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3.32 AVERAGE
3.32 AVERAGE
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
2.5 ⭐ Saw for kids
Trigger Warnings: SA, Gore, Violence, Animal Cruelty, Child Death, Torture, Incest, Emotional Abuse, Kidnapping.
Honestly I don't know if I got all the trigger warnings or not but those were the ones that pop up in my head. There is a warning at the beginning that states " This book contains scenes and subject matter that are disgusting and disturbing;easily offended people are not the intended audience" and that really does sum up the book.
Summary
Three families are tricked into testing a new playground by generous millionaire, Geraldine. Under the ruse of it being for charity the families agree and go to Geraldine's estate to test try the playground. While it starts off normal, very quickly the families realize it's not what it seems.
SPOILERS AHEAD
My Thoughts
This book was my introduction into Splatterpunk Horror. For those that are new to Splatterpunk like I am it's a genre that's characterized by graphic gory depictions of violence which is exactly what this book was so I wasn't surprised by that.
To me the violence enacted on the parents/children wasn't the most disturbing part. The first 100 pages were the most disturbing with the description of the antagonist and why she is how she is and what she has done. The way her mind is all fucked up and disturbed was what got to me the most. Mostly because i was expecting saw like things to happen to the children so it felt predictable, but what went on in Geraldine's mind was not at all predictable.
Things I liked
Just look at the cover! It is truly captivating. It feels odd to use that word with the subject matter but it grabs your attention from the beginning it was hard to put down because you want to know what's going to happen next even though you do have a sense of what's going to happen.
The premise is a parents worst nightmare, they drop off their kids at the playground and go into a viewing room where they're immediately strapped down and forced to watch their kids go thru torturous games just to see their kids die a horrific death. So you go in thinking you feel bad for the parents but in a good twist you start to hate one of the parents, Greg. I won't say more to this guy you cheer for his death to come.
In the same twist of wanting to see Greg dead, when following the children thru an array of horrific playground themed torture devices you start rooting for the end of one of the children. The way the author made me connect to the kids was great!
One of the characters that starts off as an antagonist becomes a hero in the end. Rock, truly pulled thru and gave a good and deserving ending to this book.
The depictions of death were described in a way that you can visualise it as it's happening.
Things I Didn't Like
The writing style. While some aspects of the were good ie the death depictions it overall felt like basic writing. The antagonists were written so cartoonish their were so 2D. Like Geraldine she was just gross, what could be compelling content was wasted and came off as weird fetish content. Within the first 100 pages Geraldine gave her same villain monologue so many times.
Then we had the second antagonist, Dr. Fuchs, a Nazi scientist. COME ONE. All he does is be there , we're told he was the architect to the terrible playgrounds. He speaks in a generic german accent lots off "Zhes".
There were times I was laughing and I couldn't tell if the writing was supposed to be satirical. There was excessive metaphors, so much alliteration. Also the excessive use of adjectives. It was a cringy read at times just because of the writing style. It's like you have a teen a thesaurus.
Conclusion
A one time read. I don't see myself ever reading this book again. I saw the hype around it and gave it a try and was overall meh about it. If you can get passed the trigger warnings yea give it a read but if you don't read it don't worry you're not missing out on a literary masterpiece.
I will give other Splatterpunk books a try so this at least gave me an introduction, not a great one but an introduction none the less. I want to see how other Splatterpunk books are.
Trigger Warnings: SA, Gore, Violence, Animal Cruelty, Child Death, Torture, Incest, Emotional Abuse, Kidnapping.
Honestly I don't know if I got all the trigger warnings or not but those were the ones that pop up in my head. There is a warning at the beginning that states " This book contains scenes and subject matter that are disgusting and disturbing;easily offended people are not the intended audience" and that really does sum up the book.
Summary
Three families are tricked into testing a new playground by generous millionaire, Geraldine. Under the ruse of it being for charity the families agree and go to Geraldine's estate to test try the playground. While it starts off normal, very quickly the families realize it's not what it seems.
