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454 reviews by:
cowboyjonah
Compulsively readable yet entirely unsettling, this is somewhere between 4 and 5 stars for me and I think many could benefit from reading this, albeit the high number of sexual assault sequences
I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. I was expecting something a little closer to The Troop, also by Nick Cutter which I enjoyed but this wasn't for me.
Some good highlights:
-Using the submarine all of the characters are on as its own character/villain was effective and scary, reminded me of the Overlook in The Shining. Overbearing at times but was effective when it wanted to be.
-The flashback sequences. After reading some reviews a lot of people didn't care for these but I found them to be some of the scariest parts. They didn't move the plot forward at all and added almost nothing to the story but by themselves I liked them. The insect flashback and the tickle trunk flashback were the best ones.
-The honeycomb/bee sequences. This was the scariest part for me. Isn't really explained as to why they are bees so again I feel like this could have been good as its own story, but the whole mother/birthing parts were good, reminded me of Shelley in The Troop which was the part that scared me the most. These scenes were the most effective for me.
Bad highlights:
-The characters. I didn't really care for any of them. Very forgettable and shallow characterization. The only one I really paid attention to was the dog, LB because she's a dog. Gave me anxiety the whole read because I thought something would happen to the dog but then her death was kind of underwhelming. Also, considering that the dog was the most anxiety-inducing part about a book completely not about that is not a good sign. The main character, Luke was just annoying. Spends half the time whining about the pressure under the sea and having flashbacks which are more interesting than the plot. Only two personality traits are his missing son Zachary and caring for LB. Very boring character and I felt nothing when he died (?). Alice was barely shown and only used to work the submarine, which was okay because she was also boring. Literally no backstory or characterization. Clayton was also boring and his backstory came up too late and wasn't explained enough for me to care when he died (?). If you're going to write a sociopathic character don't write him like this. Took "no emotion" to the next level. The other scientists I felt nothing for and Dr. Toy was almost funny when Luke interacts with him, and not in a scary way. The mother recurring backstory had literally nothing to do with the plot and could have been cut out completely with no problems. Honestly the best character was Abby who we never even meet. She had more depth than the rest of them.
-The plot. Half of this book does nothing for the plot (but are somehow the best parts?). It starts by explaining the Gets disease and then forgets about it halfway and only brings it up to remind the reader why they are on the submarine. I'd like a book just on this sickness because it seems interesting but was so underdeveloped. A lot of times in the writing I literally could not picture where we were when the events were happening. It probably made sense in the author's head but was not translated well. The plot switched so many times it was hard to identify a real one. Don't read this based on the blurb on the book. It spends like 10 pages explaining the disease if that and then forgets about it. Too bad the other "plot" is boring. Even the gory parts lasted like 2 seconds and then another 20 pages of Luke explaining his headache.
-The pacing. It would go from 3 short chapters in a row, all ending in cliffhangers and then go back to 30 pages of nothingness. It didn't make me want to pick the book back up and read more, but it did want to make me read faster to get it over with. There was no build or climax to it, just little intervals of scary parts.
-The ending. The "fig men" could have been scary, but read as silly. I was *almost* scared and then I realized it was stupid. If you are looking for a book where things are explained, don't read this. NOTHING about the ending is explained, so it loses the scary effect. Suspension of disbelief doesn't even work here because we know literally nothing. The way the fig men kept calling Luke "child" made me laugh because I thought it was so dumb. Do they complete the mission? is the sickness cured? don't bother asking. Also the disease isn't even mentioned in the last like 50 pages because the book loses its plot and turns into an alien story. The last line was a cop out but I was glad the story was over. I don't know what would have made it better considering it probably couldn't have saved the rest of the book, but I didn't like it.
This book had so many ideas - just pick one! a story about the Gets' by itself would have been enjoyable, a story about the submarine itself would have been enjoyable, a story about the ambrosia itself would have been enjoyable. Instead it's a confusing cluster of bees, honeycombs, a pandemic, a missing kid, mad scientists, a submarine that works as its own character, mommy issues, fig men, other stuff I can't even remember.
Everyone is describing this as a super gory book, which I don't agree with. There are a few small bursts of gory parts but none of them are really as intense as anything in The Troop. Also aren't that effective when horrible things are happening to the characters when you don't care about the characters.
This would have been better as a movie (not a movie from the book adaptation, just a random horror movie) but now the books ruined it so it can't happen.
Some good highlights:
-Using the submarine all of the characters are on as its own character/villain was effective and scary, reminded me of the Overlook in The Shining. Overbearing at times but was effective when it wanted to be.
-The flashback sequences. After reading some reviews a lot of people didn't care for these but I found them to be some of the scariest parts. They didn't move the plot forward at all and added almost nothing to the story but by themselves I liked them. The insect flashback and the tickle trunk flashback were the best ones.
