Name: The Ritual
ISBN: 9780230754928

Adam Nevill

When four old university friends set off into the Scandinavian wilderness of the Arctic Circle, they aim to briefly escape the problems of their lives and reconnect with one another. But when Luke, the only man still single and living a precarious existence, finds he has little left in common with his friends, tensions rise.

The Ritual

First half is a 6/10, second half is a 3/10. Ill give it a 4.5/10

Luke

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE Winner of the August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel "This novel grabs from the very first page, refuses to be laid aside, and carries the hapless reader, exhausted and wrung out, to the very last sentence." The Guardian Four old university friends reunite for a hiking trip in the Scandinavian wilderness of the Arctic Circle. No longer young men, they have little left in common and tensions rise as they struggle to connect. Frustrated and tired they take a shortcut that turns their hike into a nightmare that could cost them their lives. Lost, hungry and surrounded by forest untouched for millennia, they stumble across an isolated old house. Inside, they find the macabre remains of old rites and pagan sacrifices; ancient artefacts and unidentifiable bones. A place of dark ritual and home to a bestial presence that is still present in the ancient forest, and now they're the prey. As the four friends struggle toward salvation they discover that death doesn't come easy among these ancient trees . . . MORE PRAISE FOR THE RITUAL "Often horror loses its power when the evil is given a face; in this case it only gets more disturbing" The Sunday Times "with The Ritual, Nevill has crafted some of the tensest scariest horror this reviewer has read for years" SFX "a mind-twisting journey into the dark backwoods of terror. Deeply disturbing and absolutely riveting." Jonathan Maberry, NY Times bestselling author of DEAD OF NIGHT and THE KING OF PLAGUES

Magnus Dahl

Pod in Swedish: http://lashart.podbean.com/e/adam-nev...

Alfredo santos

Difícil de decidir si me gustó más la historia del libro o la película, pero ambas son algo terroríficas. 

He sido fan de Adam Nevill desde que leí Last Days, y en esta historia no decepciona. La trama va evolucionando a un ritmo algo lento, como es clásico de el, hasta que lo extraño y super natural empieza a escalar. 

Una de las razones por las cuales Adam Nevill es de los mejores escritores de este género, es por su gran empatía y sentimientos que presentan sus personajes, lo cual hace que inmediatamente alguna parte de nosotros se identifique con ellos. Esta familiarización proyecta una parte de nosotros dentro del personaje principal, envolviendonos mas y haciendonos partícipes de la historia. Sientes que te está pasando o podría pasar a tí. 

Decidí leer el libro luego de ver la película ya que en varios blogs leí por ahí que la mitad final, entre el libro y la película son sumamente diferente, y es muy cierto, no sólo cambia la historia sino un poco la mitología y el impacto que puede tener. 

Muy recomendado

Unexpectedly clashing with his three old University friends while hiking in the Scandinavian wilderness of the Arctic Circle, Luke takes a shortcut that leads the group to an ancient pagan sacrificial site where they are hunted by a bestial predator. Original. 40,000 first printing.

mads

** spoiler alert **
           I ended up not finishing this but after thinking about it and watching the movie I did want to rate the first half of the novel which was honestly very good and effective (sans all the gross fat shaming) but god the second half really lost me with the stupid metal band bs, I think the witch/moder origin and actual ritual stuff were cool but could have been shortened and i definitely prefer how the movie handled the final act

Maxie Froelicher

** spoiler alert **
           I read this book because I am absolutely obsessed with the Netflix Original movie. I’m honestly glad I saw the movie first. The book was fantastic and gave us a deeper look at the characters but near the end? Was... weird. I very much enjoyed how it concluded, but the whole “death metal to raise the old gods” really threw me out of the story. That, of course, may have something to do with the expectations I went in with due to watching the movie first, but it just felt odd to me.

Danni’s Badass Books

⭐ 3.5 Stars ⭐

Solid read. I enjoyed it.

~~RTC~~

Sasha Mann


Story starts off with quite the interesting start. You can already tell this is going to be a good horror novel. Very scenic scene of some horror
Really enjoying the style of writing. It pulls the reader in to the scene taking place. The relationship between our four characters seems to be a bit tense, either because they aren't as close as they once were or because the trip is already wearing on them to the point they argue amongst themselves. 
Story has some great slow tension building 

Very interesting  writing choice choosing to use a brief first person POV in some places. Gives the reader a bit more understanding of the individuals mindset before switching back to third person and telling us who was the character. 
Very unnerving feeling with them seeming to be trapped in the forest. I am getting Blair Witch vibes.
Story is very character driven. 

The men and their relationships with one another are beginning to wear very thin as they continue to be lost in the forest.
I really like how descriptive everything is- the locations and such. You really feel there when you read about it.
The horror begins to mount slowly, not only are our characters lost in the woods with diminishing food resources, but now something has openly attacked them.
Things continue to go down hill in a new way and it is absolutely crazy everything that takes place in this story.

Anastaciya

started intriguing, but turned out lacking.
the first part of the book was quite interesting, and then it's like the author changed his mind, or wasn't sure about one ending, so he used another. I guess he wrote exactly what he wanted to write, but it doesn't feel smooth. or maybe the whole book just made me feel uncomfortable.

Natali Topliff

The atmosphere at the beginning of this book was stunning. However, sadly, it went completely downhill with a terrible second part and underwhelming ending. 3 stars for the part one atmosphere. 

I recommend the film instead.