I’ve got a lot to say about this book. What do I say other than this book took me for a loop (very little pun intended).

The plot of this book makes me feel as though I’m in an insane asylum, nothing is what you would believe it to be. Our main character is dead, after being a life long Whirly World fan and theme park blogger, he has succumb to the park. At least that’s what we as readers are lead to believe at the beginning of the book. Our main character thinks it is any other day in the theme park, he sees an ice cream vendor that he’s known for years and has small talk. A child who runs away from him, who he thinks must be lost. However, it’s when he runs into someone who died a famous Whirly World Death, that he thinks he’s dreaming and later realizes he is dead.

He runs into many people who have died in the amusement park, that HE has written about dying in the park, yet he runs into one individual that he had never heard of passing on park property. This book takes on so many undertones and journeys.

I must say this book is wonderfully written, the storytelling, the imagery, the insanity. However, the only reason I give this book a 4/5 stars is the opening paragraph. It’s the most poorly written opening paragraph I’ve read in ages, and if I went off that alone, I would’ve never continued on with the rest of the book which would’ve been a shame because the book in whole was fantastic!

Thank you to Brandon Jones and NetGalley for providing me with an EGalley of this book in exchange for my thoughts on it!

This book had an interesting premise, but I found myself struggling to engage fully with it simply because I had an incredibly hard time sympathizing with the protagonist. Throughout the novel he demonstrated a level of self centeredness that I kept waiting for him to work though in a meaningful way but he simply didn't. There would be brief flashes of insight where he realized that he exclusively prioritized his own desires to the detriment of his loved ones, but even as he felt them he would be absolved of his selfishness through it actually being an asset that would help to save the inhabitants of the park.

I also simply didn't follow the ending- it's not that I didn't understand what was going on, it just didn't seem to be narratively cohesive.

The main antagonist made a deal to get out from under the mountain in exchange for becoming... a park mascot? whose job was seemingly to keep anyone that died in this space trapped for eternity. Despite this, he was defeated not by anyone escaping the park, but by releasing another, different guy from under the mountain? If it was about keeping that miner trapped, what was the impetus for trapping everyone else? I was also a bit lost on how everyone knew that the protagonist's ability was to see through the park's glamour. If he was so enlightened, why was there so much hesitation in aiding him, or at the very least validating his concern? He was consistently met with dismissal from Reagan who was insistent that he couldn't have figured everything out in a day, while knowing full well that he had the ability to do so.

I think the story itself has a lot of potential, but needed some additional work to really make the plot more consistent and fleshed out.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

An overall good book. A purgatory theme park keeps the souls that died in the real park stuck in an alternate, spirit world version of the park. This mismatched bunch of characters try to get along well enough to figure out why they are there.

The explanation of the events unfolding is somewhat confusing and unclear at times, but this helps you feel what the characters are experiencing throughout the plot. My biggest complaint is that the ending was quite sudden and felt like more could have been squeezed from it. This was, however, a good, quick read with moments of sadness and happiness that balance each other well.

Thanks Netgalley for the arc!
I wanted to love this book but I found it to be really corny and cliche to the point where I predicted everything that happened. I will say the best part about this book was the writing, the author certainly is skilled.

The cover really gives "horror at an amusement park" which I was really excited about. I was surprised as I was reading to find that this book is more fantasy than anything. That being said, for what is was, it was overall good at a 3=star read for me. I loved the first 30% of the book with us learning in real time as the main character that he was actually stuck in "heaven" in Whirly World. As the story progressed, I was excited for more drama around Jason's death, escaping Whirly World, discovering park secrets, etc. Instead it was just a really immersive look at an amusement park in insane detail. About 60% through the author was losing me a bit. I would recommend this book to anyone who's posthumous dream is to haunt Disneyland for all of eternity.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I have a lifelong love for Amusement Parks so of course I was immediately interested in Whirly World by Brandon Jones.

Jason Green has died and is in his favorite place, Whirly World (which I am also happy to say had some nods to disney park elements to it (as all good theme parks should) along with nods to a few others, but the park isn’t quite how he remembers it.

I just quickly ate this book up due to my love of theme parks as well as a unique cast of characters.

Will you love the book as much as I did if you don’t love places like Knoebels, Hershey Park and Dorney Park? There’s only one way to know.

(If I was going to do a soundtrack for this book I would definitely put a lot of Bowie on it. As to what songs I will keep that to myself so I don’t spoil anything.)


Pub Date Oct 13 2023
Emet Studios

#Fantasy #Amusementpark #ghost
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