Customer Reviews

University

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've read all the reviews for this book, and I don't think there's a single one that gives it three or four stars: everybody either loves it or hates it.

The people who hated it talk about how they thought the violence was too graphic, there was a lack of subtlety, or the characters were too shallow. All true, to an extent. And the very notion of defeating supernatural demons with high explosives, though comforting, is awfully unimaginative.

However, those complaints don't diminish the sheer power this book has. Its horror is so strong that some people are put off by it (hence many of the negative reviews). Bentley is brilliant at slowly moving from the real-life horrors of modern teen apathy and violence to the darker and more brutal paranormal stuff later in the book. I've never seen someone who captures the terror of violence as well as Little does.

I am a college student, and what scared me the most about this book was its plausibility. That's right. At my school, violent incidents have been on a steady upswing. Crimes have been getting more frequent, and much sicker and more brutal. The most frightening factor of University is just how closely its first few chapters mirror real life.

Bentley Little is no masterful literary writer. I think that's clear. But, after reading "University," "The Ignored," and "The Walking," I see that he has some good stories and some frightening, if somewhat unoriginal, images. The problem with "University," however, is that Little throws out all these interesting plots, but he fails to bring them together in the end. "University's" first half is nice and suspenseful, I'll give it that, but by the weak climax, the story blows up with the campus. This novel steals too much from "The Shining." So do yourself a favor and stick with Stephen King.

Although I must admit, I was taken by the book during the first half, but I was surely LOST in the last half section. I mean, the characters became uninteresing to the point that I just did NOT care anymore! And the whole concept of "The Computer Monster" became simply just stupid.

Bentley Little serves up another of his signature horror stories with this book. Though it is one of his earlier works, some of his later ones, such as "The Store" and "The Association", have their roots in this book. This book is not for the squeamish, however, due to the sadistic sexual content and extreme violence.

As the title indicates, all the fun and games take place at a University, specifically the University of California at Brea. The school has always had a high incidence of violence on its campus, but this one semester, it takes it to the point of no return. Murder, rape, sodomy, sadism, maiming, castration, and animal cruelty are just some of the extracurricular activities to be found on this campus. A small group of students and professors band together to try to stem the tide of evil at the University, and therein lies the tale.

The author is a tad self-indulgent, as the book is somewhat repetitious, at times, and the story seems to falter or meander every now and then. Moreover, the characters tend to be somewhat one dimensional. Still, it is a new riff on the classic tale of good versus evil. Diehard Little fans, and I am one, should enjoy it.

This is one of Little's better efforts. A well rounded book that reaches a fairly satisfying conclusion. Lots of gore, and a good dose of humor keep this one rolling along. Grab this one and The Store for some decent reads.

The fault with this book is that it blows any sort of fear and interest out of the reader's mind before the storyline has even had time to set itself up. Instead of carefully leading us along, hinting at terrors and secrets to come, UNIVERSITY sucker punches you at the start, and simply continues to bludgeon you over the head with an over-done orgy of blood, sex, and evil. The theme of "all-powerful evil" in horror and suspense novels has been written right into the ground...and this book just doesn't have anything else to offer. By the way...the next time a horror author thinks he's going to surprise ANYONE with a cliched ending where the evil presence (or whatever)somehow survives, leaving us feeling like a tremendous waste of time just occurred--do us a favor, and unplug your word processor before you ruin what might be a good story.

When someone mentioned that The Academy was pretty much the same story as The University, they weren't kidding. The two stories are so incredibly similar that Little is almost plagiarizing himself when he wrote Academy.

UC Brea isn't your normal school. The student body is interested in all sorts of extracurricular activity, such as kidnapping, rape & extreme violence. Meanwhile the professors themselves have decided to go the extra mile, their lesson plans including anything from extreme sex to the poisoning of helpless animals. When Jim & a few other students & faculty start noticing that they're the only ones who aren't as extremely affected, they know that eventually they're going to have to take a stand against the University. They only hope that it won't kill them first.

I enjoyed this book for the most part, although I'll admit that I wish that I'd read this before Academy. The two stories were so incredibly similar that I couldn't help but compare the two & even though this is the stronger of the two, it still seemed to interrupt the flow of the book. The characters of Jim, Faith & the other main characters were written well enough that I got a good impression of their characters & drives, but ultimately there were two things that really kept me from fully enjoying this book as much as I'd like to.

At times I couldn't help but feel that Little's choice of shocking material is just a little predictable. He seems to use the same "shock scenes" (as one reviewer put it) in each book & I can't help but wonder why he doesn't do something a little different. They're still shocking & Little is still a good writer, but I really would like to see him do something a little different. The other big flaw of the book is that it just seemed to take forever for the story to get anywhere & after a while I kind of just wanted Little to get on with it rather than dragging out another scene of sexual mayhem & murder.

But Little still manages to be entertaining & for many this will be a decent enough read for the beach or a dark rainy night.

What can I say, it's Little. How does he come up with this stuff? He's twisted and I love him for it!

This book took me forever to find but it was well worth the search. In my opinion this author is at his best when he is doing books such as this.

If you like "the store," "the resort," or "the association" than you will DEFINITELY like this. This is could quite possibly be my favorite Bentley Little novel, its a travesty that this book is so hard to find but it is a gem.

Any horror fan in general should find this book virtually impossible to put down, NO ONE builds up to a conclusion like him.

The atmosphere is cold, dark, and depressing. Brutality is evident all around, and Little does not play around with subtlety's. Jim Parker is a great character. He's three dimensional and focused. It was interesting for me, an adult woman, to see through the eyes of a college student male. He appeared stable and reacted the way I figured most would. His life was interesting and that made it even more fun. He had his own classic sets of internal struggles.

The pace wasn't boring or uneven and it came across as well orchestrated overall. Again Bentley Little is dark. Except this time he's a bit too unbalanced for my tastes. Some the gore was a bit too excessive, the violence a little unnecessary -- to where they became the focal points more than the story itself.

University is worth a read but it's nothing as shattering as his other works. Many books leave a taste in my mouth when they are unpleasant -- and usually this is a good aftertaste. This one, however, didn't agree with my taste buds as well. It just came across a little too senseless and exploitative, not concentrating as much on story and shock factor.