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Brood
Two teenagers struggle with a horrific family legacy, and the woman who has adopted them fights for their lives--and her own.
Adam and Alice are reaching the age when some of the children created by the fertility treatment that spawned them begin to turn feral. Will they succomb to the same physiological horror that destroyed their parents? Every change brings on terror--the voice cracking as it changes, the swelling of the breasts, the coarsening of down into actual hair. Their aunt, Cynthia, oversees renovations to the Twisden family's Manhattan residence--torn apart by the children's parents at their most savage--and struggles to give her niece and nephew the unconditional love they never had. Meanwhile, in the world outside, the forces of good and evil collide as a troop of feral offspring threatens to invade the refuge Cynthia is so determined to construct behind the Twisdens' walls.
Adam and Alice are reaching the age when some of the children created by the fertility treatment that spawned them begin to turn feral. Will they succomb to the same physiological horror that destroyed their parents? Every change brings on terror--the voice cracking as it changes, the swelling of the breasts, the coarsening of down into actual hair. Their aunt, Cynthia, oversees renovations to the Twisden family's Manhattan residence--torn apart by the children's parents at their most savage--and struggles to give her niece and nephew the unconditional love they never had. Meanwhile, in the world outside, the forces of good and evil collide as a troop of feral offspring threatens to invade the refuge Cynthia is so determined to construct behind the Twisdens' walls.
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First published October 7, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 108 reviews
November 10, 2014
This one didn't hold my interest like Breed did.
I was definitely interested in the relationship between Cynthia and the twins, but I didn't get enough of them. The multiple POVs were mildly interesting, but no where near as captivating as in the first book. I found myself skimming a lot of sections.
The ending was interesting and not what I was expecting to happen, so I enjoyed that little twist. All in all, a bit of a disappointment.
**Huge thanks to Mulholland Books and NetGalley for providing the arc in exchange for an honest review**
I was definitely interested in the relationship between Cynthia and the twins, but I didn't get enough of them. The multiple POVs were mildly interesting, but no where near as captivating as in the first book. I found myself skimming a lot of sections.
The ending was interesting and not what I was expecting to happen, so I enjoyed that little twist. All in all, a bit of a disappointment.
**Huge thanks to Mulholland Books and NetGalley for providing the arc in exchange for an honest review**
October 29, 2014
Warning: Spoiler alert for both BREED and BROOD.
*******
After devouring (pardon the pun) BREED, the debut novel by Chase Novak (a pseudonym), I couldn't wait to hear what was next, if anything, in the saga of the Twisdens, an abandoned set of twins whose parents perished after undergoing experimental fertility treatments and their decidedly unsettling side effects. I started reading BROOD the week it came out and finished it just last night. And unfortunately, meh -- the sequel was just not as good. Here are my three points for this reasoning:
1. THE STORY WAS TOO FRAGMENTED. In Breed, the author manages to weave vignettes from various characters through the story effortlessly; in Brood, the same technique seems clunky. Additionally, there are several loose ends, especially regarding Dennis, Bree, and her hapless would-be rescuers; we never find out what happens to Rodolfo and his crew. While this might be because the author plans to write a third novel, it still seems clumsy, as if Novak tired of the plot before we did and slapped an ending on to call it a day. Which brings me to my next point...
2. THE ENDING IS COMPLETELY IMPROBABLE. One minute the twins are on the subway, calling their new "mom" (aunt Cynthia, whom I'll get to in a minute); the next, they are rescuing Cynthia from a rape attempt by the crazed Dennis (and their rescue involves Dennis' grisly end by cannibalism, which is when Cynthia finally believes the twins are truly feral). I understand the theory of suspension of disbelief, but the "just so happens"-ness of it all bugs me -- it frankly reminds me of a Macgyver episode. And lastly...
3. CYNTHIA IS AN ANNOYING, IMPOTENT WHINER. Novak seems obsessed with showing us the contrast between human emotions and those of animals (in the form of feral children and adults), returning again and again to scenes of Cynthia in the Manhattan house waiting... and waiting... and waiting for the children to return home. The closest metaphor I can come up with is that of a wailing Greek chorus, which is perhaps what Novak was trying to do with this character. Unfortunately, the effect is both boring and eventually disengaging to the point that I didn't even sympathize with Cynthia when she's about to be ravished by the slobbering Dennis.
Overall, I was disappointed by BROOD but would probably still pick up a third installment, if there is one. After all, I would like to find out what happens to Rodolfo & Co...
*******
After devouring (pardon the pun) BREED, the debut novel by Chase Novak (a pseudonym), I couldn't wait to hear what was next, if anything, in the saga of the Twisdens, an abandoned set of twins whose parents perished after undergoing experimental fertility treatments and their decidedly unsettling side effects. I started reading BROOD the week it came out and finished it just last night. And unfortunately, meh -- the sequel was just not as good. Here are my three points for this reasoning:
1. THE STORY WAS TOO FRAGMENTED. In Breed, the author manages to weave vignettes from various characters through the story effortlessly; in Brood, the same technique seems clunky. Additionally, there are several loose ends, especially regarding Dennis, Bree, and her hapless would-be rescuers; we never find out what happens to Rodolfo and his crew. While this might be because the author plans to write a third novel, it still seems clumsy, as if Novak tired of the plot before we did and slapped an ending on to call it a day. Which brings me to my next point...
2. THE ENDING IS COMPLETELY IMPROBABLE. One minute the twins are on the subway, calling their new "mom" (aunt Cynthia, whom I'll get to in a minute); the next, they are rescuing Cynthia from a rape attempt by the crazed Dennis (and their rescue involves Dennis' grisly end by cannibalism, which is when Cynthia finally believes the twins are truly feral). I understand the theory of suspension of disbelief, but the "just so happens"-ness of it all bugs me -- it frankly reminds me of a Macgyver episode. And lastly...
