Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven

17 reviews

exlibrisphoebe's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Body horror, Gore, Murder, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Confinement, Medical content, Physical abuse, Torture, and Cursing

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Drug use, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Grief, Sexual content, Animal death, and Suicidal thoughts

dezaraemd's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Body horror, Colonisation, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Physical abuse

Moderate: War, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Misogyny, Stalking, and Sexual content

itsjustgrumpy's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Wow. Dark, painful and intense. A venture into the depravity that lies just under the surface of humanity, and can be drawn out when there's the temptation of getting away with it. Only slight downside is the sheer number of names that are used for repeating characters. Absolutely LOVED this read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Body horror, Gun violence, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Medical trauma, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Abandonment and Vomit

Minor: Suicide, War, Torture, Cannibalism, Drug use, Violence, Animal cruelty, Rape, and Animal death

paigie_pie's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Confinement, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Kidnapping, Cursing, Excrement, and Vomit

Minor: Grief, Medical content, Cannibalism, and Drug use

rebeccaelizabeth94's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Confinement, Death, Grief, Blood, Body horror, Medical content, and Gore

cassie_04's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Violence, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Cursing, Rape, Drug abuse, Medical content, Sexual content, Misogyny, Blood, Drug use, Vomit, Body horror, Cannibalism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Gore, Gun violence, and Torture

blymanor's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Intriguing. Great world-building! The technology aspect of the book was a bit weak and I feel it could have been cut out without affecting the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Physical abuse, Bullying, Death, Gore, Confinement, Gun violence, Stalking, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Cannibalism, Drug use, and Alcohol

Minor: Medical content, Infidelity, Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Police brutality, and Rape

rumblebree's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, Gore, Physical abuse, Body horror, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death, and Violence

ramreadsagain's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I'm so glad I decided to listen to the audiobook version of this as I really don't think it would have hit the same if I was just reading it. The two (!!) narrators do an amazing job of bringing about 20 different people to life in unique ways. The interview-style format is also particularly well-suited to an audiobook.

This book is Lord of the Flies on steroids, brutal, gory, and a tough listen at times. The author has done a fantastic job with the writing and the way the interview style can reveal information slowly while also showing you events from different perspectives. I can't talk about much without spoilers but I really recommend it if you think you can stomach it.

Some spoiler discussion under the cut.

One aspect I loved was the whole unreliable narrator thing which becomes more and more clear as you get further through the book, and towards the end you truly realise that there is no way of knowing what actually happened. On the one hand, people may (intentionally or otherwise) exaggerate what they saw and especially heard, but on the other, these are traumatised people who committed crimes and may not want to be fully honest about what they did. 

I would have liked another interview from a Pirate, as I feel the stupid kid didn't quite provide enough information about what was going on, and couldn't possibly be a complete representation of every member. However, I still think the author did a great job especially with the interview with the Pirate leader (I've forgotten his name lol) in portraying how groupthink and cultish behaviour can happen very quickly under dramatic circumstances.

My main criticisms are minor but: (1) I feel like extreme violence occured a bit too soon, (2) the (male) author tried to dance around the subject of rape (which would have been widespread had these events actually occured) with some throwaway lines about why it wasn't happening (though, again, unreliable narrators), and (3) there was a bit of a 'phones bad' thing going on which wasn't explored beyond that. Yes, 'phones bad', but there is more to it than that and you need to explore it for me to enjoy it as a narrative trope.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Torture, and Murder

Minor: Cannibalism, Gun violence, and Medical content

sharkysheets's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Lord of the flies in an amusement park during a hurricane

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Torture, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence