The Scarlets ~ Madeline Roux review [@HarperTeen]

The Scarlets (Asylum #1.5)
Harper Teen
August 5, 2014
87 pages
add to Goodreads/buy from Amazon

When Dan and his friends meet Cal in Sanctum their impression of the privileged New Hampshire College student is less than stellar. But Cal wasn't always the cold, sarcastic guy he is now. In this digital original story preceding the events of Sanctum, we meet Cal when he is experiencing college like any other kid with a group of close friends and a dad who piles on the pressure. Only, when the pressure starts getting to him and Cal accepts an invitation to meet a selective group of students and alumni known only as the Scarlets, the course of Cal's life changes forever. And the price of joining the Scarlets might be higher than he can pay.

With plenty of twists, turns, and thrills, The Scarlets is an exhilarating installment in the Asylum series that can stand on its own for new readers or provide a missing piece of the puzzle for series fans.

I should preface this review by saying that several Goodreads reviews indicate that reading The Scarlets prior to reading Asylum Book 2, Sanctum will spoil you for Sanctum. I have not read Sanctum so I can't say for sure if that's true but it does seem likely.

Reading The Scarlets I couldn't tell how Cal, his life and the other characters fit in with the world of Asylum. (My Nook was weird and opened The Scarlets - on the epigraph page - when I'd clicked another title, so I hadn't yet read the synopsis.) It was set at the New Hampshire College where Dan and the other characters attended their summer program, but the characters themselves did not overlap with Asylum.

Cal is a character in Sanctum and The Scarlets gives us some of his background, letting us know how he became the way he is in Sanctum.

Ignoring any possible spoilers, The Scarlets is an enjoyable read. Cal is a character who you don't exactly like, yet he is still a sympathetic character. He makes a lot of not so great choices, but we see some of what drives him to those choices. His father's expectations and beliefs are more than Cal needs or wants and we see how Cal reacts.

While I do hate that some of Sanctum might be spoiled for me (I do hate when the series numbering of novellas indicates they're between the first and second books, but really should be read later), what transpired in The Scarlets has me intrigued and anxious to read Sanctum.

If you have read Sanctum, I would recommend The Scarlets, if you have not yet read it, wait to do so - unless you like spoilers!

Asylum ~ Madeleine Roux review

Asylum
Harper Teen
August 20, 2013
310 pages
add to Goodreads/add to Book Depo/or Amazon

Dan Crawford is thrilled to be attending New Hampshire College Prep -- or NHCP, as he soon learns to call it -- the summer program for high school students. It's the chance to finally be around other students who are happy to be students, who want to do their work, who are excited to be learning.

Then Dan learns that the dorm he'd be staying in was known as Brookline, "a 'retired mental health facility'." Which Dan knows means an asylum. It's later that he learns Brookline housed the criminally insane.

With the friends he makes soon into the NHCP program, Ally and Jordan, Dan decides to explore the abandoned - and off limits - wing of Brookline left very much as it was when the asylum was shut down some forty years ago. As the friends explore, they discover that it may not be entirely coincidental they all ended up at the college. Brookline still has its secrets; secrets that should stay secret.

Featuring found photos of unsettling history and real abandoned asylums and filled with chilling mystery and page-turning suspense, Madeleine Roux's teen debut, Asylum, is a horror story that treads the line between genius and insanity.

Asylum is an incredibly read-able book. It's great for a quick Halloween themed read and/or for reluctant readers. The story starts quickly, with Dan arriving in New Hampshire at the college program and we get a feel for who he is quickly with his distaste of those he normally attends school with, his hopes for those in the program. While his character -- he was judgmental, there was something that worried him about himself and handing being at NHCP but we didn't get a clear idea of what it was --  was a bit off-putting he was an okay central character.

The other character: Ally, Jordan and Felix, Dan's roommate, each had something that made their stories interesting. Some of it seemed a little heavy for the little bit of development, time it was able to be given but it still made them intriguing and propelled their stories and the central plot forward.

Asylum is almost a ghost story and almost a horror story and almost a thriller. There are elements of psychology, especially when it comes to Dan's character, and some questions that we're just barely presented with - some of it is the character trying to avoid thinking about, acknowledging things, some is just an omission - but not enough. Certainly not enough to move Asylum into psychological thriller territory, though the possibility was there.

The 'creepy' factor is there in Asylum, more so, definitely, in certain parts than others. It amps up in some places and wanes in others. The ending is where it didn't work for me. Things seemed to really be coming together, with the plot, the characters and how their stories were interwoven, even with the 'creepiness' bit . . . and then it didn't.

If this had been the first in a series or there had been an epilogue, even, I would have liked it much better. As a standalone novel, however, it was too ambiguous, especially for the type of novel it was. The horror-movie type of ambiguity where they killer may be dead . . . or they may not be is fine. Frustrating but good. With Asylum I was just too unsure of too many things after the last page.

While the ending may have slightly soured my review, I did enjoy reading Asylum. I wished that the little things Dan kept barely hinting at, that he worried were affecting him, had been either a larger part of the novel, or more explained but otherwise my only major issue was the ending. The photos add to the novel giving you a better picture, literally, of some of the places and images described by the characters. They help to set the mood and make the Brookline of old seem more real.


Rating: 6/10



 thank you to the publisher for the copy to review