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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
Battle royale at a wedding? Interesting.
Blood letting by a bewildering bride? Sign me up.
Armed explosive bracelets that detonate your limbs if you run out of bounds? Now we are talking!
A reception filled with various medieval weaponry for the guests' perusal? Hell yea, that should be standard at ALL weddings!
See how exciting all that sounds? The premise is intriguing. It lulls you with this siren call of gore, mystery, and controlled mayhem. Then, when you've settled in and made yourself at home within its' pages it hits you with the worse one-two punch of distilled mediocrity since "The Hunger Games".
It's like sitting down at a nice restaurant and ordering a loaded baked potato. You're expecting chives, cheese, and sour cream. Instead, you get a bland simmering pile of instant mashed potatoes. Weird processed taste and all.
The book doesn't have enough weight at its core. The characters are cutouts with little depth or feeling. The plot is predictable and feels mired down. Some concepts are never developed, and others should of seen less time in the limelight.
Is it a bad book? No. I've read much worse. It's serviceable in what it sets out to achieve, but that's the thing isn't it? I'll still remember the really bad books years from now. Maybe they were so bad they looped around to being good again. Maybe they had really big ambitions and missed the mark. Or maybe they just dropped the ball completely and it was like reading an ever growing train wreck of fiction. Nevertheless, they will be remembered.
Sadly, I can't say the same for "The Venue".
Blood letting by a bewildering bride? Sign me up.
Armed explosive bracelets that detonate your limbs if you run out of bounds? Now we are talking!
A reception filled with various medieval weaponry for the guests' perusal? Hell yea, that should be standard at ALL weddings!
See how exciting all that sounds? The premise is intriguing. It lulls you with this siren call of gore, mystery, and controlled mayhem. Then, when you've settled in and made yourself at home within its' pages it hits you with the worse one-two punch of distilled mediocrity since "The Hunger Games".
It's like sitting down at a nice restaurant and ordering a loaded baked potato. You're expecting chives, cheese, and sour cream. Instead, you get a bland simmering pile of instant mashed potatoes. Weird processed taste and all.
The book doesn't have enough weight at its core. The characters are cutouts with little depth or feeling. The plot is predictable and feels mired down. Some concepts are never developed, and others should of seen less time in the limelight.
Is it a bad book? No. I've read much worse. It's serviceable in what it sets out to achieve, but that's the thing isn't it? I'll still remember the really bad books years from now. Maybe they were so bad they looped around to being good again. Maybe they had really big ambitions and missed the mark. Or maybe they just dropped the ball completely and it was like reading an ever growing train wreck of fiction. Nevertheless, they will be remembered.
Sadly, I can't say the same for "The Venue".
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
I should start by saying that I did not read the whole book. I was really only interested in the wedding, so I read the prologue and then skipped to the battle royale part (around page 100 in the ebook- chapter 11, I think).
Now, I don't know what happens in the first 100 pages of the book, but I do know it has absolutely no bearing on what happens later because at no point did I ever feel lost or confused.
Anyways, so basically Caleb and Lilith get married and only invited people who had wronged them; that they deemed to be these horrible people. Then at the reception they announce the bracelets they were all (I'm guessing) forced to wear are actually bombs. All they have to do to survive the night is kill one person. Anyone who kills someone, will be allowed to leave through the Staff Only door; they'll live and be given a drug that wipes their memory of everything from the past 48 hours and they'll just think they were in a car accident.
There are cameras set up all over the Venue so the staff can monitor everything and so Caleb and Lilith can watch their guests kill each other from the TV in their bridal suite. The doors to the staff areas and to the guests' rooms are locked, but the exit door and all of the windows are open; mostly just to taunt the guests because if anyone goes outside, their bomb bracelet will be detonated. Now, the bomb doesn't actually kill them, it just blows their hand off and they slowly bleed to death. The Venue is on top of a mountain (I think) and miles from town, so anyone who does try to escape, would bleed out from their hand blowing off before they reached town.
If the battle royale portion of the book had been good, I would have given this book a high rating, even though I didn't read most of it. But, here's the thing: there is no battle royale. The guests don't kill each other. One of them accidentally kills a girl, but that is the only time any of the guests do any killing. Caleb and Lilith do all of the killing. Mostly Lilith. Lilith is angry that no one is killing each other, so she and Caleb stand on the balcony of the ballroom and start shooting the guests with arrows. This causes them to flee the ballroom. But, everyone just finds a place to hide and they just sit around hiding the whole time.
The book is mostly told from the POVs of Amy (the MC) and Caleb. Like I said, I didn't read the beginning of the book, but I'm guessing it was mostly just backstory and lead up; probably mostly centered on Amy so we'll sympathize with her and root for her. Personally, I thought Amy and her girlfriend were boring characters and I was not rooting for them.
