Entertaining and genuinely enjoyed my time with this read. How to Survive Camping: The Man With No Shadow was previously published independent and has now been picked up by Saga Press. I really do enjoy how this book starts off with Rules and as you read along. I love books that have folk lore and urban legend type characters. I wish I read more. I do see the author wrote more in the series and I hope to see those also published through Saga!
Thank you Saga for the complimentary copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to Netgalley and Saga Press for this ARC.

3.5 stars

I feel like, looking back the title alone How to Survive Camping: The Man With No Shadow should have told me this was horror, but I deleted that tidbit from my mind. Not that I'm upset at that, as every now and then I do venture into horror but it was weird to see this in the fantasy genre as it doesn't exactly fit that. There is perhaps one creature that could be categorized as "fantastical", however I firmly believe supernatural is it's own separate entity.

After being accepted, I also discovered that this was previously typed up on r/NoSleep, which cool go get that dough. I just think it's a bit weird to publish something that was largely unedited from a text forum. Having just finished the book, I feel a little more fluff would have padded the story out nicely to add more to the lore -- which is greatly needed with the centerpiece here -- but also it would have made it feel less like something that was published online serially. Although these are minor complaints in the grand scheme of things, I think this makes it a little harder for others to want to buy this if they could just read it online unless they want it for their personal collection.

Now that I finished this book I will say I had a good time reading it, though at times I felt like the horror factor could have been pushed a little further. It's the nature of the genre-- there's a delicate balance between a writing exercise and making someone really terrified of sleeping at night. As this was contained at one campground, I felt relatively safe that it was fictional and not worried that this could happen to me despite the fact that some residents just wander in to settle for a new hunting ground.

With the number of inhumans in residence, I was actually more disappointed that there weren't enough rules at the campground. The main idea at the campground is following the rules and really with such a short list, it didn't come off as too weird for me but a little off when other campers would remark that they thought they were silly. With this in mind, I think the list needed to over the top with some wild out there things. This would also beef up the assertion that this is "old land" and old land has horrors of its own.

Some inhabitants appeared to be made up specifically for this story, while others were primarily drawn from Russian folklore which came out of left field for me. A little more variety would have really sold it to the reader that all the creatures, benevolent and evil, wander throughout the world and left them feeling a little more worried. The focus on The Man With No Shadow allowed the author more ability to drum up the fear factor, but in the end it kind of failed. Unfortunately, while reading I hoped it could match the feelings that I experience whilst reading other similar stories such as Goat Man.

All in all, How to Survive Camping wasn't a bad experience. In fact I enjoyed reading most of it, and think that other fans of horror would also enjoy this too. However, a few of them might also want a little more spooky factor to get them in the mood.

This was such a fun read. It was a good mixture of camp (pun intended) and actual horror. I liked the folklore and urban legend aspects and the underlying plot that held all the stories together. I appreciated that the FMC was a little morally grey and wasn't afraid to do what she thought was necessary. I think my main complaint is that I wish there were more summer stories, because when I think of campgrounds I think of summer and there could have been more involving campers. I know this is part of a story series from reddit so it's possible there are more and I just haven't read them. But as it stands I still really enjoyed this read.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Really, really enjoyed this! I was a ‘creepypasta’ kid and this was right up my alley for my summerween reading this year. Each chapter introduced another one of the town’s abnormal and threatening entities— the format of how each chapter felt like another campfire story wrapped into the bigger picture plot was perfect for this type of creepy fiction. I can definitely tell it came from r/nosleep but as a reader of that sub I did not find that to be a bad thing whatsoever. Short and sweet and kept me reading quickly to see where these creatures and cast was going to take me.

Thank you to Saga Press and NetGalley for this ARC!

I went into this with an open mind. I quite enjoy some of the horror centered subreddits. I could show my age with some of them but.. I will decline to do that, haha.

However, with this being entered into the official publishing world, I did have higher expectations. I feel like ultimately this should have stayed a Reddit post.

This book overall relied on shock factor and unneeded violence. I didn’t really care about any of the characters, most notably the FMC being the hardest to connect with. While I enjoyed the premise, the execution was poorly done and I don’t really think much could be done to change this.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishing company for allowing me the opportunity to read this in advance.

This novel is a ghastly blast of terrifying things, a wicked sense of humor at times, and a fantastic protagonist.

