Try Not to Die: In Slattery Falls: An Interactive Adventure by Brennan LaFaro is a story where you think you’re making the choices for the characters, but there’s something very wicked at play here.
Let’s dive in!
My Thoughts on Try Not to Die: In Slattery Falls: An Interactive Adventure by Brennan LaFaro, Illustrated by Dustin Meehan –
THIS IS SUCH A COOL ADDITION TO AN ALREADY TERRIFYING WORLD! My goodness. If you’ve read the other books in the Slattery Falls world, you know that the house these kids are about to enter isn’t just a haunted house. Weeks is lurking, and while these kids think they’re just going to break in and take a look around, they have no idea that the house itself may choose whether they live or die.
Growing up, I loved the choose your own adventure books, so when Brennan told me this was coming out, I was estatic. If you’ve been following me for a minute, you already know how obsessed with this world I am. It’s just such a killer small town horror setting with a truly horrific big bad and an even more terrifying house! Now let me choose which path the characters take?! OBSESSED.
This read was SO fun! The section where the kids first encounter Weeks and he tells them they can go back to safety or continue on for glory was so neat! I loved seeing him shocked that they got so far, and that it suggests that any wrong path or wrong choice will end in death, just like the whole set up of this book!!
One of my many favorite scenes here was when Bex freaks out, telling them that she saw them die the same way another path took us in where they did indeed die was such a fun touch!
Another very cool element is that Dustin Meehan jumped in to illustrate here, and my gosh, it is so neat to really SEE the space! The little illustrations between paths were also pretty chilling! I LOVE this:
Slattery Falls fans, buckle in for this read!
My Favorite Passages from Try Not to Die: In Slattery Falls –
For a moment, it’s easy to forget this place is supposed to be frightening. Real-world terror puts it to shame.
Our trio is not exploring this house. The house is exploring us.
As much as I’d like to save my own ass from this vengeful serial killer of a ghost, I can’t bring myself to leave Bex behind. Besides-not that this is the point-this door also leads to more elements of the story. I can hardly tell the full tale without unearthing all these nuggets first.
Far and away my least favorite aspect of this house on an ever-expanding list is the necessity to assume everything’s a trick. Even Casper the friendly child priest.
“Huh. I just realized something,” says Nate. “It’s like a video game. The edges of the map, the places you don’t need to go, they blur into nothingness. Only the mission at hand remains under the spotlight.”
A sick feeling gnaws at my stomach. He’s absolutely right. And if we’re in a game with a controlled landscape, what is there to do except Super Mario our way in a singular direction.
There’s a slight accusatory tone which I choose to ignore.
“Dual… fascination might be the right word. He was out for a drive and caught me daydreaming, scoping this place out.”
“Daydreaming.” She tries out the word, her tone bordering on amusement. “Well, I guess there’s no term for daynightmaring, is there?”
My Final Thoughts on Try Not to Die: In Slattery Falls –
I love, love, looooooove this book! If you haven’t checked this world out yet, what are you waiting for?! Go dive in and prepare yourself; you’re not going to be the one exploring this book, the book will be exploring you 😉
Thanks for reading!
And a shout-out to Brennan for being such an awesome human! Truly one of the kindest people you will ever meet.
The way that I was absolutely floored when Brennan surprised me with this… I’m so honored!
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3
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