Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Fantasticland by Mike Bockoven

100 reviews

lazydazey's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, and Abandonment

Minor: Excrement and Cannibalism

oprah_wimpy's review

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Perfect thriller read. Fast paced and full of gore. Spaced out enough that it's not overwhelming to the overall story. Loved the style of the book being interviews with victims and perpetrators after a massive disaster. Well written voices for each character in such short chapters. I blasted through this book and had such a fun time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

erica_reads_things's review

dark funny sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Not a bad read, but unfortunately not what I was expecting, either. I enjoyed the unreliable narrators of it all and how every interview has their own perspective. But I also do wish that there were some sort of overall narrator to tell us what did happen. Also, especially towards the beginning, some of the inaccuracies of how Hurricanes happen took me out of it for a sec, but it was easy to be pulled back in once the first hand account interviews started happening. Overall it was fine but it left me wanting more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, Excrement, and Medical content

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury

annaktalley's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

Unique and well-written. At times, the violence made it a stressful read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, and Injury/Injury detail

hoagie's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Drug use, Cannibalism, and Alcohol

devmac724's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

I heard about this book on My Favorite Murder (the podcast) and I was intrigued. I have never read a book like this before and I loved it. The whole concept of this book really made me think about how I would handle myself had I been in that situation. I know this is fiction and for entertainment, but damn this was a thinker. 
The interview style of writing was great! It made me want to keep reading to find out what happened next from another person’s perspective. 

Brock Hockney’s interview was, in my opinion, the most honest and most upsetting. As I was reading it, I could picture myself there and hearing him talk and the comment about human flesh at the end of the interview shook me. I listen to a lot of true crime podcast and that got me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Drug use, Excrement, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Cannibalism

vixusg's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

3.25

An interesting premise. I there's a lot I like and a lot I didn't. 

I'll start by saying each story was interesting on their own, it felt like everyone, including the interviewer was an unreliable narrator. I like the chunks of story we got with each interview.

I wasn't much of a fan of only reading the interviews, maybe not my preferred format. That being said, the author grammatical and sentence structure bleed through the characters and pulled me out of the story. It made the characters feel very same-y despite initially being successful in writing them differently in each chapter. That's really what ruined the book for me.

Aside from that, there are many aspects I really enjoyed--the story with the Freaks, the interviewers over arching development, and the book as a think piece on the impacts of social media and withdraw from it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Torture, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Pandemic/Epidemic

bookingwithjanelle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

This was a quick read, but it very entertaining to read. With the book set up through interviews, it gives a strong true crime feel with the dark, creepy underbelly like Lord of the Flies. I highly enjoyed reading this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Injury/Injury detail

papa_tabby's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I loved this book. Hands down the best chapter is Interview 18. I couldn't stop reading, easily one of the most tense pages I've read in years. 

I also love how almost every character is a little psychotic and clearly trying to make themselves sound less bad or downplay their roles in the violence at the theme park. This is something I like that Mike Bockoven does, he doesn't allow the characters to get away with portraying themselves sympathetically, he undermines their claims in either the next chapter or two later. 

There's also the mystery of who are the serial killers walking in the park and how much they actually played in escalating the violence. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing and Gaslighting

cosettegasparac's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

i LOVED the concept of this book. and then i started reading and loved the way the book was framed. it’s written through an interview process. there are so many different points of view and nobody is a completely reliable narrator which i love. you can’t completely trust anyone’s telling of this story and the true narrator is giving you all the information they have. there were surprises, horrifying moments, tender community building moments and ever changing possibilities. my jaw dropped several times throughout this book and my partner had to DRAG me to be (where i read under the covers for the first time in years because i just had to finish it). this was fast paced, plot driven and incredibly intriguing. i do wish i got more information on the warthogs specifically but it’s almost more exciting that i didn’t? i’ve seen reviews that are 1-2 star with very valid points, but i review things on how much i enjoyed reading. and more often than not, i do just enjoy reading. i’m not a literary snob (not a bad thing to be by any means. respect.) and i like the excitement. if you read more for enjoyment and less for criticism like i do, i highly recommend. it’s not for everyone but it was absolutely for me and i ate up every. single. chapter. (and told my partner all about the plot which is how you know i really liked it)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

although rape/sexual violence is mentioned, it is unclear whether or not any happened. there are rumors about it. no graphic or explicit content about it, and the pirates’ leader does explicitly mention that rape is not condoned. no graphic scenes or places in the book i felt triggered by as a survivor of rape myself. i was a little worried for a second the book would depict some of that, and i’m not 100% certain no rape happened at all (unreliable narrators and all) but it is not graphically or explicitly depicted whatsoever.