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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
Author Jonathan Janz does several things immaculately well in Savage Species, primarily crafting high-octane action sequences and creating antagonists that you can easily hate in the span of only a few short paragraphs.
One such character is Eric, the emotionally abusive husband of Charly (one of the book’s lead females). Eric is a massive d-bag, a power-hungry control freak who shirks his duties as a husband and father, and is quick to point the finger and blame everyone else. Immediately upon confronting this character in the novel’s early goings, I longed for Janz to violently dispatch him – only problem was, there were a few hundred more pages to go! I just kept waiting and waiting for this jackass to bite it.
The protagonists are your usual every-man crowd – a housewife, a trio of reporters, some frat boys out to party in the newly opened nature preserve, and Frank Red Elk, who knows more about the history and local legends than anyone else. He also knows a hell of a lot about soft-core porn, and one must wonder just how much grueling research Janz was forced to partake in to pull off this character and his many film and actress references.
The action is a thrilling roller-coaster ride through bloody stretches of monster mayhem. The initial assault of Janz’s creatures, known as The Children, is a violent, adrenaline fueled sequence of pure chaos as these beasts lay siege to the preserve and furiously interrupt a college co-ed summer party. What would have been a hell of an exciting climax in virtually any other creature-feature is merely the starting point for Janz, who manages to escalate the threats and tension thereafter rather well.
If I must lodge a complaint, and it’s a mild one mind you, at certain points the violence took on a video-game like quality as things grew wildly frenetic. These long stretches of violence go on slightly too long and the thrills wear into sheer exhaustion. Perhaps this an appropriate feeling as a reader, as it certainly mimics what the characters must be feeling as they battle for survival. However, I couldn’t help but feel a bit of tightening to these scenes would have gone a long way. I also couldn’t help but feel that the unrelenting violence led to a mid-book slump when things slowed way down for an extended period to allow characters to regroup and launch into the story’s latter half. Naturally, events pick up accordingly as Janz rockets towards the big finish.
Overall, Savage Species delivered the goods. It was exciting, fast-paced, humorous at times, and even came with a dash of romance and love triangles to give a bit of weight to the savagery.
Pro-tip: Be sure to check out Janz’s latest, [b:Children of the Dark|28963838|Children of the Dark|Jonathan Janz|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1454965669s/28963838.jpg|49191503], a prequel of sorts to Savage Species.
One such character is Eric, the emotionally abusive husband of Charly (one of the book’s lead females). Eric is a massive d-bag, a power-hungry control freak who shirks his duties as a husband and father, and is quick to point the finger and blame everyone else. Immediately upon confronting this character in the novel’s early goings, I longed for Janz to violently dispatch him – only problem was, there were a few hundred more pages to go! I just kept waiting and waiting for this jackass to bite it.
The protagonists are your usual every-man crowd – a housewife, a trio of reporters, some frat boys out to party in the newly opened nature preserve, and Frank Red Elk, who knows more about the history and local legends than anyone else. He also knows a hell of a lot about soft-core porn, and one must wonder just how much grueling research Janz was forced to partake in to pull off this character and his many film and actress references.
The action is a thrilling roller-coaster ride through bloody stretches of monster mayhem. The initial assault of Janz’s creatures, known as The Children, is a violent, adrenaline fueled sequence of pure chaos as these beasts lay siege to the preserve and furiously interrupt a college co-ed summer party. What would have been a hell of an exciting climax in virtually any other creature-feature is merely the starting point for Janz, who manages to escalate the threats and tension thereafter rather well.
If I must lodge a complaint, and it’s a mild one mind you, at certain points the violence took on a video-game like quality as things grew wildly frenetic. These long stretches of violence go on slightly too long and the thrills wear into sheer exhaustion. Perhaps this an appropriate feeling as a reader, as it certainly mimics what the characters must be feeling as they battle for survival. However, I couldn’t help but feel a bit of tightening to these scenes would have gone a long way. I also couldn’t help but feel that the unrelenting violence led to a mid-book slump when things slowed way down for an extended period to allow characters to regroup and launch into the story’s latter half. Naturally, events pick up accordingly as Janz rockets towards the big finish.
Overall, Savage Species delivered the goods. It was exciting, fast-paced, humorous at times, and even came with a dash of romance and love triangles to give a bit of weight to the savagery.
Pro-tip: Be sure to check out Janz’s latest, [b:Children of the Dark|28963838|Children of the Dark|Jonathan Janz|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1454965669s/28963838.jpg|49191503], a prequel of sorts to Savage Species.
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
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:
No
I picked this book up because I heard it was in the same world as his Janz's novel, Children of the Dark (which I loved). This was my second attempt at this book, you can tell this book was written earlier in Janz's career, the writing isn't as good and the characters are very one dimensional and unlikable. The biggest positives are the creatures, the Children and the Night Flyers. We get to the action early on in the book and it doesn't let up at all.
The ferocity with which Janz attacks horror has always amazed me. Woven in with these completely horrific and graphic descriptions there is always an element of beauty. He explores lore and creatures that aren't your average monsters and in a way that is believable and far from campy. I don't know many writers that can write about lesser known monsters and not make it seem silly somehow, but I promise you that you won't be laughing after reading any of his books. This actually may have earned its place as my favorite Janz book, simply for its high stakes and tension all throughout. The action pretty much never stopped once it got started.