-The honeycomb/bee sequences. This was the scariest part for me. Isn't really explained as to why they are bees so again I feel like this could have been good as its own story, but the whole mother/birthing parts were good, reminded me of Shelley in The Troop which was the part that scared me the most. These scenes were the most effective for me.
Bad highlights:
-The characters. I didn't really care for any of them. Very forgettable and shallow characterization. The only one I really paid attention to was the dog, LB because she's a dog. Gave me anxiety the whole read because I thought something would happen to the dog but then her death was kind of underwhelming. Also, considering that the dog was the most anxiety-inducing part about a book completely not about that is not a good sign. The main character, Luke was just annoying. Spends half the time whining about the pressure under the sea and having flashbacks which are more interesting than the plot. Only two personality traits are his missing son Zachary and caring for LB. Very boring character and I felt nothing when he died (?). Alice was barely shown and only used to work the submarine, which was okay because she was also boring. Literally no backstory or characterization. Clayton was also boring and his backstory came up too late and wasn't explained enough for me to care when he died (?). If you're going to write a sociopathic character don't write him like this. Took "no emotion" to the next level. The other scientists I felt nothing for and Dr. Toy was almost funny when Luke interacts with him, and not in a scary way. The mother recurring backstory had literally nothing to do with the plot and could have been cut out completely with no problems. Honestly the best character was Abby who we never even meet. She had more depth than the rest of them.
-The plot. Half of this book does nothing for the plot (but are somehow the best parts?). It starts by explaining the Gets disease and then forgets about it halfway and only brings it up to remind the reader why they are on the submarine. I'd like a book just on this sickness because it seems interesting but was so underdeveloped. A lot of times in the writing I literally could not picture where we were when the events were happening. It probably made sense in the author's head but was not translated well. The plot switched so many times it was hard to identify a real one. Don't read this based on the blurb on the book. It spends like 10 pages explaining the disease if that and then forgets about it. Too bad the other "plot" is boring. Even the gory parts lasted like 2 seconds and then another 20 pages of Luke explaining his headache.
-The pacing. It would go from 3 short chapters in a row, all ending in cliffhangers and then go back to 30 pages of nothingness. It didn't make me want to pick the book back up and read more, but it did want to make me read faster to get it over with. There was no build or climax to it, just little intervals of scary parts.
-The ending. The "fig men" could have been scary, but read as silly. I was *almost* scared and then I realized it was stupid. If you are looking for a book where things are explained, don't read this. NOTHING about the ending is explained, so it loses the scary effect. Suspension of disbelief doesn't even work here because we know literally nothing. The way the fig men kept calling Luke "child" made me laugh because I thought it was so dumb. Do they complete the mission? is the sickness cured? don't bother asking. Also the disease isn't even mentioned in the last like 50 pages because the book loses its plot and turns into an alien story. The last line was a cop out but I was glad the story was over. I don't know what would have made it better considering it probably couldn't have saved the rest of the book, but I didn't like it.
This book had so many ideas - just pick one! a story about the Gets' by itself would have been enjoyable, a story about the submarine itself would have been enjoyable, a story about the ambrosia itself would have been enjoyable. Instead it's a confusing cluster of bees, honeycombs, a pandemic, a missing kid, mad scientists, a submarine that works as its own character, mommy issues, fig men, other stuff I can't even remember.
Everyone is describing this as a super gory book, which I don't agree with. There are a few small bursts of gory parts but none of them are really as intense as anything in The Troop. Also aren't that effective when horrible things are happening to the characters when you don't care about the characters.
This would have been better as a movie (not a movie from the book adaptation, just a random horror movie) but now the books ruined it so it can't happen.
I wanted to love this one, it's right up my alley: queer + trans MC and side characters, apocalyptic setting, body horror, etc but I just didn't connect with it... I definitely love the ideas and messages this one has and the writing is impressive, I just didn't really care about the characters or the story much while reading. Also had little to no idea where we were or what was going on for like 75% of it lol
Slasher Girls & Monster Boys
Kendare Blake, Jonathan Maberry, Marie Lu, April Genevieve Tucholke, Nova Ren Suma, McCormick Templeman, Jay Kristoff, Carrie Ryan, Megan Shepherd, Cat Winters, Leigh Bardugo, Stefan Bachmann, Danielle Paige, A.G. Howard
There were like 2 decent stories
I don't even care about the story I'm just so happy this is finally done. 2.5 for the actual book but another .5 for the acknowledgements
I preferred Bunny, but this was still a fun time! frustrating and engaging fs
3.5 ⭐
For a book so focused on characters, I wish I liked them more. Definitely not was I was expecting, not mad just a little disappointed...
For a book so focused on characters, I wish I liked them more. Definitely not was I was expecting, not mad just a little disappointed...