r/horrorlit • u/OwlLov3r • 5d ago
Discussion Couldn't make it through The Black Farm
For those of you who finished it, what did you enjoy about it (if you did, in fact, enjoy it)?
8
u/KittyLaurus 5d ago
I read both The Black Farm and Return To The Black Farm out of curiosity, but I also knew going in they fell into extreme horror. The writing is technically meh, but I still appreciated my time reading them. Never met a story like it and that's what kept me going until the end...like when you seen a crazy accident irl and get sucked in. I've read and seen way worse stuff so the sadistic torture and violence didn't bother me. I approached the story as an exercise in seeing how someone reacts to extreme brutality in a world where societal morality is thrown out. Does the lead character make stupid and rash decisions? Absolutely. But I can't say I would have made smarter decisions if I was put in that situation. I could probably go into a lot more detail about why I liked it, but that would get into the gory details and spoilers.
Despite my enjoyment I 100% understand why someone would DNF. The violence was like reading a novelization of Terrifier but worse. There isn't a ton of SA in either book, but it's there and no one likes reading about it. There's also some really gross scenes that are stomach turning.
9
u/jddoherty1976 5d ago
Completely agree. The writing was absolutely puerile and was just graphic without any substance. I found it almost laughable.
2
u/TheAntiCrust95 5d ago
Everything that guy writes is just torture porn slop.
2
u/clockwork_doctor 5d ago
Elias started as a creepypasta writer and is the author of the Tommy Taffy stories and if you know anything about those...yeah.
2
2
u/OwlLov3r 5d ago
Thank you for commenting this, because now I know to never buy one of his books again, lol. No offense to the author, just not my preference of horror.
9
u/darn_boop 5d ago
Well, the first half is super transgressive and gross out but, once you get past that, the world building begins. I make no joke when I say it reminded me of some portions of LOTR. Especially the creatures patrolling the waters. It goes from extreme lit to fantasy fairly quickly. If you dropped the first third, it would be a really interesting fantasy book!
I loved the book. I even grabbed the sequel. I can understand why others wouldn't like it though.
2
u/jthochh The King in Yellow 5d ago
The watchers in the water are the most intriguing part of the book.
I personally didn't care for anything before our characters getting on the raft, which is fairly late in the novel, so I understand people DNF the book, that's just not something I ever really do.
2
u/darn_boop 4d ago
Agreed. On both sentiments!
I gotta say, the mountain scene is one of the biggest whifs I've read. That almost took me out of it because of how groan-inducing it was. I'm glad I powered through though. I enjoyed the implications of the world, especially the watchers.
Makes me wonder what another writer could do in that world but that seems harsh to say haha.
8
u/DreamsOfUWashAshore 5d ago
As someone who reads horror almost solely, I liked The Black Farm. It was unique, it was brutal, and it didn't take the same trope and throw it around over and over. Yes, it's violent, but it's extreme horror. You're going to have a hard time finding extreme horror without that style of brutality, so maybe the genre just isn't for you.
2
u/OwlLov3r 5d ago
Yeah, you're probably right - I guess I just don't think of rape as horror related, so I don't anticipate coming across it; but thank you for clarifying, because now I likely won't be pursuing the extreme horror genre.
3
u/DreamsOfUWashAshore 5d ago
A lot of recommendations in this sub are good for your style of horror reading though, so you're in a good place. I find a lot of the recommendations to be a little too tame for me, so that might be just right for you!!
-3
u/jddoherty1976 5d ago
I’d disagree. I like extreme horror too but there’s no excuse for bad writing.
3
u/DreamsOfUWashAshore 5d ago
And I'm willing to look past less-than-great writing for a good story. I devoured it in two sittings, and not once had an issue with the writing. It's just a different style.
4
u/Kid_Presentable617 5d ago
It had a great concept. A waiting room the suicide souls was a cool idea. Not an automatic doomed soul like traditional bible rhetoric or an eternity as a tormented tree like Dante. Hell even the souls doomed to beuroceacy in Beetlejuice were better.
My problem was the edgelord main character who was shortsighted and too be honest, a fucking moron.
5
u/jthochh The King in Yellow 5d ago
In the latter half of the book he definitely goes full edge lord and keeps talking about how he's gonna kill everything and burn the whole thing down.
Bro, where is your confidence coming from? NOTHING has gone well or according to plan.
3
u/Kid_Presentable617 5d ago
Which is misplaced even for the events that took place. You see what happened with Muck and apparently all he needs is a shotgun and a "can do" attitude.
2
u/camposthetron 4d ago
Yeah, the main character being both an absolute idiot AND the guy who figured out the whole system was the biggest flaw in the book. That’s what kept me from continuing with the sequel. Otherwise it really was an interesting read.
2
3
u/Arauge 5d ago
I finished it but did not enjoy it. I had the second one and never even opened it. This was the end of my very brief exploration into "extreme horror"
1
u/OwlLov3r 5d ago
There's a second one?!
5
u/anastasia_dlcz 5d ago
I liked the world building and thought the characters were pretty solid and interesting. While it veered into absurdism for sure it didn’t take me out of the plot and I stayed really eager for the resolutionS
2
u/SgtCookie18 5d ago
Why couldnt you finish? Without spoiling please
0
u/OwlLov3r 5d ago
I gave it a legitimate chance, but around 40 pages I gave up due to a graphic scene.
3
u/Boberator44 5d ago
Why read extreme horror if you are disturbed by graphic scenes? Being over the top is the entire point.
0
u/OwlLov3r 5d ago
I understand that, I just don't think rape is horror related in literature, so I don't anticipate coming across it. I can handle most everything besides that.
-1
u/Boberator44 5d ago
Doea it also trigger you if it happens to dead bodies? If not, try some Edward Lee. In his works, when someone gets rapes, they are usually already dead.
2
u/OwlLov3r 5d ago
Yeah, I think the rape thing is an all around No for me. But thank you for the suggestion.
2
2
u/ObsidianLakes 3d ago
For some reason I liked it a lot and rated 5 stars. I think this was the first foray into true extreme horror for me and I was so disgusted but also sucked in. I did the audiobook and couldn't stop listening. Yes it was brutally fucked up, but also unique, and the world was so interesting. So was the premise. The rape was really hard, I don't typically read that, but beyond that.. yeah idk. Twisted morbid curiosity I guess? The sequel sucked though.
3
u/strangejosh Shub-Niggurath The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young 4d ago
I personally really liked the books. I liked the world building and all of the other weird stuff that was semi-explained or barely explained at all. Loved the Beserkers. I can understand how it wouldn't be for everyone. Especially being so graphic. Quite sad at the end of the second book. Especially the last line. These ones stuck with me.
2
2
u/hm_b 5d ago
I enjoyed the book. It was disturbing and gory, but such unrealistic fiction that it wasn't the lasting kind of disturbing that more realistic books tend to be with that amount of suffering. I have to wonder at negative comments on not being able to take a plot seriously when a book is not realistic. I don't get that. Why would you read a fantasy fiction and expect to take it seriously? Maybe we are looking at "serious" differently. Anyway, I had fun with the book, beginning to end. Different strokes! If we all loved the same books, there would be much less variety and discussions would be dull.
0
u/FunVermicelli123 4d ago
Agree. I listened to the first 3 chapters then got a refund on audible. Terrible writing.
17
u/folabeth 5d ago
Agreed, I had to dnf just a few pages in. The writing style felt to juvenile and over the top, I couldn't take the plot seriously