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kgaitzimeo22's review
3.0
2.75 stars?
This book has a fantastic opening scene that definitely drew me into the story. It started strong and remained gruesome and tense. But I felt like the consensual sex scenes were unrealistic and rushed and it was weird.
This book has a fantastic opening scene that definitely drew me into the story. It started strong and remained gruesome and tense. But I felt like the consensual sex scenes were unrealistic and rushed and it was weird.
Spoiler
The dad getting into rape and murder so quickly was .... I'd like to think unbelievable but maybe not.. I definitely didn't believe the chick fell in love with one of the people who initially captured her. Within like 24 hours no less. Beyond those things I did enjoy the read!pgdk's review
2.0
I started this book expecting a gross-out, mind-fluffy, fast-paced read. In the end all three boxes were ticked but ultimately the book was little more than the sum of its parts. I thought the characters were so thinly drawn as to approach no-dimensional, as oppose to two, which would have at least been something . The characters motivations were also fairly thinly sketched and not at all believable . I would say you couldn't make this stuff up, but this book exists, so...
In terms of scare factor, this book didn't really meet the mark for me either. Aside from a couple of genuinely horrific scenes I found the rest of the book to be pretty tame. I also found that I didn't care if a character died, because they were so poorly drawn.
In terms of positive aspects of the book, two of the female characters give the reader a glimpse into the lives of the people who dwell in the town, which ended up being more enjoyable than the action in the woods! Scenes particularly involving the younger of the two, while completely ridiculous, were nonetheless highly entertaining.
All in all, an occasionally entertaining, but ultimately unfulfilling, ride with precious few scares but plenty in terms of gross-out imagery and gore.
Read this if: You want a fast-paced, easy read, which has mild scares, some gross-out moments, but aren't looking for anything that remotely makes sense.
Spoiler
(sexy girls, virginal daughter-type, male rescuer, cannon-fodder family, etc - yawn!)Spoiler
(guy who has been sacrificing outsiders to forest monsters all of a sudden decides to jeopardise his and his families lives, because he thinks a girl is hot)In terms of scare factor, this book didn't really meet the mark for me either. Aside from a couple of genuinely horrific scenes I found the rest of the book to be pretty tame. I also found that I didn't care if a character died, because they were so poorly drawn.
In terms of positive aspects of the book, two of the female characters give the reader a glimpse into the lives of the people who dwell in the town, which ended up being more enjoyable than the action in the woods! Scenes particularly involving the younger of the two, while completely ridiculous, were nonetheless highly entertaining.
All in all, an occasionally entertaining, but ultimately unfulfilling, ride with precious few scares but plenty in terms of gross-out imagery and gore.
Read this if: You want a fast-paced, easy read, which has mild scares, some gross-out moments, but aren't looking for anything that remotely makes sense.
ladiicatherine's review against another edition
3.0
I have absolutely no idea what I just read.
I am partly fascinated. Partly appalled.
I will give Richard Laymon one thing - he definitely had his own style and followed his own rules.
I have no idea what to say! Part of me wanted to like it, yes, but the other part of me thinks this novel is completely inappropriate in so many ways and on so many levels. I just don't know what to say about it.
The town of Barlow has been plagued by a group of savages (??) that live in the surrounding wooded area. They have lived their for hundreds of years. Killers. Cannibals. Inbreeding so often that some of this group have become terribly deformed. To preserve their own families, the people of Barlow have been sacrificing strangers to the people in the forest. The Krulls. One night a group of strangers, who have been snatched from their lives trying to make it through town, decide to fight back.
I swear I have heard Laymon mention the Krulls in another book I read sometime at the end of the last year. I might be mistaken. If I'm not, it's interesting that he would bring up the same concept in two different books!
So, this is not safe for work. Please, keep this one at home and definitely don't read this if you're easily offended by a multitude of violent, disgusting situations.
I just don't know with this author anymore....
I am partly fascinated. Partly appalled.
I will give Richard Laymon one thing - he definitely had his own style and followed his own rules.
I have no idea what to say! Part of me wanted to like it, yes, but the other part of me thinks this novel is completely inappropriate in so many ways and on so many levels. I just don't know what to say about it.
The town of Barlow has been plagued by a group of savages (??) that live in the surrounding wooded area. They have lived their for hundreds of years. Killers. Cannibals. Inbreeding so often that some of this group have become terribly deformed. To preserve their own families, the people of Barlow have been sacrificing strangers to the people in the forest. The Krulls. One night a group of strangers, who have been snatched from their lives trying to make it through town, decide to fight back.