For a book where the whole premise is that rich people rent out this Venue and hire this company/ staff so they can kill their guests and have their guests kill each other, there really wasn't much action in this. And there was absolutely no suspense. Once Amy and her parents and her girlfriend go into hiding, not much happens during Amy's POV sections. Even though Caleb and Lilith are doing most of the killing, during Caleb's POV, we're told about the killings after the fact. There are only a few times where we actually "see" a death happen and aren't just told about it afterwards.
Throughout all of this, Amy is wondering why she's here. I guess that's supposed to be the mystery: Why does Caleb hate Amy so much? What did she do to deserve this? Well, the reason why is the stupidest motive I've ever heard.
The only character I liked was Lilith. Even though she was a complete psychopath, she was the only interesting character. I did not care at all about the other characters.
Once it got near the end and everything was wrapping up, I skipped the rest of the book and went straight to the epilogue. I just absolutely did not care The epilogue was kind of promising.
I saw some reviews mention this would be better as movie than as a book, and I agree. Even though I was disappointed with the lack of action and suspense, if this were made in to a movie, I'd see it. This is somewhat similar to the movies Ready or Not and The Belko Experiment, but more watered down. And, unlike in those movies, in this book, the MC really doesn't do much.
Overall, I don't recommend this book. If you're looking for a suspenseful battle royale story, you're not gonna find it here. I recommend just reading the spoilers in my review and moving on to a different book or just watching Battle Royale, Ready or Not, or The Belko Experiment. This book had a good premise and a lot of potential, but was not executed well.
Now, I don't know what happens in the first 100 pages of the book, but I do know it has absolutely no bearing on what happens later because at no point did I ever feel lost or confused.
Anyways, so basically Caleb and Lilith get married and only invited people who had wronged them; that they deemed to be these horrible people. Then at the reception they announce the bracelets they were all (I'm guessing) forced to wear are actually bombs. All they have to do to survive the night is kill one person. Anyone who kills someone, will be allowed to leave through the Staff Only door; they'll live and be given a drug that wipes their memory of everything from the past 48 hours and they'll just think they were in a car accident.
There are cameras set up all over the Venue so the staff can monitor everything and so Caleb and Lilith can watch their guests kill each other from the TV in their bridal suite. The doors to the staff areas and to the guests' rooms are locked, but the exit door and all of the windows are open; mostly just to taunt the guests because if anyone goes outside, their bomb bracelet will be detonated. Now, the bomb doesn't actually kill them, it just blows their hand off and they slowly bleed to death. The Venue is on top of a mountain (I think) and miles from town, so anyone who does try to escape, would bleed out from their hand blowing off before they reached town.
If the battle royale portion of the book had been good, I would have given this book a high rating, even though I didn't read most of it. But, here's the thing: there is no battle royale. The guests don't kill each other. One of them accidentally kills a girl, but that is the only time any of the guests do any killing. Caleb and Lilith do all of the killing. Mostly Lilith. Lilith is angry that no one is killing each other, so she and Caleb stand on the balcony of the ballroom and start shooting the guests with arrows. This causes them to flee the ballroom. But, everyone just finds a place to hide and they just sit around hiding the whole time.
The book is mostly told from the POVs of Amy (the MC) and Caleb. Like I said, I didn't read the beginning of the book, but I'm guessing it was mostly just backstory and lead up; probably mostly centered on Amy so we'll sympathize with her and root for her. Personally, I thought Amy and her girlfriend were boring characters and I was not rooting for them.
For a book where the whole premise is that rich people rent out this Venue and hire this company/ staff so they can kill their guests and have their guests kill each other, there really wasn't much action in this. And there was absolutely no suspense. Once Amy and her parents and her girlfriend go into hiding, not much happens during Amy's POV sections. Even though Caleb and Lilith are doing most of the killing, during Caleb's POV, we're told about the killings after the fact. There are only a few times where we actually "see" a death happen and aren't just told about it afterwards.
Throughout all of this, Amy is wondering why she's here. I guess that's supposed to be the mystery: Why does Caleb hate Amy so much? What did she do to deserve this? Well, the reason why is the stupidest motive I've ever heard.
