Book Review: Fallocaust (Fallocaust Book 1) by Quil Carter

 
 
In this unforgiving wasteland where people have turned to cannibalism to survive, Reaver is content being cold and cruel and doing whatever needs to be done in order to protect himself and his town... until he becomes interested in Killian and suddenly starts to care about him. But Killian's weakness gets the two of them into dangerous situations, secrets about Reaver are revealed, the King's ruthlessness knows no bounds, and Reaver's life is about to get a lot more complicated.

Book Review: Fallocaust (Fallocaust Book 1) by Quil Carter | reading, books, book reviews, science fiction, dystopian, lgbt, m/m
Title: Fallocaust
Author:
Series:
Book Number: Book 1 of TBA
Pages: 829
My Rating: 3 Stars
More Info: Goodreads, Amazon
 

Review:

I have very conflicting feelings about this novel. There were some things the author did incredibly well that really sucked me into the story and made it a worthwhile read, but there were some things that weren’t quite as well done and really bothered me. So this is going to be longer and a little more rant-y than my usual reviews, but it’s not all bad, I promise.

I’ll start with the things I liked.

The first half of the book had more issues that I’ll get into below, but the further I got into the book, the harder it got to put down. About halfway in, the characters, their problems, their relationships, and their emotions really started getting deep and rich and complicated. It went beyond cookie cutter emotions and obstacles and became a web of pain and anger and grief all interconnected with inner demons and the effects the past were having on the characters in their present situations. Somehow the author managed to portray the complex emotions in a natural way and get me to sympathize with all the characters on all sides of the conflict. The emotions were so high and intense sometimes, but they still made sense. THAT is the kind of stuff I love in my books.

The second half was also when the book started to get disturbing in a good way because it was more about psychological things and characters trying to handle the messed up events in their lives. One particularly disturbing (but in a good way, albeit definitely fitting with the gruesomeness of the book) thing was *SPOILER* when Killian was carrying his former kidnapper’s severed head around in a bag just so no one could defile it again (two other characters had dug it up) because the kidnapper actually had a really messed up life too, and Killian he felt like he needed to protect him from any more harm. *END SPOILER* So my point is, I was incredibly impressed with the psychological depth from about the middle on. Like, INCREDIBLY impressed.

Now for the things I disliked.

*TRIGGER WARNING: I’m going to be discussing rape a lot, in somewhat graphic ways, in the next few parts of the review. There might also be a few mildly spoiler-ish things, but nothing big or important or concerning main plot points.*

Rape. Rape everywhere. Also various other types of sexual perversion and abuse, cannibalism, gruesome violence, torture, drug use, and more disturbing shit I don’t even have a word for. I wasn’t expecting the book to be rainbows and butterflies—I like dark books. And I have read other books with graphic gore and rape and been able to handle it. I was expecting disturbing. But this book hit my upper limits. (Especially that part when Reaver found Killian in the factory.) That alone isn’t what bothered me though. I can respect that just because something is beyond my comfort zone that doesn’t make it bad. The problem was that most of it seemed to be there for shock value, especially in the first half of the book (the second half was… slightly more toned down in the shock value factor… slightly). It wasn’t all necessary to the story, and it was over-the-top.

But the interesting thing is, I was most bothered by the scene with the two main characters, Reaver and Killian. The sex started out consensual, but that changed when Reaver started hurting Killian. Killian was shouting at Reaver to stop, but Reaver didn’t stop until he was physically pulled away. One person did blatantly call Reaver a rapist, but, by the next scene, it was forgotten, Reaver never apologized, and Killian just made excuses for Reaver and blamed himself. That made me feel unsettled on a deeper level than the other more violent scenes because of how it was explained away as being ok. I kept waiting and waiting for it to come up, for Reaver to apologize, for someone to say something more, but it never happened. I was just left feeling completely on edge about it. I will say, however, that at least the rape in the book wasn’t romanticized. In fact, it was downright brutal and hard to read.

Another issue was that like 90% of the characters were rapists, including the protagonist (in the aforementioned scene) and many of the main characters. It pushed my suspension of disbelief too far and became gratuitous. It also made me dislike the characters because rape is unforgivable to me. I actually kinda liked Reaver, sociopathic tendencies and all, in the beginning. He was an asshole who enjoyed killing, but he didn’t kill innocents, and he didn’t go out of his way to be a jerk. He was loyal and protected his town and the few people he did care about. He just liked to be left alone. But then he raped someone with a machete, and that was the end of my Reaver-liking. I didn’t even care when he sliced open the legionaries’ legs, ripped the throat out of one, chased another to the edge of a cliff, and chopped the head off another. They deserved it, and Reaver was just trying to find Killian and get his vengeance. But raping a man with a machete is just sick and terrible. Some other characters did acknowledge that, and there was kind of an explanation for why Reaver was like that, but it still made him impossible to like.