I swear I have heard Laymon mention the Krulls in another book I read sometime at the end of the last year. I might be mistaken. If I'm not, it's interesting that he would bring up the same concept in two different books!
So, this is not safe for work. Please, keep this one at home and definitely don't read this if you're easily offended by a multitude of violent, disgusting situations.
I just don't know with this author anymore....
binarybabe28's review against another edition
4.0
This book was fast moving and pretty sickening, like everything he writes. He has this incredible talent for starting a book with a handful of 'innocent' characters that are exposed so strange atrocities and traumas, only to get in touch with their own sickening perversions. It reminds me that not everyone knows the evil they're capable of until they are given an opportunity.
I'm so sad that Laymon has passed and there's limited material to read... he was fantastic.
I'm so sad that Laymon has passed and there's limited material to read... he was fantastic.
noel0003's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars
Hmmm. This was kinda ridiculous. Good ridiculous in some ways, bad ridiculous in others. I've been excited to read Richard Laymon for awhile, so this was disappointing. Perhaps I would have liked this more if it wasn't my first Laymon book.
Hmmm. This was kinda ridiculous. Good ridiculous in some ways, bad ridiculous in others. I've been excited to read Richard Laymon for awhile, so this was disappointing. Perhaps I would have liked this more if it wasn't my first Laymon book.
booksandbrews's review against another edition
2.0
This book had some really spooky parts — especially when the cannibalism starts. The villains in this book are awful, but some of the people we’re meant to be rooting for are even worse. Lander is awful and probably always has been. I’m not sure Laymon was thinking of anything’s besides boobs and nipples the entire time he was writing. The amount of unnecessary boob noticing and attention to nipples is baffling. Dude had a fixation.
fantasyobsessed13's review
3.0
3.5 stars
I enjoyed this one quite a bit. The ending was a bit too open-ended for my liking and I felt things weren't necessary revealed in the way I would have hoped.
I enjoyed this one quite a bit. The ending was a bit too open-ended for my liking and I felt things weren't necessary revealed in the way I would have hoped.
josh_caporale's review against another edition
3.0
It just so happens that, like Stephen King and James Patterson, Richard Laymon would have been 70 years of age this year as well, for he was born on January 14, 1947. It was a shame that his life was cut short due to his death in 2001, but he continues to live on as an underrated horror fiction writer. Should I mention that his writing was twisted as well? Twisted in horror, though, tends to be a good thing. As far as The Woods Are Dark is concerned, this was a novel that really put an emphasis on being twisted. This particular version, which was released by Leisure/Dorchester Publishing in 2008, was an uncut and restored version of the original 1981 release from Warner Publishing that edited the story down to such a point that it took away from Laymon's original intent. Not only was Laymon not satisfied, but it did not receive a great reception so much so that Laymon's impression soured in the United States. He did, however, get a good response in the United Kingdom and in much of Europe, as well as in Australia and New Zealand. His impression has picked up among some horror fans, though, as well as horror writers like Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Bentley Little, Jack Ketchum, and many others. This version was compiled by his daughter, Kelly, who introduced the novel and then presented us with this finished product. In the methodology of the great Neil Armstrong, This is a small step for a horror novel and a giant leap for horror fiction as a genre.
The Woods Are Dark tells the story of two friends and a family taking separate trips to the same camping town. The friends, Neala and Sherri, are looking to go hiking, while the Dills family, Lander (husband), Ruth (wife), Cordelia (Lander and Ruth's daughter), and Ben (Cordelia's boyfriend) are looking to go camping. While they are there, they are kidnapped and driven into a great deal of horrors, operated by monstrous tribes that are hungry for human flesh. This novel is filled with a great deal of twists and turns, both in each of these character's lives and within the minds of each of these characters. Giving too much away would not be desirable.
This novel is clearly not for everyone. There is a great deal of blood, gore, graphic images, detached body parts, nudity, rape, and other sickening images, but the sickening images are viewed in a negative light and the characters do what they can to fight against them. I also feel that some of the descriptions about women are a bit sketchy in this novel, for I am not sure how many women are thinking heavily about the feeling their nipples have when pressed against their shirt. I do, however, like the fact that Laymon is able to keep my attention with his short, but gripping chapters, horrific images with characters you have enough of an acquaintance with, and the feeling you get with burgers and fries, where you just have that urge to indulge to one of his novels, even if it is a light work from a given genre.
A sense of human nature kicks into these characters, when the separate from one another and would ultimately do anything they can to keep themselves safe and then their loved ones safe. Acquaintances and strangers, no matter how innocent, become a low priority, and this is something to look out for within the text. As for whether or not a sense of human nature leads to having sex during a time of crisis: I am not sure if this is an actual desire or a desire of the author's. Unnecessary sex scenes are a turn off of mine.
