FantasticLand: A Novel

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Okay guys, I DNF it about 40%. I was listening to the audiobook and that was really cool. The narrators' voice was emotional, they got right into the story. I loved it when they screamed or cried when they've read the story for me. These two narrators are beyond good and I think this is one of those rare cases where the audio might be elevated by the voicing of the parts. I don't think this would have been as spellbinding if I read it, instead of listening to it. Glenn, the leader of the Freaks thinks he's partially to blame for the violence in the park escalating because he made them seem too scary. The Freaks successfully terrified people into leaving them alone...but now the park was full of scared people who believed they might be eaten by cannibal torturers, and so felt they couldn't trust each other and needed to be armed. MB: When you create characters, you try to mash up different traits and ideas as much as you can. That being said, there are definitely a couple of characters in FantasticLand that I basically lifted wholesale, either from pop culture or my life. The head of the Mole Men was actually a guy who I worked with — right down to his appearance. I don’t know if he ever read the book, but I’ll bet he’d recognize himself if he did. I stopped reading this for my own sanity and the sanity of my boyfriend. I kept scoffing and sighing and let-me-just-read-you-this-ridiculous-part-ing. I really did not like this.

Told through a series of interviews after the tragedy, FANTASTICLAND tells the tragic story of what happened to a bunch of internet dependant teens and young adults, when the amusement park at which they were employed, is flooded and isolated after a huge hurricane. After weeks spent on their own and unconnected, these kids turned to...other things for their entertainment. Many people did not make it out alive. AIPT: As a reader, the Warthogs weren’t something I was a fan of when they first showed up. They seemed like a straight-up slasher/horror element in a story that otherwise felt very organic. But that chapter with them hunting Jason Card in the hotel was absolutely terrifying. FantasticLand is about a theme park in Florida that’s been around since the 1970s. It’s super popular, has tons of rides, and the park is separated by different themes. Serial Killer: A rumor/urban legend that surfaced amongst the employees were a pair of individuals who walked around the park, wearing masks with bones on them and called the Warthogs. Almost none of them believed it but one employee confirms their existence and they killed at least three people. The scariest part is no-one knows who they were, why they went off the deep end, and what happened to them afterwards. Dramatic Irony: Tons as interviewees will give accounts of things and pose questions they wished answered, only for another to unintentionally give those answers while telling their stories.Gabino Iglesias and Andrew Cull edited a great anthology called Found that’s a collection of found footage horror short stories. as amazing as this book sounds, with hurricane matthew about to hit florida, i worry for all of youse down that way, lest this situation come to pass. get out of the damn theme parks, guys! Dirty Coward: Sam Garliek, first shift manager, was a weasel with no leadership skills who spent the entire time after leaving the shelter in hiding. When the National Guard finally came, he had been hiding in an office and didn't leave for two straight weeks.

Minor example but according the 300 employees left behind in the park were a fraction of the actual number of employees that work there note Roughly 1,700. Most of them only know a handful of each other by name and end up gravitating towards each other. A hurricane is coming to wipe out most of Florida and the park is going to be isolated and half destroyed from the storm. Nothing Is Scarier: Both in and out of universe since the events in FantasticLand are only known second-hand from eyewitnesses as there's no video evidence. For example? There were a pair of serial killers loose in the park and no-one even believe they exist beyond rumors besides one person who receives postcards every month despite moving three times. Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Because of a number of bad decisions made by those in authority, the survivors in FantasticLand were left to their own devices for over a month, leading to a lot of people either dead or wishing they were. To add salt to the wound, Sam Garliek somehow got his hands on one of three emergency satalite phones located in the park at some point and could've called for help at almost any point, only waiting until things were really bad.

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Towards the end, the writer doing all the interviewing asks why all this happened, and why so fast and so violent. His conclusions are half-baked commentaries on social isolation, reliance on technology and how teens left unattended will naturally follow the first psychopath who shows them where the stabby things are. finally got around to reading this one and now i double my advice to those of you in theme parks - get OUT! even if there's no hurricane. I was also a journalist for a local paper for seven years. That gave me a good point of reference for creating the interviews, which hopefully came across. I liked that everyone had their own "voice." I liked that everyone tried to rationalize their actions and point the finger at someone else, who was "worse." The public displays of violence for power, the savage coups, and the scavenging and fringe behaviors were really fascinating from a psychological perspective. One of the scariest scenes in this book didn't even have any violence at all - it involved a cat and mouse game in an abandoned hotel and it was something right out of Stephen King.