catbooking's review against another edition
4.0
It was fun and a bit hair raising. The hand waving part really gave me the shivers, I feel like anyone that has read the book knows what hand waving part I am talking about... I enjoyed the attempts at preparation, both in how impressive they were and how amateurish they were. We all got skills, we would have been able to do some things, while other things would simple be outside the scope of our abilities given limited time and resources.
That said, I did find the female protagonist a bit unrealistic. First her attraction to the 'alpha male of the situation' which got an eye roll from me for being just a bit too close to how 'those' forums talk about relationships. And second, her willingness to take off her pants while facing danger. It could be because the author is male and he doesn't think twice about 'whipping it out to mark territory' and thinks it would be the same for a woman. Or maybe the fear of being caught 'with my pants down' is just a personal thing on my part. Though considering there being a saying about the specific situation I don't think it is just me. Maybe Brooks just didn't think the logistics of the situation through.
The other thing was the scoffing at the techies 'cosplaying survivor'. Yeah people now days are not prepared for things going sideways. Yeah we should all each have an emergency kit. But it felt too much like 'kids these days' complaints which you hear from the older generation.
Overall a worthy read, but also one that doesn't seek to avoid some tropes.
That said, I did find the female protagonist a bit unrealistic. First her attraction to the 'alpha male of the situation' which got an eye roll from me for being just a bit too close to how 'those' forums talk about relationships. And second, her willingness to take off her pants while facing danger. It could be because the author is male and he doesn't think twice about 'whipping it out to mark territory' and thinks it would be the same for a woman. Or maybe the fear of being caught 'with my pants down' is just a personal thing on my part. Though considering there being a saying about the specific situation I don't think it is just me. Maybe Brooks just didn't think the logistics of the situation through.
The other thing was the scoffing at the techies 'cosplaying survivor'. Yeah people now days are not prepared for things going sideways. Yeah we should all each have an emergency kit. But it felt too much like 'kids these days' complaints which you hear from the older generation.
Overall a worthy read, but also one that doesn't seek to avoid some tropes.
oiabluenoon's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
- 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? It's complicated
4.5
Compelling, funny, survival, horror, so so fun to read I was gasping aloud and moving around in my chair I couldn’t sit still reading it
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Torture, Gore, Death, Murder, War, Violence, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Excrement, Blood, and Animal death
tarmstrong112's review against another edition
2.0
Holy crap this was boring!!! It's also amazing that the main character has time to stop and write amazingly detailed journal entries in the midst of a bigfoot attack. This book was good until bigfoot started showing up. Then blah.
It would have been so much better had it been about the "Mount Rainier Disaster" and been a survival story about the volcano. The early parts dealing with this were cool. I'll give the book that.
It would have been so much better had it been about the "Mount Rainier Disaster" and been a survival story about the volcano. The early parts dealing with this were cool. I'll give the book that.
eleanor_nicbhatair's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
drleeches's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-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? Yes
2.0
tacanderson's review against another edition
4.0
Really enjoyable. Like World War Z, this book is written as a series of interviews. Unlike World War Z there’s a limited number of interviewees and the majority of it is found journal entrees.
jasonkylebates's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
djhobby's review against another edition
3.0
6.4 stars out of 10
An interesting read. Be warned, it's not for the squeamish. (The word Massacre is right there in the title)
Besides the Bigfoot lore, the other fascinating thing in this book is the expose' of our modern society. Especially our independence on electronics and our separation from nature. The antagonists in the book really struggle to fight off the primitives once the playing field is somewhat leveled.
I look forward to reading more Max Brooks, and hopefully if there is a movie based on this book, it's better than the movie made about World War Z.
An interesting read. Be warned, it's not for the squeamish. (The word Massacre is right there in the title)
Besides the Bigfoot lore, the other fascinating thing in this book is the expose' of our modern society. Especially our independence on electronics and our separation from nature. The antagonists in the book really struggle to fight off the primitives once the playing field is somewhat leveled.
I look forward to reading more Max Brooks, and hopefully if there is a movie based on this book, it's better than the movie made about World War Z.