#AudiobookReview ‘FantasticLand’ by Mike Bockoven read by Luke Daniels and Angela Dawe

About the book…

Since the 1970s, FantasticLand has been the theme park where ““Fun is Guaranteed!” But when a hurricane ravages the Florida coast and isolates the park, the employees find it anything but fun. Five weeks later, the authorities who rescue the survivors encounter a scene of horror. Photos soon emerge online of heads on spikes outside of rides and viscera and human bones littering the gift shops, breaking records for hits, views, likes, clicks, and shares. How could a group of survivors, mostly teenagers, commit such terrible acts?

Presented as a fact-finding investigation and a series of first-person interviews, FantasticLand pieces together the grisly series of events. Park policy was that the mostly college-aged employees surrender their electronic devices to preserve the authenticity of the FantasticLand experience. Cut off from the world and left on their own, the teenagers soon form rival tribes who viciously compete for food, medicine, social dominance, and even human flesh. This new social network divides the ravaged dreamland into territories ruled by the Pirates, the ShopGirls, the Freaks, and the Mole People. If meticulously curated online personas can replace private identities, what takes over when those constructs are lost?
‘FantasticLand’ is a modern take on Lord of the Flies meets Battle Royale that probes the consequences of a social civilization built online.

The foundation of FantasticLand was created to survive natural disasters, and in the event of one , there was a strategic and robust plan in place to evacuate visitors and staff alike, enough supplies to see them through until anyone left behind was rescued.

Until, in the event of a horrendous hurricane, a place meant to bring your dreams to life will soon begin to inhabit your worst nightmares as the testimony of survivors, and those who narrowly escaped being trapped there, paints a deeply disturbing dystopian nightmare of what happens when one group of people believe they have thought of everything and nothing can go wrong. It’s the subversion of the American dream, a summer of young interns and hopeful teens making enough money to survive, mis managed by a capitalist idiot who will not bend from rules which were made to be set on fire, quite frankly.

As the public and social media platforms in particular, scrabble to make sense of the leaked images which were swiftly taken down, this audiobook takes the form of talking head interviews with those who were actually there.

And it is very, very dark indeed.

Without the structure of societal norms, the different groups who inhabit exhibits through the theme parks various worlds, become very protective of their supplies. Those who are wounded are debated about whether they are worthy of medication to survive. Those with weapons create a whole new society , and charge those without to find their own. Completely cut off from an outside world which believes everyone there was rescued, it does not take these stragglers long to realise that a) no one is coming for them and b) loyalty can be bought and sold. As can lives.

Taking the myth of the FantasticLand events which seem ludicrously devilish, and making the suppositions even darker, is quite a feat as sexual assault, harassment, murder, violence and cannibalism all rear their ugly heads. This is supposed to be the pinnacle of achievement, a place where dreams come true for decades. And now, it is subverted into a horror show the truth of which has been redacted, refashioned and ridiculed until no one is entirely sure what happened. Until now.

I still find it incredible to believe that only 2 people narrated this entire book, they bring to life the young and the old, the weak and the strong with such skill that you easily differentiate between the various characters , all with a perspective on events that united, places you in a very dark and uncomfortable place. How long does it take society to break down? You listen with an ever growing sense of dread building and building in your gut as your imagination, fuelled by what is thought to have occurred based on the official inquiry, is shown to be a pale comparison to what actually did. As characters die, are involved in deaths, try to rationalise what they did, you are just waiting and hoping for someone to rescue them. And by the time they do, too much damage has been done. You hear this in the voices and testimony of the rescuers who come across nightmarish scenes of violence and bloodshed.

This shouldn’t happen.

And yet, all that kept going through my mind was the phrase ‘for want of a nail, a show was lost…’ and that really sums up this horror driven dystopian fiction as the external and internal hurricane gathers and swirls , depositing the survivors in a place where reality and perception have been shaken and are waiting to settle like the contents of a snow globe.

Superb and absolutely chilling. Highly recommended , I listened as part of Audible Plus but if you have a spare credit , then you could do a whole lot worse than checking into FantasticLand.

About the author…

Mike Bockoven writes thrillers, horror and other stories while his kids are in gymnastics class or at piano lessons. He lives with his wife, Sarah, two daughters, Emaline and Tessa, and an exceptionally dumb wiener dog named Sherlock.

Links-https://mikebockoven.com/

About the narrators…

Angela Dawe is originally from Lansing, Michigan, and currently calls Chicago home. Her work includes film, television, theater, and improvisational comedy, as well as audiobook narration. Among Angela’s recordings are The Sheen on the Silk by Anne Perry, Wild Roses by Deb Caletti, and Savor the Moment by Nora Roberts. She hopes you enjoy listening as much as she enjoys narrating!

Links-https://angeladawe.wordpress.com/

Luke Daniels is an actor, writer, director, and audiobook narrator. He has narrated over 250 audiobooks, has been the grateful recipient of thirteen AudioFile Earphones Awards, and has earned three Audie nominations. His background is in classical theater and film. Luke has performed at repertory theaters around the country, but now he resides in the Midwest with his pack.