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dynamicdylan's review against another edition
5.0
I love this book! The best horror novel about the apocalypse ever. It's a little adult, but still very good. It's kinda like the Alien movies only the aliens are spiders. Don't let that put you off though the author writes it very well. Look this up online for a complete summery. I highly recomend this book! :D
vikingwolf's review against another edition
4.0
Matt and Chloe are looking forward to having their first baby but when Chloe starts putting on weight all over and having violent moodswings, Matt gets concerned. Her doctor admits that all the women in town are acting weird and he can do nothing to help them. The men around town are scared of their partners, who give birth to spider like creatures that eat human meat. The surviving men start finding each other and plan to flee to a safer place that they can defend against the spiders and protect the few uninfected women that they find.
There was a lot to like about this excellent horror novel. It is set in the UK so the survivors have to use their brains and makeshift weapons ie golf clubs to defend themselves as they hunt for vehicles, supplies and head into the country and safety. There are good action scenes and a lot of tension in the early part of the book where the women are preparing to give birth. It has a creepy feel to it and being arachnophobic myself, it gave me the horrors but in a good way! It was quite a gripping plot and it just gets straight to the point without endless over descriptive waffle. I certainly liked that.
It is not just about the spiders though they evolve in interesting ways through the book. It is also about the worst side of human nature as the characters have to choose between good and evil acts. There were several fascinating plot twists as the action evolved throughout the book and I was left wondering what was coming next! There is also the wonderful dog Chester who I loved and I worried constantly about his safety. I always seem to care more about the dog than the human characters. So I'm rooting for Chester!
The last third of the book might seem over the top to some readers but I loved the shocks, the twists and the resolution of the fate of each character. It was great to see a few people get sorted out! I even liked the reasons for certain women being immune as it was at least a bit different even if it wasn't scientifically plausible! I'm no scientist and I can enjoy far fetched plots if they are well written and exciting and the author certainly does deliver on that score.
There are a couple of things that bugged me in the plot. It doesn't seem to take Matt long to forget poor Chloe, starting to fancy and pursue Katie virtually straight away. Are men really that cold that they just start chasing women as soon as their partner dies? Matt is a human hormone and not exactly Mr Personality yet all the women seem to be unable to resist him and he isn't exactly smart when history repeats itself. I can't really more without spoiling the plot. Matt hardly seems to care about the women he beds which made me dislike him the further the book went on. I can't say that I'm keen on these apocalypse romance plotlines but the story was good enough to ignore Matt's womanising for the most part.
I liked the storytelling and the way the plot was developed. I liked that it was a bit different and had horrible spider things in it. I liked the B Movie feel to aspects of it and that it was an enjoyable horror romp. I will certainly read Feeding Ground and would be interested in reading more by the author.
There was a lot to like about this excellent horror novel. It is set in the UK so the survivors have to use their brains and makeshift weapons ie golf clubs to defend themselves as they hunt for vehicles, supplies and head into the country and safety. There are good action scenes and a lot of tension in the early part of the book where the women are preparing to give birth. It has a creepy feel to it and being arachnophobic myself, it gave me the horrors but in a good way! It was quite a gripping plot and it just gets straight to the point without endless over descriptive waffle. I certainly liked that.
It is not just about the spiders though they evolve in interesting ways through the book. It is also about the worst side of human nature as the characters have to choose between good and evil acts. There were several fascinating plot twists as the action evolved throughout the book and I was left wondering what was coming next! There is also the wonderful dog Chester who I loved and I worried constantly about his safety. I always seem to care more about the dog than the human characters. So I'm rooting for Chester!
The last third of the book might seem over the top to some readers but I loved the shocks, the twists and the resolution of the fate of each character. It was great to see a few people get sorted out! I even liked the reasons for certain women being immune as it was at least a bit different even if it wasn't scientifically plausible! I'm no scientist and I can enjoy far fetched plots if they are well written and exciting and the author certainly does deliver on that score.