SPOILERS AHEAD
My Thoughts
This book was my introduction into Splatterpunk Horror. For those that are new to Splatterpunk like I am it's a genre that's characterized by graphic gory depictions of violence which is exactly what this book was so I wasn't surprised by that.
To me the violence enacted on the parents/children wasn't the most disturbing part. The first 100 pages were the most disturbing with the description of the antagonist and why she is how she is and what she has done. The way her mind is all fucked up and disturbed was what got to me the most. Mostly because i was expecting saw like things to happen to the children so it felt predictable, but what went on in Geraldine's mind was not at all predictable.
Things I liked
Just look at the cover! It is truly captivating. It feels odd to use that word with the subject matter but it grabs your attention from the beginning it was hard to put down because you want to know what's going to happen next even though you do have a sense of what's going to happen.
The premise is a parents worst nightmare, they drop off their kids at the playground and go into a viewing room where they're immediately strapped down and forced to watch their kids go thru torturous games just to see their kids die a horrific death. So you go in thinking you feel bad for the parents but in a good twist you start to hate one of the parents, Greg. I won't say more to this guy you cheer for his death to come.
In the same twist of wanting to see Greg dead, when following the children thru an array of horrific playground themed torture devices you start rooting for the end of one of the children. The way the author made me connect to the kids was great!
One of the characters that starts off as an antagonist becomes a hero in the end. Rock, truly pulled thru and gave a good and deserving ending to this book.
The depictions of death were described in a way that you can visualise it as it's happening.
Things I Didn't Like
The writing style. While some aspects of the were good ie the death depictions it overall felt like basic writing. The antagonists were written so cartoonish their were so 2D. Like Geraldine she was just gross, what could be compelling content was wasted and came off as weird fetish content. Within the first 100 pages Geraldine gave her same villain monologue so many times.
Then we had the second antagonist, Dr. Fuchs, a Nazi scientist. COME ONE. All he does is be there , we're told he was the architect to the terrible playgrounds. He speaks in a generic german accent lots off "Zhes".
There were times I was laughing and I couldn't tell if the writing was supposed to be satirical. There was excessive metaphors, so much alliteration. Also the excessive use of adjectives. It was a cringy read at times just because of the writing style. It's like you have a teen a thesaurus.
Conclusion
A one time read. I don't see myself ever reading this book again. I saw the hype around it and gave it a try and was overall meh about it. If you can get passed the trigger warnings yea give it a read but if you don't read it don't worry you're not missing out on a literary masterpiece.
I will give other Splatterpunk books a try so this at least gave me an introduction, not a great one but an introduction none the less. I want to see how other Splatterpunk books are.
No where near as bad as other reviews make it out to be. I’m just glad it wasn’t me in this situation because I 100% would not have survived past the very first test
I don't understand the reviews being absolutely disgusted by this book. It is very clearly meant to be a disturbing, splatterpunk, gorefest of a novel which involves kids...just look at the cover.
I preferred the story over the Slobs. It's more "fleshed out" for lack of a better phrase.
I just wished the writing was better. The constant alliteration annoyed the life out of me and the author needs limited access to a thesaurus. Some of the descriptions were unnecessary and just made me laugh as they were so ridiculous.
I preferred the story over the Slobs. It's more "fleshed out" for lack of a better phrase.
I just wished the writing was better. The constant alliteration annoyed the life out of me and the author needs limited access to a thesaurus. Some of the descriptions were unnecessary and just made me laugh as they were so ridiculous.
I don’t think there’s a worse book out there. This man needs to be put on a watchlist.
Don't even get me started on someone using the corpse of a child to skateboard down a slide.
I was hoping to enjoy this book considering I was looking for something a little more horrific to read, but I was severely disappointed and overall I thought the author's writing wasn't great.
I would like to try another of Aron's books, but I'm not sure I have the mental capacity to read more from him.
I would like to try another of Aron's books, but I'm not sure I have the mental capacity to read more from him.
Hmm. Definitely not as bad as The Slob books, but it was more gory. The story was quite good as well.
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes