Reviews with content warning for Rape - Fantasticland

Lord of the Flies meets Disney. OOF this is a dark novel. I listened to it on a roadtrip with my husband and there were times where it was too dark for our current moods. I love the interview style format and how that progresses the story along.

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anastashamarie's review against another edition

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dark 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

4.0

❗ I ended up liking this one a lot. Big Lord of the Flies vibes. Overall I would recommend to anyone who likes horror/thriller without paranormal elements.

🎢 Good stuff:
The structure, with each chapter as an interview, makes it a good one to read as you have time; easily digestible. It was spot-on for how cliquey amusement park employees are (I said what I said) and for how leadership can really set the tone for people. I liked that the multiple POVs were embraced to show all the different sides of the story, which also allowed for some ambiguity for how the events happened.

🏴‍☠️ My only genuine complaints are these:
1) I don't think the interviews needed to be chronological, and I personally would rearrange some of the later chapters for pacing purposes. Maybe if I had spaced out my reading, I might not have felt this so strongly, but I finished it in two sittings and just felt like the falling action hit fast after the climax at the Council.
2) This gets so, so close to a strong conclusion, but didn't seem brave enough to make that leap. It decidedly didn't ruin the book at all, just kept it from a perfect rating...but that's all I can say without giving major spoilers.

🏹 Other consideration:
• The explorations of the mental health and family systems impacts are sort of lacking here. There's one character who goes to therapy (yay!), But there were quite a few places where there could have been more depth--missed opportunities if you ask me.
• This story leaves a lot unanswered. This is separate than my complaint about the conclusion lacking, because I didn't mind the lack of answers...we often don't ever get the whole story when IRL bad things happen, having to sit in ambiguity. What bothered me, and what I alluded to above, was that the author started to make a strong point about human nature but backed off before really doing it.
• There does have to be a suspension of disbelief to really get into this. Despite the real world setting, there are quite a few plot holes if we try to think of it too much in the real-world in which we function.

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shinysprigatito's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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? Yes

5.0

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marslotus's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is a very interesting book that I heavily enjoyed, my only main problem being the open-endedness of the end. Instead of feeling like a reflective story on society, the quick ending leaves a few too many questions in my head to be able to ponder the meaning. Rather, I'm wondering things like "What was the point of the Warthogs," or "Why did the interviewer give a handful of names at the beginning with no mention of them again in the novel?" Maybe that's the point, but it was heavy enough on my mind to mention. I truly could not put this book down and had a great time reading it!

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5yr1_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Easily one of the most entertaining books I’ve ever read. I couldn’t put it down!! And now it’s getting passed around my friend group like hot potato

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its_van_vulpen's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny fast-paced

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? Yes

4.5

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