Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Fantasticland

Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Fantasticland by Mike Bockoven

13 reviews

andiballi's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

4.5

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brynne25's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

The book’s structure is very interesting. It’s all post event interviews. The story is hard to put together initially but once you do it was an interesting take.

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courtneys_shelves's review

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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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chaoswizard's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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lori007's review

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challenging dark sad 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

3.75

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yvo_about_books's review against another edition

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3.75

Finished reading: November 3rd 2023

“To think our young people are capable of what we saw chills the blood for a very long time.”

It's true that I don't tend to read a lot of proper horror titles, but I saw Fantasticland mentioned and I couldn't resist adding it to my TBR. I have a weak spot for an amusement park setting, and there was just something about this premise that sounded both terrifying and absolutely fascinating. I have to say this before I continue though: this book isn't for everyone and you definitely have to suspend your disbelief to be able to get a positive reading experience. If you are able to do that, make sure to brace yourself for a extremely twisted ride! Seriously, this basically reads like Lord Of The Flies on acid, but set in an amusement park after a hurricane hits. I wasn't expecting the non fiction vibe of this story though; Fantasticland is written in a way that makes you feel like you are reading the result of an investigation by a journalist. This journalist helps narrate the story, although the plot mainly consists in first-person accounts of people present at the park. The interviews are presented in a way that slowly reveals just how bad things got before they were finally rescued... And boy, things get properly twisted and graphic long before that final page. Torture, mutilation and even cannibalism; nothing is too much in this story. What I did find a bit lacking was the explanation of how things escalated so quickly after the hurricane hit... I was expecting something more elaborated, or at least more of an answer to that question. That said, I can't deny that this was a perfect Halloween read.

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