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wwmck's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
a). to my absolute chagrin, i … wouldn’t exactly say i enjoyed this book so much as i was morbidly hooked by it. finished it within two days.
b). i’m about to critique and hypothesise upon a book that admittedly doesn’t really offer up more than the hallmarks of its genre. i have a major gripe with modern splatterpunk and it’s largely pointless nature I guess. where it’s creation was founded in rebellion against censorship, those walls have now by and large come down, at least by a great margin. so there’s a real lack of motivation - i feel - behind the senseless depravity found in splatterpunk literature.
anyways, i was pleasantly (?) surprised by this book. there’s a skeleton of something genuinely enthralling here. i grew up on saw (weird kid with unfiltered internet access) and with a love of the whole “death game” concept. so the twisted playground at the centre of this morbid tale was unfortunately right up my alley. obviously the extra twist of the knife, with the victims being children was deeply uncomfortable - but they’re written in a real “wise (?) beyond their years” sort of way so i could mostly just read them as adults. soften the blow a little i guess? back to my point i guess, the groundwork for some great philosophising on childhood abuse and cyclical violence is laid bare within certain beats and as a reader you really are rooting for a surprising number of these characters. i absolutely appreciated the “happy” (?) ending, wherein the absolute monsters of utter evil met their violent end. tanya made it out. three cheers for the diva. if she’d died as well that would’ve really been the straw that broke the camels back for me personally.
ANYWAYS: there’s a decent book in here somewhere, but just when it gets …. not good or entertaining but like … enticing i guess? - aron beauregard throws in some fuck ass bullshit with geraldine or something. truth be told i’d argue “playground” exists closer in nature to “dipper goes to taco bell” than any sort of horror novel. at points it read like a 14 year old boy sat down to write the most grotesque sadistic drivel he could come up with. i’m not sure if an editor was involved here and i don’t care to check because if they were, some peer review was desperately needed. beauregard’s writing again feels immature in a more literary sense, in that some good metaphorical parallels were set up, only for him to quite literally write “look at this metaphor i just accidentally wrote, let’s just say it again more plainly”. it just beats you over the head again and again as if things weren’t glaring obvious to begin with. there’s no “between the lines” here, everything is as tell not show as one could manage.
in some alternate dimension there exists a version of this story that could’ve been pretty great actually. but the constant reminder of geraldine’s tuna box just fuckin like whatever dude. with that said, beauregard sometimes demonstrates at minimum an understanding of good writing. every so often i’d read a passage and ask myself “where was this 5 seconds ago?” - in regards to his literary prowess. with that said this motherfucker seems very capable of viscerally describing extreme violence, yet his descriptions of some of the “playgrounds” was flimsy and confusing. i found myself at odds with what i was picturing and kept having to re read certain descriptions because i could not for the life of me pick up what he was putting down.
at the end of the day, i’m only disappointing myself. this book never had the intentions or claimed to be thought provoking. it’s mean, sick, sadistic, and thoroughly over the top. it’s a splatterpunk book. yay for genre fiction? i think the reason i’ve felt the need to linger on this for so long is because it was an uncomfortably captivating read. and like idk. idk. i truly believe this could be reworked into a more satisfying theme exploration. i hope tom, molly, tanya, and donnie went on to live a calm and fulfilling life filled with absolutely zero mentions of a playground.
#rotinhellgeraldine #rockredemptionarc
oh god actually on the subject of rock, like fucking good god we gettt itttttt. like from the jump you know how that whole situation is gonna play out. aron please im begging you for some subtly, for some - rather for less of like, everything i guess. really sucked any kind of climax out of the books ending when so many chapters would basically end with “rock is getting there guys, he’s gonna save the day soon”.
maybe i’ll be the one to rewrite this. i can guarantee that THAT chapter and anything even vaguely similar would be scrubbed out so clean you could see your own reflection. fuck the scat people #kinkshamingisok
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
zyderm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
I ended up with a copy of this book from my sisters colleague, who is a published author and used to work at penguin publishing. She raved about this and called it a pinnacle of modern horror. A complete load of shit.
Any bad reviews you read about this are true, including the authors particularly misogynistic writing. His blurb at the back states he has a wife, but I refuse to believe that since this reads like he’s never touched a woman in his life, and in fact seems like he’s actively disgusted by women’s personal parts.
The authors writing is exceptionally juvenile, and were it not for the subject matter, his writing combined with the illustrations included would lead me to believe this was ya. He also has odd wording choices “a single tear pissed out of his eye” that he uses consistently and that quickly became irritating.
The worst part is I think the author may have actually been trying to write a mature book that was disgusting and at times clearly intended to be emotional and impactful. However everything comes off extremely comical, the end had me laughing, the rest I was amused or annoyed by. Writing for these characters is non existent. I wouldn’t recommend this to anybody unless you actively like schlocky garbage.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
marslotus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
To start off, if I had a quarter for every time I rolled my eyes while reading, I could probably pay for my groceries. I believe the book was trying to do something clever, or just for the sake of writing explicit scenes, by not adhering to traditional story structure when introducing the antagonists and their motivations. We are seemingly meant to view the character Rock Stanley as the main character (I only assume so because the book starts and ends with his perspective) despite the fact he is an obstacle for the cast we are supposed to root for, therefore making him an antagonist (“his” side are the ones issuing most of the narrative challenges, not the children/parents who are facing them). We're shown through his detailed narration the horrible situation he has been raised in and how he longs to be free of it, as well as well as his abuser's motivation and history for why she's doing these things to him and to the protagonists. Showing these thoughts from the very beginning as opposed to discovering them alongside the protagonists leads to the issue of padding, something the book's middle suffers greatly from. The antagonists are already on the precipice of change (or stagnation in Geraldine's case) and are simply waiting for that last push towards either the dark or light, something that only comes at the end of the book. This creates scenes that are an absolute chore to return to over and over with the antagonists restating the same things they're feeling with different words. I feel like this could be easily rectified by focusing more on the protagonists experiences with the antagonists and find out their backstories either ⅓ or halfway through the story. This way, there's more things for the parents to do in the middle than cry or scream at each other and Rock thinking some form of “Maybe I'm on the wrong side” again and again.
Additionally, this book has a serious problem with telling instead of showing. From the moment the author decided to describe a 7-year-old girl as sadistic, I was so curious how that description would have been built upon,
This book very rarely struck fear or horror in me which I find so upsetting because I love being horrified. I will give the author the fact that he's talented in describing the gore and injury these characters go through as well as establishing traits that make me care and hate certain characters (though the “telling not showing” issue occasionally arises in the latter aspect). I just wish it was all structured a bit differently, that horror was the utmost goal of the narrative and not a simple gross-out attempt.
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Homophobia, Infertility, Misogyny, Kidnapping, and Alcohol
Minor: Fatphobia
itsjustgrumpy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Homophobia, Excrement, and Alcohol
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Infertility, and Pedophilia
finneasty's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
citareads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
dirtyal_93's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
grimoireofsabotage's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Incest, Infertility, Misogyny, Sexism, Kidnapping, and Grief
Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, and Classism
goregirl1986's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
sugarysweetlibrary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail