Reviews with content warning for Body horror - The Forgotten Island

There were some genuinely scary parts to this book and I found the setting and creatures to be quite interesting. It was a bit more complex than I imagined it would be. I wish I had felt more connected to the characters - I didn't find any of them to be particularly likeable. All the men were incredibly misogynistic, which was disappointing. All the women had a lot of baggage - none of the characters were happy people, which isn't a bad thing by default but I didn't feel empowered by them. They all had solid potential for good characters arcs but the book was too short to give it to them. There were some pretty horrific injuries in the book and the characters seemed like they just shook it off to easily, which is a pet peeve of mine. Sometimes I stub my toe and feel like I can't walk - these characters are getting a severe burn or a deep bite and they just carry on like it's nothing. The setting itself could have been more of a challenge for the characters than it was. I didn't feel the isolation and wildness. I think I'm mad because it was so close to greatness and it lost me in the nitty gritty details. The antagonists were fun. It's still worth a read. The pace is fast so it makes for a good beach read.

Content Warnings

dale1997's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

treeofbluegreen's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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? It's complicated

3.75

This is a fun read, It does not create as much scare as it is into violence, body gore and survival. It was predictable in places, and took too many elements from many other popular horror books. But characters were different, likeable or not, that will be subjective, but they were interesting and they were put into some very extreme situations.

It felt like author had a really fun time writing this and that made it soo enjoyable. Anyone whose comfort genre is horror, this will be a very entertaining read.

There is one small suggestion to publisher and readers, there is a small playlist at the end of the book, if that would be in the beginning, reader would have read this along with those songs. It would be a cool addition to whole experience of reading.

Content Warnings