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gcinc's review
dark
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
cdeane61's review
3.0
A bleak and all together too believable tale of a future post apocalyptic US.
This should have been an easy read for me, as the subject matter is right up my alley, the story line is well constructed and strong, the characters well defined and the situations what one would expect in this kind of world, but I struggled with it about 1/2 way through.
May have more to do with me and a change in my reading patterns. This was available as an audio book through Scribd and that may have save it for me, as the reading was exceptional.
One fly in the ointment for me is never getting the full story of the whale (introduced on the first page, so no spoilers here) which is a shame
This should have been an easy read for me, as the subject matter is right up my alley, the story line is well constructed and strong, the characters well defined and the situations what one would expect in this kind of world, but I struggled with it about 1/2 way through.
May have more to do with me and a change in my reading patterns. This was available as an audio book through Scribd and that may have save it for me, as the reading was exceptional.
One fly in the ointment for me is never getting the full story of the whale (introduced on the first page, so no spoilers here) which is a shame
anarmandameg's review
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Addiction, Sexual content, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Abandonment, Animal death, Car accident, and Medical content
Minor: Abortion
julieh46's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
noroomforghosts's review
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
strangecandy's review
2.0
Trashlands is a pretty dismal look into what could be the not so distant future. Some areas of the country have intermittent power while other places like "Scrapappalachia" have none. Currency is now mostly plastic that "pluckers" salvage from rivers etc. and are exchanged for food and supplies.
Coral has grown up with her adoptive father leading a life as a plucker. They traveled in an old school bus and followed the plastic tide with the seasons. Flooding has destroyed most of the coastlines and they've settled in an area that used to be known as the Appalachian Mountains. Her father teaches the children that are left from an old set of Encyclopedia Britannica's and Coral collects plastic from the rivers.
The area they've settled in is a graveyard of old rusted out cars that people live in and the main draw to this area is a strip club called Trashlands. It brings in men who want to spend plastic and forget. It's the only place that has electricity from solar panels that lights up a neon sign with the name of the club. It also has "chillers" to keep the air cool for the clients.
The book has quite a few characters that you grow on but most are sad in this place they call home. Overall a pretty depressing yet interesting read. I was not sold on how the book ended, felt a little rushed to wrap up the story at that point.
Coral has grown up with her adoptive father leading a life as a plucker. They traveled in an old school bus and followed the plastic tide with the seasons. Flooding has destroyed most of the coastlines and they've settled in an area that used to be known as the Appalachian Mountains. Her father teaches the children that are left from an old set of Encyclopedia Britannica's and Coral collects plastic from the rivers.
The area they've settled in is a graveyard of old rusted out cars that people live in and the main draw to this area is a strip club called Trashlands. It brings in men who want to spend plastic and forget. It's the only place that has electricity from solar panels that lights up a neon sign with the name of the club. It also has "chillers" to keep the air cool for the clients.
The book has quite a few characters that you grow on but most are sad in this place they call home. Overall a pretty depressing yet interesting read. I was not sold on how the book ended, felt a little rushed to wrap up the story at that point.
kaiteeliza's review
challenging
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? It's complicated
3.25
mommasaystoread's review
4.0
I don't mind admitting that Trashlands took me by surprise. I tend to avoid futuristic, doomsday-type stories because all too often, they either go completely off the rails or they depress the daylights out of me. But the blurb sounded different than what I'd seen, and the premise intrigued me. This one certainly gets a bit dark, and Coral has her share of problems, but there's an underlying sense of hope, the feeling that all is not yet lost throughout the book. The story is told from multiple points of view and the timeline jumps back and forth, both of which were much less jarring than I would've expected. The pacing feels almost lazy, for lack of a better description. It's not too slow, but it kind of wanders. Much like the genre, that's another element I don't usually care for, but it just works with these characters and their story. And that leads me to the author and her gift for storytelling. For whatever reason, the pacing, the jumping from past to present and back again, the multiple points of view, it all worked when Alison Stine put them together. This is a story well worth reading, and I'll be interested to see what the author does next.