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mehsi's review against another edition
5.0
Zombies, twists and turns, secrets, and a very sweet romance that had me shipping like mad.
I was in need for a new zombie book and when I saw this book a few months ago I knew I had to pre-order it. After some issues (Amazon didn't seem to get it in stock, so I turned to BD but that always takes 2 weeks before it arrives) I finally received the book and I could read it. I was immediately sucked in. The setting, the romance, the creepy zombies lurking in the woods, OMG.
Since I am bit tired after a busy day I will write this review as a good/not so good review.
Let's start with the Good, and there is A LOT of that.
-Cooper and Peter's relationship. I just LOVE when we have a romantic plotline in a book that is so grim and dark. And these two have the cutest relationship. Peter has been pining for Cooper for ages, which includes chopping wood in the morning as Cooper is passing by with his canoe. Yup. This boy chopped so much wood they can live for the next winters. :P Though Peter is pretty oblivious to Cooper's feelings and at times I just wanted to throw him in the water. COME ON, he asked you out. Isn't that obvious enough for you? Then again, a part of his obliviousness stems from his insecurity.
Later on there are added things to their relationship that need to be talked about and that needs to be looked at. It won't be easy, but I know for sure that these two will make it.
-The zombies. They were spooky and creepy and it was just haunting how the zombies would appear along the shores waiting and lurking.
-The fact that the whole community was on stilts/on islands. I would have definitely loved to see more of this community in other seasons other than late fall and beginning of winter. Sure, we get plenty of descriptions which had me very happy, I could already envision the kids and adults swimming in the lake (though I was also disgusted as people did seem to poo/pee in it....) and having a great time. I loved that everyone's mode of transport was canoe.
-This is a spoiler so I am putting it under spoiler tags.
-The secrets. What really was Wranglestone? Why is it so important? What is going on with the bringing of those who are infected/bitten? It was really interesting to see everything unfold and to see every bit of the puzzle come together. I really had so much fun trying to figure it out on my own before the author would show/tell us. I loved the secret and OMG, that could have changed so much.
-That Peter was gay and that no one in the community seemed to mind or care. Instead people were rooting for them (and then especially the dad and Darlene). I also loved that he was so well with his hands and could fix anything if it was crafts related. While it may not be the best skill to have when zombies want to chomp your head... it is a useful skill in the end. Especially since someone has to make the clothes (though it seems they just strip the zombies here, um eww) and make homes feel warm and safe.
-There are many scary and frightening scenes that had me on the edge of my seat. The author wrote them really well.
-The ending and all that happened there. OMG, I already couldn't stop reading and now I was just flying through the pages as it was just too good. Of course, I won't spoil anything, but I will tell you it sets a nice base for a next book.
-The dad was a great character. I loved how he cared about his son. PLUS, something you don't often see in zombie books, he has epilepsy. He has something that may hinder him in this world, yet he perseveres and has been living in this topsy-turvy world for 16 years.
-Rider! I just loved his character, though I also wanted to give him a big big hug for all he has encountered in his life. For all that happened to him and his family.
Not so good:
-It just felt a bit too convenient what happened to
What I would like to see:
-More of the world surrounding this park. I would love to go to towns and cities and see how things are there.
-I wouldn't mind a prequel with the story of the dad and mom of Peter and see them seek sanctuary in this crazy world.
-More Rider please!
All in all, I could probably talk about this book for ages. I just love it so much. I would highly recommend it if you are looking for a zombie book with lgbt romance and tons of secrets. I can't wait for the next books, and again I want a prequel!
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
I was in need for a new zombie book and when I saw this book a few months ago I knew I had to pre-order it. After some issues (Amazon didn't seem to get it in stock, so I turned to BD but that always takes 2 weeks before it arrives) I finally received the book and I could read it. I was immediately sucked in. The setting, the romance, the creepy zombies lurking in the woods, OMG.
Since I am bit tired after a busy day I will write this review as a good/not so good review.
Let's start with the Good, and there is A LOT of that.
-Cooper and Peter's relationship. I just LOVE when we have a romantic plotline in a book that is so grim and dark. And these two have the cutest relationship. Peter has been pining for Cooper for ages, which includes chopping wood in the morning as Cooper is passing by with his canoe. Yup. This boy chopped so much wood they can live for the next winters. :P Though Peter is pretty oblivious to Cooper's feelings and at times I just wanted to throw him in the water. COME ON, he asked you out. Isn't that obvious enough for you? Then again, a part of his obliviousness stems from his insecurity.
Later on there are added things to their relationship that need to be talked about and that needs to be looked at. It won't be easy, but I know for sure that these two will make it.
-The zombies. They were spooky and creepy and it was just haunting how the zombies would appear along the shores waiting and lurking.
