I think in this day and age where dystopian novels and apocalyptic
video games are thriving, this would be an excellent book to hook my friends with.
I get most of my school books free through my local library,
but “Breeding Ground” by Sarah Pinborough was so good that immediately after
finishing the audiobook, I went out and bought myself a copy for my bookshelves.
That fact is astounding, mainly because of my extreme arachnophobia, but I
found myself adoring this apocalyptic tale of mutant spiders.
For a horror book, this book wasn’t all that horrendous. I
mean this in the literal sense. There wasn’t much brutal killing. The build up
of and revealing of the widows in the story was what made the book horror.
Intensity, psychologically thrilling, but not scary. That is one of the reasons
I was actually interested in a book about spiders. Yes, the creatures were
described in great detail, their webbed murders and modes of being birthed gruesomely
told in gorey detailed for readers. However, the actual deaths were left to the
imagination. People were almost always killed ‘off screen’. Tension was key.
The real monster, and meat of this story, was the human’s
interactions with one another. The lengths to which the survivors would go to
keep themselves, and those they cared about, safe made this book more a story of
an survival than that of running from monsters. The conflict moved away from
being the widows outside the fence and more about the internal conflict
happening to the women, between the men, and the unknown of what was happening
to characters injured like Dave.
The one thing in the book that didn’t sit super well with me
was the main character, Matt. He was not a super relatable character, and, as
with I Am Legend, the male lead seems to be lust-filled despite lost lovers and
the end of the world. Matt is willing to have sex with eventually both of the
only two women left alive, and his is even after the death of his
never-forgettable girlfriend Chloe and their unborn child (who was beautifully
described half gnawed on in the womb by the way). I felt that his story telling
was more of a camera lens he was showing us, which can work sometimes with novels
written to be retellings. However, Matt didn’t do that for me, and I felt the character
wasn’t relatable enough to warrant me following the scenes on his shoulder like
a parrot.
I love that multiple classmates of mine have thought
differently about the ending. Many think that the widows won in the end and
killed all the humans. I initially thought that the humans would win after the
chapter ended because of the discovery of the widows weaknesses and the people
that were immune. The cliffhanger ending was very interesting to me, but also a
bit cliché, seeming like it was purposely set up for a sequel instead of just
to keep the reader guessing. However, if there is a book two or a movie adaptation, sign me up for the creepy crawlies.
My physical copy is shipping, and it is going to
be borrowed out immediately to my sister. Nothing better for a sci-fi enthusiast
than mutant spiders. This one’s going on the reread shelf.
Again, I loved the book, except the last four pages. Rip those out and deep-six them. The gore was fabulous, suspension, tension, conflict, and imagery all worked very well in this novel. It seems I have a conflict with every ending thus far. (I am currently up to the reading World War Z.) While I can say, the stories in the near future are fabulous, I hated every single ending, which you can read mire detailed about when I post reviews for them.
ReplyDeleteSecond, Matt was bleh to me as well. He was majorly incompetent, and rather stereotypical. (The whole men only think with their dicks bullshit is what I am referring to.) While there were minor flaws in the writing itself, he was more of an anti-hero than a protagonist. And, at that, he was not even a decent anti-hero. I was hoping a widow would leap through the truck and snatch him headless at the end.
Come to think of it, I don't think I really liked any of the characters in the novel. The plot is what kept me going, I couldn't have cared less about who was going to be on the chopping block next, I just wanted to see them get it. Character development is a huge weakness of mine, so I rarely pay attention to novels that feature a wide-cast of characters than the plot.
I agree, reread value is there. It was a wild ride reading this one. Just rip the last chapter out before you pass it to your sister ;)
I don't know Alexis, I kinda liked George as a character. He was kinda thrust into a leadership role, and I thought Pinborough did well with him. I liked that he was reading a fictional story to try and get some clues as to how they might approach survival. He wasnt annoying. He seemed like a good guy to have around.
ReplyDeleteBut the other characters, yeah, I can relate.
Madison,
ReplyDeleteI didn't think the widows won in the end. I personally don't think the book ended. Maybe the story ends in the sequel "Feeding Ground?"
What should happen next is that the widows kill the rest of the humans... at least the named ones in this book... because they split up and set out on their own like they did. Pinborough already established that the widows pretty much hold the upper hand once you leave the safety of a base like they were holed up in. When they first left the city and had to stop over in that little scout hut, and the widows destroyed their two cars... all of that was tense and well done, and established that they'd need a place of significant fortification to survive. They found that at the base. The other groups of people they were in contact with over the radio were also holed up in defensible positions, and they all eventually succumbed. Based on that, I find it logical to assume that Matt and Rebecca striking out on their own, and George and the dog on their own, should only end in disaster. It's like they all forgot how dangerous it was outside the base. And because the way that "ending" was written, it seems that even Pinborough forgot.
I like what you said about the book becoming more a story of survival than a story about running away from the monsters. I think that's a great way of putting it, and I was definitely more caught up in worrying about Dave's infection than I was in worrying about widows breaking into their base. I agree, too, that Matt was definitely the blandest character of the bunch, and I like the image of the reader as a parrot on his shoulder! I would have liked to see the book told from multiple perspectives, maybe, although I get the sense that if we'd seen the story from anyone but Matt's POV, he would have looked a lot less like the hero. He'd just be the asshole who can't keep it in his pants, who's also unbelievably oblivious to the emotional states of the people around him—I mean seriously, how did he not get that Katie wasn't just being "bitchy" for no reason after his so-called "traumatizing" experience with Chloe? I really didn't get him as a character. I did like most of the other characters, or at least felt that they were more three-dimensional and consistent, even if I didn't "like" them. John especially grew on me in a surprising way.
ReplyDeleteI think we've definitely been split as far as the ending goes! I also read it as a victory for the humans, although I have to wonder how much of Rebecca's blood they'll really be able to harvest, or if it'll even work now that she's pregnant (does sperm cancel out deafness, immunity-wise?). I think I would have liked the book better if it had been more conclusive at the end either way, but I agree it definitely has value to reread and recommend!
Alexis and I talked a little about this in discord, but it might have been before you started the reading so you might have tried to ignore the spoilers. I think the incredibly obvious sexual lust Matthew has for women is supposed to be the forward hint about how pheromones are one of the key factors in how the spiders are reproducing. I definitely felt like Matthew was being presented purposely in a way where he was controlled by the spider that is inside of him. So the men are blaming the women, but it is the women who are victims of the men. Once the spider is done, it blasts out of the head of the men. I think the part where the book fails is in telling the reader how it all works in the end. How do the spiders communicate? Where did they come from? What is the overall message? I did enjoy this book very much. I think there are sequels so it might answer those questions later.
ReplyDelete