Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - FantasticLand

Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven

12 reviews

skillwithaquill's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

A brutal tale told through “interviews” with a “reporter”, a creative choice that made each chapter a little mystery. Many unreliable narrators & their shifting perspectives kept me invested & intrigued the whole read. The gore is definitely present, but not overdone or used for cheap shock value.

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helenastinks's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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sharkysheets's review against another edition

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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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delekelll's review against another edition

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4.0

Really quite good. Disturbing. Gory. Unsettling, if you're into that sort of thing. These teenagers act in enraging ways. I guess if I was there I would have to suck it up. I wonder what this author thinks about Lord of the Flies

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its_van_vulpen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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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bookishloz's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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catsy2022's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

2.5

Rating: B-

Fantasticland is a retrospective fictional horror novel presented as a series of interviews by Adam Jakes, a reporter doing a piece on the fiasco that was Fantasticland. During the late 2010s, Fantasticland, a theme park built in Florida in the 1970s, was hit by Hurricane Sadie and isolated from rescue services, who deemed the park livable due to the supplies that were reported to be in the park.

I think this book is probably best digested as audio, due to the formatting of the story. It unravels through successive interviews from people who were outside the park to those on the edge inside and then finally with the leaders of each faction in the park. I personally found the book a bit of a slog to get through and I think the structure might have been better if we worked backwards from inside the park to outside, rather than hearing the same story over and over again from the interviewees.

I wasn't particularly shocked or moved by the story, but I found the speed at which people resorted to violence a bit unbelievable, especially when the overall message of the book is that modern people can't cope without social media. (So they turn to violence and tribalism.)

It was fine to read, I would probably only recommend it if you wanted to read another book like World War Z, and if it was real, you'd probably hear about it on a true crime podcast.

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