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randybaggins's review
3.0
Clickers is very much a Hollywood B grade creature feature with plenty of vivid gory visuals. The authors throw in a bit of unpredictability that works well when it gets too formulaic towards the end.
thatoneguyjm's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This is a book about giant killer lobster/crab/scorpion monsters and “creature from the black lagoon”-like monsters devouring a small town in Maine and the gore is splatterpunk levels of extreme violence. (You want a character tripping on acid while every inch their intestines are unspooled from their body? This book has that and MORE.) It’s not a book for everyone, but for those that read the above sentences and had their intrigue sparked it is a gift from the splatter gods handed up from hell specifically for them, wrapped in snapped tendons and adorned with a bow made of viscera.
*As a non-gore content warning, this book does indulge in the “kill the gays” trope (though, to be fair, the book isn’t choosy about who it kills off. Characters aren’t specifically targeted for death so much as *every* character in the book is targeted for death.)
*As a non-gore content warning, this book does indulge in the “kill the gays” trope (though, to be fair, the book isn’t choosy about who it kills off. Characters aren’t specifically targeted for death so much as *every* character in the book is targeted for death.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Blood, Body shaming, Car accident, Fatphobia, Addiction, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Racism, and Xenophobia
beefmaster's review against another edition
schlocky fun. I just had to keep reminding myself this was written in 1996 and thus, predates the rise of the New Weird. the novel feels like a throwback, but we have to remember that in 1996, throwbacks of this ilk weren't the norm like they are now. Clickers was probably novel in 1996, what with its use of Lovecraft and B-movie tropes.
stefanie_duncan's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, and Body horror
Moderate: Racism and Racial slurs
dantastic's review against another edition
3.0
Writer Rick Sychek plans on spending time in remote Phillipsport, Maine, to write his newest book, but his plans are derailed when he wrecks his car trying to avoid something in the road. Before Rick knows what's happening, Phillipsport is swarmed by the Clickers, strange scorpion-like crabs from the ocean's depths. Carnage ensues and the town fights for survival, not knowing that the Clickers are the least of their problems...
Clickers is a tribute to B-movies by J.F. Gonzalez and Mark Williams, and reads as such. There's violence, cursing, and tons upon tons of gore, the hallmarks of a good b-horror flick. The Clickers were suitably scary. People got picked off left and right. While I had a feeling Rick would be left standing at the end, I had no idea who'd be left standing with him. Clickers is a good example of survival horror at work. The entire time I was reading it, I kept picture Roland on the beach in Drawing of the Three, trying not to get eaten by the lobstrocities.
Guy Smith, killer crab enthusiast and Goodreads folk hero, was mentioned in both the introduction and the text. I felt nostalgic for some of the references to 80's and 90's music and culture, although I snorted a bit when Rick was looking through his VHS tapes.
So why did I give it a three? Well, most of the characters were pretty thin but the thing that really dragged Clickers down a couple notches was that there was way too much going on. If Gonzalez and Williams had just focused on Sychek and the Clickers, it would have been an easy four. As it stands, there were way too many supporting characters, and too many of those had names starting with the letter R.
While it has its flaws, Clickers does what it sets out to do: recreate the experience of a B-movie in book form. It was an enjoyable read and I'll probably cave in and grab Clickers II one of these days.
Clickers is a tribute to B-movies by J.F. Gonzalez and Mark Williams, and reads as such. There's violence, cursing, and tons upon tons of gore, the hallmarks of a good b-horror flick. The Clickers were suitably scary
Spoiler
and the Dark Ones even more soGuy Smith, killer crab enthusiast and Goodreads folk hero, was mentioned in both the introduction and the text. I felt nostalgic for some of the references to 80's and 90's music and culture, although I snorted a bit when Rick was looking through his VHS tapes.
So why did I give it a three? Well, most of the characters were pretty thin but the thing that really dragged Clickers down a couple notches was that there was way too much going on. If Gonzalez and Williams had just focused on Sychek and the Clickers, it would have been an easy four. As it stands, there were way too many supporting characters, and too many of those had names starting with the letter R.