*END TRIGGER WARNING*

But then Killian, one of the few characters who wasn’t a rapist, wasn’t likeable either. The thing is, he started out as a perfectly normal, acceptable character, but then as soon as we got to the point when he was dating Reaver, he turned into this weak, submissive, emotional, dramatic, squealing, giggling, crying, wimpy, whiny, pathetic, lost little kitten of a character. Being mentally ill and/or struggling after going through terrible experiences is one thing. Being Killian is something else entirely. He acted more like a child than a 17-year-old man who had been fucked up and hardened by the world he lived in. I think my favorite moment of Killian’s was *SPOILER* when he revealed to Reaver that he cut off Perish’s head because it was the first time he actually acted… not annoying and pathetic. *END SPOILER*

Another issue was the plot. It was a bit episodic, but mostly I was bothered by the fact that there wasn’t really a goal. I like knowing what we’re working toward when I read books so that I know if the characters are getting closer or further.

One last problem I had was the editing. I wouldn’t normally let that bother me, but there were just too many issues with verb tense not quite making sense, sentences with confusing typos, using the wrong word, etc. There was also a lot of repetition. I also hated how the author had most of the book in 1st person POV alternating between Reaver and Killian but then sometimes changed to 3rd person POV of other characters and once went to 1st person POV of some random character named Jade, especially since Jade was the worst narrator ever. He literally just went into shock or something and had no clue what was going on which then meant I had no clue what was going on.

All of that being said though, any book that can impress me the way this one did with the complexity of the characters and their emotions is worth my time and is a book I’m glad to have read. And any book that can actually keep my attention for 800+ pages—and keep my attention enough to make me finish it in three days—is obviously doing something right. So even though I had quite a few issues and decided not to continue the series, but I’m still glad I read it.

 

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  1. Geybie's Book Blog

    Fantastic review. POV changes always confuses me. I much prefer first person POV (my favorite) or dual first POV. Oh yeah, the rape scenes sound crazy. I can see why you didn’t enjoy reading it. But honestly, I’m curious about this book. Like you, i love dark reads as well. Hmm I’m not sure about the issues you mention, though.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks 🙂 I don’t mind multiple POV if it’s for good reason, but I like it to be consistent and characters whose POVs are important. I also don’t like when it changes tense. Yeah, there was some seriously crazy and disturbing stuff in this book! But I also like dark reads which was why I couldn’t resist reading this one lol.

  2. Lily B

    800 pages woah.. I have to admit, this book is a bit… disturbing huh? o.o lots going on and it’s awesome that it took you for quite the ride. Interesting that the author chose one of the more… ‘innocent’ characters in the book to be not very likeable XD

    1. Kristen Burns

      Yeah, it was a long one! And a disturbing one lol. But it take me for quite the ride. I’m not sure if he actually meant the character to be unlikeable? But ugh, he was.

    1. Kristen Burns

      I don’t like rapists either. But yeah, it was pretty much what you said lol. Most of the characters were pretty despicable, but there was still a lot of complex character-driven stuff.

  3. Olivia Roach

    Wow… this does sound like one disturbing book. It sounds so mixed up – not only with the storyline and all that occurs, but also with what you liked and didn’t like. I guess this review was a hard one to write! I think the most disturbing read for me was Plague by Michael Grant because there is a disease where bugs crawl under your skin and burst out of them. For someone with a deep rooted fear of bugs and especially spiders, reading that at 2am was NOT a good idea!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Disturbing it was. Yeah, those reviews when you really liked certain things but really disliked others are hard to write because of all those mixed feelings! Eww yeah, bugs bursting from skin disturbs me too. I read a graphic novel once that had that and was totally disturbed by it. I have a fear of bugs too!

  4. Greg

    829 pages? Wow. That’s a chunkster. I can see where this would be a mixed bag. I clicked on the spoilers (surprise I know) and the second one would bother me too (actually the third is pretty over the top!). So yeah… I can see where that would push it a bit. At some point it just becomes gratuitous. But having said all that, it’s nice that there were complex emotional moments and in spite of the plot shortfalls I can see where this would be interesting. Post- apoc shouldn’t be all wine and roses.

