Clementine is too drawn to him for that. He even tells her to stay away for her own good, but oh no. They’re such cheeseballs and, while they don’t actually claim to be in love because thank kanye the romance isn’t a huge factor most of the time, the whole thing smacks of instalove. I do not ship it and I do not care about their feelings.Come to fiendish for the dark and creepy, and you shall likely leave satisfied, my friends. It’s fun watching Yovanoff getting better and better at her own craft, and I’m looking forward to what she does next.