Reviews with content warning for Fatphobia - The Black Farm

Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

The Black Farm by Elias Witherow

5 reviews

drsa's review

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challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

3.5

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kit666's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Not going to lie, this book did make me gasp and cringe at times. Towards the end it felt a bit rushed but all in all it was a decent book!

I found the beginning quite intense and Muck's torture was especially horrific. I will have the image of Nick squirming around like a worm with screws for teeth for a long while... I liked how fast paced the book was, but thought that the Eyes of the World were introduced too quickly and ended too quickly at the same time. Everything happened so quickly at the end, it felt too rushed. I would've been content with them never trying to get past the Keepers or no Temple being there. In hindsight the entire existence of the Hooves of the Pig seems a bit pointless in relation to the plot. Other than showing the lengths that Nick would go for? There were a lot of elements introduced that it just started to overwhelm the horror of the farm. By the end it felt more like a gory fantasy.
Though I would find a sequ l from Danny's perspective interesting.

That being said: this book was an absolute sausage fest. It frustrated me that so much time was wasted on male characters that barely mattered rather than actually have Jess be part of the plot (at least). Let her talk about what happened in the temple! Show her POV.
I also hated that she was the one that was expected to comfort Kevin on the raft.
There are so many unanswered questions. When Nick went up the mountain, I thought we'd get answers for everything. Instead it just felt like a half arsed device to show more cannibalism. Same thing with Pudge. And Kevin and Trent. And the Keepers. And the Temple. Even Muck and the Needle Fields. So many elements over so little pages. Make it a series or focus on a few horror devices. Or at least make them all tie together at the end again. Once Nick escaped a place it was like it seized to exist. But the combination of all of that on top of the new goal would've been such a great looming presence.
Towards the end it just felt like the author was trying to trigger as many phobias as possible. Which I'm sure would've worked well if it wasn't so rushed.

It is definitely a decent horror book. Many flaws, but it definitely had an effect on me!

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