    Game of Thrones actually has a bit of graphic content too, not like this apparently but lots of severed heads and all that in those as well. 🙂

    1. Kristen Burns

      Yep, it was a long one, but I got it for like a dollar, so it seemed worth it lol. Yeah, the second spoiler in the little group was just so unsettling to me. And the third, yeah. Definitely felt gratuitous to have so many characters be like that. But I did love the complex emotional stuff!

      The severed head was like the least disturbing thing about this book lol.

  5. Karen

    I was on board at first because I like darker and violent but that spoiler about the two main characters? That’s a big nope for me. As well as some of the other things you mentioned.

    I appreciate that the author was willing to go for it portraying a violent world (& I can handle that) but some of that with the main characters that you’re supposed to like. Not for me.

    For What It’s Worth

    1. Kristen Burns

      Yeah, I understand. I was really bothered by what happened with the two MCs. The other stuff was also plenty disturbing too.

      Agreed. I don’t mind a violent world (although I do think this was gratuitous), but I just can’t like characters like these.

  6. Michelle @ Pink Polka Dot Books

    Woah this book!! I’ve been looking for a post-apocalyptic book, but IDK if I can do this one. Cannibalism gives me nightmares– I had the worst dreams after reading Ashfall by Mike Mullin and that just had a small scene with it. Also all the other things that you talked about and this book may be a little TOO dark for me– even though I really love dark books.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Lol yeah this one is pretty intense and really not something I’d recommend if cannibalism gives you nightmares. I like dark too, but this one pushed even my limits!

  7. Cee Arr

    Quick note: most people prefer bipolar disorder to manic depressive. So maybe you can think about changing that…? Just a suggestion.

    This gives me a similar vibe to a v graphic M/M webcomic I read this week called Starfighter. It was def readable, but I wouldn’t be able to recommend it to anyone because the central relationship is *so* messed up. Abuse of all kinds – everywhere!

    (And by graphic I mean *porno*-graphic.)

    And wow. Fallocaust sounds… exceptionally dark!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Oh, yeah, I can change it, thanks for letting me know! I actually didn’t realize manic depressive was the same as bipolar disorder. But I’m pretty sure he wasn’t actually bipolar, so I’ll just change it to something more general.

      Oh my goodness, hahahaha. I’m literally reading Starfighter right now. Like, I even just read Ch. 3 before writing this comment. Trust me, this book was 10000x worse in terms of darkness. But I completely agree that I’m really bothered by the relationship being so abusive in Starfighter, at least in the beginning. Like, maybe it’s getting less abusive now? But I still can’t get over how it started.

  8. verushka

    This is way too intense for me — Cannabalism? Yeah, that’s definitely the limit for me. That said, the complexity of characters is attractive — something clearly is done right there.

  9. Lola

    I do agree if a book that’s so long can keep your attention and you read it in so few days it definitely does something right even though you had some issues with this one too.

    This does sound like a big nope for me, with all the disturbing things. I even left the spoilers close this time as I figured I probably didn’t want to know what was behind them.

    It does sound like the author did a good job of delving into the characters emotions and psychological things.

    I very rarely have a problem with the editing, but if there are so many things that you keep noticing it, it can be annoying. I have spotted some typo’s in books, but most of the time you can easily figure out what it was supposed to say, but if you can’t it really can get confusing.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Exactly, any book that can keep your attention that well is doing something right, but it still had a lot of issues and could’ve been better. Definitely not one I’d recommend for you though!

  10. Uma @ Books.Bags.Burgers.

    I love dark reads but I think this might be a tad too much for me :/ It’s weird that I can read murder and stuff but have a hard time reading about abuse and stuff. Also if it’s there only for shock value, I wouldn’t like it one bit.. Thanks for the informative review 🙂

    1. Kristen Burns

      I think that makes sense actually. Murder seems so extreme and, like, harder for us to really comprehend whereas abuse, for example, is like a more realistic seeming and common thing. But yeah, I can read dark stuff, but I want to be included for a reason, not just shock value. Glad my review was helpful!

  11. Dragonfly @ Our Familiarium

    oh my when I read the heading of this post! The title! LOL! I’ll leave it at that. Not sure why my brain went down that weird Freudian road. LOL! I like dark stories so I “think” I would be ok with the cannibalism and rape unless is completely taking over the story or the author wants to make it look ok for some reason. And I do have an issue when they want to put it on mental illness. I do have issues with editing. why do I have so many issues? 🙂

    1. Kristen Burns

      Yeah I’m generally ok with dark stuff like that, I just a lot of it was only in this book for the shock factor. And yeah the editing was frustrating at times.