A review by meganemarshall
Fantasticland by Mike Bockoven

dark 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? N/A

4.0

The back cover blurb made me buy it, and as soon as I started the book, I didn't put it down. This was genuinely a fun time. I love the way it was written. It's a book about in the form of a book written by a different author in the forms of interviews. I just loved that it was just a different style instead of a straight kind of narration. 

I'm not gonna sit here and argue if it was believable or not. It's a book. It's fiction.
However, most of the MC in this book are teenagers or early 20 somethings, and they are  morons on their best days. So I just allowed that to just take me through the book. And I got to enjoy reading it without contemplating some bigger picture, like if it could happen or if it was ridiculous or not. 

The only part of this book that fails is characterization. Cause it's written in the interview style, you don't really get to dive deep into any particular character. Brock pops up the most, and he is the main boogeyman. There's just no great character arch for anyone in the book, which is the only thing it falls flat on. However, I think the plot, the setting, the grittiness, and the horror/gore make up for it. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings