Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

Fantasticland by Mike Bockoven

21 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

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

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

charadelle's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

My rating of this book is a little more harsh compared to some others as I was working on avoiding a reading slump due to 2 DNFs prior to this one. I was really hoping this book was going to have a lot more spooky aspects to it.

We had the warthogs, but we never got to find out why/who/what/how they came to be. They were really only mentioned in 2-3 interviews and only one interview really detailed anything they were doing. THAT was the interview that I liked the most.

The lack of continuous spooky vibes took away a half star.

I was nervous that this was written in an interview format. My favorite book is written this way, but I also DNFd one that was that style as well. I felt the interview format was a good call for this story. It gave a realistic feel to the story that had me wondering "Did this really happen?" occasioanlly throughout.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Medical content

Minor: Gun violence and Excrement

megliz's review

dark 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? N/A

4.0

The back cover blurb made me buy it, and as soon as I started the book, I didn't put it down. This was genuinely a fun time. I love the way it was written. It's a book about in the form of a book written by a different author in the forms of interviews. I just loved that it was just a different style instead of a straight kind of narration. 

I'm not gonna sit here and argue if it was believable or not. It's a book. It's fiction.
However, most of the MC in this book are teenagers or early 20 somethings, and they are  morons on their best days. So I just allowed that to just take me through the book. And I got to enjoy reading it without contemplating some bigger picture, like if it could happen or if it was ridiculous or not. 

The only part of this book that fails is characterization. Cause it's written in the interview style, you don't really get to dive deep into any particular character. Brock pops up the most, and he is the main boogeyman. There's just no great character arch for anyone in the book, which is the only thing it falls flat on. However, I think the plot, the setting, the grittiness, and the horror/gore make up for it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, and Cannibalism

effaly's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

Overall it's a good story, but unfortunately, the style in which it was written makes it a pain to read sometimes.

The story is revealed through interviews with several people who were there after Sadie hit Fantasticland. At first, I really liked the idea. It made it all feel so much more personal to hear from the characters directly what it was like and what each and everyone saw, thought and felt. However, it became very quickly very repetitive. There are events and people that were described over and over again, to the point where they lost their "punch". When you read some stuff the first time, it's shocking. But after the fifth time, you just want to hear about something else. 

And then there's the misogynistic tone in almost every chapter. 😒 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Grief, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Body shaming, Cursing, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Excrement, Cannibalism, Stalking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

exlibrisphoebe's review

dark sad fast-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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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Excrement, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Alcohol

paigie_pie's review

dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Excrement, Vomit, and Kidnapping

Minor: Drug use, Medical content, Grief, and Cannibalism

skillwithaquill's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

A brutal tale told through “interviews” with a “reporter”, a creative choice that made each chapter a little mystery. Many unreliable narrators & their shifting perspectives kept me invested & intrigued the whole read. The gore is definitely present, but not overdone or used for cheap shock value. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Bullying, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Fatphobia, Rape, Excrement, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury

Other content warnings: amputation, crowd crush, paranoia, severed limbs, decapitation, fourth-wall break, ptsd, flooding, threat of sexual violence, claustrophobia.

blymanor's review

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

Intriguing. Great world-building! The technology aspect of the book was a bit weak and I feel it could have been cut out without affecting the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Drug use, Cannibalism, and Alcohol

Minor: Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, and Pregnancy