Severed: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow by Dax Varley

Severed: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow by Dax Varley

Katrina’s still haunted by her encounter with the Headless Horseman – the night he beckoned to her. Now he has risen again, slashing heads and terrorizing the quiet countryside.

Her only joy during this dismal darkness comes when Ichabod Crane, a gorgeous young man from Connecticut, moves to Sleepy Hollow and their attraction turns to romance.

When the Horseman marks Ichabod as his next victim, Katrina, despite dangerous efforts to save him, sees no other choice than for them to flee.

But the Horseman awaits. Now it’s up to her to sever the horror and alter the Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For about the first third or so of this book, I wasn’t quite sure what to think. I wasn’t certain if the author was simply retelling the story of the original Sleepy Hollow or if it was going to be a years later kind of scenario. It all begins to make sense later on, and I was thrilled with this story by the half-way mark.

One thing that impressed me with this telling, is that the author managed to retain the spooky feeling of the original story, but veer it off the expected path and make you solve a mystery during the course of her tale.

The dialogue was good and appropriate for the time period the book was set in. I though Katrina’s voice (the narrator) managed to reveal her innocence and curiosity while still allowing her to display her determination to make things right and stop the horror her village was experiencing.

The love story is not entirely unpredictable, but the cause of tension between the characters was unique. I enjoyed watching this story unfold and learning more about the setting, the characters and the events the author described. In the end, there were still surprises to be had.

I did find a few mistakes, including a wrong word form, but I am going to assume these things have been fixed since I was reading a galley copy.

Overall, this was a quickly paced book with a lot happening in it and an exciting ending. I would recommend this to those who enjoyed the original book and those who like a bit of mystery.

This review is based on a digital ARC from Netgalley and the publisher.