3. CYNTHIA IS AN ANNOYING, IMPOTENT WHINER. Novak seems obsessed with showing us the contrast between human emotions and those of animals (in the form of feral children and adults), returning again and again to scenes of Cynthia in the Manhattan house waiting... and waiting... and waiting for the children to return home. The closest metaphor I can come up with is that of a wailing Greek chorus, which is perhaps what Novak was trying to do with this character. Unfortunately, the effect is both boring and eventually disengaging to the point that I didn't even sympathize with Cynthia when she's about to be ravished by the slobbering Dennis.
Overall, I was disappointed by BROOD but would probably still pick up a third installment, if there is one. After all, I would like to find out what happens to Rodolfo & Co...
February 4, 2016
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Breed a while back, but Brood somehow managed to improve on that. Picking up a couple of years after Breed leaves off, Adam And Alice are now twelve and their aunt Cynthia finally gets them out of the legal limbo of foster care and back into their own home, the grand Manhattan mansion that is by now as much of a character as the rest of them. Life should be easier now, but when does it ever play out like that. Novak's narrative is so riveting and dynamic, it practically leaps off the page, just like some of its wilder more feral bipedal/quadrupedal flexible characters. The Manhattan he creates, much like the infamous house on east 69th street, is a ritzy glitzy show hiding much too much ugliness, vice and baseness. It's a world driven and defined by money, all the things it can buy and the few genuinely important ones it can't and/or shouldn't. The children are the only innocent ones, though far from pure, marred and scarred by the world they were so perversely brought into. These are the literary inheritors of the Neverland's Lost Boys, adjusted for the time and place, wilder, more feral and no longer in need of fairy dust. Whether the next step or a side step of evolution, they are different, they didn't ask for it, didn't ask to be born and now they have to do whatever it takes to survive in the world that's long treated differences with glacial warmth and predatorial compassion. The book would work well as a social satire alone the wry polemic of money politics, had it not be so disturbing and scary. For a horror novel it possesses superb literary quality. For a family drama it speaks volumes on the nature of nurture and nurture of nature. And that's the make of a really good book, isn't it...it's ability to thrill and wow and engage on so many levels. Seems like Novak might have more to say on the subject, might revisit this world, see what the children get up to. You should certainly visit this world he's created, it's an awesome read. Highly recommended.
September 10, 2021
Alice and Adam Twisden are twelve-year-old twins, who also happen to be orphans. Their parents were very wealthy, and they lived on the Upper East Side in NYC. That was all before their parents died. For the past few years, they’ve been apart and living in foster homes. Now their mother’s sister, Cynthia, has had the house repaired and is determined to be the mother these children need. Even though she’s an antiques expert and used to love the house, she now feels like it may be too much, especially after she discoveres it’s got a shit-load of rats in the cellar and nesting in the walls. One of Cynthia’s biggest challenges is trying to get the children to eat. They both seem to be anorexic and she doesn’t know why. The reason is that they don’t want to mature. They know they and their friends are “different.” Many well-to-do unfertile parents, like Alice and Adam's parents, had undergone experimental fertility treatments, and as the children grow older, they become more animalistic and the parents go kind of crazy. Like, wanting to eat their children crazy. Another problem Cynthia faces is that the children keep disappearing and she doesn’t know where they are. They’re with many of the other kids that are just like them, hanging out in the city’s parks, trying to lay low. These children are all being hunted for their blood, which makes the old young again and lusty as teenagers. Lots of money to be made there. The ending took me by surprise. I really didn’t see it coming, but I thought it was a good ending. I found this book on one of my online libraries and I’m glad I did, because I really liked it. It was sufficiently creepy. The good guy, Cynthia, was exceptional good, and one of the bad guys, Dennis Keswick, was bad to the core. As for the animal children, they were neither good nor bad. They just were and they couldn't help but to be themselves. I actually liked Rodolfo and Adam a lot. Alice, not so much (she was bratty).
March 18, 2015
Brood by Chase Novak was a Goodreads give away. Adam and Alice lived in a number of foster homes after the horrific death of their parents. Aunt Cynthia comes along to rescue the children and to make a better life for them. Cynthia tries to win the trust of the children but that will not be easy. Adam and Alice escape from their over protected aunt to join the kids. This is where the story gets a little better but not much. A pack of wild kids live together in Central Park. These kids have usually powers, just like Adam and Alice. Dennis wants to bring Adam and Alice back to Borman and Davis researchers. He goes as far as to stake out their house and wait for them. This book has a whinny character and a couple of overbearing kids. I was disappointed in this book. The story never took off and I had a hard finishing the book.
May 3, 2022
While I enjoyed the writing style, the book had a lot of plot holes and unanswered questions. Side stories that build up and just disappeared without a trace. There was also an almost anticlimactic ending. The "villains" of the book were made to be so strong and bad, and they were taken down in about 2 pages.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 27, 2014
3.5 - 4 stars
http://lynnsbooks.wordpress.com/2014/...
Brood by Chase Novak was one of my holiday reads – not exactly a beach read (but then I’m not really a beach person!). The story starts with Aunt Cynthia winning her custody case to take Adam and Alice, her niece and nephew back to their old home. Adam and Alice have been kept in a string of foster homes since the violent deaths of their parents. Apparently Brood is the follow up to Breed. I haven’t read Breed but I don’t think that was detrimental to this read as I think it stands very well on it’s own. There is some backstory but not enough to be annoying, just enough to clue you in to a story that takes off at a rather rapid pace.
