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sarahconnor89757's review
5.0
This book is what you would get if you dropped your action figures into the rabbit hole. I see the only complaint is lack of character development, but I don't know that I'd want more development from an alien with a bugle for a penis. The book was fun and cute and was just as advertised.
doomfiction's review
5.0
I find it highly entertaining that I read this book today, by chance, after watching a debate regarding Stephen Hawking's recent "humans should not try to contact alien life" warning last night. Aliens will kill us all, steal our natural resources, and rape our hermaphrodites! While that may not be exactly what Mr. Hawking is implying, David W Barbee interprets it as so in his sick, twisted bizarro fairy tale, CARNAGELAND.
The story centers around an extra-terrestrial named Invader 898 who wants to do nothing more but make his race proud. Fresh out of invader academy, 898 wastes no time at all to begin his duties of taking over planets. The planet he lands on, Carnageland (although I can't remember if the planet's name appeared in the text outside of the title), is a brutal coctail of all the fairy tales and children's stories you can possibly imagine mixed with the ultraviolence of a Tarantino flick.
Invader 898 reminds me of a bizarro version of Schwarzenegger's Terminator - a relentless, cold, unaffected, killing-machine. But instead of a sawed-off shotgun, he is equiped with arguably the coolest weapon ever - the Doomshooter. The Doomshooter fill fire anything and everything that 898 feels is necessary for the situation. Honestly, these were my favorite moments in the book, waiting to see how he would eliminate his next obstacle. Sometimes it's a squid tentacle, sometimes it's insects, sometimes it's hypodermic needles - the list goes on and on, getting wilder, and more fun every time.
I really enjoyed the journey Mr. Barbee took me through on his first published novellette. What should you expect? Expect weird. Expect fun. Expect violence. Expect no apologies.
I can't wait to see where Barbee takes us on his next venture.
The story centers around an extra-terrestrial named Invader 898 who wants to do nothing more but make his race proud. Fresh out of invader academy, 898 wastes no time at all to begin his duties of taking over planets. The planet he lands on, Carnageland (although I can't remember if the planet's name appeared in the text outside of the title), is a brutal coctail of all the fairy tales and children's stories you can possibly imagine mixed with the ultraviolence of a Tarantino flick.
Invader 898 reminds me of a bizarro version of Schwarzenegger's Terminator - a relentless, cold, unaffected, killing-machine. But instead of a sawed-off shotgun, he is equiped with arguably the coolest weapon ever - the Doomshooter. The Doomshooter fill fire anything and everything that 898 feels is necessary for the situation. Honestly, these were my favorite moments in the book, waiting to see how he would eliminate his next obstacle. Sometimes it's a squid tentacle, sometimes it's insects, sometimes it's hypodermic needles - the list goes on and on, getting wilder, and more fun every time.
I really enjoyed the journey Mr. Barbee took me through on his first published novellette. What should you expect? Expect weird. Expect fun. Expect violence. Expect no apologies.
I can't wait to see where Barbee takes us on his next venture.
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