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jetpackdracula's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death and Body horror
samspur's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is the weirdest book trip I've ever been on and I loved it. It's like a horror version of Alice in Wonderland x the Wizard of Oz with a dash of Annihilation vibes (the movie - I haven't read the book).
At first I didn't understand the abrupt chapter scene changes. It felt similar to video game levels where you progress to the next area, but eventually I grew to like it. One minute you'd be in the desert and the next under a mountain with a giant. My favorite was to retell the story to my partner and have him try to follow along.
I love the Crab! The book could have just been the crab scenes and I would have been happy. I also really liked Cisco's character and his wholesomeness. I wasn't expecting a lot from this book but it's quickly become a favorite for this year. Be sure to look at content warnings this is definitely a horror book.
At first I didn't understand the abrupt chapter scene changes. It felt similar to video game levels where you progress to the next area, but eventually I grew to like it. One minute you'd be in the desert and the next under a mountain with a giant. My favorite was to retell the story to my partner and have him try to follow along.
I love the Crab! The book could have just been the crab scenes and I would have been happy. I also really liked Cisco's character and his wholesomeness. I wasn't expecting a lot from this book but it's quickly become a favorite for this year. Be sure to look at content warnings this is definitely a horror book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
jiobiee's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
OVERALL: 8.3/10, or 4.2/5
A wonderful sci-fi fantasy adventure romp that moves at a breakneck pace, equal parts silly and scary. This is a plot book; funnily enough, this is a book that is more about the journey than it is the destination.
This is the closest I've ever seen a book come to feeling like a video game. Reading this book feels like you're going through multiple levels of the most deranged platformer you've ever seen, and I do mean that with love; it zooms through multiple points of the story like someone trying to speedrun their first playthrough. Watching Ben tackle each challenge using almost nothing but his own wit and ability is fascinating, and seeing how he deals with processing his traumas, old and new, feels as addictive as reality television. This book is a popcorn book.
The prose is easy to understand, and Ben is an easy character to understand; the real fun comes from trying to make your own assumptions about what Ben's journey on The Path represents; which makes the ending more satisfying, in my opinion. The ending is simple; a bigger twist followed by a much smaller, much more insidious and terrifying smaller one. The smaller one stuck with me;imagine carrying all that weight from this journey, never being able to tell another soul, and coming to the realization that a loved one just experienced nearly the same lifetime of turmoil, completely unnoticed- incredible gut-punch. I loved it.
It's not without it's issues, though; sometimes the pace feels misplaced. I felt thatwe were stuck at the construction site for too long, but then everything after that felt a little too fast, even considering its fast pace. And while sometimes the tone of the writing is genuinely funny and tongue-in-cheek, sometimes it drifts off a little too far into quirky-bitter-millenial-says-fuck territory. Never enough to impact the story as a whole, though.
I highly recommend. Go into this book with no expectations, no preconceived notions- and make sure you stay on The Path.
A wonderful sci-fi fantasy adventure romp that moves at a breakneck pace, equal parts silly and scary. This is a plot book; funnily enough, this is a book that is more about the journey than it is the destination.
This is the closest I've ever seen a book come to feeling like a video game. Reading this book feels like you're going through multiple levels of the most deranged platformer you've ever seen, and I do mean that with love; it zooms through multiple points of the story like someone trying to speedrun their first playthrough. Watching Ben tackle each challenge using almost nothing but his own wit and ability is fascinating, and seeing how he deals with processing his traumas, old and new, feels as addictive as reality television. This book is a popcorn book.
The prose is easy to understand, and Ben is an easy character to understand; the real fun comes from trying to make your own assumptions about what Ben's journey on The Path represents; which makes the ending more satisfying, in my opinion. The ending is simple; a bigger twist followed by a much smaller, much more insidious and terrifying smaller one. The smaller one stuck with me;
It's not without it's issues, though; sometimes the pace feels misplaced. I felt that
I highly recommend. Go into this book with no expectations, no preconceived notions- and make sure you stay on The Path.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Grief
Minor: Confinement, Infidelity, and Sexual content
biglibraryenergy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Sexual content, and Vomit
stephanieluxton's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
I wanted to read this book because it sounded bizarre and sometimes it's nice to read something really weird to cleanse the palate. I think I was hoping for something similar to Welcome To Nightvale, Zerostrata, A Short Stay In Hell, The Left Right Game or a Studio Ghibli movie where weird things are happening but everyone just kind of accepts it as reality, or has to adapt to a world where things don't make sense.