The back history to this is that Cynthia’s sister and husband were struggling to conceive children and in a last ditch, not to mention rather expensive, attempt they undertook radical and painful treatment that resulted in the twins birth. Unfortunately the side effects were severe and most of the parents who took the treatment were little able to cope with the changes which seemed to turn them almost into animals themselves. It was from this that Alice and Adam escaped and as the story picks up we realise that they are in a desperate struggle themselves. They already know that the onset of puberty could start to bring about drastic changes to their own nature and they’re desperately trying to fight time.
I did enjoy this book and found it quite a compelling read. It’s also quite a thought provoking novel in more than one way looking at family and how miscommunication or lack of communication can be fundamental to huge gaps in understanding.
Cynthia, Adam and Alice make an attempt at trying to become a family but whilst Cynthia may think she loves the twins she really has very little notion of their true character. They also, whilst wanting to be ‘regular’ kids and wanting to contain their inner nature are actually most comfortable when running with their own kind. A feral pack of children who were the result of similar treatment and have now converged to live together in Central Park. Hidden from most people they are free to roam there and let their true natures roam free.
On top of this there is the added element whereby somebody seems to be seeking out these children and abducting them for who knows what reason. This person currently has his sights set on Alice and Adam and his stalking their home.
The home itself adds another element to the story. The house bore witness to all sorts of atrocities before the children escaped and was left in a ravaged state overrun by vermin and partially destroyed. Cynthia, always a little envious of her sister’s wealth coveted this house and now, with the custody of the children, she finally moves in. Frankly, I confess, I wouldn’t want to live there! Not just because of it’s horrific past but it’s so damn big – you wouldn’t know if somebody was living in one of the other rooms. You’d certainly never hear them. And, on top of that the house still seems to play host to a number of critters, living in the walls and cellar. Bats and Rats!
This is a fairly short and quick read so I’m not going to elaborate further.
As I said, I enjoyed this but I did have criticisms. For example, as someone wanting to start afresh would I personally take these children back to their former home. No. I just don’t think I would. (Although this could have been difficult to get round in terms of the custody agreement). On top of that I think there could have been a little more psychological build up. I wanted more chills really and think there was just a touch of creepiness missing and a missed opportunity in a way.
Having said that the author definitely achieves horror aplenty from the attacks in the park to the horrible guy who is stalking the children. There’s also the whole element that you want to believe that the children will behave like children, that they’re just misunderstood somehow!
A book of nature vs nurture with nuances of ‘be careful what you wish for’! On top of this there is an underlying theme of parenting and the struggles that occur as their children, once so angelic, turn into beastly teenagers. Okay, it’s a very exaggerated look but nonetheless! Whilst I might not have absolutely loved this I think it does perfectly what it sets out to. It’s a little chilling, particularly at the start of the novel, it’s scary, in terms of being scared for your children and also being scared of them. It has a certain level of tension and also scenes of horror. Really very readable and well written although if you’re a little squeamish you might not like certain elements of the story.
I received a copy of this through the publishers through Netgalley, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
I’m submitting this for one of my RIP reads over at Stainless Steel Droppings.
http://lynnsbooks.wordpress.com/2014/...
Brood by Chase Novak was one of my holiday reads – not exactly a beach read (but then I’m not really a beach person!). The story starts with Aunt Cynthia winning her custody case to take Adam and Alice, her niece and nephew back to their old home. Adam and Alice have been kept in a string of foster homes since the violent deaths of their parents. Apparently Brood is the follow up to Breed. I haven’t read Breed but I don’t think that was detrimental to this read as I think it stands very well on it’s own. There is some backstory but not enough to be annoying, just enough to clue you in to a story that takes off at a rather rapid pace.
The back history to this is that Cynthia’s sister and husband were struggling to conceive children and in a last ditch, not to mention rather expensive, attempt they undertook radical and painful treatment that resulted in the twins birth. Unfortunately the side effects were severe and most of the parents who took the treatment were little able to cope with the changes which seemed to turn them almost into animals themselves. It was from this that Alice and Adam escaped and as the story picks up we realise that they are in a desperate struggle themselves. They already know that the onset of puberty could start to bring about drastic changes to their own nature and they’re desperately trying to fight time.
I did enjoy this book and found it quite a compelling read. It’s also quite a thought provoking novel in more than one way looking at family and how miscommunication or lack of communication can be fundamental to huge gaps in understanding.
Cynthia, Adam and Alice make an attempt at trying to become a family but whilst Cynthia may think she loves the twins she really has very little notion of their true character. They also, whilst wanting to be ‘regular’ kids and wanting to contain their inner nature are actually most comfortable when running with their own kind. A feral pack of children who were the result of similar treatment and have now converged to live together in Central Park. Hidden from most people they are free to roam there and let their true natures roam free.
On top of this there is the added element whereby somebody seems to be seeking out these children and abducting them for who knows what reason. This person currently has his sights set on Alice and Adam and his stalking their home.
The home itself adds another element to the story. The house bore witness to all sorts of atrocities before the children escaped and was left in a ravaged state overrun by vermin and partially destroyed. Cynthia, always a little envious of her sister’s wealth coveted this house and now, with the custody of the children, she finally moves in. Frankly, I confess, I wouldn’t want to live there! Not just because of it’s horrific past but it’s so damn big – you wouldn’t know if somebody was living in one of the other rooms. You’d certainly never hear them. And, on top of that the house still seems to play host to a number of critters, living in the walls and cellar. Bats and Rats!
