15 August 2016

Review: The Hatching

The Hatching The Hatching by Ezekiel Boone
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If you've been waiting your whole life for a novel about the spider apocalypse, your prayers have finally been answered.

This is a big dumb book about a bunch of carnivorous spiders taking over the world. The writing is functional, the characters one dimensional, the big conflict makes you feel dumber as you read it.

And yet.

Let's be clear - The Hatching is not trying to win any awards, and it's not trying to blow your socks off with some grand narrative or statement. It's a book where spiders are taking over, and you get a sort of Chrichton-esque bounce from scene to scene and group to group as things move along. It's a fast read, and it's fun in the way Sharknado is fun. It's big dumb entertainment.

With that said, this is probably closer to a 3.5 because of how ham-fisted so much of this is. It's so matter of fact that it's almost a problem, and it's perhaps even too dime store pulpy for those who can tolerate it. Perhaps it's a little too self-aware? I don't know, but it was the one major drawback to an otherwise passable book.

You'll know if you're into this pretty quickly. If you are, you'll finish it in basically no time at all, but if your goal is a meatier, more meaningful read, this ain't it.

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