Thanks to NetGalley and Anchor Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Release Date: April 4th, 2017
256 Pages
Synopsis: From James DeMonaco, the writer/director of The Purge film franchise, comes the provocative and terrifying last stand of a lone outpost of women in the wake of a deadly pandemic.
Allie Hilts was still in high school when a fire at a top-secret research facility released an airborne pathogen that quickly spread to every male on the planet, killing most. Allie witnessed every man she ever knew be consumed by fearsome symptoms: scorching fevers and internal bleeding,madness and uncontrollable violence. The world crumbled around her. No man was spared, and the few survivors were irrevocably changed. They became disturbingly strong, aggressive, and ferocious. Feral.
Three years later, Allie has joined a group of hardened survivors in an isolated, walled-in encampment. Outside the guarded walls the ferals roam free, and hunt. Allie has been noticing troubling patterns in the ferals’ movements, and a disturbing number of new faces in the wild. Something catastrophic is brewing on the horizon and time is running out. The ferals are coming, and there is no stopping them.
Fair warning: Feral is not for the faint of heart. Given that one of the authors is James Demonaco writer/director of The Purge films, this shouldn’t come as a complete shock. There were some scenes though that even had me wincing and saying “Ew!” The first part of the book starts out strong as the reader sees how Allie deals with the end of the world as she knows it. Just a teenager, she witnesses the unimaginable and in order to protect herself and her 12-year-old sister Kim, has to do some horrible things in order to survive. As the story flashes forward three years, you see a much more hardened woman. She’s badass, and impulsive, yet still maintains her humanity somehow. Allie is really the best part of the book and she’s the main reason why I kept reading. Unfortunately, I ran into a few other issues. Feral alternates between first and third person POVs as well as between several different characters. While this style didn’t make things confusing, it did make the story rather choppy. I also wish Allie’s relationship with her sister Kim had been more developed. The other characters were unoriginal and also lacking in development and I wound up not connecting with any of them. And finally, while the book started out with a unique twist on the whole “end-of-the-world because idiotic scientists are messing around with something they shouldn’t be” trope, by the middle of the book things had become pretty predictable and I saw the ending coming a mile away. The action scenes though are masterfully done and the the book at under 300 pages is a quick read. Overall, Feral is an okay story that fans of gory horror may enjoy.
vinnieh said:
Love the ideas of this story. And strong female characters are always a plus in my book.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Yeah! If you’ve watched any of his Purge movies, you can see similar things in this book. Even though I had my issues, I’d definitely try another book by him.
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vinnieh said:
I wasn’t the biggest fan of The Purge movies, but I didn’t mind the first. They just sort of tailed off after that for me.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
I thought the first one was pretty good, but I only watched the next two because there wasn’t really anything new being added.
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vinnieh said:
I can understand that.
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YAandWine said:
Wow! That sounds pretty intense. I think this one would totally freak me out to be honest.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
I don’t know if this makes sense, but if Feral was a movie, some of the scenes would have had me covering my eyes and asking my husband to tell me when it was over! 😱
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YAandWine said:
Hahaha. I believe it! I haven’t even watched those movies for that exact reason.
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Felicia Denise said:
Can’t read anything which is connected to anyone connected to The Purge! PASS! LOL! 😉
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Given your feelings toward horror Felicia I’m not surprised. I think Feral would definitely give you nightmares!😱
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Lashaan and Trang (Bookidote) said:
Alternating between first and third person???? I don’t think I’ve seen that before (unless it was so well done that I didn’t even notice). I’m surprised to hear that bit about Purge! Pretty cool to see him publishing books (or co-writing them). Is this his first book though? Probably not easy to go from movies to books since screenplays are far from being similar to novels. 😀
– Lashaan
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
I’ve seen this done a few times and I never like it. In my opinion it just interrupts the flow of the story if that makes sense? I think this was his first book. I really did like Allie, so if he writes another I might give it a try.💁🏻
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beetleypete said:
This sounds as if it has been designed to be taken up as a film idea. I didn’t mind the original film, but I haven’t seen any sequels.
Best wishes, Pete.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
I could see it as a movie Pete.😊
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beetleypete said:
Me too!
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Carrie said:
I haven’t been picking up many horror books because I always seem to be disappointed and with you only giving a 3 I’m guessing this is a good one to pass on.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
You know, it wasn’t bad. I really liked Allie, but there’s so many others out there. I did like it enough that if Demonaco writes another I may try it.💁🏻
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Carrie said:
I’m just so picky with horror lately I’d probably only try if you’d given it a 5.
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bookdrblog said:
Nice post, I just reviewed this, I seem to like it more than you did though!
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
That’s what makes the book blogging world so interesting!😊
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