Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Fantasticland by Mike Bockoven

21 reviews

that_cow_girl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book is fucking CRAZY! I didn’t think I’d be a fan of the format but it was very easy to pick up and read. The author was amazing with all of the different characters and SO MUCH HAPPENING!! my jaw dropped at certain points and I was thoroughly invested. I couldn’t stop reading. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, War, Violence, Cursing, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Child abuse, and Bullying

Moderate: Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Alcohol, and Cannibalism

helenastinks's review against another edition

dark 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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Violence, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Blood

Minor: Rape, Torture, Confinement, Drug use, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Biphobia, Sexual harassment, Excrement, and Suicidal thoughts

datewithathriller's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Death, Murder, Body horror, Violence, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Alcohol, Excrement, Drug use, Kidnapping, and Suicidal thoughts

anastashamarie's review against another edition

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. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Gun violence, Violence, Death, Blood, Abandonment, and Confinement

Moderate: Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, and Cursing

Minor: Drug use, Rape, War, Cannibalism, and Alcohol

delekelll's review against another edition

4.0

Really quite good. Disturbing. Gory. Unsettling, if you're into that sort of thing. These teenagers act in enraging ways. I guess if I was there I would have to suck it up. I wonder what this author thinks about Lord of the Flies

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Torture, Gore, Physical abuse, Blood, Body horror, Death, Murder, Violence, and Child death

Moderate: Grief, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Mass/school shootings, and Sexual assault

chloseencounter's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

• 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

4.0

This book was laid out in a super unique way that kept me pretty drawn in consistently. Even though this is not a story I’d usually gravitate to, this novel deserves 4⭐️ just for being so well put together and different. I found it to be super interesting that despite this isn’t exactly a chronological story, you are able to begin putting everything together using different eye witness accounts of the same events.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Gore

marslotus's review against another edition

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!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Gore, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, and Blood

Minor: Alcohol, Bullying, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Cannibalism, and Rape

bookishloz's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Sexism, Sexual violence, Body horror, Blood, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Cannibalism, Grief, Rape, Sexual assault, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Misogyny, and Violence

catsy2022's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

2.5

Rating: B-

Fantasticland is a retrospective fictional horror novel presented as a series of interviews by Adam Jakes, a reporter doing a piece on the fiasco that was Fantasticland. During the late 2010s, Fantasticland, a theme park built in Florida in the 1970s, was hit by Hurricane Sadie and isolated from rescue services, who deemed the park livable due to the supplies that were reported to be in the park.

I think this book is probably best digested as audio, due to the formatting of the story. It unravels through successive interviews from people who were outside the park to those on the edge inside and then finally with the leaders of each faction in the park. I personally found the book a bit of a slog to get through and I think the structure might have been better if we worked backwards from inside the park to outside, rather than hearing the same story over and over again from the interviewees.

I wasn't particularly shocked or moved by the story, but I found the speed at which people resorted to violence a bit unbelievable, especially when the overall message of the book is that modern people can't cope without social media. (So they turn to violence and tribalism.)

It was fine to read, I would probably only recommend it if you wanted to read another book like World War Z, and if it was real, you'd probably hear about it on a true crime podcast.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Violence, Kidnapping, and Confinement

Minor: Sexual harassment and Sexual assault

gssll_lpz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Murder, Blood, Gore, Death, Violence, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, and Bullying

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Blood, and Kidnapping

Minor: Sexual harassment