Okay, fair warning that this book does NOT ease you in to the action. I felt I had barely dipped my toe in the water and we were off to the races! There was rarely, if ever, any pause in the action and this is definitely one of Janz's more violent and dark stories. So when you open it up, be prepared to not be able to put it down and hold onto your seat because this is definitely not for the faint at heart.
I wasn't a fan.
It was my 3rd Janz book, and it takes place in the same world as the other 2, but where the Children of the Dark series is a horror/coming of age series, this one is more horror/splatter.
This follows multiple POVs on a night when an old horror re-emerges from deep underground.
The plot had a lot of potential, but the character work was really not for me.
The male characters were WAY over the top with being horny and nothing else.
The few female characters that weren't compared to soft core porn stars (literally, 1 of the characters was obsessed with porn and told all of the female characters who they looked like) were there to poke fun at.
Janz has real potential as a writer, but he needs to leave the high school mentality behind and work on his characters.
The plot and the monsters would have been good, but I just couldn't get past how bad some of the people acted.
It was my 3rd Janz book, and it takes place in the same world as the other 2, but where the Children of the Dark series is a horror/coming of age series, this one is more horror/splatter.
This follows multiple POVs on a night when an old horror re-emerges from deep underground.
The plot had a lot of potential, but the character work was really not for me.
The male characters were WAY over the top with being horny and nothing else.
The few female characters that weren't compared to soft core porn stars (literally, 1 of the characters was obsessed with porn and told all of the female characters who they looked like) were there to poke fun at.
Janz has real potential as a writer, but he needs to leave the high school mentality behind and work on his characters.
The plot and the monsters would have been good, but I just couldn't get past how bad some of the people acted.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
So many of these horror books scream a white man wrote this, and this is no exception. I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator was OK however, his voice for the character Colleen sounded Ambien induced and weird. As for the story. Many of these characters are problematic and unlikable. There is Jesse , Emma, and Colleen. These three work at a newspaper and are researching a story. Jesse is portrayed as a creepy, nasty and cell. Who’s obsessively into Emma. The book portrays it as a crush so it’s completely completely unaware. How unsettling and gross this. Colleen is an asshole and a racist piece of shit but it’s never addressed. Another problem. Emma is flat with not much going on because there’s no character development going on with this book.
And now for the racism. This apparently takes place on Algonquin land. And the one native character named Mr. Red Oak is written as a pervert and a savage. Like Wtf? This continuously makes advances at Emma who is a white girl. The entire scene is wild and insane. Why would the author do this? Especially knowing what native Americans have to put up with from white people; being labeled savages, etc. for no good reason when white people were the real threat. Hello colonialism! At one point, Mr. Red Oak uses the bathroom in front of all of them. Why would you do that? Who does that? The author writing Mr. Red Oak’s character this way was a fucking choice and a racist one. Leave black and brown people out of your fucking stories because you have no idea how to write them. Thank you.
There’s also casual fat shaming, and anti-fatness. But the way things are going with this damn story it is no surprise.
The way women are described and portrayed in this book is misogynistic, basic and superfluous.
There’s a storyline between a man named Eric (who is trash) and his wife, Charlie. Eric is an abusive twat and Charlie can’t leave because she’s feels trapped but the way it’s written, it always falls in favor of the husband, and again you can tell a man wrote this trash.
And now for the racism. This apparently takes place on Algonquin land. And the one native character named Mr. Red Oak is written as a pervert and a savage. Like Wtf? This continuously makes advances at Emma who is a white girl. The entire scene is wild and insane. Why would the author do this? Especially knowing what native Americans have to put up with from white people; being labeled savages, etc. for no good reason when white people were the real threat. Hello colonialism! At one point, Mr. Red Oak uses the bathroom in front of all of them. Why would you do that? Who does that? The author writing Mr. Red Oak’s character this way was a fucking choice and a racist one. Leave black and brown people out of your fucking stories because you have no idea how to write them. Thank you.
There’s also casual fat shaming, and anti-fatness. But the way things are going with this damn story it is no surprise.
The way women are described and portrayed in this book is misogynistic, basic and superfluous.
There’s a storyline between a man named Eric (who is trash) and his wife, Charlie. Eric is an abusive twat and Charlie can’t leave because she’s feels trapped but the way it’s written, it always falls in favor of the husband, and again you can tell a man wrote this trash.
dark
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:
Yes
I'm working on writing up a proper review, but here's my short version:
This book is hella racist and appropriates native culture without understanding the history behind the folklore used, and, assumedly, has no basic understanding of the horrific ramifications of settler colonialism.
I would recommend checking out this article for more information: https://www.nwpb.org/2018/10/26/horror-older-than-america/
And, for the love of god, if you love horror, please stop supporting cliché racist narratives such as this one. It's 2019. We all have to do better.
This book is hella racist and appropriates native culture without understanding the history behind the folklore used, and, assumedly, has no basic understanding of the horrific ramifications of settler colonialism.
I would recommend checking out this article for more information: https://www.nwpb.org/2018/10/26/horror-older-than-america/
And, for the love of god, if you love horror, please stop supporting cliché racist narratives such as this one. It's 2019. We all have to do better.