This book is about Ben, a married man and father of three who is away on a business trip. When he gets to his hotel in the mountains, he goes for a walk by himself to enjoy the outdoors and his surroundings eventually devolve into a bizarre hellscape in which he cannot escape unless he keeps going.
Excellent concept.
My first issue with the book is the tone. It seems to flip back and forth between being a bizarre silly adventure then almost straddles a more extreme horror/slasher line, then just gets kind of bleak and depressing. This kind of book is fun to read because you don't always know what to expect next but I found myself not loving the powerlessness of the situation - it very much felt like Ben was a slave to his fate.
Ben's journey isn't easy but I felt annoyed that if there was a piece of information he needed, it generally fell right into his lap right before becoming relevant. He's given a series of tools that he basically uses right away. I think the story would have been more satisfying if he was more clever and able to outsmart his obstacles. He makes mostly really dumb decisions in the beginning and it feels like nearly every obstacle he overcomes is due to pure luck. For example:When he's explicitly told that if he leaves the path, he will die. Then he immediately leaves the path and almost dies. This feels more unbelievable because it happens right after he's almost butchered by two scary men wearing dogs faces as masks.
I wish there were more characters in this book so that the sense of danger would feel more severe. When there's really only one character, the danger is lessened because the story must go on.
I will say that I did like the very end of the book. There's a couple little revelations that I appreciated and didn't expect.
In conclusion, I think the book had a lot of good ideas but I wish it had decided if it wanted to be spooky or silly as it's very difficult to pull off being both. This book reminded me a lot of Fairytale by Stephen King at times. Looking back on Ben's journey, it felt kind of pointless. I don't feel like he was introduced to us as being flawed enough at the start for me to appreciate the ways he's grown as a character. I feel like he just becomes more bitter as the story progresses (and rightfully so, I suppose).
This book is about Ben, a married man and father of three who is away on a business trip. When he gets to his hotel in the mountains, he goes for a walk by himself to enjoy the outdoors and his surroundings eventually devolve into a bizarre hellscape in which he cannot escape unless he keeps going.
Excellent concept.
My first issue with the book is the tone. It seems to flip back and forth between being a bizarre silly adventure then almost straddles a more extreme horror/slasher line, then just gets kind of bleak and depressing. This kind of book is fun to read because you don't always know what to expect next but I found myself not loving the powerlessness of the situation - it very much felt like Ben was a slave to his fate.
Ben's journey isn't easy but I felt annoyed that if there was a piece of information he needed, it generally fell right into his lap right before becoming relevant. He's given a series of tools that he basically uses right away. I think the story would have been more satisfying if he was more clever and able to outsmart his obstacles. He makes mostly really dumb decisions in the beginning and it feels like nearly every obstacle he overcomes is due to pure luck. For example:
I wish there were more characters in this book so that the sense of danger would feel more severe. When there's really only one character, the danger is lessened because the story must go on.
I will say that I did like the very end of the book. There's a couple little revelations that I appreciated and didn't expect.
In conclusion, I think the book had a lot of good ideas but I wish it had decided if it wanted to be spooky or silly as it's very difficult to pull off being both. This book reminded me a lot of Fairytale by Stephen King at times. Looking back on Ben's journey, it felt kind of pointless. I don't feel like he was introduced to us as being flawed enough at the start for me to appreciate the ways he's grown as a character. I feel like he just becomes more bitter as the story progresses (and rightfully so, I suppose).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Physical abuse, and Slavery
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Infidelity, Cannibalism, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content
keen's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Slavery, Blood, and Cannibalism
Minor: Alcoholism
issymaae's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Animal death
wyabook234's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, and Cannibalism
Minor: Alcoholism and Death of parent
msawyer77's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Gore, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death
emilyplun's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Solid novel. Interesting story developments, pretty fun and fast-paced, but didn't blow my socks off or anything. Very weird and has lots of body horror and gaslighting themes, so beware
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Murder, Gaslighting, and Dysphoria