A review by graydonoliver95
Playground by Aron Beauregard

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

1.5

There was a lot of weird and unnecessary sexual stuff that I felt didn't really add anything to the plot, and it quite honestly bumped the rating down a bit.  It's not that I have a problem with sexual content, because I don't, but it seemed specifically designed to make people uncomfortable and I don't vibe with that.  If you've ever seen Criminal Minds: it gave me the vibe of the sorts of movies or stories they'd find in an UnSub's home.

I also just didn't enjoy some of the writing.  The way he described certain things just felt weird, clumsy, and/or juvenile at times.  He also overused words a lot.  He seemed to enjoy the words "pissing" to describe any sort of dripping liquid, blood or tears or sweat; and "meat" to describe human flesh.  Over and over and over again.  It just got really repetitive.

I also was just kind of bored.  So much happened but it felt like the "plot" was more just an excuse to kill off a bunch of children as gruesomely as possible.  The explanations for certain characters' actions (mainly Geraldine) just didn't really work for me.  It felt like thinly veiled excuses for the deaths to be written.  I just didn't buy it.
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