-The fact that the whole community was on stilts/on islands. I would have definitely loved to see more of this community in other seasons other than late fall and beginning of winter. Sure, we get plenty of descriptions which had me very happy, I could already envision the kids and adults swimming in the lake (though I was also disgusted as people did seem to poo/pee in it....) and having a great time. I loved that everyone's mode of transport was canoe.
-This is a spoiler so I am putting it under spoiler tags.
Spoiler
That people came back from the dead. They survived.. but they also changed. This is of course not something that is new or original, but I did love the way the author wrote this one. The returned had black eyes as in all of it, and then there was something else that we found out when one of them was given raw meat, yep, the zombie gene is still quite strong in there.-The secrets. What really was Wranglestone? Why is it so important? What is going on with the bringing of those who are infected/bitten? It was really interesting to see everything unfold and to see every bit of the puzzle come together. I really had so much fun trying to figure it out on my own before the author would show/tell us. I loved the secret and OMG, that could have changed so much.
-That Peter was gay and that no one in the community seemed to mind or care. Instead people were rooting for them (and then especially the dad and Darlene). I also loved that he was so well with his hands and could fix anything if it was crafts related. While it may not be the best skill to have when zombies want to chomp your head... it is a useful skill in the end. Especially since someone has to make the clothes (though it seems they just strip the zombies here, um eww) and make homes feel warm and safe.
-There are many scary and frightening scenes that had me on the edge of my seat. The author wrote them really well.
-The ending and all that happened there. OMG, I already couldn't stop reading and now I was just flying through the pages as it was just too good. Of course, I won't spoil anything, but I will tell you it sets a nice base for a next book.
-The dad was a great character. I loved how he cared about his son. PLUS, something you don't often see in zombie books, he has epilepsy. He has something that may hinder him in this world, yet he perseveres and has been living in this topsy-turvy world for 16 years.
-Rider! I just loved his character, though I also wanted to give him a big big hug for all he has encountered in his life. For all that happened to him and his family.
Not so good:
-It just felt a bit too convenient what happened to
Spoiler
Cooper. It was just after he said I love you to Peter, after their relationship finally was hitting off and getting steamy. While I do understand why it was added, it still felt too silly that it just had to be Cooper.What I would like to see:
-More of the world surrounding this park. I would love to go to towns and cities and see how things are there.
-I wouldn't mind a prequel with the story of the dad and mom of Peter and see them seek sanctuary in this crazy world.
-More Rider please!
All in all, I could probably talk about this book for ages. I just love it so much. I would highly recommend it if you are looking for a zombie book with lgbt romance and tons of secrets. I can't wait for the next books, and again I want a prequel!
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
charspages's review against another edition
2.0
I was given this book by Mira with the following words: "You have to read this. I would like to know your thoughts on this."
Well, dear friends, here's what I think in a nutshell:
I couldn't have said it better myself. But I'll try anyway:
PLOT: 1.5 / 5
When I first read the synposis of this book, I lost my shit - zombies? National parks? Queer boys fighting the zombie apocalypse? Perfect.
[b:Wranglestone|50049417|Wranglestone (Wranglestone, #1)|Darren Charlton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1572268074l/50049417._SX50_SY75_.jpg|72248036] had all the ingredients for what could have been one of my new favorite reads: gay representation, a gritty tale of survival against the beautiful backdrop of North American national parks, and zombies. I'm such a sucker for zombies, y'all.
Sadly, the premise was amazing - the story not so much. While I loved the first half of the book and flew through the pages in one day, I completely lost interest about halfway through. It took me nearly a week to read the last 150 pages alone. Somewhere halfway through, the story became too confusing, too twisted for me.
It felt a little like Charlton was trying to do too many things at once, and after one plot-twist too many, I couldn't really follow the story line anymore. I wish Charlton would have stuck with the much simpler, clearer plot that the first 150 pages laid out, instead of going wherever he went with it in the second half. (Don't ask me. I have no clue.)
CHARACTERS: 2 / 5
My second big issue with Wranglestone were its characters, because when one of the characters who was mentioned earlier shows up and reveals they're the villain in a tense, emotionally-laden scene, and you have absolutely no idea who this character is, there's a problem. The biggest problem here is that all of the characters, except for Peter, were utterly forgettable.
Even COOPER, the love interest, did not stand out to me. He didn't have any character traits, except for having long blond hair that he never washed. Awesome.
And so it went with the rest of the characters, too: Charlton introduced a whole cast of characters that, like the premise, seemed more interesting than they ultimately were. They were forgettable, and two-dimensional, and I've already forgotten half of them even though I just finished this book five minutes ago.