Kate is the manager of a campground. It's been run by her family for generations. Every camper is given a set of rules to follow for their safety. Traditional outdoor safety stuff of course but then there are the demonic or supernatural threats. Like don't talk to the man with no shadow and do not follow the floating light, and don't buy ice from the children if they don't have a wagon. Breaking these rules is certain death. Yet some people don't take it seriously.

It's not only a campground but a sort of containment area for these monsters that keeps the surrounding town safe...until it doesn't.

In this case, the horrifying man with no shadow has been working on a plan to take control of the campground in order to feed uninhibited. Now it's up to Kate and her extended family to make sure that doesn't happen. But a lot of bodies and bloodshed makes this the fight of her life where eternity hangs in the balance.

This book gives us many great new monsters to be scared of. These are not taken from any folklore you might be familiar with. They're all unique and absolutely horrific.

Kate is tough, outspoken, and has faced monsters her whole life. But she's also murdered people before, brutally, because once a person is under control of these creatures it can't be undone and they need to be eliminated so they don't spread the evil to the outside. So Kate has blood on her hands though it gives her no joy.

As we learn about these monsters and the story about her family it lends itself to some darkly humorous interactions before they ultimately turn bloody.

This is a book you won't want to put down and I highly recommend it.

i just COULD NOT conenct with the FMC. she was on murder spree after murder spree, and not only did a lot of the murders seem to be not necessary, but she never faced consequences for doing so, really. the town gets mad, but doesn't do really anything ever. and there was NO NEED because if the land is transferred and no longer old land, the beasties which she's trying to stop go away anyway, so it felt a lot like main character syndrome at that point. in addition, even when she routinely does things wrong and gets attacked by fairy tale entities, some plot armor always saves her. she's been doing this for years, so why is so much going wrong?? the entities are cool, though.

this felt like at points it was trying to be like a darker Fablehaven-esque world, but the big flaw was i couldn't connect to the FMC and we got so little of most of the other characters that it was hard to connect with them too, although the other major ones, like the Man with the Skull Cup, the Old Sheriff, and the Lady with Extra Eyes, were quite promising, as were others like the Children, the Thing in the Dark....

2 stars. tysm for the arc.

Kate’s family campground has dark secrets. Beyond hosting campers, it also is home to a whole roster of dark supernatural creatures who are violent and dangerous. Kate’s family is in charge of keep the monsters bound inside to make sure the town is safe. She’s going to be tested to her limits as employees and family members start dying around her and she’s left to fight the darkest one of all.

Based off a Reddit story, How to Survive Camping is dark and full of folklore monsters. It’s definitely an odd and kooky story that will leave you scratching your head in some parts but it was just ok. It’s very campy (no pun intended) horror that is gory with humerous parts. It wasn’t really to my horror tastes but it might be to yours!

Thank you @netgalley and @sagapressbooks for the advanced copy.

2.5 stars

I was hesitant to pick up a book that so proudly advertises it was adapted from a Reddit story, but I figured there are good ideas out there and a professional publisher may well have polished it into a gem. But unfortunately, the story and characterization still read like unedited serial internet fiction. It’s not terrible, it’s just not to my taste.

I liked the idea of framing the story as an explanation of/story behind the “rules” of a haunted campground, but that device felt clunky, as though it was as much confining the writer’s storytelling as providing an ‘excuse’ for the writing. I don’t think in novel format the story needed to justify itself as much as it had as a Reddit post, and that need for justification held the story back. I’d have liked it better if Kate, the protagonist, spent more time on ‘normal’ (for haunted land) campground maintenance, instead of getting so quickly drawn into the mega-plot threat of the Man With No Shadow.

I felt ambivalent toward Kate as a character. As other commenters have said, she’s a morally grey asexual icon; however, I didn’t find her all that fun to hang out with. She constantly emphasizes the need for her campground rules and her lack of sympathy for those who court death by taking those rules lightly, but she herself routinely fumbles the ball dealing with the supernatural creatures that haunt her land, and only seems to survive due to the magic of plot convenience. She is routinely rescued by less-evil entities who seem meta-aware that they won’t get to feature in the story if they can’t keep the protagonist breathing for long enough to write about it. Her “morally grey” character also didn’t feel particularly well executed to me; her willingness to engage in violence against both ghouls and other humans who supposedly threaten her town seemed more designed to shock the reader than actually further the story or develop her character, which felt like a holdover from the original Reddit post format of the story.