This is a fairly short and quick read so I’m not going to elaborate further.
As I said, I enjoyed this but I did have criticisms. For example, as someone wanting to start afresh would I personally take these children back to their former home. No. I just don’t think I would. (Although this could have been difficult to get round in terms of the custody agreement). On top of that I think there could have been a little more psychological build up. I wanted more chills really and think there was just a touch of creepiness missing and a missed opportunity in a way.
Having said that the author definitely achieves horror aplenty from the attacks in the park to the horrible guy who is stalking the children. There’s also the whole element that you want to believe that the children will behave like children, that they’re just misunderstood somehow!
A book of nature vs nurture with nuances of ‘be careful what you wish for’! On top of this there is an underlying theme of parenting and the struggles that occur as their children, once so angelic, turn into beastly teenagers. Okay, it’s a very exaggerated look but nonetheless! Whilst I might not have absolutely loved this I think it does perfectly what it sets out to. It’s a little chilling, particularly at the start of the novel, it’s scary, in terms of being scared for your children and also being scared of them. It has a certain level of tension and also scenes of horror. Really very readable and well written although if you’re a little squeamish you might not like certain elements of the story.
I received a copy of this through the publishers through Netgalley, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
I’m submitting this for one of my RIP reads over at Stainless Steel Droppings.
September 28, 2014
Liked this one a whole lot more than the first novel, Breed. It's been a couple of years since Alice and Adam, twins whose parents consulted a rather secretive Slovenian fertility specialist whose treatments managed to give them children after every other avenue failed, lost said parents. The treatment had led them to increasingly savage and feral behavior, keeping dogs and cats caged in the basement for food, even attacking a Cuban immigrant. Alice and Adam are just part of a new generation of kids whose parents utilized similar means to birth their children and these kids range from the seemingly normal to the downright wild and untamed, many of them living homeless or in a group in an apartment that one of the stronger of them, Rodolfo, has managed to arrange. Once the kids hit puberty, the pull toward the savage, the animalistic in their natures, is stronger than ever and so Alice and Adam have been starving themselves, trying to stave off the eventual changes. Now their aunt Cynthia has come forth to adopt them and bring them back to the mansion that was the scene of so much horror previously. Will they manage to hold onto their better natures or give in to their instincts? The focus on the kids here really helps. Some of them are truly monstrous, yes, but none of them asked for this and they're doing the best they can. Rodolfo has even latched onto the questionable practice of selling the blood of some of the more "normal" kids, calling it "Zoom," and developing quite the side business among older husbands trying to keep their younger, trophy wives happy. And then there's the pharmaceutical company that is involved in capturing some of the feral kids and experimenting on them in the hopes of discovering their secrets. All in all, this is a real page-turner and much more fully-developed than Breed was, although I'm not sure I totally buy the action the kids' aunt finally takes at book's end. Perhaps Novak is setting the scene for another book? I know I'd be interested in reading more.
October 20, 2021
This book was truly terrible and not in the lease bit scary. There is nothing at the beginning of the book to let you know it is a sequel to Breed. It is made to look like it can be a stand alone read. So because of this no, I have not read Breed - so maybe some of my issues here are due to no backstory?
First of all nothing truly happens in the story. She gets the twins, they run away, they see the other wild children, then they come home. Then it just ends. It's has if the author wanted to continue his story and then realized he had no more story to tell and so he just did whatever necessary to finish it. Which, ironically is what I did to get through this mess. I found myself just skimming towards the end because it was so boring. Throughout the whole book Cynthia is going on and on about being their mother and then just sets them free in the wilderness? That makes no sense. It would've been a little better if she had killed hem the way she was exterminating the mice in her house. Then MAYBE you could've made some sort of symbolic argument for this disaster. I also HATED the heavy accents that the author gave the wild characters. They were terrible and made reading the dialogue tedious. I get he was trying to show they were "wild", but didn't most of them grow up in a normal society, go to schools, live with normal parents? It's hard to believe they would be so uneducated in their teens having been on their own only a short amount of time. You never get any actual conclusions to anything. You don't find out what exactly the kids are, what the lab is doing, what becomes of any of the characters who live. The only reason I gave this 2 stars instead of 1 is because the first 20 or so pages were interesting and weird enough to keep you intrigued. However, all of the questions the first few chapters pose are never answered. I am depressed this book wasn't better.
First of all nothing truly happens in the story. She gets the twins, they run away, they see the other wild children, then they come home. Then it just ends. It's has if the author wanted to continue his story and then realized he had no more story to tell and so he just did whatever necessary to finish it. Which, ironically is what I did to get through this mess. I found myself just skimming towards the end because it was so boring. Throughout the whole book Cynthia is going on and on about being their mother and then just sets them free in the wilderness? That makes no sense. It would've been a little better if she had killed hem the way she was exterminating the mice in her house. Then MAYBE you could've made some sort of symbolic argument for this disaster. I also HATED the heavy accents that the author gave the wild characters. They were terrible and made reading the dialogue tedious. I get he was trying to show they were "wild", but didn't most of them grow up in a normal society, go to schools, live with normal parents? It's hard to believe they would be so uneducated in their teens having been on their own only a short amount of time. You never get any actual conclusions to anything. You don't find out what exactly the kids are, what the lab is doing, what becomes of any of the characters who live. The only reason I gave this 2 stars instead of 1 is because the first 20 or so pages were interesting and weird enough to keep you intrigued. However, all of the questions the first few chapters pose are never answered. I am depressed this book wasn't better.
October 22, 2015
So this is book 2 in what I think is a trilogy although I can't find an English version of what is suppose to be book 3: Conception.
another really good book by Chase Novak!