I thought this was an okay novel that I think did a good job keeping me entertained and had some creepy, scary elements. It definitely has a limited audience and while there are moments where I would urge people to give horror novels, with or without strange elements, a chance, I could understand if people would rather skip this one.
You can find a video review that I did for this book on Literary Gladiators here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lJEn9joFaQ
The Woods Are Dark tells the story of two friends and a family taking separate trips to the same camping town. The friends, Neala and Sherri, are looking to go hiking, while the Dills family, Lander (husband), Ruth (wife), Cordelia (Lander and Ruth's daughter), and Ben (Cordelia's boyfriend) are looking to go camping. While they are there, they are kidnapped and driven into a great deal of horrors, operated by monstrous tribes that are hungry for human flesh. This novel is filled with a great deal of twists and turns, both in each of these character's lives and within the minds of each of these characters. Giving too much away would not be desirable.
This novel is clearly not for everyone. There is a great deal of blood, gore, graphic images, detached body parts, nudity, rape, and other sickening images, but the sickening images are viewed in a negative light and the characters do what they can to fight against them. I also feel that some of the descriptions about women are a bit sketchy in this novel, for I am not sure how many women are thinking heavily about the feeling their nipples have when pressed against their shirt. I do, however, like the fact that Laymon is able to keep my attention with his short, but gripping chapters, horrific images with characters you have enough of an acquaintance with, and the feeling you get with burgers and fries, where you just have that urge to indulge to one of his novels, even if it is a light work from a given genre.
A sense of human nature kicks into these characters, when the separate from one another and would ultimately do anything they can to keep themselves safe and then their loved ones safe. Acquaintances and strangers, no matter how innocent, become a low priority, and this is something to look out for within the text. As for whether or not a sense of human nature leads to having sex during a time of crisis: I am not sure if this is an actual desire or a desire of the author's. Unnecessary sex scenes are a turn off of mine.
I thought this was an okay novel that I think did a good job keeping me entertained and had some creepy, scary elements. It definitely has a limited audience and while there are moments where I would urge people to give horror novels, with or without strange elements, a chance, I could understand if people would rather skip this one.
You can find a video review that I did for this book on Literary Gladiators here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lJEn9joFaQ
bookhangoverz's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Gosh dammit, man!!!!
I am so relieved now that it’s over and done with!!! I wanted so badly to DNF this book and launch it out the window.
I am not familiar with Laymon’s writing but I do know that he is known for writing splatterpunk horror..... which I do enjoy.
When it comes to Horror, sometimes I want to read something more extreme.... Put away the PG13 horror and give me something rated R.
The Woods Are Dark was definitely EXTREME.... but not the kind of extreme I was looking for.
Everything about this book was vile!
I didn’t really mind the gory details. What made me cringe was the excessive amount of graphic, sexual violence and abuse. The entire book was littered with it.
I’ve never wanted to DNF a book so damn bad like I did this one. But I hate not finishing a book and so, I carried on (in absolute disgust).
I’m hoping that not all of Laymon’s books are like this one because I’d love to give him another chance.
Til then, I’m off to cleanse my soul by reading a different book. (A book that is not by Richard Laymon)
I am so relieved now that it’s over and done with!!! I wanted so badly to DNF this book and launch it out the window.
I am not familiar with Laymon’s writing but I do know that he is known for writing splatterpunk horror..... which I do enjoy.
When it comes to Horror, sometimes I want to read something more extreme.... Put away the PG13 horror and give me something rated R.
The Woods Are Dark was definitely EXTREME.... but not the kind of extreme I was looking for.
Everything about this book was vile!
I didn’t really mind the gory details. What made me cringe was the excessive amount of graphic, sexual violence and abuse. The entire book was littered with it.
I’ve never wanted to DNF a book so damn bad like I did this one. But I hate not finishing a book and so, I carried on (in absolute disgust).
I’m hoping that not all of Laymon’s books are like this one because I’d love to give him another chance.
Til then, I’m off to cleanse my soul by reading a different book. (A book that is not by Richard Laymon)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Torture, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Rape, Murder, Violence, and Gore
theatricalreader's review against another edition
This is a thing that was read and I’m not sure how to feel about it.
Also, I’m not sure if this happened in the book but in the audiobook, there were a few scenes that were repeated?
One thing, the writing was VERY easy to read but the sentences were a bit choppy.
Also, I’m not sure if this happened in the book but in the audiobook, there were a few scenes that were repeated?
One thing, the writing was VERY easy to read but the sentences were a bit choppy.