There are a couple of things that bugged me in the plot. It doesn't seem to take Matt long to forget poor Chloe, starting to fancy and pursue Katie virtually straight away. Are men really that cold that they just start chasing women as soon as their partner dies? Matt is a human hormone and not exactly Mr Personality yet all the women seem to be unable to resist him and he isn't exactly smart when history repeats itself. I can't really more without spoiling the plot. Matt hardly seems to care about the women he beds which made me dislike him the further the book went on. I can't say that I'm keen on these apocalypse romance plotlines but the story was good enough to ignore Matt's womanising for the most part.
I liked the storytelling and the way the plot was developed. I liked that it was a bit different and had horrible spider things in it. I liked the B Movie feel to aspects of it and that it was an enjoyable horror romp. I will certainly read Feeding Ground and would be interested in reading more by the author.
writeralicia's review against another edition
Sarah Pinborough's Breeding Ground had great potential for me, because it involved spider-like creatures. It's funny that it would be assigned as reading in a class about monsters when I often refer to spiders as mini-monsters. Spiders are hairy and leggy, with pincers and many eyes, and they hunt and eat other creatures, trapping them in sticky webs. "If they were bigger," I've often said, "they would eat you."
My point is twofold: (1) Spiders are a great subject for a horror novel. And (2) I may be slightly arachnophobic.
There were a lot of things I liked about Breeding Ground. From page one, there was the feeling of impending doom, and the later story and quick pace did not disappoint. The author created some brilliantly horrific images with her words. Some of my favorites include:
Spiders. Ugh! *shudders*
One of the things I didn't love about Breeding Ground, on the other hand, is that it tried to be science fiction in addition to horror. Every so-called scientific explanation given ripped me out of the story a little bit more.
In yet another attempt to explain things with science, a doctor claims that, because all the widows evolved from human women, "[l]ogic would therefore dictate that they're female spiders" (p. 323). Say what? In this world, apparently, only women can be born of other women, because logic. However, this gives way for the author to introduce new, male spiders toward the end of the book. In hindsight, this unbelievable version of science seems to exist to allow the author to up the stakes at the end of the book.
Last and definitely not least, the blood of deaf people (and deaf dogs) acts like acid when it touches the widows. In this world, the deafness of all encountered humans and dogs is caused by a single genetic defect, which just happens to cause the blood to behave like acid. I may have rolled my eyes a bit (meaning a lot) when the characters figured this out.
Sometimes, the genesis of a monster or other being of horror can add to the fear factor. Other times, the mystery—the lack of knowing—can be a good thing. That unknown can keep a reader up at night thinking that the horror she read about can happen at any moment. In this case, the scientific explanations only managed to increase my level of disbelief. I wish the author had left that a mystery.
In short, while Breeding Ground wins at horror, it fails at science fiction.
My point is twofold: (1) Spiders are a great subject for a horror novel. And (2) I may be slightly arachnophobic.
There were a lot of things I liked about Breeding Ground. From page one, there was the feeling of impending doom, and the later story and quick pace did not disappoint. The author created some brilliantly horrific images with her words. Some of my favorites include:
The white strands that had characterised the widow's bite on his arm were working inwards from the corners of his eyes, appearing from within the socket, clinging to the slippery surface, twisting miniature versions of the thick coils that had been draped across the pub, each thread reaching out for another on the opposite side of his eyeball. (Pinborough, Sarah. Breeding Ground. New York City: Leisure, 2006. 276-77. Print.)
He was shaking again now, his head distorting, and as the scream rose to almost a whistle the flesh of his cheeks and throat finally gave way, hard shiny black legs forcing their way through, ripping at him, tearing the life from him, aggressively bursting into the world. (p. 332)
Spiders. Ugh! *shudders*
One of the things I didn't love about Breeding Ground, on the other hand, is that it tried to be science fiction in addition to horror. Every so-called scientific explanation given ripped me out of the story a little bit more.
Spoiler
First, the widows came into existence because of scientists playing with hormones in food. As a result, the spider-like widows grew inside human females. A complex, intelligent species with psychic abilities came into existence due to modified food … I cannot suspend disbelief.In yet another attempt to explain things with science, a doctor claims that, because all the widows evolved from human women, "[l]ogic would therefore dictate that they're female spiders" (p. 323). Say what? In this world, apparently, only women can be born of other women, because logic. However, this gives way for the author to introduce new, male spiders toward the end of the book. In hindsight, this unbelievable version of science seems to exist to allow the author to up the stakes at the end of the book.
