Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Fantasticland by Mike Bockoven

28 reviews

opplecopter's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Confinement, Drug use, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, 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

dezaraemd's review

adventurous emotional funny reflective fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Torture, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, and War

itsjustgrumpy's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

Wow. Dark, painful and intense. A venture into the depravity that lies just under the surface of humanity, and can be drawn out when there's the temptation of getting away with it. Only slight downside is the sheer number of names that are used for repeating characters. Absolutely LOVED this read.

Edit: 5 stars. Whenever anyone asks me to recommend a book I mention this. It's only fair to give it 5 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit and Abandonment

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Cannibalism, and War

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

rebeccaelizabeth94's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

cassie_04's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

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

rumblebree's review

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

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

ramreadsagain's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I'm so glad I decided to listen to the audiobook version of this as I really don't think it would have hit the same if I was just reading it. The two (!!) narrators do an amazing job of bringing about 20 different people to life in unique ways. The interview-style format is also particularly well-suited to an audiobook.

This book is Lord of the Flies on steroids, brutal, gory, and a tough listen at times. The author has done a fantastic job with the writing and the way the interview style can reveal information slowly while also showing you events from different perspectives. I can't talk about much without spoilers but I really recommend it if you think you can stomach it.

Some spoiler discussion under the cut.

One aspect I loved was the whole unreliable narrator thing which becomes more and more clear as you get further through the book, and towards the end you truly realise that there is no way of knowing what actually happened. On the one hand, people may (intentionally or otherwise) exaggerate what they saw and especially heard, but on the other, these are traumatised people who committed crimes and may not want to be fully honest about what they did. 

I would have liked another interview from a Pirate, as I feel the stupid kid didn't quite provide enough information about what was going on, and couldn't possibly be a complete representation of every member. However, I still think the author did a great job especially with the interview with the Pirate leader (I've forgotten his name lol) in portraying how groupthink and cultish behaviour can happen very quickly under dramatic circumstances.

My main criticisms are minor but: (1) I feel like extreme violence occured a bit too soon, (2) the (male) author tried to dance around the subject of rape (which would have been widespread had these events actually occured) with some throwaway lines about why it wasn't happening (though, again, unreliable narrators), and (3) there was a bit of a 'phones bad' thing going on which wasn't explored beyond that. Yes, 'phones bad', but there is more to it than that and you need to explore it for me to enjoy it as a narrative trope.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Body horror, Torture, and Murder

Minor: Gun violence, Medical content, and Cannibalism