By Mark Rodriguez
Back in the day, Scott Cawthon had no idea his indie game, Five Nights at Freddy's would become such a huge hit. After several games in the horror series, it was only a matter of time before there would be some sort of outside media besides the games. Cawthon caught his fans off guard with his announcement of a book based on the series, this time with a much more human element.
The Silver Eyes is much different from what one might expect based on playing the games. Rather than the book following the life of a security guard working at Freddy Fazbear's, this story centers around a group of friends who have heard of the mysterious murders concerning the pizzeria.
The story starts ten years after the mysterious child murders surrounding Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, which is located in Hurricane, Utah. This was also the nightmarish anniversary of when the main character Charlotte, lost her twin brother as he was abducted by a man dressed as one of the mascots. Charlie and her friends, John, Carlton, Jennifer, Marla and Jason reunite in Hurricane to honor the memory of one of their friends who was also a victim of the murders. As old friends get together, they begin to wonder whatever happened to the pizzeria of their childhood.
Charlotte has a more personal connection to all of this since her father was the creator of the animatronics, Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy had and also worked at Freddy's. Her life was surrounded by animatronics and springlocks as her father would show her his creations. However, due to the tragedy that followed, Henry would succumb to the grief and end his life, which added to Charlotte's horrible memories regarding the pizzeria.
Throughout the story the kids do find the old pizzeria, hidden within an abandoned mall and actually find the classic animatronics. One of the visits led to Carlton being abducted by what Jason described to being a 'yellow Bonnie' though the others never remembered such an animatronic. The crew is forced to return to Freddy's to rescue their friend where they discover that the animatronics are haunted and are out to kill. They also find out that Freddy's crew isn't the only danger that lurks within the remains of the infamous pizzeria.
My Opinions-
This was an interesting read, though I have to say it does have a bit of a slow start. We get to understand why the missing children incident hits Charlie at a much more personal level as she struggles to remember exactly what happened that fateful day. The book does take its time to establish the characters and to help us get to know them, but after a while you're wondering how much longer it will be until we actually see Freddy start moving around.
The kids actually visit the pizzeria several times, and other than a few things here and there when they thought they saw Foxy move or not, nothing major happens until sometime later.
One part of the book that bugged me was when Carlton was captured and the rest just left. They leave actually expecting him to somehow be back home. When he isn't home, his own father thinks Carlton is just playing a prank. Now granted, Carlton was described to be such a prankster he was even able to convince his school he had a twin brother, but this was still ridiculous. Carlton's mother said what most of us were thinking, that not even he would joke around about Freddy's given that he lost one of his friends there.
Once things get going though, the book does get pretty interesting. Charlie gets to visit the older restaurant, Fredbear Family Diner, we get to learn more about how spinglocks work, and the final chapters when Freddy and the gang finally start to move around is pretty worth it. The panic rises as the kids hide under tables as Freddy walks past, and Foxy is able to throw arcade machines as if they were nothing. Foxy even gets his hook bloody a few times, which does make things more intense. On the flip side though, unlike the games where the jumpscares are instant death, in the book the kids can actually run and hide from the possessed animatronics.
I do like the part where it's explained that it's been so long that all the possessed animatronics know is anger and a need for vengeance. They forgot who killed them by now and mostly lash out at adults, and while the main characters are youngsters, it's pointed out that they're now old enough to be considered adults before the bloodthirsty animatronics.
While the book takes place in another continuity, it does introduce some key things that would carry over in future games. Mostly how Henry was the one that built the classic animatronics, but also the identity of the child murderer, who was only known as The Purple Guy in the games.
Overall a decent read, though it's slow at the start. Once it starts to dig deeper into the lore and the crew has to return to rescue Carlton, it really picks up and it becomes a book that's hard to put down. If you have the patience to read through the first half, and are a fan of the games, give it a read.