I found book 1 was better! more suspense,
more ways for the reader to relate. This one seemed like an on going hunt.. Cynthia looking for the kids, Adam & Alice searching for the group of wild kids or running from cops, kidnappers etc.
I often think that sometimes due to the fact that I only listen to the audio book while I'm
in my car, sometimes having a day or 2 between listening may effect my rating and overall feel of the book! it gets chopped up between me reading something else while I'm at home and when I'm in the car listening.
Anyhow- I did enjoy this one! I did not like that they changed the guys voice from
book 1.. the voice from this book was sort of like nails on a chalk board for me.. I enjoyed the girls voice though.
there was quite a few "sex scenes". most made me cringe.
The wild kids group have found a way to support themselves by selling vials of their blood.. and the things people were doing while under the influence were crazy!
the ending was a disappointment for me.. yes I say it all the time but I was closure with an ending unless there is a sequel coming..
so I'm assuming with that ending there will/should be.
2 of the most unique books I have ever read! The subject matter was extremely creative!
loved it!
another really good book by Chase Novak!
I found book 1 was better! more suspense,
more ways for the reader to relate. This one seemed like an on going hunt.. Cynthia looking for the kids, Adam & Alice searching for the group of wild kids or running from cops, kidnappers etc.
I often think that sometimes due to the fact that I only listen to the audio book while I'm
in my car, sometimes having a day or 2 between listening may effect my rating and overall feel of the book! it gets chopped up between me reading something else while I'm at home and when I'm in the car listening.
Anyhow- I did enjoy this one! I did not like that they changed the guys voice from
book 1.. the voice from this book was sort of like nails on a chalk board for me.. I enjoyed the girls voice though.
there was quite a few "sex scenes". most made me cringe.
The wild kids group have found a way to support themselves by selling vials of their blood.. and the things people were doing while under the influence were crazy!
the ending was a disappointment for me.. yes I say it all the time but I was closure with an ending unless there is a sequel coming..
so I'm assuming with that ending there will/should be.
2 of the most unique books I have ever read! The subject matter was extremely creative!
loved it!
December 23, 2014
Awful. Horrible. No good. A disappointment. Should've been left alone. The attempt should never have been published.
This sequel to BREED was worse in every possible way. The technical skill I complained about in BREED was on the decline in BROOD. The plot found and lost itself over and over (way more losing than finding). The characters are flat and uninteresting.
I liken reading this book to my experience of watching the TV show THE WALKING DEAD. I kept reading because somebody else really loved it, and I thought I would get there eventually. I allowed the gore and blood and cannibalism to carry me forward because there was nothing else to keep me going, but eventually, that showed itself for what it was: meaningless fluff with no substance, no purpose, no reason for me to hang on.
I gave up before the end of this one. I've got better things to read. Like Stephen King's REVIVAL, for one. After getting through the first half in only two days, I'm itching to finish it up. I like branching out in my literature, but it's like branching out with anything else where you've already found what you like: Branching out is a good experience to make you well rounded, but when you've already found what you like, the branch-out experience that eclipses what you already know and love - that experience will be as rare as a solar eclipse.
This sequel to BREED was worse in every possible way. The technical skill I complained about in BREED was on the decline in BROOD. The plot found and lost itself over and over (way more losing than finding). The characters are flat and uninteresting.
I liken reading this book to my experience of watching the TV show THE WALKING DEAD. I kept reading because somebody else really loved it, and I thought I would get there eventually. I allowed the gore and blood and cannibalism to carry me forward because there was nothing else to keep me going, but eventually, that showed itself for what it was: meaningless fluff with no substance, no purpose, no reason for me to hang on.
I gave up before the end of this one. I've got better things to read. Like Stephen King's REVIVAL, for one. After getting through the first half in only two days, I'm itching to finish it up. I like branching out in my literature, but it's like branching out with anything else where you've already found what you like: Branching out is a good experience to make you well rounded, but when you've already found what you like, the branch-out experience that eclipses what you already know and love - that experience will be as rare as a solar eclipse.
June 2, 2017
I am really not sure how I feel about this book. I wavered between a 2 and a 3, so it's really more like 2 1/2 stars. I really didn't like it, but I do want to know what happens in the end. This book takes place a few years after the first one, Breed. It seems like everything that was good about Breed was missing from Brood.
It is not scary at all, unless you don't like rats. There is quite a bit of teenage sex, although it's only alluded to. Including the disturbing relationship between Alice and Rodolfo. I have a 12 year old and the thought of her being with an 17-18 year old, is gross. Their Aunt is extremely annoying. The entire book all she can do is complain and whine about how bad she wants to be a mother to the twins, but then she abandons them at the very end? The author never makes it clear exactly what the twins, or any of the kids are, other than spliced with various animals. It's a whole lot of Aunt Cynthia crying and whining, teenage kids running around the parks of New York, and rats.
The ending is the best part of the whole book. I mean the very last chapter. Supposedly there is a 3rd book called Conception, but it is not available in the US. I feel like if there is a 3rd book, a person could read Breed, skip this book, and go on to the next without missing anything.
It is not scary at all, unless you don't like rats. There is quite a bit of teenage sex, although it's only alluded to. Including the disturbing relationship between Alice and Rodolfo. I have a 12 year old and the thought of her being with an 17-18 year old, is gross. Their Aunt is extremely annoying. The entire book all she can do is complain and whine about how bad she wants to be a mother to the twins, but then she abandons them at the very end? The author never makes it clear exactly what the twins, or any of the kids are, other than spliced with various animals. It's a whole lot of Aunt Cynthia crying and whining, teenage kids running around the parks of New York, and rats.
