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I heard about this book a lot but avoided it for a long time for fear that it was more “extreme horror” that leaned on gore and disgust, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it didn‘t. There is still plenty of gore but it‘s presented in a way that didn‘t seem gratuitous to me. It‘s absolutely still a horrific story because it feels 100% plausible.

⭐️⭐️/5
I really had high hopes for this one but it just fell so flat for me🫣 IDK if it was how the story was told but, I was so bored and bummed because it had been on my wishlist for so long! Am I the only one?😩

Characters were well created, everyone felt different.

The setting was amazing and that made me have so high expectations in the first place. I just love horror with this kind of setting. This was pretty gory and had several disturbing scenes.

The thing I didn't like was the format: the whole story was told through interviews and I just didn't like that.

#Read2025

The audiobook version is the way to experience this modern day Lord of the Flies! Taking place at an amusement park in Florida during and immediately following a hurricane, all hell breaks loose when groups of young adult workers are stranded and turn nearly feral. It‘s told in interview format and somehow felt absolutely insane and sadly realistic. It‘s frankly terrifying to think how quickly civilization can fall apart! 🌟🌟🌟🌟

I loved this book. It was Lord of the Flies set at an amusement park during a hurricane. I listened to the audiobook per @Gissy advice, thank you. That really made it work since it is composed of interviews taken after the rescue.
#DoubleSpin @TheAromaofBooks
#ReadOrDonate @julieclair Keeping the physical copy
#TBRTarot #maleauthor @CBee

Told in a series of interviews, this tells the horrific story of what could happen if a bunch of young adults are stranded in an amusement park during a hurricane. It definitely draws inspiration from Lord of the Flies. There are some plot holes and everything goes wrong far too quickly, but overall a solid quick read. 3.5⭐️

Disappointed. DNF. Some parts were good but 3/4 of the way and I just couldn't keep going. A bit unrealistic. But maybe it's me, I'm the problem, maybe. 🤷‍♀️

My October favourite was Fantasticland. I listened to this as an audiobook, which worked really well with the interview style! The narrators were both amazing 🤩

#12BooksOf2023

#AlltheBooksDec23 #GiftedBook

I tried to read this in the past but just couldn't get into it. I tried the audiobook version this time and found it easier to understand. I liked the different voices and interview style of the book. Fantasticland is about what could happen to a group of mostly young people get stranded and lose hope as well as their humanity along the way. A hurricane is scary enough but when rescue seems nowhere in sight paranoia and chaos ensues

Book read in Ictober during #Rushathon @Andrew65
This was a fun read for the spooky season. An horror/dystopian story set in this park where “Fun was Guaranteed”. But then a hurricane destroyed the Florida coast isolating this park, and chaos began to display in a most extreme and gory way. The story is narrated in the form of interviews and I recommend the audio. I liked it. Maybe it seems absurd but ⬇️

I listened to this on audio and LOVED it!
The 2 people doing the narration managed to make it into a full cast affair, and audio really works for the interview style this book is written in.
Following storm Sadie, a skeleton crew at fantasticland amusement park are low priority for rescue as they have a large amount of resources to keep them going. But the scenes when they were finally rescued shocked the world.
Lots of lord of the flies vibes.

#ScarathlonPhotoChallenge
Day 28 #Nightmare
#BlackCatCrew #Scarathlon
@Clwojick @StayCurious

Here is what I'll be working on for this Readathon. #scarathlon #TeamCryptKeepers @Catsandbooks @StayCurious @Clwojick

𝟓⭐
This was a re-listen…since I last listened to this audiobook back in 2018, I figured it was high time I did so again. I still loved it. You could ask yourself…could this really happen in real life? Honestly, I don‘t know…but I wouldn‘t rule it out in this day and age. Did the Author sell this as something that could happen? I have to say, yeah, he did…totally.
My OG review and thoughts on narration is in the comments ⬇⬇⬇

