Scan barcode
valery_g's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.0
ismelllikebooks's review against another edition
3.0
Arachnaphobia (the movie, not the phobia) meets a zombie apocalypse.
The story hops around the planet as you're introduced to the regulars: the Peruvian tour guide, the rich guy, the scientist (spiders), the Chinese factory worker, the marine, the president's advisor, the doomsday prepper, the FBI agent, the other scientist (earthquakes), the Scottish guy, the old man with a dog, etc. In fact, new characters are introduced until almost the very end of the book. You keep thinking, "Wait, now I'm caring about this person, too?" Thankfully, you're not. Half of those people die very quickly*.
If you have a background in science or anthropology, crank your thinker down a bit. This is a Miller Lite and greasy burger; it's not brain food but sometimes it sure hits the spot.
*Not a spoiler because this is a book about a spider apocalypse. Your expectation should be death.
The story hops around the planet as you're introduced to the regulars: the Peruvian tour guide, the rich guy, the scientist (spiders), the Chinese factory worker, the marine, the president's advisor, the doomsday prepper, the FBI agent, the other scientist (earthquakes), the Scottish guy, the old man with a dog, etc. In fact, new characters are introduced until almost the very end of the book. You keep thinking, "Wait, now I'm caring about this person, too?" Thankfully, you're not. Half of those people die very quickly*.
If you have a background in science or anthropology, crank your thinker down a bit. This is a Miller Lite and greasy burger; it's not brain food but sometimes it sure hits the spot.
*Not a spoiler because this is a book about a spider apocalypse. Your expectation should be death.
laurabearc's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
knit_and_purl's review against another edition
3.0
I don't typically read horror, but I'm trying to broaden my knowledge of different genres for work. Although this was classified as a horror, I would say it's more of a thriller. I debated about reading it as it's about spiders, which are one of my worst fears. Guess that's what qualifies it as a horror. In any event, the pacing was very similar to Dan Brown's novels--fast and easy. The story's very straightforward--a new species of spiders is killing humans and terrifying the planet. It is part of a trilogy and I may pick up the second one, which was recently released, just to find out how they're going to survive this. The story definitely gave me the heebee-jeebees at times and it certainly didn't endear me to spiders.
kristianawithak's review against another edition
3.0
It's a fast paced creepy book about spiders. A similar read to World War Z, looking at a global outbreak and how the world responds.
aridav64's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
fraggle42's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked this story of the world being invaded by a long dormant species of carnivorous spiders. Its a great first novel from the author but at some point either he or his editor decided it could be two book so the story just seems to stop with a short epilogue touching base with the main characters one last time ready for the next book. Having said this I will be tracking down the second book to find out what happens next as it great up to the sudden stop.
No mention of the situation in Australia, but I'm guessing there was no problems here as the rest of our terrifying and dangerous wildlife would have sorted out the man eating spiders.
No mention of the situation in Australia, but I'm guessing there was no problems here as the rest of our terrifying and dangerous wildlife would have sorted out the man eating spiders.
venysnizel's review against another edition
3.0
I would really give this 3.5 stars. It was like watching a SYFY network b-rated monster movie. It was a fast read with the ends of chapters making you need to know what was going to happen next. The cringe factor was real for the entomophobic in me, and I almost had to give up at chapter 13, but I had to see where it was going. Okay, so a few issues . . . There are a ton of characters and locations, some definitely more fleshed out than others. Of those who were ill-fated, I didn’t really feel any sort of attachment to them. All I kept thinking was, “please, don’t let the dog die!” I know it is a trilogy, so I am not surprised that this book didn’t really go anywhere, and as much as it gave me the heebie jeebies, there was enough space between well defined attacks to permit me to go on with the series and see where they are taking it. I wouldn’t be surprised or upset if while channel surfing some day at 2:00 a.m., I come across the made for tv production of this series. I would, however, have to watch it with the lights on, back scratcher in hand.