Try Not To Die Escaping the Cult – Angel van Atta and Mark Tullius

3 stars

Either this one was easier than the others, or I’ve discovered a hidden talent; I only died twice! I’m maybe not your first choice for help escaping a cult (maybe like your third or fourth?) but I’m certainly not your last choice! It’s my lowest death total for a TNTD book to date, and it’s left me having a bit of trouble writing a review.

I really want to know more about this cult and their belief system. Ruby and Sammie saw all these atrocities while trying to escape, but what were they for? What sort of beliefs does this cult have that made those particular atrocities necessary? I’m so curious about them, and I wish we’d have gotten to know more about them throughout the book.

The end felt a little abrupt to me as well. It left me with some loose ends (like what happened to Ma, Pa, and Little Joe?) and a lot of questions about the ending. Maybe the intent was to leave it a little vague, but I did find myself wanting at least a few more answers to round the story out.

Despite my low fatality rate, this was still a fun read. I ended up flying through it, and now I’m off to go intentionally fail so I can see all the horrible (great? greatly horrible? horribly great?) deaths that I missed!