Hurricane 'Sadie' causes devastation in Florida whilst 400 employees holed up in 'FantasticLand' are cut off from outside help. The employees are expected to be OK as there are emergency plans in place as well as plenty of food & water available in the park. When the Florida National Guard enter the park several weeks later, they are greeted by the sight of dead bodies & signs of violence. Something went badly wrong in FantasticLand. (continued)

Foremost this book is a good try at what could become of us in circumstances as described in this book. Theme park Fantasticland is isolated from the world for weeks after hurricane Sadie hits it. ⬇️

(Photo: my kids 😂💛)

#WeeklyForecast 31/23

I am having Lone Women in progress for #CampToB and am liking it so far. Other plans for this week are Walking the Americas for #ReadingTheAmericas23 and #FoodAndLit #CostaRica as well as Fantasticland because that one has been weirdly appealing to me!

This is a super underrated book! I found this in the free section of audible, and I think it's fantastic! I think something like this happening is completely plausible! I saw some people upset because the author brought up the theory of not having access to the internet, but what I thought it meant was what people would do when they knew nobody was looking. Nobody to record and put it out there. I didn't care for the story in interview format. 4/5

What could I possibly say about this book other than drop what you are doing right now and start this now! What initially sold me was the premise which promises a new age spin on a classic story (Lord of the Flies) with a solid grasp of the nuances that go into making ‘real‘ sounding (and feeling) characters. I laughed, I cried, I shuddered, I did a Rock “The Dwayne” Johnson eyebrow raise, yada yada. Go read this!

This is a wild ride 😉 of a book, and I‘m here for it. At one point, I wasn‘t sure if I could handle the questions this book brought up in my mind about humanity, evil, and greed, BUT I kept reading and couldn‘t stop thinking about this book. I‘m not a re-reader, but I wasn‘t even finished with this one and already thinking “I want to read this again.” Freaking loved it. On my favorites of all time shelf. So dark, but so so good! 🌟

“I kind of hate people…I‘m not a people person. Some persons, individual persons, I like and love, but when you get eight or more together in a group, I hate that. I hate cliques, I hate crowds. My idea of hell is being one of those people in the middle of those crowd shots you see in concerts…but it‘s not just the number of bodies; it‘s that a person gets stupid when they become people. They are easily convinced of things.”

Dark, crazy... an entertaining listen that didn‘t require a lot of focus. 🎧🌟🌟🌟🌟

Started this without reading the synopsis. I didn‘t realize that it takes place in FL after a hurricane. I feel for everyone currently in Florida and am thinking and praying for them.
I wanted something a little creepy and it was at the top of my audible list. We will see if I stick with it. #20in4 Here we go!

This was the perfect, creepy, it‘s raining outside book to read tonight. Hurricane Sadie comes a little too inland and strands over 300 mostly college aged students at an amusement park. Before you know it, there is so much violence and bloodshed in their quest for survival despite there being plenty of supplies. Told in an interview format, I felt I was put right in front of all the action. Really enjoyed the talking points it brought up. Pick!

I‘m at the part in my current read where theatric stoners in the Circus section of Fantastic Land use their smarts to dress up their section of the park really gory to deflect the most violent offenders of the park giving them a safe cover which makes me nostalgic for Weaveworld where the 4 magic families wove themselves into a rug to protect themselves from a murderous Angel. People using what they got to stay alive. Good for them.

🎧 July Audiobooks 🎧

I‘m putting a ⭐️ next to favorites.

⭐️ Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn
⭐️ Happy People are Annoying by Josh Peck
-The Arctic Incident (Artemis Fowl #2) but Eoin Colfer
-The Eternity Code (Artemis Fowl #3) by Eoin Colfer
⭐️ The Boys by Katie Hafner
⭐️ Fantasticland by Mike Bockoven

#Reading #BookStack #ReadThisMonth #SummerReading #Memoir #HorrorFiction #LiteraryFiction #CurrentlyReading

Lets see how good this one is, suppose to be like Lord of the Flies!

