Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Fantasticland by Mike Bockoven

43 reviews

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

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

forevercamp's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Rape, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Cannibalism

courtneys_shelves's review

adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

kelsokake's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

this was so much better than i expected? one of the blurbs said this was battle royale meets lord of the flies and the only thing that description was missing is that it’s set in a disney-esque location and written in a way that reminds me of World War Z. 

i had to keep reminding myself that i was reading a fictional account because even though everything is so fantastical/unbelievable, it still somehow felt incredibly real and grounded in reality. i enjoyed this way more than i expected to

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Torture, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Confinement, Rape, and Cannibalism

bewhitedragon's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

3.5

If I could, I would probably give this book 3.5 stars. I really thought I'd like this more, but surprisingly, I was very "eh" about it. I wasn't forcing myself to read it, but I was also not super eager to do so. I can't really explain what it is that didn't hit me that much. Maybe because they're all just interviews of the characters from the amusement park? I'm not sure. But I do like how it treated this event like a real thing, with an Author's Note and even an Afterword done by the "author" of the book focusing on FantasticLand (not Mike Bockoven). It was a nice touch. 

It was a solid story for the most part, but yeah...I didn't really love. But I recommend it if you're into stories of mankind resorting to primal instincts for survival. A mixture of Battle Royale and Lord of the Flies-ish.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing and Gun violence

Minor: Rape and Cannibalism

lakiran's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing and Kidnapping

Minor: Cannibalism

nervesofscared's review

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture