Welcome to Litsy!

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

Is anyone else mostly haunted by Jason Card's interview? The guy in the hotel? I can't stop thinking about it. Out of everything in this book, the end of Card's interview bothered me the most.

This is a fantastic story, and I love that it's told through interviews. I had a fun time reading, but struggled a little with accepting the whole “they turned into monsters because they didn't have access to their phones/the Internet“ argument.

Here's my update for the #14Books14Weeks2023 challenge hosted by @TheHeartlandBookFairy

Last week I read The Other Emily by Dean Koontz. My pick for this week is Fantasticland by Mike Bockoven!

here‘s my stack for #14booksin14weeks2023 can‘t wait to get started! tagged book is the one i‘m most excited for! 📚 ❤️

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

An amusement park turns into a horror scene after a group of kids are stranded and isolated there for 5 weeks after a hurricane. The teens form rival groups and end up murdering one another.
There‘s a 6 Flags in New Orleans (not far from where I live) that was abandoned after Hurricane Katrina, so this book is especially creepy to me!

Barely “So-So”. Best way to describe this book. Not one likable character. Strange structure and style. The best part of the story is left unexplained, which takes away from its plausibility. If your in your late teens or early twenties now, maybe it‘ll resonate more. For me though, pretty sad use of my time.

First pumpkin coffee of the year (nothing fancy, just from my Keurig) and my book to start the day right.

Sunday morning plans! It‘s been a hot minute since I‘ve picked this one up, but only because I was prioritizing library/book club books over ones I already own. Excited to get back to it!

Continued reading it today! Since I‘ve read The Three I‘ve been crazy looking for similar books (with interviews and such). I‘m at the beginning but enjoying it so far!!!

A few days into this and I‘m not super impressed. The mechanism is weird and the writing is...a tad juvenile. I‘m hoping the second half kicks it up. The premise is great fun!

YALL. One of the best horror books I‘ve read in a LONG TIME. Not only is the story spooky and well told and utterly captivating, but the narration was superb! Only two narrators but I could have sworn it was a full cast. If I could hand this audiobook to people on the streets, I would. However, it‘s terribly violent and gory (like an amped up Lord of the Flies) so definitely not for everyone. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ok so you have to seriously suspend disbelief as soon as you start this. I worked in an amusement park for years as a teenager and I live in Central Florida so I can tell you that this set up is preposterous...BUT it is a train wreck that I couldn‘t look away from. Essentially a hurricane comes up fast and park is evacuated except for a crew of 300+ workers (mostly teens) who ride out storm and go all Lord of the Flies. Bananas 🍌!!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Written as a series of interviews with survivors, Fantasticland pieces together the days following a hurricane that destroys the Florida coast and isolates the park by floods. Out of 326 employees, 207 were rescued. This is a story of what happens when there is no internet.
I admit, when the book started, I didn't like it. As the story unfolds through the multiple POV, I struggled deciding who to root for.

Full review on my goodreads.

Had a good reading month. Three recent #BOTM, two with summer in the title, one nonfiction, and one crazy thriller (tagged book) #monthlywrapup #Junewrapup

Had some Barnes and Noble gift cards (courtesy of @Nerdfins ) and this is what I got!

Finally got around to this one & wow! I haven‘t read Lord of the Flies (I know 😳) but I understand the concept and the two books probably are along the same lines as far as subject matter. FantasticLand is an amusement park that gets hit by a hurricane and cut off from society. Told in interviews, stories and perspectives come out about the awful tragedy. I would definitely recommend it. Thanks for sending it to me @Mynameisacolour

Wow! What a wild ride! I really enjoyed this gross one, lots of fun and super surprising.

I feel like I‘ve been waiting forever to read this, and I‘d check to see if my library had got a copy every few weeks, and I FINALLY AM GOING TO READ FANTASTICLAND.

A modern day Lord of the Flies told from multiple perspectives. Fun, dark, eerie and messed up in so many ways. Is there anyone to talk to about this book? I think it would be a great book club pick if your group can stomach it.

This was an unexpected read that I really liked. This book is told in 23 interviews about a hurricane that hits a theme park and people get stranded there for weeks. This quickly turns into a horror book. I loved the format. I read and listened to this, audio was a much better platform.

Hey ladies! I just wanted to let you all know that my life has been very hectic and I still have this book with me. I would love to read it but it may take me a bit. If anyone prefers me to go ahead and send it along, that‘s okay too! I did receive my own book back but I haven‘t read all of them I know. I just wanted to check in with you all! #lmpbc