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knicke25 's review for:
The Compound
by S.A. Bodeen
Read this one very fast, so it's possible that my plot quibbles are due to me missing some subtle hints throughout.
Very exciting/dark, and a premise with a lot of potential. Only mild language and no gore, so something I could imagine recommending to squeamish parents (except there is a lot of other disturbing stuff in there...shhh, don't tell them that). One I think teens would probably enjoy and blow through quickly, just as I did. However, there were some things about the plot that really annoyed the heck out of me.
This book was a bit thinner than it should have been, and I still don't quite understand the father's motivation for imprisoning his family underground. Human cloning research? "Family time"? Insanity? Protecting his children from the world? Just a controlling jerk? Clearly that last one is true at least. But all these possible motivations are introduced/discussed, and then the dude jets out of there at the end with his accountant or gets blown up, whichever ending you prefer. He does go back for his research, so maybe that was the whole point of it...in which case, why make his family come along? As human guinea pigs?
Anyway, it's just too much evil for one poorly fleshed-out bad guy. I wish the author had just picked ONE of these motivations and stuck with it.
I'm annoyed also about the sideplot with the babies who were supposedly going to be eaten if the food ran out (though I thought referring to them as "The Supplementals" was an awesome chilling touch). I understand the emotional reason for having littler kids around to help Eli open up...but logically, cannibalism?! First of all, if calories are an issue, how are you going to fatten up those young'uns? Did no one think to question that? Was mom somehow breastfeeding them all? No pregnant woman can pump enough to feed 3 toddler/preschoolers (plus older kids too? ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww). WT fiddly F, indeed.
(La Leche Leaguers, don't crucify me! I don't think it's especially gross personally, but it is weirdly made much of here and it feels like it's intended as a gross-out aside.)
Second of all, if you're going to eat them anyway, why raise them like normal kids? It becomes clear that they probably weren't going to be eaten anyway, but still...nobody wondered about that?
Not wholly unsuccessful, but could have been so very much better. Lots to argue about though; this would be a fun book to discuss in a group, I think. If the breast milk didn't scare everyone off first and if parents didn't freak out.
Very exciting/dark, and a premise with a lot of potential. Only mild language and no gore, so something I could imagine recommending to squeamish parents (except there is a lot of other disturbing stuff in there...shhh, don't tell them that). One I think teens would probably enjoy and blow through quickly, just as I did. However, there were some things about the plot that really annoyed the heck out of me.
This book was a bit thinner than it should have been, and I still don't quite understand the father's motivation for imprisoning his family underground. Human cloning research? "Family time"? Insanity? Protecting his children from the world? Just a controlling jerk? Clearly that last one is true at least. But all these possible motivations are introduced/discussed, and then the dude jets out of there at the end with his accountant or gets blown up, whichever ending you prefer. He does go back for his research, so maybe that was the whole point of it...in which case, why make his family come along? As human guinea pigs?
Anyway, it's just too much evil for one poorly fleshed-out bad guy. I wish the author had just picked ONE of these motivations and stuck with it.
I'm annoyed also about the sideplot with the babies who were supposedly going to be eaten if the food ran out (though I thought referring to them as "The Supplementals" was an awesome chilling touch). I understand the emotional reason for having littler kids around to help Eli open up...but logically, cannibalism?! First of all, if calories are an issue, how are you going to fatten up those young'uns? Did no one think to question that? Was mom somehow breastfeeding them all? No pregnant woman can pump enough to feed 3 toddler/preschoolers (plus older kids too? ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww). WT fiddly F, indeed.
(La Leche Leaguers, don't crucify me! I don't think it's especially gross personally, but it is weirdly made much of here and it feels like it's intended as a gross-out aside.)
Second of all, if you're going to eat them anyway, why raise them like normal kids? It becomes clear that they probably weren't going to be eaten anyway, but still...nobody wondered about that?
Not wholly unsuccessful, but could have been so very much better. Lots to argue about though; this would be a fun book to discuss in a group, I think. If the breast milk didn't scare everyone off first and if parents didn't freak out.