The ending is the best part of the whole book. I mean the very last chapter. Supposedly there is a 3rd book called Conception, but it is not available in the US. I feel like if there is a 3rd book, a person could read Breed, skip this book, and go on to the next without missing anything.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 18, 2014
I found Breed very compelling, resulting in the memorable experience of trying to read a hardback and fold laundry at the same time; it was that hard to put down. My only issue with it was that it couldn't decide whether it wanted to be scary or camp, so it wasn't satisfying as either. Still, when I saw this was coming out, I was looking forward to giving Novak another try.
What on earth happened here? All the manic drive of Breed has petered out into a book that can be at best described as boring. It's fragmented, broken over several POVs, none of which really get fleshed out into meaningful characters or interesting story arcs. Also, while it's sometimes gross, it never even comes close to the eerie horror that pervaded Breed. Everything is bizarrely flat, like soda left open too long, and what was the deal with the ending? Was this book even written by the same guy? I seriously don't get it.
What on earth happened here? All the manic drive of Breed has petered out into a book that can be at best described as boring. It's fragmented, broken over several POVs, none of which really get fleshed out into meaningful characters or interesting story arcs. Also, while it's sometimes gross, it never even comes close to the eerie horror that pervaded Breed. Everything is bizarrely flat, like soda left open too long, and what was the deal with the ending? Was this book even written by the same guy? I seriously don't get it.
August 21, 2015
Admittedly, I haven't read the first book in the series. Still, this book was a mess. It was needlessly gory, included several snuff scenes that seemed to have no impact on the plot, and had zero character development. A waste of time.
October 9, 2021
I was a huge fan of the first book, it was dark and vicious. This just falls flat, especially in terms of character development. It lacks any real punch that you would expect as a follow-up up to the first book.
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January 4, 2015I Loved the 1st book, Breed. This one not at all. Did not excite me nor held my inrest.
October 11, 2017
Just like its predecessor "Breed" I am giving this a rating that does not quite reflect how much I liked the book but whereas that one stood more on a 3.5* level, "Brood" is closer to a 2.5*, so for me it couldn't quite keep up the momentum the first book in the series created.
Among the strikes against there is first of all the pacing. I thought it took way too long to really get going, I liked the last third a lot more than what came before. But even with that the story had elements to it that seemed to repeat itself(kids running away, coming back; Cynthia philosophizing about motherhood...) which drained the freshness from the plot. Going with that I thought some aspects were highly underdeveloped while Novak spend too much on others, the story as a whole had a bit of rough time gaining a good flow for me.
Additionally, I really couldn't stand the dialect the feral kids were talking in. I understand the meaning but absolutely hated reading it.
That being said I did enjoy myself here and there, I liked the idea of the feral subculture in New York City, the implications it makes in regard of evolution, and I enjoyed seeing how Cynthia's character continued, who was more of a side character in the first book. The opposite I want to say about the children, Alice and Adam. For me, whatever Novak implied about them remained too vague in some parts, I often wanted to know why they are doing one thing or another and couldn't find the answer. I did enjoy their new parent/ child bonding with Cynthia though but for me there was always something missing.
And the first book while not being especially scary was a lot creepier than this, it is shame that vibe got lost.
All in all, I liked it all my issues aside. I was curious after the first book to see where things go but after reading it I wouldn't say this was exactly a necessary or 100% satisfying sequel but it is not a complete waste of time either (depending on how much you enjoyed the first book).
Among the strikes against there is first of all the pacing. I thought it took way too long to really get going, I liked the last third a lot more than what came before. But even with that the story had elements to it that seemed to repeat itself(kids running away, coming back; Cynthia philosophizing about motherhood...) which drained the freshness from the plot. Going with that I thought some aspects were highly underdeveloped while Novak spend too much on others, the story as a whole had a bit of rough time gaining a good flow for me.
Additionally, I really couldn't stand the dialect the feral kids were talking in. I understand the meaning but absolutely hated reading it.
That being said I did enjoy myself here and there, I liked the idea of the feral subculture in New York City, the implications it makes in regard of evolution, and I enjoyed seeing how Cynthia's character continued, who was more of a side character in the first book. The opposite I want to say about the children, Alice and Adam. For me, whatever Novak implied about them remained too vague in some parts, I often wanted to know why they are doing one thing or another and couldn't find the answer. I did enjoy their new parent/ child bonding with Cynthia though but for me there was always something missing.
And the first book while not being especially scary was a lot creepier than this, it is shame that vibe got lost.
All in all, I liked it all my issues aside. I was curious after the first book to see where things go but after reading it I wouldn't say this was exactly a necessary or 100% satisfying sequel but it is not a complete waste of time either (depending on how much you enjoyed the first book).
May 17, 2019
SPOILERS! It looks like I am one of a very few readers who liked Brood more than Breed. Yes, there are more character POV's than the first book; maybe that's a deterrent for some. I enjoyed Polly and Dennis's viewpoints. Watching Dennis's slide into Zoom addiction was riveting, and not unrealistic, as Zoom could just as been replaced with an eye toward reality with any opioid. Take away the fantasy element and Polly becomes any jealous high-schooler. She's an overachiever madly in love with the homecoming king ... who just so happens to have a taste for human flesh.
And have YOU ever tried to get an exterminator in NYC? Nearly impossible, as Aunt Cynthia learns. The vermin will drive you to drink. Read the book tongue-in-cheek and you'll enjoy the time you spend between the pages.
And have YOU ever tried to get an exterminator in NYC? Nearly impossible, as Aunt Cynthia learns. The vermin will drive you to drink. Read the book tongue-in-cheek and you'll enjoy the time you spend between the pages.