I’m more into creeping dread than shock value horror, and so this book didn’t make much of an impact on me. It’s written in a way that makes it easy to read through quickly, but it lost my attention over time, and if Bonnie Quinn publishes more books in this world (as the book’s title and ending seem to tease) I will not be picking them up.

This is an odd book. It's got a fun writing style that's a little kooky, but straight to the point. However, I found the actual plot of the novel somewhat lacking in comparison to the world created

A quick, entertaining read. At first Kate serves as a narrator more than a character, but things pick up at the quarter mark and keep you hanging on through edge of your seat.

A quick, entertaining read. At first Kate serves as a narrator more than a character, but things pick up at the quarter mark and keep you hanging on through edge of your seat.

This book was a lot of fun! I initially thought it would be quite lighthearted and silly but it was genuinely scary! 😂 I am not the most enthusiastic camper and this book just sort of solidified that.

While it is scary and brutal at times, it is also funny. The cast of characters are all really well fleshed out and strangely believable.

This book began as a series of posts on r/nosleep and to the best of my understanding was compiled into this book. While there were moments where the story felt slightly disjointed because of this, it truly wasn’t that big of an issue for me!

This book releases early August and I definitely think it’s worth the read while it’s still summer and camping season! It is also the first in a quartett!

Stellar Halloween/Summerween read! It was spooky and supernatural! It sucked me right in and kept me hooked! The descriptions were amazingly done.

How to Survive Camping: The Man With No Shadow by Bonnie Quinn is a cozy horror novel that follows Kate, the owner of a peculiar campground. Sure there are the normal camp worries like weather but there are also things like Children with No Wagon and lights that try to lure you into the darkness that you have to be aware of. Kate has her hands full keeping the campground running smoothly!

This was delightfully strange and I enjoyed every page of it. It reminded me a lot of Welcome to Nightvale in the best way. There were so many odd things happening in every chapter and a lot of them were just normal to Kate.

I loved learning about all the folklore in this world. There were so many different unique creatures. Some were actually creepy!

I know there had to kind of be a plot but I wish there was more time spent on just learning about the campgrounds. Those were my favorite bits so I’m excited to see that this is a series so that I can read more about it!

This was a great outdoorsy horror read. As promised, I think it really nailed the campy (pun intended), cozy horror vibe. Kate was a great narrator — sarcastic, sharp, and extremely knowledgeable about the land and folklore. I loved all the different monsters in the campground, and the odd sort of community they created. The atmosphere was really well done and there was a great balance of creepy and fun.

This book was an absolute treat. It absolutely did cozy horror justice! Campground manager Kate is a wonderfully witty, sarcastic, and headstrong protagonist who's not afraid to get her hands dirty if it means protecting her campers. She also has a strange affinity with some of the non-human entities that inhabit the land—sometimes getting her into trouble, but also providing her with help in unexpected ways.

It was also a delight to piece lore together versus it being fed to us from the start. What happened to her family? What made the campgrounds so dangerous? And, most importantly, how could Kate put an end to something that was so ancient and unknown?

I didn't realize this was a series, and I'm so glad it is. I'll be reading the rest when I'm in need of more coziness and a dash of urban legends.

Perfect for fans of summer camp horror and Supernatural, How to Survive Camping: The Man with No Shadow is the perfect novel for a creepy summer - or summerween, if you prefer!

I read and loved 'Welcome to Night Vale,' so I was super excited to get my hands on this. If you love that unique atmosphere, you'll love this too. This was originally a NoSleep series on Reddit, but I never read it until now.

This story focuses on monsters, cyptids, the campground that houses them, and Kate, its caretaker. The writing was superb. The descriptions sucked me right in. And the characterization (human and non-human) was captivating.

Cool premise. Poor execution. It's hard to care about anything when you don't care about anyone. None of the characters stood out from the pages to me.

I had no idea The Man With No Shadow was originally a Reddit NoSleep series and part of the podcast. The whole book gave off strong Welcome to Night Vale vibes: eerie, weird, and a little off-kilter in the best way.

My favorite part by far was learning about all the different monsters. The folklore elements were so well done, and I loved how each creature had its own rules and place in the world. The author really nailed the world-building—there’s a whole ecosystem of strange beings and characters that kept me interested the whole time.

And honestly, this would make an amazing movie. It’s atmospheric, full of creepy visuals, and has that perfect mix of mystery and menace