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karlies's review
dark
tense
fast-paced
3.5
Just pretty meh. I do not get scared when I read horror fiction, so I cannot speak on if the book is actually scary, but there is a lot of body horror. Which is something that I think can get old after a while.
I have to point out that the villain's name is Anton Rusk, and he is a tech-bro billionaire. Gee, sound familiar? His personality, though, is nothing more than being rich and evil. He doesn't have any reasoning for wanting the monster in the story, he just seems to want it because he's rich and evil. At least say what he plans on doing with it, that offers at least something to his character.
The other characters are pretty boring too. The British guy's whole personality is being British. The German girl is tense and angry all the time. There's the nice guy whose always helping everyone, the journalist who wants the "big scoop," a middle-aged scientist who does nothing and then dies, and an annoyed millennial corporate puppet. Nobody ever develops and stays written like this for the entire book.
Their unifying point is that they all have some traumatic backstory and that's why they all were able to join this trip, but when you think about it, how does our main character, Riley, fit into this crowd? Spoilers, but one person killed their father, and the other has extreme guilt that he caused his best friend to die. And Riley just...has anxiety. And her "traumatic" backstory is that she had a big, hyperventilating panic attack during class, and all her friends stopped talking to her. Number one, in what world does that happen (the friends ditching her for being anxious)? Number two, she goes to therapy, gets medicated, and knows all these techniques to calm her nerves, so how is she anywhere close to being on the same level as her peers on this trip? She seems so ridiculous whenever they're sharing their dark backgrounds, and she's just like, "You guys aren't going to believe this, but...I have anxiety." Three people have criminal backgrounds, how did you get chosen for this delinquency trip?
Another pet peeve with the characters is the random shoving in of two of their sexualities. At one point, Riley and Luke have to get into a sleeping bag together because Luke says they "need to warm each other up." He starts taking his shirt off, and Riley blurts out that she's asexual, and Luke is awkwardly like, "Oh, I didn't mean anything like that. I'm gay." And then...that's it. Very obviously the author just trying to earn some diversity points. If you took this part away, you wouldn't really have any clue about their sexualities, so, therefore, what was the point? Hardly representation.
The horror starts immediately, which is fine I guess for a short YA horror novel, but I would have liked a bit more buildup. The horror is all mostly body horror. I wish there had been more paranoia, but I also might not have noticed the paranoia that would have worked in any other story because it just reads like Riley being Riley. Perhaps don't have a highly paranoid MC if you want the story to have suspense?
The ending was utter dogshit. It would have been fine had the final chapter not been included. But no, we had to add something that was the equivalent of going, "And then I woke up and realized it was all a dream." Everything just sort of falls into place in its own way, i.e. we can suspect that a lot of revenge/destruction/whatever is coming, but I think this is just trying to squeeze in a "happy" ending as best as you can considering the circumstances. I don't think this story deserves a happy ending, though. Not if you want your bare minimum commentary on billionaires always getting what they want to stand.
It's better than other YA horror I've read. But it still felt pretty unsatisfactory overall.
I have to point out that the villain's name is Anton Rusk, and he is a tech-bro billionaire. Gee, sound familiar? His personality, though, is nothing more than being rich and evil. He doesn't have any reasoning for wanting the monster in the story, he just seems to want it because he's rich and evil. At least say what he plans on doing with it, that offers at least something to his character.
The other characters are pretty boring too. The British guy's whole personality is being British. The German girl is tense and angry all the time. There's the nice guy whose always helping everyone, the journalist who wants the "big scoop," a middle-aged scientist who does nothing and then dies, and an annoyed millennial corporate puppet. Nobody ever develops and stays written like this for the entire book.
Their unifying point is that they all have some traumatic backstory and that's why they all were able to join this trip, but when you think about it, how does our main character, Riley, fit into this crowd? Spoilers, but one person killed their father, and the other has extreme guilt that he caused his best friend to die. And Riley just...has anxiety. And her "traumatic" backstory is that she had a big, hyperventilating panic attack during class, and all her friends stopped talking to her. Number one, in what world does that happen (the friends ditching her for being anxious)? Number two, she goes to therapy, gets medicated, and knows all these techniques to calm her nerves, so how is she anywhere close to being on the same level as her peers on this trip? She seems so ridiculous whenever they're sharing their dark backgrounds, and she's just like, "You guys aren't going to believe this, but...I have anxiety." Three people have criminal backgrounds, how did you get chosen for this delinquency trip?
Another pet peeve with the characters is the random shoving in of two of their sexualities. At one point, Riley and Luke have to get into a sleeping bag together because Luke says they "need to warm each other up." He starts taking his shirt off, and Riley blurts out that she's asexual, and Luke is awkwardly like, "Oh, I didn't mean anything like that. I'm gay." And then...that's it. Very obviously the author just trying to earn some diversity points. If you took this part away, you wouldn't really have any clue about their sexualities, so, therefore, what was the point? Hardly representation.
The horror starts immediately, which is fine I guess for a short YA horror novel, but I would have liked a bit more buildup. The horror is all mostly body horror. I wish there had been more paranoia, but I also might not have noticed the paranoia that would have worked in any other story because it just reads like Riley being Riley. Perhaps don't have a highly paranoid MC if you want the story to have suspense?