Last and definitely not least, the blood of deaf people (and deaf dogs) acts like acid when it touches the widows. In this world, the deafness of all encountered humans and dogs is caused by a single genetic defect, which just happens to cause the blood to behave like acid. I may have rolled my eyes a bit (meaning a lot) when the characters figured this out.
Sometimes, the genesis of a monster or other being of horror can add to the fear factor. Other times, the mystery—the lack of knowing—can be a good thing. That unknown can keep a reader up at night thinking that the horror she read about can happen at any moment. In this case, the scientific explanations only managed to increase my level of disbelief. I wish the author had left that a mystery.
In short, while Breeding Ground wins at horror, it fails at science fiction.
jjjasper12's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
rovertoak's review against another edition
4.0
This book has all the feel of a suspenseful zombie novel...without the zombies! This is a gripping work of survival horror fans of apocalyptic literature should thoroughly enjoy.
clunttoo's review
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
nollreads's review against another edition
2.0
In some ways, this was a fun and pretty well-written read. Nothing overly original, but an interesting spin on common constituent parts with some decent characters, including one or two I loved. However, the things that I did not like about it impacted sufficiently on my overall view of it to knock it down to a 'It was okay' rating. The biggest problems were how terrible a human being the narrator was, being gratuitously extreme, and lack of explanation for anything.
The narrative draws attention to itself, as though it is a journal or unmarked series of diary entries, stating that the narrator is leaving his version of events in the hope that someone someday will read what has transpired. However, it reads like a novel, and there is one part of the book where the narrator literally goes, 'I feel like I need to write everything down and be honest', and then goes on to describe in detail I've seen only in Fifty Shades a several page long sex scene. Now, I don't mind sex in books at all - I don't even mind that degree of sex. But I don't think anyone would describe sex like that in a document about how the world ended. It's not required reading for anyone. If he hadn't drawn attention to the purpose of his narrative immediately before, I might even have forgotten sufficiently for it not to feel so.... bizzare. It was just bizzare. Also, Matt's complete inability to rein himself in around women, and his apologetic nature regarding such 'because he's a man', is actually offensive to men.
Aside from that, not a huge amount really happened. The more I think about it, the more unsure I am what I liked about it at all. I must have liked something though, coz I finished it pretty easily.
It was okay.
The narrative draws attention to itself, as though it is a journal or unmarked series of diary entries, stating that the narrator is leaving his version of events in the hope that someone someday will read what has transpired. However, it reads like a novel, and there is one part of the book where the narrator literally goes, 'I feel like I need to write everything down and be honest', and then goes on to describe in detail I've seen only in Fifty Shades a several page long sex scene. Now, I don't mind sex in books at all - I don't even mind that degree of sex. But I don't think anyone would describe sex like that in a document about how the world ended. It's not required reading for anyone. If he hadn't drawn attention to the purpose of his narrative immediately before, I might even have forgotten sufficiently for it not to feel so.... bizzare. It was just bizzare. Also, Matt's complete inability to rein himself in around women, and his apologetic nature regarding such 'because he's a man', is actually offensive to men.
Aside from that, not a huge amount really happened. The more I think about it, the more unsure I am what I liked about it at all. I must have liked something though, coz I finished it pretty easily.
It was okay.
xterminal's review
3.0
Sarah Pinborough, Breeding Ground (Leisure, 2006)
I can be stubborn at times. My local library has a selection of Sarah Pinborough's more recent novels, but since Breeding Ground was the first one I heard about, I wanted to start there. So I've held off on reading Pinborough until I could get my hands on a copy of this one, which has been out of print since about five past forever (despite a sequel having been released last year). That finally happened, and as with most genre horror, once I sat down with it, I ended up tearing through it in about a day. I liked it well enough, but I ended up wondering if I shouldn't have started with The Reckoning. There was a blurb for it in the back of this one, and it intrigued me. While well-written enough, Breeding Ground was a bit derivative for me, and a bit on the too-clever-by-half side at times (having your characters read John Wyndham books when your own book directly descends from John Wyndham seems a touch, well, twee).
