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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Took off a half star for brief periods of predictability, but overall stellar cohesion. It’s a book you just have to take a deep breath and read.
Wonderfully disgusting, appropriately suspenseful, and, most surprising of all, incredibly evocative in a raw and emotional way.
It's a bit of a gore-fest, and the book is not necessarily kind to animals, although purposefully so. Many aspects of the book are meant to creep you out, get you unsettled, and keep you on edge while you read about a group of annoying teenagers going through the worst thing possible.
I was wonderfully surprised by how many tears I had shed by then end though. At the start I really hated the cast of teen aged boys (they were very convincingly written as teen aged boys), but by the end of the novel my perspective had been masterfully turned around. They are dumb, angry, impulsive children who consistently make mistakes; but they are children and they desperately want to survive. Children should be allowed to be messy and imperfect, and not be seen as deserving of death. Add to that an emotional climax for a nerdy boy who just wanted to be viewed as cool and brave and worthy of friends. I was wrecked in the best way possible.
I have noticed some say the book was not suspenseful but I imagine that may be more of a fault with the modern reader. Much of the suspense was derived by the unknown and unpredictable in this novel. Is X character really infected, will they survive, how will Y character behave as an infected individual? All of these are questions I continually asked myself, at the behest of the author, and all of them created suspense and terror within me. If you engage with the novel it will engage back with you, and it makes me sad when it seems like so many people are unwilling to engage with the literature they consume.
It's a bit of a gore-fest, and the book is not necessarily kind to animals, although purposefully so. Many aspects of the book are meant to creep you out, get you unsettled, and keep you on edge while you read about a group of annoying teenagers going through the worst thing possible.
I was wonderfully surprised by how many tears I had shed by then end though. At the start I really hated the cast of teen aged boys (they were very convincingly written as teen aged boys), but by the end of the novel my perspective had been masterfully turned around. They are dumb, angry, impulsive children who consistently make mistakes; but they are children and they desperately want to survive. Children should be allowed to be messy and imperfect, and not be seen as deserving of death. Add to that an emotional climax for a nerdy boy who just wanted to be viewed as cool and brave and worthy of friends. I was wrecked in the best way possible.
I have noticed some say the book was not suspenseful but I imagine that may be more of a fault with the modern reader. Much of the suspense was derived by the unknown and unpredictable in this novel. Is X character really infected, will they survive, how will Y character behave as an infected individual? All of these are questions I continually asked myself, at the behest of the author, and all of them created suspense and terror within me. If you engage with the novel it will engage back with you, and it makes me sad when it seems like so many people are unwilling to engage with the literature they consume.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ugh. SUPER GROSS.
I never read book descriptions all that carefully, and for some reason I thought this was going to be monster horror, or serial killer loose in the woods, something like that.
Instead, it's BODY HORROR of the worst kind - DEADLY INFECTION WITH BIOENGINEERED PARASITIC WORMS
I never read book descriptions all that carefully, and for some reason I thought this was going to be monster horror, or serial killer loose in the woods, something like that.
Instead, it's BODY HORROR of the worst kind - DEADLY INFECTION WITH BIOENGINEERED PARASITIC WORMS
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was loaded with triggers so please check them out before you pick it up.
This was good, but I wish I knew how much animal cruelty and death was in here. I can handle most things, but I hate reading about animal cruelty/death.. especially when it’s graphic. I mean, there were pages upon pages of animal torture before ultimately killing the animals. That dragged down the enjoyment of this book for me and ultimately knocked my rating from a 4/5 stars to a 3/5 stars. The book was pretty good other than what I just mentioned.
This was good, but I wish I knew how much animal cruelty and death was in here. I can handle most things, but I hate reading about animal cruelty/death.. especially when it’s graphic. I mean, there were pages upon pages of animal torture before ultimately killing the animals. That dragged down the enjoyment of this book for me and ultimately knocked my rating from a 4/5 stars to a 3/5 stars. The book was pretty good other than what I just mentioned.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book started out pretty great and then... it puttered to the finish line. The storyline had potential and it was there but it did not have a strong conclusion.
Also there were WAY too many characters in the book, by the end I forgot who was who and at times had to go back to the beginning to refresh my memory. I shouldn't have to do that when reading, characters should make enough of an impact you can remember them and that was not the case here.
Creepy Fun! A Great Horror Book To Be Hungry For! A Re-Read Must!
I struggled with this book a lot. The beginning was pretty fast paced. The middle section dragged a lot, and I thought the plot was lost. The ending pulled through with a killer last part. If you like old school horror, this is the book. I waited a long time to read this, borrowed it from the library.
Surprise, I still know how to read.
Surprise, I still know how to read.