Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Wranglestone by Darren Charlton

9 reviews

abi_sarah's review

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I loved this book! 

I’m really starting to enjoy this type of fantasy. I never thought I’d be a zombie apocalypse kinda girl, but I loved ‘The Last of Us’ TV series, really enjoyed ‘Fallout’ TV series and now this book! 

I thought the premise of the lake acting as the barrier between the living and the dead, made for a really interesting novel. (Although it did remind me a lot of a certain ‘Game of Thrones’ episode 👀) I liked how human the living were in the way they were in complete denial about what was looming, until it actually happened. 

I enjoyed the romance element of the story (I know?!? Who even am I?!) and thought it fitted in really well to the story and added an emotional dimension to the whole thing. 

The writing of this novel was excellent, I was gripped from beginning to end. The only reason it took me this long to finish it was because I was listening with my partner, and getting him to sit down and listen to an audiobook is a difficult task 😅

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winglesswarrior's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0


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markwillnevercry's review

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2.0

Not gonna lie, it felt a bit all over the place. In the beginning I was like, "Ah, it is going to be about Peter learning to kill the restless one and thinking about that process, as a deeply emotional person he is", but nah, that was not the problem. I have a feeling, that there were many ideas, that the writer wanted to involve in the story, but either couldn't think through them well enough or simply didn't have enough space in the book. The general strokes of the story are really nice, but there were some places that made it questionable. The short chapters are nice, but I did not understand most of the times why one chapter would end and the other begin, sometimes in the middle of the scene even. It just felt a bit strange. Overall, it was an enjoyable reading experience, I just wish it was better. 

Reading notes:

Why did he throw away the alarm? Shouldn't he keep carrying it to attract the dead?

And the community is just okay with Bud basically killing someone, by making them a bait and not fully informing them?

Now Peter is going to take over Mr Schmidt's job? Where is this story going?

Bro, the sex scene, bring out the fans, bois, it be steamin hot. 

I have a feeling, that the writer of this book is not too fond of capitalism, seeing how Cooper reacts to the idea of wanting to be born before shit hit the fan. (this is never mentioned again, they never again think about being born at some other time)

Did we really need the scene where they kill Essie? Like, there was a bunch of blood already spilled and it does not really make sense to kill her in such a flashy way. 

So we just leave the rest of people and have just Peter, Cooper, Tom and Becky????

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axel_p's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The beginning kinda sucked, but after that it was amazing.

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lilifane's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.0

This was purely a cover buy, which I'm still loving. I wasn't expecting this to be a great book... and it wasn't. The writing is... bad. Really bad. I would describe it as inconsistent and clumsy, same applies for the characters. The plot is all over the place. But I kind of liked it? There were some mysteries and twists I was interested it. And although I liked the characters, I didn't love them. Still, I was rooting for them. Also, the setting and atmosphere are really cool. I liked the national park sceneries, the community on small islands on a lake surrounded by mountains. 
Probably wouldn't recommend it, but I don't regret buying it. It's really pretty. 

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nevermoregothic's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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loverboy's review against another edition

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dark hopeful mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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paperlo's review against another edition

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

3.75

This book started so strong that it had me gripped by the time I was only a few pages in. The relationship between Peter and Cooper from the very start was so charming and so much fun to read, the setting was so atmospheric and the mystery was intriguing.

It moved so quickly that things fell apart just a little for me as the book progressed - although it was still very entertaining and gripping throughout. I read it all in practically one sitting. The plot felt like it had to skim over moments that I would like to have seen, plus Cooper and Peter’s relationship felt as though it went from
the perfect build up to all at once developing much too quickly. All the same, both characters are so charming and their relationship is so lovely that you can’t help but desperately root for them the whole way through. I’ll be thinking about them for a while to come.

The mystery felt somewhat predictable the whole way through, although that never dampened my enjoyment. I wish that some of the moments and plot had been given a little bit more space to breathe and grow.

All the same, it was a fun read. I had a good time! 

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whatellisreadnext's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense fast-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

"𝘗𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳?"
"𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵?"
"𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯'," 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘊𝘰𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘳. "𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭."

Wranglestone is a community of survivors, on the islands of a lake, in an American national park. The water keeps the dead from their doorsteps, but as the colder months approach, and the ice thickens on the lake, they have to find other ways to protect themselves.

This book has zombies, a m/m relationship, a lot of snow, and a tone of suspense. Don't let the 3 star review put you off, I did enjoy this one and for a YA debut, I thought it was really well done. I absolutely steamed through Wranglestone, and I'd be interested to see where it goes, if the author ends up doing a sequel. 

I enjoyed reading about Jake and Coopers relationship, it was super cute, maybe a little too circumstantial, but it's YA so I'll let it slide. The zombie concept was super unique and it's worth reading just for that alone. One of my only gripes is hard to explain, but the narrative at times felt a little jumbled. I kept going back to reread stuff, thinking I'd missed something, but I hadn't. Also there was one line where a whole word was missing, which did take me out of the story a little.

Overall this was a solid YA post apocalyptic read with great queer representation. I'd recommend giving it a go, especially over the colder months, so you can fully immerse yourself in the setting.

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