Matt and his girlfriend Chloe have what may be the best relationship ever. (If you've ever read Melville's Pierre, I couldn't resist drawing a parallel between the opening chapters describing Pierre's relationship with his mother.) Well, except that Matt's a bit of a doormat. You can easily imagine him in the pub on open mic night strumming Sufjan Stevens tunes. That aside, however, things turn kind of nasty when Chloe suddenly starts gaining weight, and we find out how horribly shallow Matt really is. Which is its own kind of horror novel in itself, though it's not the kind we have here. A trip to the doctor proves entirely unfruitful until Matt runs into the guy at a local pub, and is brought back to reality: it's not just happening to Chloe. It's happening to every woman in the town... and, says the doctor, the world. They're all pregnant. And what they're carrying inside them is not human...
From there, it becomes pretty standard last-band-of-humans-vs.-the-monsters fare with a genderific twist that allows testosterone to run free. The John Wyndham implications are obvious, of course, but Pinborough is following a grand old tradition in British horror fiction. (Stirling Silliphant and Wolf Rilla obviously had a hand in birthing this baby as well.) Given that, you have to turn to whether the book delivers as promised, and I think this one does; despite Matt's reactions being just unbearably boorish every once in a while, he's a well-rounded character who makes sense, even if it's not the kind of sense I'd like, and a number of the other characters are fleshed out well, if not as well as Matt is. The ending is a touch unsatisfying, but that, again, is in the grand British horror tradition, as well as setting the book up for a sequel (though not the one we currently have, which I am told is contemporaneous to this book). If you're a fan of icky monsters, you should like this one. ***
I can be stubborn at times. My local library has a selection of Sarah Pinborough's more recent novels, but since Breeding Ground was the first one I heard about, I wanted to start there. So I've held off on reading Pinborough until I could get my hands on a copy of this one, which has been out of print since about five past forever (despite a sequel having been released last year). That finally happened, and as with most genre horror, once I sat down with it, I ended up tearing through it in about a day. I liked it well enough, but I ended up wondering if I shouldn't have started with The Reckoning. There was a blurb for it in the back of this one, and it intrigued me. While well-written enough, Breeding Ground was a bit derivative for me, and a bit on the too-clever-by-half side at times (having your characters read John Wyndham books when your own book directly descends from John Wyndham seems a touch, well, twee).
Matt and his girlfriend Chloe have what may be the best relationship ever. (If you've ever read Melville's Pierre, I couldn't resist drawing a parallel between the opening chapters describing Pierre's relationship with his mother.) Well, except that Matt's a bit of a doormat. You can easily imagine him in the pub on open mic night strumming Sufjan Stevens tunes. That aside, however, things turn kind of nasty when Chloe suddenly starts gaining weight, and we find out how horribly shallow Matt really is. Which is its own kind of horror novel in itself, though it's not the kind we have here. A trip to the doctor proves entirely unfruitful until Matt runs into the guy at a local pub, and is brought back to reality: it's not just happening to Chloe. It's happening to every woman in the town... and, says the doctor, the world. They're all pregnant. And what they're carrying inside them is not human...
From there, it becomes pretty standard last-band-of-humans-vs.-the-monsters fare with a genderific twist that allows testosterone to run free. The John Wyndham implications are obvious, of course, but Pinborough is following a grand old tradition in British horror fiction. (Stirling Silliphant and Wolf Rilla obviously had a hand in birthing this baby as well.) Given that, you have to turn to whether the book delivers as promised, and I think this one does; despite Matt's reactions being just unbearably boorish every once in a while, he's a well-rounded character who makes sense, even if it's not the kind of sense I'd like, and a number of the other characters are fleshed out well, if not as well as Matt is. The ending is a touch unsatisfying, but that, again, is in the grand British horror tradition, as well as setting the book up for a sequel (though not the one we currently have, which I am told is contemporaneous to this book). If you're a fan of icky monsters, you should like this one. ***
rovertoak's review
4.0
This book has all the feel of a suspenseful zombie novel...without the zombies! This is a gripping work of survival horror fans of apocalyptic literature should thoroughly enjoy.
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