I'm giving this category two stars solely because Peter, for what it's worth, was a well-rounded protagonist. Sure, he was kind of a useless dumbass a lot of the times, but he was likable enough. (Also, I want more soft boys who crochet even when the world is ending.)
WORLD BUILDING: 3 / 5
The world of Wranglestone is a dark, gritty one. Like most zombie stories, this world is trying to survive by keeping away from the so-called Pale Ones. Unlike most zombie stories, there was a clear plan here: US-American national parks were used as refuges for humans.
I loved that idea, and I generally enjoyed the setting and the descriptions. They were atmospheric and, had it not been for the confusing latter half of the novel that introduced some rather strange twists, one of the best parts of the book.
The one thing I can't stop wondering about, though, is what kind of physical laws operate in this world, because last time I checked, two teenage boys riding full-speed on the same horse for hours wasn't possible and severely detrimental to the horse's health. (In a Western saddle, no less.)
I'm confused.
WRITING STYLE: 2 / 5
Listen, I wish I could rate this higher, because let me tell you: [a:Darren Charlton|19385683|Darren Charlton|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] writes scary scenes unlike anything I've ever read. Those moments when Peter was fearing for his life got my heart pumping; they were filled with just the right amount of explicitly descriptive body horror and a sense of terrifying vagueness.
But all other scenes were absolutely exhausting to get through. I'm not a fan of Charlton's descriptive style; I don't particularly like his voice; and I detested that he used the words "Peter swung round" approximately a million times.
He also wrote one of my biggest pet peeves, which is when a character's accent is written phonetically. For that reason, I hated Cooper a little bit more every time he opened his mouth. I've said it before and I'll say it again: stop writing people's accents out because it's not funny, it's annoying.
Add to that another one of my pet peeves, which is male authors over-describing random (and kind of weird) actions such as scratching one's armpit or butt, and you can probably figure that I'm just not a fan.
DIVERSITY: 2.5 / 5
I'm really glad that Darren Charlton tried to tell a diverse story where the struggle was not, for once, found in a character's diversity. There's no tragic coming out story here, no struggling with one's gender or sexuality. Peter and Cooper are two gay boys in love, and that's that - simple as.
It was refreshing to read a book with queer characters that just were.
However, this book sadly lacked diversity in every other aspect. There were, as far as I could tell, no characters of color, no disabled characters, no neurodiverse characters, and only two LGBTQ+ characters - both gay white boys. Go figure.
What really irked me, though, was Wranglestone's absolutely abysmal portrayal of women. The female characters in this novel were wildly outnumbered by the male characters, for starters. There were, like, maybe four women in the entire book. One of these was bitten by a zombie and then executed; another was brutally and graphically murdered by zombies; the third was a traitor. Only one of them turned out half-way okay, and even that only after murdering one of the good guys.
Darren Charlton could have, and should have, done much better.
OVERALL RATING: 2 / 5
At first I wanted to rate this book three out of five stars, but the more I thought about it, the more annoyed I got. It gets its two stars solely for the "gay characters exist and it's cool", and the super-creepy scenes.
Other than that, I just did not really care that much about this book, which is a bummer, because I still think us gays deserve an awesome zombie-apocalypse-tale.
Well, dear friends, here's what I think in a nutshell:
I couldn't have said it better myself. But I'll try anyway:
PLOT: 1.5 / 5
When I first read the synposis of this book, I lost my shit - zombies? National parks? Queer boys fighting the zombie apocalypse? Perfect.
[b:Wranglestone|50049417|Wranglestone (Wranglestone, #1)|Darren Charlton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1572268074l/50049417._SX50_SY75_.jpg|72248036] had all the ingredients for what could have been one of my new favorite reads: gay representation, a gritty tale of survival against the beautiful backdrop of North American national parks, and zombies. I'm such a sucker for zombies, y'all.
Sadly, the premise was amazing - the story not so much. While I loved the first half of the book and flew through the pages in one day, I completely lost interest about halfway through. It took me nearly a week to read the last 150 pages alone. Somewhere halfway through, the story became too confusing, too twisted for me.
It felt a little like Charlton was trying to do too many things at once, and after one plot-twist too many, I couldn't really follow the story line anymore. I wish Charlton would have stuck with the much simpler, clearer plot that the first 150 pages laid out, instead of going wherever he went with it in the second half. (Don't ask me. I have no clue.)
CHARACTERS: 2 / 5
My second big issue with Wranglestone were its characters, because when one of the characters who was mentioned earlier shows up and reveals they're the villain in a tense, emotionally-laden scene, and you have absolutely no idea who this character is, there's a problem. The biggest problem here is that all of the characters, except for Peter, were utterly forgettable.
