Scan barcode
sea_caummisar's review
4.0
As far as coming of age stories go, this one was good. That a subgenre I don't read much of... But that's the beauty of having a large collection of books. You get to mix things up a bit
Once the boys got to the house, I was 100
Once the boys got to the house, I was 100
locolibrarian's review against another edition
5.0
"Ultimately if there is one thing I've learned in my lifetime, it's the inconcient truth that we humans are nothing more than meat. We're all just tamer animals."
Um...this book was actually quite scary due to gore and graphic content. The message behind the book is PHENOMENAL! I was totally not expecting it at all, but it was a wonderful surprise. The truth is not always pretty, and in fact, the truth is disgustingly ugly.
Um...this book was actually quite scary due to gore and graphic content. The message behind the book is PHENOMENAL! I was totally not expecting it at all, but it was a wonderful surprise. The truth is not always pretty, and in fact, the truth is disgustingly ugly.
constantcatreader's review against another edition
5.0
"Ultimately if there is one thing I've learned in my lifetime, it's the inconcient truth that we humans are nothing more than meat. We're all just tamer animals."
Um...this book was actually quite scary due to gore and graphic content. The message behind the book is PHENOMENAL! I was totally not expecting it at all, but it was a wonderful surprise. The truth is not always pretty, and in fact, the truth is disgustingly ugly.
Um...this book was actually quite scary due to gore and graphic content. The message behind the book is PHENOMENAL! I was totally not expecting it at all, but it was a wonderful surprise. The truth is not always pretty, and in fact, the truth is disgustingly ugly.
laurelinwonder's review
4.0
Well this was a fast, gory ride. I wasn't sure what I was going to get at first, but once this plot got going it smashed through all of the ideas I had about where it might go. Wild horror fans get on this.
pharmdad2007's review
1.0
First of all: "This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review."
This is not high-class literature. Nor is it intended to be. But even evaluating it for what it is meant to be, it falls woefully short of being good.
The plot is extremely shallow, more like a bunch of scenes of gore and violence loosely linked together. And the characters are never really developed, especially the evil ones. The flashing back and forth didn't really work for me.
And then there were all the grammatical errors and all the awkward writing. And while SOME over-the-top violence and gore can be excused, the majority of the "shock factor" here was far too unrealistic, even bordering on impossible.
The narrator of the audiobook makes a valiant effort, and does a pretty good job.
This is not high-class literature. Nor is it intended to be. But even evaluating it for what it is meant to be, it falls woefully short of being good.
The plot is extremely shallow, more like a bunch of scenes of gore and violence loosely linked together. And the characters are never really developed, especially the evil ones. The flashing back and forth didn't really work for me.
And then there were all the grammatical errors and all the awkward writing. And while SOME over-the-top violence and gore can be excused, the majority of the "shock factor" here was far too unrealistic, even bordering on impossible.
The narrator of the audiobook makes a valiant effort, and does a pretty good job.
solshines68's review
5.0
I kept describing this book to my husband as "The Body" meets "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and I see I'm not alone in my thinking. This is a truly horrific read yet it's not gratuitous. The characters are all well developed, relatable and very real. Ryan Drean does an excellent job of bringing each person to life.
It's hard to describe the story without spoilers so I'll just say that I wanted to keep listening even if it meant losing sleep because the book pulled me in and kept me enthralled. The writing is so good and the performance on audio only enhances the story. Don't miss out on this great "read".
I received a free copy for my honest opinion and I'm so glad I was one of the lucky ones chosen to experience this wonderful five hour journey.
It's hard to describe the story without spoilers so I'll just say that I wanted to keep listening even if it meant losing sleep because the book pulled me in and kept me enthralled. The writing is so good and the performance on audio only enhances the story. Don't miss out on this great "read".
I received a free copy for my honest opinion and I'm so glad I was one of the lucky ones chosen to experience this wonderful five hour journey.
chica_cherry_cola's review
5.0
wow
I was unprepared for what I was about to read and all I can say is, WOW. The story went in a completely different direction than I expected in an excellent and horrific way and I look forward to reading more from this author!
I was unprepared for what I was about to read and all I can say is, WOW. The story went in a completely different direction than I expected in an excellent and horrific way and I look forward to reading more from this author!
olewis01's review against another edition
5.0
Such a great book!