Spoiler
The Dark Ones diminished the Clicker threat and felt like they were added on for padding or something.While it has its flaws, Clickers does what it sets out to do: recreate the experience of a B-movie in book form. It was an enjoyable read and I'll probably cave in and grab Clickers II one of these days.
vikingwolf's review against another edition
3.0
Giant half lobster half scorpion creatures are coming out of the sea to attack the population of the coastal town of Phillipsport. These creatures are fast, deadly and very hungry as they move onshore. For those who survive the initial onslaught, the worst is still to come...
The book opens with the exciting monster attack on the boats off the coast, just as the storms begin to gather. Rick, a writer on the brink of greatness, arrives in town for the winter to write his next book at a friend's house and lands in the middle of a nightmare. Now we are introduced to a series of interesting locals-Jack from the comic book store, Janice the single mother, Rusty the dumb deputy, Glen the town doctor, Lee the drugstore owner, Melissa the waitress and Roy the racist bigot sheriff who is determined to blame Rick for everything that is bad in his life. I liked the mix of characters and the way they were written. You got to care about most of them and hoped that at least some would survive to the end.
Lets look at the Clickers. I loved these guys as horror book monsters! Three feet in length, with deadly pincers AND a stinger that disolves your flesh like acid! You do not want to meet these dudes in a dark building, that's for sure! It was creepy the way the clickers appear with the rustling sound and the ominous clicking. The attack scenes were well written and full of tension, with a liberal sprinkling of gore for good measure! They are just the kind of monsters that appear in dodgy B movies but this book is much better written than that. It is a genuine monster horror book that keeps you reading it and while the clickers were munching on everyone, I was pretty happy.
I liked Roy because I hated him. He was a great bad guy from the beginning and I liked that we get to see through his eyes why he was so prejudiced to guys with long hair. His story was interesting, his actions horrific but he was so compelling. I loved the way his story was finally resolved with that bit of redemption. Nicely written!
However, I did not like it as much when The Dark Ones appeared. These are green scaly sea monsters who follow clickers to their breeding grounds to feed upon them. Suddenly, The Dark Ones come ashore and the clickers just vanish and are no longer in the story except seeing the odd one retreat from this new enemy. That was pretty disappointing. Introducing a second monster who is virtually unbeatable felt like a bit of a cheat to me. They are fast, hard to see, can't be killed by bullets and can basically just bite your head off in one go. Pretty damn difficult to have exciting fights or escapes involving these buggers. It had me thinking of those dreadful alien zombie things in Brian Keene's novels.
While there were a few good scenes with this new threat and Roy, I didn't like the direction that this took the story and it led to a literal bloodbath of most of the survivors, the ones I was rooting for and hoping to see in book two. Two of my favourites disappear in the space of a couple of lines and that was that. It left me feeling very unsatisfied with the way seven characters were dispatched in one attack spanning six pages on the ereader! It felt rushed, it felt like a bloodbath for the sake of it and for one of my favourites to die with just a scream from the distant woods after all his heroic actions, well that just left me pissed. It did in fact spoil the whole book, which is why this is 3 and not 4 star. Had they just stayed with the clickers to the end with no Dark Ones, I'd have given this a 4 star for sure.
I was still interested in Clickers 2-until I found out that the rest of the series is co-written with Brian Keene. I haven't enjoyed the books of his that I've tried especially his zombie books, so sadly I won't be reading the rest of this series.
The book opens with the exciting monster attack on the boats off the coast, just as the storms begin to gather. Rick, a writer on the brink of greatness, arrives in town for the winter to write his next book at a friend's house and lands in the middle of a nightmare. Now we are introduced to a series of interesting locals-Jack from the comic book store, Janice the single mother, Rusty the dumb deputy, Glen the town doctor, Lee the drugstore owner, Melissa the waitress and Roy the racist bigot sheriff who is determined to blame Rick for everything that is bad in his life. I liked the mix of characters and the way they were written. You got to care about most of them and hoped that at least some would survive to the end.
