Ghostland by Duncan Ralston - Starting October 18th, 2020

[❀ Crystal ✿ -]

People are dying to get in. The ghosts will kill to get out.

Be first in line for the most haunted theme park in the park in the world - GHOSTLAND! Discover and explore hundreds of haunted buildings and cursed objects! Witness spectral beings of all kinds with our 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 insistence 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.

But when a computer virus sets the ghosts free and 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.

Featuring an interactive "Know Your Ghosts" guide and much more, Ghostland is over 400 pages of thrills and terror!

[❀ Crystal ✿ -]

Part I (view spoiler)[Oh man I can’t believe there is a theme park featuring ghosts and everyone thought they were safe and something wasn’t going to go wrong on opening day lol. Whoops. Seems like the ghosts are free and are probably slaughtering everyone in the park outside of the guest services building. Cool how ghosts sort of came out and announced the presence of supernatural. Liking it so far (hide spoiler)]

[❀ Crystal ✿ -]

Part II (view spoiler)[Now it’s just Ben and Lilian. I’m actually really sad Allison died but I guess as these ghosts have no moral compass and even kill kids it was to be expected. Ben still has that lighter fluid so I’m waiting to see if burning the house will do anything. (hide spoiler)]

[❀ Crystal ✿ -]

Part III (view spoiler)[Wow those ghosts just took down a helicopter, is there any chance of help actually being able to ‘help’ them? (hide spoiler)]

[❀ Crystal ✿ -]

Finished (view spoiler)[I kinda hate that we didn’t get to see the final showdown especially how Lillian alone managed to escape. I was guessing it would only be her getting out because I though the connection with his heart and that house would be his doom and in a way I was right. I’m guessing the ghosts are what killed him though 😢🤷🏼‍♀️ The end does sort of work for the book though in typical horror fashion, leaving the end open to worse possibilities. I enjoyed the book. Wish they would have gotten to explore and try out the “park” a bit more. (hide spoiler)]

[Lindie]

Can I join in on this? This sounds like Jurassic Park, but with ghosts.

[❀ Crystal ✿ -]

Lindie wrote: "Can I join in on this? This sounds like Jurassic Park, but with ghosts."

Pretty much. Think a mix between Jurassic Park and Thirteen Ghosts and you'll get the idea :)

[Lindie]

Part 1 - I kind of hate the lack of chapter numbers

(view spoiler)[LOL it is SO Jurassic Park. In that wonderful way where fictional characters have never seen a movie and don't know any better. Except that these characters probably have seen it, being that they park is the legacy of a renowned horror writer, and yet not even half way in and the fences are down. I repeat: the fences are down. Velociraptors about to be all up in the kitchen.

I just find the carnage that follows kind of hilarious.

That said, I really love the old friends having drifted apart and now reconnecting aspect of Ben and Lilian. They were my kind of kids, and I would have loved to have been there with them watching horror movies and playing survival games.

The whole AI driven augmented reality concept is pretty interesting too. Though I feel like they could have had the exact same park experience without harnessing the dead energy, and that would have been cheaper and safer. They could still have told people the ghosts were real, because how would anyone know different? (you know, in the brief parts before the muderisation started happening) (hide spoiler)]

[Lindie]

Part 2

(view spoiler)[Are we all working under the impression that Garrotte is still alive? I am finding it difficult to parse someone who died in the 80s being good enough at coding to develop a ghost virus.

The dog ghost in the prison makes me sad. All the others were amusing, though.

Extreme gore aside, this story is reading more like a dark comedy than a horror to me. (hide spoiler)]

[❀ Crystal ✿ -]

Lindie wrote: "Part 1 - I kind of hate the lack of chapter numbers

LOL it is SO Jurassic Park. In that wonderful way where fictional characters have never seen a movie and don't know any better. Except that thes..."

Wow that's actually rather brilliant lol (view spoiler)[They really would have had a fake experience and the people would have had no idea and it would have been just as scary, only waaaaay less violent lol. It wasn't until they mentioned how cruel it is to the spirits reliving their horrible and often gruesome deaths' that I actually realized how true that is. (hide spoiler)]

[❀ Crystal ✿ -]

Lindie wrote: "Part 2

Are we all working under the impression that Garrotte is still alive? I am finding it difficult to parse someone who died in the 80s being good enough at coding to develop a ghost virus.

T..."

Definitely like a comedic (of course also gory) horror novel. I enjoyed it ;)

[Lindie]

Part 4 - Finished

(view spoiler)[WTF happened with the last quarter of this book? It's like the author realized there were a specific amount of words required for the ending, then injested crack and speedrunned through a lot of things that made me go wut?

Hated the return of the Doll Head Murderer. It felt like a cheap movie jump scare. Highly unecessary. This story didn't need another reminder that humans are horrible too, we saw a lot of that already.

Why was the final showdown and the death of a major character off page? It was probably meant to evoke feelings of wanting more, but mostly it just frustrated me. I had come so far, only for there to be no pay off.

Which was a pity, as I really liked the rest of the book. The world building was so interesting and I would have loved to see more park exploration. There's a vicarious thrill watching these ghosts go through their last moment. Though, yes, the fact that they were sentient through it was pretty awful. (hide spoiler)]

Overall, a gory, demented tale that I didn't want to put down. :D

[Mummy's Naughty Corner]

26%

(view spoiler)[ Well I'm loving this so far. It's like a grown up goosebumps. It's a cool idea and after that first ghost you know this is going to be good. (hide spoiler)]

[Mummy's Naughty Corner]

47%

(view spoiler)[ God the way her doctor died was gruesome. I can't turn this off. (hide spoiler)]

[Mummy's Naughty Corner]

77%

(view spoiler)[ I can't get enough of this for some reason. the ghosts are cool and the idea used is amazing. i love the way his basically taking over all the ghosts like a computer virus. Now I guess the question is can they stop him? (hide spoiler)]

[Mummy's Naughty Corner]

Finished

(view spoiler)[ Well I loved it. The ending fell a little flat but the rest of it made up for it. (hide spoiler)]

[Mummy's Naughty Corner]

❀ Crystal ✿ - wrote: "Part I [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ Yeah didn't they learn anything from disney land lol. I do like the way that they had real ghosts and not just the buildings. (hide spoiler)]

[Mummy's Naughty Corner]

❀ Crystal ✿ - wrote: "Part III [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ I think that the park has cursed itself by being so unique and i'm not sure if burning it down will help at this point. (hide spoiler)]

[Mummy's Naughty Corner]

Lindie wrote: "Part 2

"

(view spoiler)[ now that you mention it how did he get so good at coding if he was dead. (hide spoiler)]