The ending was utter dogshit. It would have been fine had the final chapter not been included. But no, we had to add something that was the equivalent of going, "And then I woke up and realized it was all a dream." Everything just sort of falls into place in its own way, i.e. we can suspect that a lot of revenge/destruction/whatever is coming, but I think this is just trying to squeeze in a "happy" ending as best as you can considering the circumstances. I don't think this story deserves a happy ending, though. Not if you want your bare minimum commentary on billionaires always getting what they want to stand.
It's better than other YA horror I've read. But it still felt pretty unsatisfactory overall.
remylee7's review
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
aspenandcopper's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
While I love the concept of this book, unfortunately it fell into the same trap as many thrillers do these days, in that it didn't actually have an ending. Nothing about the last few chapters makes sense, and you're just left hanging as to what actually happened. Not in a "the true meaning is up to the reader" sort of the way, but in a way that there just isn't an ending at all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
izzykroan's review
4.0
4.5/5
I really enjoyed this book. The writing, the characters, the pacing, and that it wasn’t too long. Also really enjoyed how much dialogue there was between the characters, especially given the fact that they had to do a lot of problem solving.
People are hating how on the nose some the writing is… Anton Rusk — Elon Musk. But I personally thought it was funny.
If you’re into gory/paranormal/horror books, I recommend this book. Overall I had a good time.
I will say the ending felt a bit rushed, but I’m not too mad about it.
I really enjoyed this book. The writing, the characters, the pacing, and that it wasn’t too long. Also really enjoyed how much dialogue there was between the characters, especially given the fact that they had to do a lot of problem solving.
People are hating how on the nose some the writing is… Anton Rusk — Elon Musk. But I personally thought it was funny.
If you’re into gory/paranormal/horror books, I recommend this book. Overall I had a good time.
I will say the ending felt a bit rushed, but I’m not too mad about it.
knaveryact's review
3.0
More like 3,5 maybe. Idk. You think I have an actual system to rate these books? Please.
Pros:
It's a quick read. Very quick, actually. There is no fluff, which, I actually weirdly respect. There is no beating around the bush, we get the action pretty much since the very beginning. Very 80s/90s slashers vibes.
Both a pro and a con:
Everything is set into motion because of a rich science guy that develops tons of stuff, like... electric cars and whatnot... and his name is Anton RUSK. It's just so on the nose that I had to love it. Got quite annoying in parts where his name is mentioned a lot because I was literally taken out of the text to be reminded that Elon Musk exists, and I do not need my entertainment to remind me of it any more than it already does.
Cons:
Just like those slasher movies that it reminded me off, it's so... empty inside. It's enjoyable, and then you close the book (well, in my case, file on the kindle) and it evaporates from your head, making room for another random YA slasher.
Pros:
It's a quick read. Very quick, actually. There is no fluff, which, I actually weirdly respect. There is no beating around the bush, we get the action pretty much since the very beginning. Very 80s/90s slashers vibes.
Both a pro and a con:
Everything is set into motion because of a rich science guy that develops tons of stuff, like... electric cars and whatnot... and his name is Anton RUSK. It's just so on the nose that I had to love it. Got quite annoying in parts where his name is mentioned a lot because I was literally taken out of the text to be reminded that Elon Musk exists, and I do not need my entertainment to remind me of it any more than it already does.
Cons:
Just like those slasher movies that it reminded me off, it's so... empty inside. It's enjoyable, and then you close the book (well, in my case, file on the kindle) and it evaporates from your head, making room for another random YA slasher.
rolstew's review
1.0
The writing? Bad. Characters? Bad. Plot? Bad, and possibly a rip off of The Thing? And is Anton Rusk actually Elon Musk? Hmmm…
mrs_bookdragon's review
4.0
This was quite the monster horror book! It was nonstop suspense and I liked the scenes that cut to the present day and then the flashbacks.
36459gem's review
5.0
Picked this book up purely on the fact that a friend and I had been talking about The Thing earlier that day and then I see this book in the store. The timing.
It is obviously heavily influenced by the film but I really enjoyed some of the twists and changes that are unique to this story. The younger characters also made this book its own and I found it highly enjoyable.
It is obviously heavily influenced by the film but I really enjoyed some of the twists and changes that are unique to this story. The younger characters also made this book its own and I found it highly enjoyable.
bexrecca's review
2.0
Solidly ok. I love The Thing so much, which is why I wanted to read this one, but some of the bits that were most like The Thing were also not great because it felt like The Thing - but with teenagers. Anton Rusk as an Elon Musk stand in was hilarious though.
mariemoreau's review
4.0
This was such a cool, yet horrifying read. Honestly, my skin crawled a good number of times at the descriptions for how all the creatures looked. I’ve never read a science fiction book before so this was new for me and yeah, that was something. Love how the author didn’t wait until the middle of the story to get the action going, I’d say by chapter 3 things started moving very quickly and I appreciated that. All these kids went through wayyyy too much like I don’t see how Riley made it as far as she did in that situation, I would’ve just succumbed to my fate. And of course I’m disgusted (but not surprised) at how powerful, rich men think they rule the world and can get away with anything. The ending was perfect (although I’m still sad at all the lives lost for no reason).