Lets look at the Clickers. I loved these guys as horror book monsters! Three feet in length, with deadly pincers AND a stinger that disolves your flesh like acid! You do not want to meet these dudes in a dark building, that's for sure! It was creepy the way the clickers appear with the rustling sound and the ominous clicking. The attack scenes were well written and full of tension, with a liberal sprinkling of gore for good measure! They are just the kind of monsters that appear in dodgy B movies but this book is much better written than that. It is a genuine monster horror book that keeps you reading it and while the clickers were munching on everyone, I was pretty happy.
I liked Roy because I hated him. He was a great bad guy from the beginning and I liked that we get to see through his eyes why he was so prejudiced to guys with long hair. His story was interesting, his actions horrific but he was so compelling. I loved the way his story was finally resolved with that bit of redemption. Nicely written!
However, I did not like it as much when The Dark Ones appeared. These are green scaly sea monsters who follow clickers to their breeding grounds to feed upon them. Suddenly, The Dark Ones come ashore and the clickers just vanish and are no longer in the story except seeing the odd one retreat from this new enemy. That was pretty disappointing. Introducing a second monster who is virtually unbeatable felt like a bit of a cheat to me. They are fast, hard to see, can't be killed by bullets and can basically just bite your head off in one go. Pretty damn difficult to have exciting fights or escapes involving these buggers. It had me thinking of those dreadful alien zombie things in Brian Keene's novels.
While there were a few good scenes with this new threat and Roy, I didn't like the direction that this took the story and it led to a literal bloodbath of most of the survivors, the ones I was rooting for and hoping to see in book two. Two of my favourites disappear in the space of a couple of lines and that was that. It left me feeling very unsatisfied with the way seven characters were dispatched in one attack spanning six pages on the ereader! It felt rushed, it felt like a bloodbath for the sake of it and for one of my favourites to die with just a scream from the distant woods after all his heroic actions, well that just left me pissed. It did in fact spoil the whole book, which is why this is 3 and not 4 star. Had they just stayed with the clickers to the end with no Dark Ones, I'd have given this a 4 star for sure.
I was still interested in Clickers 2-until I found out that the rest of the series is co-written with Brian Keene. I haven't enjoyed the books of his that I've tried especially his zombie books, so sadly I won't be reading the rest of this series.
barbtrek's review against another edition
3.0
This was a quick, fun read. A little sloppy (the writing and the story itself!) but still enjoyable.
bigbookgeek's review
4.0
What can be said about Clickers? Well, you can say it is an over the top homage to cheesy B movies. You can say it is full of some pretty heavy gore and violence. You can say it has some major structural flaws, but still manages to pack a punch. You can say there were some characters who were given too much page time and character development, only to be killed off. You can say that any horror fan who likes splatterpunk as well as B movies is going to love this one! You can also say that I absolutely loved the story! Clickers are these horrid giant crablike creatures that invade a small Maine town and attack the residents, devouring their victims alive. But their invasion is just the beginning of the horrors this town is about to face, what follows is something so awful and evil that the clickers are running for their lives from it! There are some pretty obvious structural and grammatical errors, but Gonzalez explains these pretty well in the preface. The fun spirit of the book, the gore, the gratuitous violence (if you've read anything of Gonzalez', you have an idea), and the freakin' awesome nod to Lovecraft all make it worthwhile!
matthewmgordon's review against another edition
3.0
“Jaws” but with giant killer crabs…and more!
This book was a bit much for me.
TW: gore, child death, gore, racist terms, gore, profanity, gore, animal death, gore, and gore.
Also, horror tropes galore!
This book was a bit much for me.
TW: gore, child death, gore, racist terms, gore, profanity, gore, animal death, gore, and gore.
Also, horror tropes galore!