Five key characters, just as flawed as the rest of us, but likable and totally relatable go through a traumatic weekend in the woods. It's a striking story about the human condition with a good vs. evil twist that begs the question: what happened to the Goatman? It also leaves us thinking about the legacy we leave behind in our own lives and how we tame the beasts that come after us.
Five key characters, just as flawed as the rest of us, but likable and totally relatable go through a traumatic weekend in the woods. It's a striking story about the human condition with a good vs. evil twist that begs the question: what happened to the Goatman? It also leaves us thinking about the legacy we leave behind in our own lives and how we tame the beasts that come after us.
hstr's review against another edition
4.0
A book that you may want to read.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It progresses quickly and once you get into the story and are familiar with the characters you just move right along with the action.
How are people describing this? Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets Stand By Me? Yeah, pretty much. I was thinking it felt like King meets Ketchum, not necessarily in the actual writing, but in concept. The beginning is being introduced to five teenage boys in the early 2000s, all of them have problems, but they are all just normal, relatable kids going on a camping trip to explore some creepy legends they had heard. Who wouldn't want to have done that as a kid?
But then ... the ending of this feels very ... repulsive. Dirty. Yucky. The descriptions of the setting are great and it's easy to imagine yourself there. Though that would not be a good thing. Not at all.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It progresses quickly and once you get into the story and are familiar with the characters you just move right along with the action.
How are people describing this? Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets Stand By Me? Yeah, pretty much. I was thinking it felt like King meets Ketchum, not necessarily in the actual writing, but in concept. The beginning is being introduced to five teenage boys in the early 2000s, all of them have problems, but they are all just normal, relatable kids going on a camping trip to explore some creepy legends they had heard. Who wouldn't want to have done that as a kid?
But then ... the ending of this feels very ... repulsive. Dirty. Yucky. The descriptions of the setting are great and it's easy to imagine yourself there. Though that would not be a good thing. Not at all.
the_bookubus's review against another edition
1.0
Tamer Animals is about a group of teenage boys who go camping in an area that has a local legend of something called the Goatman.
I picked this up because it sounded like a fun read but for such a short book it was a slog for me to get through. The only reason I kept going was having seen all these four and five star ratings here on Goodreads. I wanted to enjoy it too! But I found the story and the writing to be very dull and not engaging.
The author tried to give each character their own backstory and problems that they were dealing with but they all felt very cliched, the characters blurred into one as I couldn't tell them apart, and ultimately I didn't care about any of them.
There was some attempt to include important topics such as domestic abuse, racism, sexuality, bullying, but none of these threads seemed to go anywhere or really have anything bigger to say other than bringing them up.
The story does get gory towards the end but I think there is an art to writing gore and that was not apparent here. Also, the content wasn't anything we haven't seen before, think Jack Ketchum's Off Season and films such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes.
There are quite a number of pop culture references which felt rather forced and stood out as awkward. There are multiple references to Chuck Palahniuk, even one basically saying how a character thought Lullaby wasn't as good as Fight Club which felt like a very odd inclusion to this story as I couldn't figure out what relevance it had. Several songs are mentioned and again they felt shoehorned in there.
Overall this was a disappointing read and one that unfortunately I don't have anything good to say about. Because of the great ratings here I held out hope that it would improve but I should have listened to my gut and DNF'd it part way through.
I picked this up because it sounded like a fun read but for such a short book it was a slog for me to get through. The only reason I kept going was having seen all these four and five star ratings here on Goodreads. I wanted to enjoy it too! But I found the story and the writing to be very dull and not engaging.
The author tried to give each character their own backstory and problems that they were dealing with but they all felt very cliched, the characters blurred into one as I couldn't tell them apart, and ultimately I didn't care about any of them.
There was some attempt to include important topics such as domestic abuse, racism, sexuality, bullying, but none of these threads seemed to go anywhere or really have anything bigger to say other than bringing them up.
The story does get gory towards the end but I think there is an art to writing gore and that was not apparent here. Also, the content wasn't anything we haven't seen before, think Jack Ketchum's Off Season and films such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes.
There are quite a number of pop culture references which felt rather forced and stood out as awkward. There are multiple references to Chuck Palahniuk, even one basically saying how a character thought Lullaby wasn't as good as Fight Club which felt like a very odd inclusion to this story as I couldn't figure out what relevance it had. Several songs are mentioned and again they felt shoehorned in there.
Overall this was a disappointing read and one that unfortunately I don't have anything good to say about. Because of the great ratings here I held out hope that it would improve but I should have listened to my gut and DNF'd it part way through.