Title: Ghostland Author: Duncan Ralston
Genre: Horror
Pages: Oversized paperback, 375
ISBN: 9781988819181
Opening Lines: "The first time Lilian Roth saw the haunted house it was floating down Main Street, and if she'd known the trouble it would cause them, she never would have pointed it out to her best friend."
Rating
"Be the first in line for the most haunted theme park in the world GHOSTLAND! Discover and explore hundreds of haunted buildings and cursed objects! Witness spectral beings of all kinds with out patented Augmented REality glasses! Experience all the terror and thrills the afterlife has to offer safely protected by our Recurrence Field technology! Visit Ghostland today - it's the hauntedest place on earth!
"After a near-death experience caused by the park's star haunted attraction, Ben has come to Ghostland seeking to reconnect with his former best friend Lilian, whose post-traumatic stress won't let her live life to the fullest. She's come at the behest of her therapist, Dr. Allison Wexler, who tags along out of professional curiosity, eager to study the new tech's psychological effect on the user.
"When a computer virus sets the ghosts free an the park goes into lockdown, the trio find themselves trapped in an endless nightmare.
"With time running short and the dead quickly outnumbering the living, the survivors must tap into their knowledge of horror and video games to escape . . . or become Ghostland's newest exhibits."
~ Jacket copy
This book has been at the top of my Facebook newsfeed for quite some time. Being a member of an online horror book community, I have found some rather interesting books, which never would have come across my radar. This is one of those books. As a gamer, the idea of a horror amusement park struck a chord. I could not wait to get my hands on this book. Alas, it sat for months of my swap list, as well as my Amazon wishlist. Until one day, my husband's swap match sent him a copy!
After it failed to catch his attention, I tore into the book is abandon! I started the book in December (over my winter break) and just finished it a few days ago . . . And, no, it was not due to the combination of starting graduate school and still teaching full-time.
Ghostland is the lovechild of Thirteen Ghosts and Jurassic Park. If you have seen both movies, you know how this book will play out. The book relies on many tried and true horror tropes. Most of the characters are flat. Ben and Lilian could have been rather dynamic, round characters; however, even their motivations seems to fall short. Lilian suffering from PTSD and her reaction to Ben after the prologue was farfetched. And the video game references seemed to be more fan service than actually part of the story.
So why did it end up with three skulls rather than two? The book had its moments. Was it scary? Hell, no. Was it gory? Yes! The idea has great potential, and I think Ralston did a good job with some of the ghosts. For me, it truly fell short. This book is good for a mindless beach read.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I comment in the thread. Please subscribe to receive my comments and the things other awesome people have to say ^_^