Join a book club that is reading FantasticLand: A Novel!
FantasticLand: A Novel
A modern take on Lord of the Flies meets Battle Royale that probes the consequences of a social civilization built online.
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?
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?
BUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
Was kinda bummed with the “little twist” at the end to resolve why there were no bodies in the pirate cove.
This book was incredible. A documentary/investigative style about what happened at Fantasticland, an amusement park when Hurricane Sadie hit and trapped employees of the park for months and were left to fend for themselves. What happens? Chaos happens.
I loved this book so much. If you're on the fence about this book, bump this book high on your TBR.
What a weird, riveting ride that is 100% social commentary.
Definitely hunger games meets lord of the flies. And leave it to America to find profit off of it in the end
Definitely hunger games meets lord of the flies. And leave it to America to find profit off of it in the end
This book makes me want to throw it thru the window! This is why I do not like like this writing style! 😵💫😵
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.