Even COOPER, the love interest, did not stand out to me. He didn't have any character traits, except for having long blond hair that he never washed. Awesome.
And so it went with the rest of the characters, too: Charlton introduced a whole cast of characters that, like the premise, seemed more interesting than they ultimately were. They were forgettable, and two-dimensional, and I've already forgotten half of them even though I just finished this book five minutes ago.
I'm giving this category two stars solely because Peter, for what it's worth, was a well-rounded protagonist. Sure, he was kind of a useless dumbass a lot of the times, but he was likable enough. (Also, I want more soft boys who crochet even when the world is ending.)
WORLD BUILDING: 3 / 5
The world of Wranglestone is a dark, gritty one. Like most zombie stories, this world is trying to survive by keeping away from the so-called Pale Ones. Unlike most zombie stories, there was a clear plan here: US-American national parks were used as refuges for humans.
I loved that idea, and I generally enjoyed the setting and the descriptions. They were atmospheric and, had it not been for the confusing latter half of the novel that introduced some rather strange twists, one of the best parts of the book.
The one thing I can't stop wondering about, though, is what kind of physical laws operate in this world, because last time I checked, two teenage boys riding full-speed on the same horse for hours wasn't possible and severely detrimental to the horse's health. (In a Western saddle, no less.)
I'm confused.
WRITING STYLE: 2 / 5
Listen, I wish I could rate this higher, because let me tell you: [a:Darren Charlton|19385683|Darren Charlton|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] writes scary scenes unlike anything I've ever read. Those moments when Peter was fearing for his life got my heart pumping; they were filled with just the right amount of explicitly descriptive body horror and a sense of terrifying vagueness.
But all other scenes were absolutely exhausting to get through. I'm not a fan of Charlton's descriptive style; I don't particularly like his voice; and I detested that he used the words "Peter swung round" approximately a million times.
He also wrote one of my biggest pet peeves, which is when a character's accent is written phonetically. For that reason, I hated Cooper a little bit more every time he opened his mouth. I've said it before and I'll say it again: stop writing people's accents out because it's not funny, it's annoying.
Add to that another one of my pet peeves, which is male authors over-describing random (and kind of weird) actions such as scratching one's armpit or butt, and you can probably figure that I'm just not a fan.
DIVERSITY: 2.5 / 5
I'm really glad that Darren Charlton tried to tell a diverse story where the struggle was not, for once, found in a character's diversity. There's no tragic coming out story here, no struggling with one's gender or sexuality. Peter and Cooper are two gay boys in love, and that's that - simple as.
It was refreshing to read a book with queer characters that just were.
However, this book sadly lacked diversity in every other aspect. There were, as far as I could tell, no characters of color, no disabled characters, no neurodiverse characters, and only two LGBTQ+ characters - both gay white boys. Go figure.
What really irked me, though, was Wranglestone's absolutely abysmal portrayal of women. The female characters in this novel were wildly outnumbered by the male characters, for starters. There were, like, maybe four women in the entire book. One of these was bitten by a zombie and then executed; another was brutally and graphically murdered by zombies; the third was a traitor. Only one of them turned out half-way okay, and even that only after murdering one of the good guys.
Darren Charlton could have, and should have, done much better.
OVERALL RATING: 2 / 5
At first I wanted to rate this book three out of five stars, but the more I thought about it, the more annoyed I got. It gets its two stars solely for the "gay characters exist and it's cool", and the super-creepy scenes.
Other than that, I just did not really care that much about this book, which is a bummer, because I still think us gays deserve an awesome zombie-apocalypse-tale.
kittykaz's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
a solid Story! maybe a little underdeveloped in the plot and character department but the setting was intriguing and the atmospheric writing only added to it
(I'm also a huge fan of snowball the pony, love horse cameos in post-apocalyptic settings)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, and Pandemic/Epidemic
davidshanewoods's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
2.75
hey_galilei's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.75
batflurries's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
stuffhanreads's review against another edition
5.0
Wranglestone is a book you didn’t know you needed in your life, the author perfectly mixes horror, thriller and zombies with a teenage lgbt romance.
Our main character Peter, grew up in the protected refuge on Lake Wranglestone with his father. The zombies, known as “restless ones” couldn’t reach this gated community during the warmer months, but winter is a different story. When the lake freezes the dead come knocking. As we progress through the story there’s many a plot twist that you don’t expect as well as a dark secret held by those Peter thought he knew.
Our main character Peter, grew up in the protected refuge on Lake Wranglestone with his father. The zombies, known as “restless ones” couldn’t reach this gated community during the warmer months, but winter is a different story. When the lake freezes the dead come knocking. As we progress through the story there’s many a plot twist that you don’t expect as well as a dark secret held by those Peter thought he knew.
laurapf's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0