April 30, 2019
I didn't realise that this was a sequel, so I'm not sure if I'm missing on some context, but it seemed fairly straight forward. Some couples go through extreme fertility treatments, and the children born from it aren't normal.
The book is fine, I wouldn't class it as horror, which is what I was expecting, as it isn't scary at all and is very tame overall. The ending was a bit of a letdown too, as the major subplot of the book (which could arguably be the main plot as it takes up so much time) doesn't go anywhere, and the characters who build up rivalries and threads that I expected to all come together just resolved themselves quietly.
I enjoyed reading it up until the last few chapters, where everything fell apart.
The book is fine, I wouldn't class it as horror, which is what I was expecting, as it isn't scary at all and is very tame overall. The ending was a bit of a letdown too, as the major subplot of the book (which could arguably be the main plot as it takes up so much time) doesn't go anywhere, and the characters who build up rivalries and threads that I expected to all come together just resolved themselves quietly.
I enjoyed reading it up until the last few chapters, where everything fell apart.
August 10, 2019
Stephen King liked this book. Does that tell you something? It is a frightening tale of a fertility treatment that not only leads to conception but also to genetic changes in both the parents and the child, rendering them something other than human. A woman adopts the twins of her sister and brother in law after their deaths and attempts to give these children the love, support and safety of a normal life, not fully realizing how far from normal this journey will be. Suspenseful, terrifying and fascinating, this is a book that takes over the mind of the reader for the very brief time it will take said reader to finish the book.
March 25, 2017
This was less enjoyable to me than the first one. Now that you know what's happening, this book focuses on the two brats you had to learn about in the first book. Now they join up with others of their kind and you get a chance to see what the procedure has done to them. You're better off watching the Rick and Morty episode "Rick Potion #9" when they "Cronenburg-ed" the entire world. That's about the same thing that happened to these kids and their parents.
October 17, 2025
Some books shouldn't have a sequel. I think a tidy little epilog at the end of Breed could have sufficed. This was just.. disappointing. there was no suspense, no real plot, and the ending was just stupid. Why go through all of this just to abandon the twins in the wilderness? why not just let them go with the feral kids? makes absolutely no sense at all.
and there's no closure for the feral kids at all? they just meet up at a random park?
Like I said, disappointing and unnecessary.
and there's no closure for the feral kids at all? they just meet up at a random park?
Like I said, disappointing and unnecessary.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 17, 2014
Adam and Alice where conceived using a fertility treatment, a treatment that turned their parents into cannibals. Now Alice and Adam are reaching the age where other children conceived by the same means, have started to turn feral. The twins are taking steps to stop puberty hitting so they won't go the same way as their parents, but will they be able to stave it off forever? Their Aunt Cynthia has taken them and has refurbished the home their parents turned in to a dungeon of sorts, she's determined to help them get over the psychological trauma she feels they have endured due to their parents actions, and all she wants to do is show them love. As symptoms start to present themselves on the twins, the twins frequently disappear from home, leaving their aunt worrying. They're involved with a group, a group of kids just like them, but kids from this group are going missing, being kidnapped. Cynthia is doing everything in her power to get the kids to behave, but she just can't control them. What's she going to do when the twins make that final leap over the edge.
I haven't read the first book unfortunately, but I found that this could probably stand alone, I got a grasp on what had previously happened quite early on, and understood the background and such. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the book. It was suitably dark and creepy, I mean the atmosphere and the vibes spilled off the page. I think the part I enjoyed most was the atmosphere and the world being created by the author. It was the right kind of dark and creepy, not too dark and creepy, but enough to give you that little feeling when you're reading a....welll....dark and creepy book ya know.
For me, I felt like the different POV's made the story very jerky and fragmented. I felt like it didn't really work, and there where a whole load of loose ends that where annoyingly left flapping there in the breeze. Dennis and Bree for instance. Like....what happened to the poor girl? I'm gathering he killed her but why? There was no need for him to. It was all ominous like "she won't leave the apartment" but I'm kinda curious as to why. She did what he wanted, sort of. Not to mention her friends who came to rescue her, what the hell happened to them!? Rodolfo and his gang scattered off in to the world with no more word or follow up to what happened to them. I'm not entirely opposed to being left in the dark if there's enough info that you can draw your own conclusions as to what's happened, but that's not the case with this. I know, I know, there's probably going to be a third book, which is why we leave the twins as we do, but still. It felt like things where being forgotten or just left in the dust of the story.
While I did enjoy the darkness and the creepiness and the horror of it all, I did find it hard to get in to the book, if I left it for example, I found it hard to get back in stride, and I did find myself a smidge bored once or twice, but I can't deny the premise is fairly unique, and certainly intriguing, I am curious about what happens to the twins next! I've had a look at the reviews for the first book, and it would appear that while the first book was very strong, the sequel hasn't quite lived up to what it should have been or was expected to be. None the less, curiosity will abound as to the fate of the twins.
I had this the other day with another book I was reading, Timebomb, I think it was, and it's present again here, the coincidences....there's just so many and it's all so unlikely I can't get behind or believe it at all. It kind of annoyed me because it felt quite a weak attempt to wrap everything up and get the story moving on to set up the third book.