Back in the day, Scott Cawthon had no idea his indie game, Five Nights at Freddy's would become such a huge hit. After several games in the horror series, it was only a matter of time before there would be some sort of outside media besides the games. Cawthon caught his fans off guard with his announcement of a book based on the series, this time with a much more human element.
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| This was the first cover before they decided to change it to match the cover style of the next 2 books. I was lucky enough to order this one online shortly after it was first released. |
The Silver Eyes is much different from what one might expect based on playing the games. Rather than the book following the life of a security guard working at Freddy Fazbear's, this story centers around a group of friends who have heard of the mysterious murders concerning the pizzeria.
The story starts ten years after the mysterious child murders surrounding Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, which is located in Hurricane, Utah. This was also the nightmarish anniversary of when the main character Charlotte, lost her twin brother as he was abducted by a man dressed as one of the mascots. Charlie and her friends, John, Carlton, Jennifer, Marla and Jason reunite in Hurricane to honor the memory of one of their friends who was also a victim of the murders. As old friends get together, they begin to wonder whatever happened to the pizzeria of their childhood.
Charlotte has a more personal connection to all of this since her father was the creator of the animatronics, Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy had and also worked at Freddy's. Her life was surrounded by animatronics and springlocks as her father would show her his creations. However, due to the tragedy that followed, Henry would succumb to the grief and end his life, which added to Charlotte's horrible memories regarding the pizzeria.
Throughout the story the kids do find the old pizzeria, hidden within an abandoned mall and actually find the classic animatronics. One of the visits led to Carlton being abducted by what Jason described to being a 'yellow Bonnie' though the others never remembered such an animatronic. The crew is forced to return to Freddy's to rescue their friend where they discover that the animatronics are haunted and are out to kill. They also find out that Freddy's crew isn't the only danger that lurks within the remains of the infamous pizzeria.
My Opinions-
This was an interesting read, though I have to say it does have a bit of a slow start. We get to understand why the missing children incident hits Charlie at a much more personal level as she struggles to remember exactly what happened that fateful day. The book does take its time to establish the characters and to help us get to know them, but after a while you're wondering how much longer it will be until we actually see Freddy start moving around.
The kids actually visit the pizzeria several times, and other than a few things here and there when they thought they saw Foxy move or not, nothing major happens until sometime later.
One part of the book that bugged me was when Carlton was captured and the rest just left. They leave actually expecting him to somehow be back home. When he isn't home, his own father thinks Carlton is just playing a prank. Now granted, Carlton was described to be such a prankster he was even able to convince his school he had a twin brother, but this was still ridiculous. Carlton's mother said what most of us were thinking, that not even he would joke around about Freddy's given that he lost one of his friends there.
Once things get going though, the book does get pretty interesting. Charlie gets to visit the older restaurant, Fredbear Family Diner, we get to learn more about how spinglocks work, and the final chapters when Freddy and the gang finally start to move around is pretty worth it. The panic rises as the kids hide under tables as Freddy walks past, and Foxy is able to throw arcade machines as if they were nothing. Foxy even gets his hook bloody a few times, which does make things more intense. On the flip side though, unlike the games where the jumpscares are instant death, in the book the kids can actually run and hide from the possessed animatronics.
I do like the part where it's explained that it's been so long that all the possessed animatronics know is anger and a need for vengeance. They forgot who killed them by now and mostly lash out at adults, and while the main characters are youngsters, it's pointed out that they're now old enough to be considered adults before the bloodthirsty animatronics.
While the book takes place in another continuity, it does introduce some key things that would carry over in future games. Mostly how Henry was the one that built the classic animatronics, but also the identity of the child murderer, who was only known as The Purple Guy in the games.
Overall a decent read, though it's slow at the start. Once it starts to dig deeper into the lore and the crew has to return to rescue Carlton, it really picks up and it becomes a book that's hard to put down. If you have the patience to read through the first half, and are a fan of the games, give it a read.
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