Reviews

The Spread: Book 1 (The Hill) by Iain Rob Wright

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just_danusch's review against another edition

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mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

santosabi's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

mrsovens's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

3.5

A slow start and a strong finish. It had just enough intrigue to stop it feeling like a generic sci-fi, and I was compelled to keep reading. The plot is good but the writing feels amateur (well written for an amateur though), with character names constantly being mixed up and sentences repeating themselves (a theme that continues throughout the series) If you can get past this though, it's a compelling story and you find yourself rooting for the lads.

Content Warnings

notsobooshie's review against another edition

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dark

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

3.5

Minor spoilers below!

A solid, fast-paced bit of horror with enjoyable prose. My very American ass had to google a lot of the slang terms but honestly context made most of them clear enough. Really liked the characters, especially Loobey, and I'm sure it'll be heartbreaking reading about his infection and confusion in the second installment. I can't say any of the ideas presented were super original, or that the horror aspects really got under my skin, but altogether it was entertaining.

ericabailey004's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

jellybean_gene's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Super fast paced first book in the series. Jumps right in and does a great job at mixing body horror, uncanny valley, and watching loved ones turn into monsters. Great book

celticboar's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

royalfox's review

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dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

I really liked this! I liked seeing the relationships between all the boys and how the virus starts spreading. I'm definitely intrigued and will continue this series!

marcyp's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.0

kyra_joy's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

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

5.0

so while this isn’t perfect necessarily it is 5 star for the enjoyment I got out of it. Feels like you like typical sci-fi infection story but that’s great as I love those stories. The characters were great and though maybe not the most complex due to the shortness of the book they felt real and flawed but still enjoyable to read about. Excited to read the rest of the series.

Content Warnings

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