I had problems with the characters. Maybe it's because I didn't read the first book I don't know, but I found Alice to be incredibly annoying, rude, disrespectful and incredibly ungrateful to her aunt. Yeah she saved her aunt but she was a right little bitch to her the majority of the time, running off and so on. I didn't particularly like her. I didn't really have much of an opinion on Adam, I thought he was okay seeing as he called Cynthia mum and everything, but just feeling bad wasn't enough really. Clearly he can't stand up to his sister, and went along with whatever she said or did. He felt bad but he didn't do anything about it which was quite infuriating. Then there was Cynthia. I actually felt really sorry for her the majority of the time because she was trying so hard and the kids didn't want to know, well Alice didn't, and they where constantly worrying her. But at the same time, she was almost annoyingly whiny at some points.
Cynthia was also quite boring a lot of the time, we frequently returned to her sitting there doing nothing waiting for the kids to come back, or writing in her diary or whatever. The author did do very well at showing the contrast between human behaviour and the more animal behaviour of the kids going feral.
For me Brood wasn't as good as I was expecting it to be, it was dark and creepy as promised, but I couldn't gel with the characters and the narrative, with the switching and everything was very jerky. Having said that I am curious about what's going to happen to the twins next! I'm hoping there's a third book anyways.
I haven't read the first book unfortunately, but I found that this could probably stand alone, I got a grasp on what had previously happened quite early on, and understood the background and such. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the book. It was suitably dark and creepy, I mean the atmosphere and the vibes spilled off the page. I think the part I enjoyed most was the atmosphere and the world being created by the author. It was the right kind of dark and creepy, not too dark and creepy, but enough to give you that little feeling when you're reading a....welll....dark and creepy book ya know.
For me, I felt like the different POV's made the story very jerky and fragmented. I felt like it didn't really work, and there where a whole load of loose ends that where annoyingly left flapping there in the breeze. Dennis and Bree for instance. Like....what happened to the poor girl? I'm gathering he killed her but why? There was no need for him to. It was all ominous like "she won't leave the apartment" but I'm kinda curious as to why. She did what he wanted, sort of. Not to mention her friends who came to rescue her, what the hell happened to them!? Rodolfo and his gang scattered off in to the world with no more word or follow up to what happened to them. I'm not entirely opposed to being left in the dark if there's enough info that you can draw your own conclusions as to what's happened, but that's not the case with this. I know, I know, there's probably going to be a third book, which is why we leave the twins as we do, but still. It felt like things where being forgotten or just left in the dust of the story.
While I did enjoy the darkness and the creepiness and the horror of it all, I did find it hard to get in to the book, if I left it for example, I found it hard to get back in stride, and I did find myself a smidge bored once or twice, but I can't deny the premise is fairly unique, and certainly intriguing, I am curious about what happens to the twins next! I've had a look at the reviews for the first book, and it would appear that while the first book was very strong, the sequel hasn't quite lived up to what it should have been or was expected to be. None the less, curiosity will abound as to the fate of the twins.
I had this the other day with another book I was reading, Timebomb, I think it was, and it's present again here, the coincidences....there's just so many and it's all so unlikely I can't get behind or believe it at all. It kind of annoyed me because it felt quite a weak attempt to wrap everything up and get the story moving on to set up the third book.
I had problems with the characters. Maybe it's because I didn't read the first book I don't know, but I found Alice to be incredibly annoying, rude, disrespectful and incredibly ungrateful to her aunt. Yeah she saved her aunt but she was a right little bitch to her the majority of the time, running off and so on. I didn't particularly like her. I didn't really have much of an opinion on Adam, I thought he was okay seeing as he called Cynthia mum and everything, but just feeling bad wasn't enough really. Clearly he can't stand up to his sister, and went along with whatever she said or did. He felt bad but he didn't do anything about it which was quite infuriating. Then there was Cynthia. I actually felt really sorry for her the majority of the time because she was trying so hard and the kids didn't want to know, well Alice didn't, and they where constantly worrying her. But at the same time, she was almost annoyingly whiny at some points.
Cynthia was also quite boring a lot of the time, we frequently returned to her sitting there doing nothing waiting for the kids to come back, or writing in her diary or whatever. The author did do very well at showing the contrast between human behaviour and the more animal behaviour of the kids going feral.
For me Brood wasn't as good as I was expecting it to be, it was dark and creepy as promised, but I couldn't gel with the characters and the narrative, with the switching and everything was very jerky. Having said that I am curious about what's going to happen to the twins next! I'm hoping there's a third book anyways.
November 26, 2020
This book was no where near as good as the first. Cynthia got on my nerves so much I’d skip her sections majority of the time. And then the wild children grammar was hard to deal with too. But I kept reading just to see what happened to Adam and Alice. And then the ending sucked. Hard to believe this book was wrote by the same author as the first book, Breed. Breed was so much better.
October 26, 2017
Fabulous reading, suspenseful, our deepest animal instincts's ability to remove all rational thought. Man always wants what he cannot handle, and the roosters always come home to roost. What would you do?
April 9, 2019
Didn't realise it was a sequel. Didn't really matter, did a good job of setting the scene. This book is very dark, but written as if it were YA, so another one of those books that isn't quite sure where it belongs. But, it was quite enjoyable, and I'd like to know what happens next.
February 24, 2023
This was a disappointing read, especially since Breed was, while not a great literary work, very entertaining and had an original premise. Brood is 306 pages of absolute nothingness. It could have been a 20 page epilogue to Breed, and would have served its purpose in much better fashion.
May 22, 2023
While I enjoyed it, the first one had more bite to it, more attitude. It was a fun book and love the subtle (and not so subtle) commentary on parenthood, abuse, selfishness, and love our relationships with our kids bring out.
June 9, 2024
The story and characterization weren't as strong in this one, and the connection between Cynthia and her niece and nephew felt artificial and forced, but the horror aspect still works very well so i'm going to round to 3 stars.
February 28, 2017
Dark and interesting
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