Spoiler
She did nothing. Amy and Caleb were best friends when they were kids, but in high school she became popular and he was a loser and they stopped being friends. He saw this as a betrayal, but still for some reason was in love with her. When they graduated high school, he had planned this road trip for the two of them to go on together to college (even though they weren't friends and hadn't really talked at all during high school), but when he told her parents, they said she couldn't go (I'm guessing that's why Caleb invited them to the wedding, as well). Later, he finds out that they let her go camping with some football player, but wouldn't let her go on a road trip with him. At this point in the confession/ explanation, Caleb goes off on the most stereotypical Nice Guy who has been "friendzoned" rant ever. He goes on and on about how he and Amy were meant to be together and no guy was ever good enough for her because no guy would ever be able to take care of her like he could or provide for her or love her like him; because he's just the smartest guy ever and every other guy is so dumb compared to him and the football player she went camping with was an idiot and a walking STD and blah, blah, blah. After he gets all that out, Amy tells him she's actually a lesbian and has been the whole time and she went camping with the football player because she wanted to hook up with his sister. And then Caleb's basically just like, "Oh, I guess this was just a misunderstanding. LOL." He has a moment where he starts to wonder how many other people were there over a misunderstanding based on a one- sided story, but he shakes that thought off and decides everyone still needs to die. Amy was able to get this confession out of Caleb after she and her dad tie him up and bring him into the chapel where the ceremony was held. After Caleb confesses, Lilith shows up and starts firing her arrows at Amy and her dad. She manages to kill Amy's dad, but Amy takes cover behind the podium. The only way out is through the door and Lilith is blocking her path. Lilith goes off about how she's basically jealous of Amy because Amy's just so pretty and so perfect and blah blah blah. Lilith gets Amy cornered and the only thing Amy can think of to do to save herself is to start tapping on one of the crystal candle holders, saying anytime someone taps on crystal in a wedding, the bride and groom have to kiss or they'll have bad luck in their marriage. And it actually fucking works. Lilith stops going after Amy and goes to kiss Caleb, allowing Amy to escape. It's so stupid. Especially since later on we find out that Lilith doesn't even really like Caleb; she only married him because she wanted to have a wedding at The Venue to watch the people she hates kill each other, but she couldn't afford it and he's rich, so he could. So, the fact that she went along with that wedding tradition and let Amy go is absurd.The only character I liked was Lilith. Even though she was a complete psychopath, she was the only interesting character. I did not care at all about the other characters.
Spoiler
To the point where when Amy managed to get to the control room and disable the bracelets and unlock the doors to turn the tables, I started skipping ahead again. I skipped to the next section told from the POV of Caleb so I could see how he and Lilith were reacting to the guests basically being free. I was hoping they'd go back out (they kept going back and forth between killing their guests and going back to their room to watch what was happening) and fight back and start killing more people. I think at some point there was a riot- like fight between the guests and the staff, but I didn't read that part. It's while they're watching all this play out, that Lilith tells Caleb that she never loved him and was only using him. When the guests come back to the ballroom after killing the staff, Lilith goes back out on the balcony of the ballroom and starts shooting them with her bow and arrow. Amy manages to use the staff only areas to sneak onto the balcony. Lilith goes after her, but before Lilith can kill Amy, Caleb kills Lilith. Now that Lilith isn't shooting at them, the rest of the guests get onto the balcony and kill Caleb.Once it got near the end and everything was wrapping up, I skipped the rest of the book and went straight to the epilogue. I just absolutely did not care
Spoiler
about Amy's happy ending with her girlfriend (who is the only one to survive having her hand blown off by the bomb bracelet because evidently only the main character and her family were smart enough to know to use a tourniquet).Spoiler
We find out this Venue is not the only one. This company (whoever they are- I don't know if we ever learn anything about the company that hosts these events) has a bunch of Venues in different locations. So, even though Amy and the other survivors manage to shut down that one particular Venue, it actually makes no difference. The company pays off the cops and locals so everyone just looks the other way and people can still rent out other Venues. This could easily be a series where each book is about a different group of people at different locations. It would certainly give the author a chance to write a more interesting version of this book. If the author does decide to make this a series of standalone books about different characters in different Venues, I'd read them. Well, I'd "read" them like I read this book- skipping around and only reading the interesting parts.I saw some reviews mention this would be better as movie than as a book, and I agree. Even though I was disappointed with the lack of action and suspense, if this were made in to a movie, I'd see it. This is somewhat similar to the movies Ready or Not and The Belko Experiment, but more watered down. And, unlike in those movies, in this book, the MC really doesn't do much.
Overall, I don't recommend this book. If you're looking for a suspenseful battle royale story, you're not gonna find it here. I recommend just reading the spoilers in my review and moving on to a different book or just watching Battle Royale, Ready or Not, or The Belko Experiment. This book had a good premise and a lot of potential, but was not executed well.
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
good book. i was really hooked and could not stop reading
This was a dark and twisted book about revenge, but what if the person exacting the revenge has it all wrong?
I mean, you have to be able to believe that a place like The Venue can exist first and foremost. If you can get past that, you will be in for a wild ride.
Imagine being invited to an all-inclusive wedding at a resort in the Alps, all expenses paid for you and a plus one, PLUS your parents because they know the groom, too. Sounds nice, right? What follows is anything but nice. You have been warned.
I mean, you have to be able to believe that a place like The Venue can exist first and foremost. If you can get past that, you will be in for a wild ride.
Imagine being invited to an all-inclusive wedding at a resort in the Alps, all expenses paid for you and a plus one, PLUS your parents because they know the groom, too. Sounds nice, right? What follows is anything but nice. You have been warned.
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No