When Hurricane Sadie makes landfall a skeleton crew is left behind to protect the property at the FL amusement park Fantasticland. Despite having enough resources to last for months a lack of leadership & power outage soon leads to violence with the employees separating into different areas of the park & battling one another for resources. Although the premise of the book seems to stretch credibility at times I recall some of the shit that's 👇

This was so much fun. I love how the interview style really immerses you and makes it feel like you‘re watching a true crime documentary. This would make a great movie if they did it in a fake documentary style with re-enactments and shit.

#BookSpinBingo
#Pantone2022 - coral rose

Next up!! 🤗🤗 I feel like I‘m finally digging myself out of my slump.

Sorry to all of my #LitsyLove peeps I know I‘ve been neglecting my letters. My goal is to get some letters out this weekend!

@Moonprismpower I have not forgotten you friend! I hope you‘re having a good week! ♥️

"What do you do when you're in an empty amusement park and you can do what you want because no one's going to stop you and you're bored out of your gourd? Turns out, there are a lot of different answers."
So far this novel about 300 plus teen employees stranded at an amusement park due to a hurricane is a great summer horror read. Exactly what I wanted. Like Lord of the Flies. At Disney World.

Disney World is one of my favorite vacation spots, so this “Lord of the Flies” horror novel set in a theme park sounded interesting. I liked the interview structure, which was reminiscent of World War Z. It doesn‘t hold back on the descriptions of gore, so be warned. The audiobook had a male and a female narrator. The male narrator was good, but inexplicably the female narrator kept clearing her throat. I wonder if that sound was in the text.

This is a surprisingly good story for something terribly named. Totally fun horror adjacent thriller!

This was a great read when I was able to force my brain to get over a few plot details that don‘t make sense (such as no company would take on the liability of leaving a large group of mostly teens to look after a park during a hurricane). Other than that, this was a thrilling read. The novel is broken into interviews, a structure which made this perfect for an audiobook format.

#bookspin #bookspinbingo

Wooooow, this novel was made for audiobook format! A hurricane hits an amusement park in Florida leaving most employees stranded there for 5 weeks. The horror you feel as you're hearing each story.. gripping! I was absolutely hooked and could not bring myself to stop. If you enjoy horror novels and audiobooks, this is made for you 👌😁

#bookspin pick for the month.
Did I mean to spend all day reading this book? No. Did I get sucked in and enjoy it anyway? Yes. I think it says something when you can power through a book in one go. This one has been on my #TBR list for some time. I can‘t explain why I kept putting it off, but once I picked it up I couldn‘t stop! Definitely an intense and thrilling read! And now that‘s one more book off my pile

@Hestapleton thank you for the recommendation! This is possibly one of my favorite horror/thriller novels.
Written as a series of interviews after a disaster inquiry, FantasticLand comes to life in a way that is impossible to define. It is a unique style for this genre & I absolutely loved reading this page turner. It was so much fun in a wicked way!

⭐⭐⭐/5

I should do my homework. I should read about social work in community settings. What I will more likely do is read these two books.

I don‘t know what I was expecting when I chose this book but it‘s a mocumentry on the horrific events that happened at a theme park during/after a hurricane. The book is told through ‘first person interviews‘ and it‘s really cool to hear the different points of view and how they overlap to tell more of a story. Highly recommend for horror fans. #horror

Okay. Maybe skip out on this one if you are sensitive to violence, blood, and gore..
This is basically The Hunger Games x10.

I really enjoyed how this book was written through interviews. I loved getting so many different perspectives and tellings of the story.

Still don‘t quite understand how all of this started to go down so rapidly. But it sure made for an unsettling, yet entertaining read!

⭐️5/5⭐️

A hurricane hits Florida and an amusement park is the landscape of what happens when people are left to survive. A twist of Lord of the Flies with what happens when kids are bored and horrible things take place. Told in an interview style,
this book is scary...I could see this taking place in a world where people fend for themselves. We witnessed a toilet paper shortage, luckily most came to their senses! This book is realistically scary. 2021

1. FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven

2. The Cabin in the Woods

3. The Fury by John Farris

#spookysaturday @TheNeverendingTBR