Customer Reviews

Primitive

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I literally just got finished reading Primitive and I just had to share what a GREAT novel this was. Gonzalez has successfully pulled off one of the most exciting apocalyptic stories since Keene's zombie invasion in The Rising. And what's great about this particular novel is that it's a very interesting and orginal take on the end of the world. What's scary is how realistic Gonzalez creates the beginning to the end of the world; on how people would react, their emotions, society as a whole. I easily think this is J.F.'s best book since Survivor. Please check it out whether you buy the tradeback or the digital release. It's a great story and it needs to be read.

I highly recommend Primitive if you like apocalyptic novels. I love the idea that Gonzalez came up with the world reverting back to their primitive nature that still exists deep within us. Something releases it one day upon the world. There are survivors that are struggling to stay alive but are constantly hunted down. Something evil and ancient awakens once again that rules over the Primitives and it is very old.

3 AND 1/2 STARS

J.F. Gonzalez, author of the brutal classic, "Survivor", creates his own spin on the zombie genre. I won't give anything away, but what Mr. Gonzalez does here is very different than almost anything that I've read before. He clearly had a cool idea and pulled out all the stops, throwing a rather normal family in the middle of a nail-biting and very dangerous new world that you definitely won't see coming.

While I did find a few areas that could have used a touch more editing (discovering some repetitive sentences) I found the narrative fluid and very fast paced. There were many moments while reading it that I felt considerable anxiety from the tension Gonzalez created. And that's not easy to do.

One of my problems with the book had to do with Wesley's character and his prior knowledge of the plague situation and the fact that he didn't realize what was happening sooner seemed a little forced. Not to mention the coincidence of the family running into him randomly. But I suppose if that choice was not made, the audience would be as in the dark as the main characters. Whether that would have made a better story, who knows? The character of Heather was also too overdone in her racism, and I felt that if she was so against people different from her race, she never would have stayed with such a diverse group in the first place.

Those small issues aside, I had a great time reading this intense and many times, shockingly unpredictable story. I really appreciated that Gonzalez decided to branch well away from the common zombie theme and come up with something, whether you like it or not, insanely original as to the reasoning of why the primitives are mutating and the overall roots of evil. A bit far-fetched, perhaps, but the author backs it up with some credible history and mythology. "Primitive" is yet another solid outing from J.F. Gonzalez and gets my recommendation.

Primitive by J. F. Gonzalez was a slight disappointment for me. Don't get me wrong, I gave it three stars and that does mean I liked it, but this book felt like a horror sell-out in my opinion. I have read dozens of novels that are very similar and seen many movies also. It is an engaging tale and I always enjoy end of the world stories told in the first person because they usually have a very emotional ending. This novel is no exception. In fact, the ending, the resolution if you will, was the only truly emotional part in the novel for me. This book reminded me mostly of Stephen King's Cell because the actions of the Phone Crazies and Primitives are very similar. It is not a zombie novel so I can't call it that kind of sell-out crowd pleasing book, but I think this has been done so many times and I expect more out of an author like Gonzalez. If I hadn't read so many books like this, I probably would have given it four stars instead of three, but I still wouldn't have missed the inexcusable type-Os and badly written sentences. This book needed an editer who wasn't most likely reading this manuscript with only half an eye.
Despite the things wrong with this book, I still enjoyed it and I think that most horror fans would. It is very violent and also very creepy in several parts one of which being when the demonic voice comes through the radio when they are trying to contact some half way across the country. In short, not good, not bad, but leaning closer to bad than good.

When writing the end of the world it's hard not to wander down familiar paths. Author Gonzales took the Romero route with this novel, the first third read like Night of the living dead with the claustrophobic house and unknown chaos ensuing around them. The second third like Dawn of the dead, where complacency has settled in due to be removed from the threat at hand. The final third like Day of the dead, where the military and science hold humanities last hope. But his grasp of pop culture horror comes in handy with explaining the attackers even taking a cue from The Exorcist.

J.F.'s Primitive is right up there with King's The Stand, Mccammon's Swan Song and Brian Keene's Rising/City of the Dead books. The world is thrown into chaos when people are turned into Primatives who's only desire is to kill. Fast paced action horror!!

I really tried to like this book. Read about three fourths of the way through and couldn't even finish it. Ended up putting it on my free paperback book swap club I belong to. I thought the story was pretty good at first and then it went into a nose dive from there. I respect author's and love this genre, it was a good try that is why I gave it three stars. Just have to add if you really want to read a good end of the world book try Conrad Williams book "One".

I found myself half way through the book and I am really trying to stay interested in reading it. It's been my second day of reading it and I find myself in the middle of the road of whether I want to finish it or not. The characters just seem so shallow and one dimensional not to mention unbelievable in their simplicity. For one if your going to make a racist character make him/her believable instead of some cliche and don't just kill characters without any meaning or reason. It happens in real life sure but it doesn't work well in a novel. Also I felt while reading this book that it was filled to the brim with political meanderings that were really distracting.

The only thing that keeps me from giving this 1 star is that some of the ideas were interesting. So far from what I've read from his collection is that its hit or miss. HIs ideas are good but its only about fifty percent of the time he seems to deliver what he promises.

I never like to deride a writer's effort... I know that many writers work hard @ getting their stories published, and they should be commended for the tenacity it requires to have success in the business... But I do want to tell folks who are looking to buy this novel how I felt about it, because I would also be interested in horror readers' opinions about a story I was about to invest money and time into... Ok, w/ that said... I have to admit that I was relatively underwhelmed by Mr. Gonzalez's "Primitive"... I found it to be bland and not so engaging, although not badly written... The story is pretty standard for post-apocalyptic horror despite the attempt to be different by throwing in a new wrinkle w/ the Neanderthal virus and the prehistoric supernatural deity... I didn't find myself interested in the characters' predicament, and I had a difficult time latching onto the drama that was created by their interaction... I, also, thought that the story drifted too often... It felt like a new phase of the story would be introduced or hinted @ only for it to be brushed aside... And, again, the writing wasn't bad, but it wasn't exceptional either... For me to stay truly interested in the story, which was standard & essentially just replaced zombies w/ "primitives", I needed to be enthralled w/ the prose the writer laid out, and that just never happened... Ok, ok... I know it sounds like I'm bashing the novel... Honestly, it wasn't bad, and I finished it w/ ease, but it never pulled me in to where I found it hard to put down... Anyhow, check it out, and decide for yourself...