DNF QUICK REVIEW: Eating Sarah by Jaret Martens

Synopsis

Ever since childhood, all Sarah wanted was to participate in the Hunt—a monthly ritual in which her people sneak into a nearby city to gather food. Only in Sarah’s world, that food is human.

After her first Hunt ends in catastrophe, Sarah is forced to prepare their captives for slaughter. While this once would have been an easy task, recent events have caused Sarah to question whether or not she’s still capable of murder. Worse, she finds herself caring for Troy: a captive she knows she will be forced to kill.

But she can’t leave. Doing so would mean the deaths of both Troy and her family. With cannibals turning up dead—and suspicions of mutiny rising—Sarah and her family must be more careful than ever.

Yet there’s something not quite right about her family . . . Something that might just get her killed.

Paperback, 274 pages
Published September 14th 2014 by Immortal Ink Publishing (first published January 1st 2014)
ISBN 1938750101 (ISBN13: 9781938750106)


About the Author

Jaret was raised in the unremarkable town of Hepburn, Saskatchewan, where he first penned his debut novel Eating Sarah. Since then, he’s moved to the city of Saskatoon, splitting his time between working as a technical support agent, writing new novels, and battling the ever-present existential crisis.

Jaret`s debut novel, Eating Sarah, is scheduled to be released in the fall of this year.

Check out the author's website
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My Thoughts

I traced the scarlet lines across the young girl's body as she squirmed in the evening sun.

You know, I'm not a prude. I love horror and post-apocalyptic. Blood, gore, violence and vulgarity don't phase me. So I thought I'd give this one a try. I mean, it's an interesting concept. Cannibalism is something that we are all horrified by and fascinated with at the same time. 

So I tried. I really did try. Right from the beginning I was turned off by the needless brutality. And the writing was so juvenile that it reminded me of what a teenage boy might write when he's alone in his bedroom and his mind is running wild. Then I learned that it is being classified as "young adult". This both made sense and was a little disturbing. Young Adult is a cross-over genre that tends to appeal to a younger crowd. And while I was reading some very disturbing things by the age of 12, I don't think every kid can take it. So I'm a little uncomfortable with the idea of this book making it into the hands of 11 and 12 year olds out there. These people don't just practice cannibalism. These people eat people alive, cut limbs from their bodies and keep them alive for awhile, etc.

Additionally I found the writing to be lacking. It was sort of choppy and cheesy, and I mentioned earlier that it felt "juvenile". And things just didn't jive or make sense to me. These people live like a primitive clan, living and working in "shacks" and "halls", no electricity, subsisting on human meat. And then there will be a mention of a "hoodie", and I would think, "Do they mean a sweatshirt? These primitive people wear sweatshirts?" One minute these primitive cannibals would be referencing the "metal sticks" of their enemies (which I took to mean "guns", and which they didn't seem to know they names of, but later would mention guns?), and the next they would be talking about the armor worn by their prey, striped suits (what kind of primitive person is familiar with a striped suit), and magic eight balls!

My final word: I just didn't get it. The violence felt over-the-top and gratuitous, the writing was severely lacking, the story felt disjointed and mish-mashed together. I couldn't finish it. I made it about 80 pages in, and I called it a day-- something I never do. This was a "did not finish" for me, and therefore I won't be rating it.

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The Cerebral Girl is a forty-something blogger just digging her way out from under a mountain of books in the deep south of Florida.

I received a copy of this book to review through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers, in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not financially compensated in any way, and the opinions expressed are my own and based on my observations while reading this novel.