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fastaxion's review against another edition
3.0
It took me a while to get through this book. I read the first few stories and let months pass before I read the rest. I got this in a surprise book subscription box so it's not something I would have picked up. Some stories are good but there is a little bit of everything.
plurx4's review
3.0
It was an okay book. I don't see why the author made such a big deal about the fact the "this is not a book for children" on the back of the book. It had cute stories that were dark for sure but they do not need a parental advisory on them that's for sure. All in all it was an okay book.
leighchow's review
4.0
In one of the most gripping of the 13 tales in David Lubar’s collection of horror stories, the main character, Don, remarks that the works of Poe come into his mind “at the oddest of moments.” Like Don, Lubar himself channels the granddaddy of the horror genre in each of the pieces in this chilling collection. After struggling to publish the collection elsewhere, Lubar eventually managed to convince Tor Teen, publisher of his best-selling “Weenies” stories, to take a chance with Extremities. Poe, one of the early champions of the American short story, is surely cheering from beyond the grave.
Lubar makes clear that Extremities is not intended for his usual “Weenies” audience. “This is not a book for children,” he emphatically states in his author’s note (a caution reiterated on the back dust jacket). Revenge on a sadistic gym teacher, a hot girl who turns out to be a succubus, voodoo spells ending in patricide -- the dark nature of the tales definitely makes them inappropriate for middle school readers. But for more mature teens, these macabre stories might draw in even reluctant readers. This collection might even serve as a gateway text to more sophisticated masters of the genre such as Stephen King, and indeed Poe himself. Cheers to both Lubar and his publisher for offering today’s teen readers with a more approachable, but no less terrifying, collection of horror to enjoy.
Lubar makes clear that Extremities is not intended for his usual “Weenies” audience. “This is not a book for children,” he emphatically states in his author’s note (a caution reiterated on the back dust jacket). Revenge on a sadistic gym teacher, a hot girl who turns out to be a succubus, voodoo spells ending in patricide -- the dark nature of the tales definitely makes them inappropriate for middle school readers. But for more mature teens, these macabre stories might draw in even reluctant readers. This collection might even serve as a gateway text to more sophisticated masters of the genre such as Stephen King, and indeed Poe himself. Cheers to both Lubar and his publisher for offering today’s teen readers with a more approachable, but no less terrifying, collection of horror to enjoy.
bibliotropic's review
3.0
Stories of murder, death, and revenge. That’s the subtitle of Lubar’s Extremities, and this book is exactly what it says on the tin. At a reading level poised somewhere between mid-grade and YA, Extremities is filled with the macabre, the creepy, the violent and bloody parts of death, much resembling souped-up versions of campfire tales, the kind that people will tell on dark nights in the attempt to creep each other out.
In some cases, these stories work wonderfully for that. In other cases, it seemed very much like Lubar was trying to outdo himself and instead it just fell flat, with an emphasis on blood and gore as the creep factor instead of more psychologically disturbing elements.
While a majority in this incredibly short collection of short stories contain supernatural elements, my favourites, and the ones that gave me the most pause, were the ones that were about people being people, regular teenagers pushed over the edge by their circumstances. Girls who take brutal revenge on their abusive gym teacher. A kid planning the murder of an abusive father, only to find their mother getting caught in the crossfire. Those were the stories that really stayed with me, that were oddly the most extreme of all the extremities, because they showed that you don’t need monsters or ghosts or supernaturally-strong serial killer to create terror. You just need people, plain and simple, in the right (or wrong) situation.
As for the supernatural stories, some were very good, and the rest were merely okay. A creature feeding on a person’s strongest emotion until they die. A team spending the night in a haunted house, a classic ghost story with an interesting twist (it isn’t the house that’s haunted). Those are the two stories that stuck well in my mind, not so much for their creativity but their interesting execution.
While the stories contained within were rather hit-or-miss, I think many pre-teens and young teens could really get a kick out of this book. It’s what kids who’ve just outgrown Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark can move on to (admittedly, might be showing my age there with those examples…) when they want to get that same shivery thrill of reading about the dark, the macabre, the things that can and will always go bump in the night. It wasn’t a great book. It wasn’t a book to linger over and ponder deeply. It was a quick fun ride, and it doesn’t pretend to be anything else.
(Book received in exchange for an honest review.)
In some cases, these stories work wonderfully for that. In other cases, it seemed very much like Lubar was trying to outdo himself and instead it just fell flat, with an emphasis on blood and gore as the creep factor instead of more psychologically disturbing elements.
While a majority in this incredibly short collection of short stories contain supernatural elements, my favourites, and the ones that gave me the most pause, were the ones that were about people being people, regular teenagers pushed over the edge by their circumstances. Girls who take brutal revenge on their abusive gym teacher. A kid planning the murder of an abusive father, only to find their mother getting caught in the crossfire. Those were the stories that really stayed with me, that were oddly the most extreme of all the extremities, because they showed that you don’t need monsters or ghosts or supernaturally-strong serial killer to create terror. You just need people, plain and simple, in the right (or wrong) situation.
As for the supernatural stories, some were very good, and the rest were merely okay. A creature feeding on a person’s strongest emotion until they die. A team spending the night in a haunted house, a classic ghost story with an interesting twist (it isn’t the house that’s haunted). Those are the two stories that stuck well in my mind, not so much for their creativity but their interesting execution.
While the stories contained within were rather hit-or-miss, I think many pre-teens and young teens could really get a kick out of this book. It’s what kids who’ve just outgrown Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark can move on to (admittedly, might be showing my age there with those examples…) when they want to get that same shivery thrill of reading about the dark, the macabre, the things that can and will always go bump in the night. It wasn’t a great book. It wasn’t a book to linger over and ponder deeply. It was a quick fun ride, and it doesn’t pretend to be anything else.
(Book received in exchange for an honest review.)
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