Reviews

Starers, by Nathan Robinson

el_stevie's review

2.0

I enjoyed the idea behind the book, especially the end-of-the-world type scenario but there was one particular feature which really jarred with me and that was the sexualisation of a 12-year-old girl. I work in a secondary school and anyone caught as she was at 12 would not just have had a letter or call from the headmaster. It would be child protection at the very least, family backgrounds examined etc - much of this to ensure grooming is not a part of that child's life. Early evidence of this is always acted upon in schools and this has really affected my view of the story, as did the attempted rape of Lucy by the mysterious 'He' of the story. To me, Lucy was still too much of a child to be suffering all this and I found that difficult. Without this aspect, I would have rated the story higher.

erina's review

4.0

Starers reminds me of a horror movie. It is quick, it is gory, and it is fun. If one read this communally with friends (like some families do with Dickens' Christmas Carol) I think you could make an entertaining evening. With the witty Briticisms, gore, and zombieesque beings, it reminded me of Shawn of the Dead. I love Simon Pegg and don't make the comparison lightly. In between the fear of death, the bursting eyeballs, and terrifying dreams, this book is really quite funny. I think it is the humour (Lennon I love you) that makes this book so enjoyable, because without it this book risks being a constant gore fest. There really is a lot of gore. Gore should be given main character status. The characters were really well developed, and while not likable and certainly flawed, they seemed to be truer to life then most fictional characters. Their actions in preparing for the end of times were really realistic as were there spiraling thoughts. As other reviewers have noted, Robinson does a great job of showing how good people can do evil things in the name of survival and how that us vs them/ survive mentality can justify anything.
If you are looking for a genuinely horrifying book, with humour and gore in about equal ratio, then this is a perfect don'-t-turn-off-the-lights read.