(4.25 Stars)

This was very enjoyable. Told in the same “found journal” style as World War Z, this is for anyone who likes speculative fiction mixed with documentaries. The repetition of thoughts reminded me of Palahniuk, and the flow is close to Weir.

The story is set in an off-the-grid community, with a backdrop of a major volcanic event… in the middle of an area where Sasquatch lived hidden from discovery. Until that volcano trapped them all together and broke the normal food sources. ( )

Well that was disappointing. I was really excited about the prospect of a Bigfoot horror/survival story, but "Devolution" didn't deliver. Half of this book is Brooks preaching about people's lack of survival skills, reliance on electronics, lack of natural disaster preparedness, and a whole host of other topics, and it's funny because I actually agree with him on many on these points, but the incessant harping about all these things got SO TEDIOUS. I probably sound like one of the people Brooks was narrating against, but it got to the moment where all I was thinking was, "Can we PLEASE just stop being serious and get back to the story?! " Yeah, he made some great points, but in doing so he sacrificed a lot of plot development.

The other half of the story is predictable and substitutes blood and gore in place of real terror. Sure, I had a chill here and there, but it was the same chill you get from watching a C-list horror movie knowing from the increasingly spooky music that some dude in a mask is about to jump out of a closet. Also, there was nothing new offered to the Bigfoot legend, or even anything that was new, period. It was, again, like a subpar movie, although now it's one of those survival ones where a wizened old scientist quips, "Humans took over Mother Nature...now Mother Nature is taking back what belongs to her!" I could have only read the first and last chapters of this book and then told you with 90% accuracy what happens, who dies, and what the climax of the book looks like. I went into this book prepared to enjoy every second of the Bigfoot-ness, but even as I was trying to force myself to like it I just couldn't: as the story went on it just devolved (lol) into a hot mess of predictable tropes and plot points, unlikeable characters, and dry dialogue.

There are other numerous little things I don't think were well done (the main character, Katie, is annoying as HELL; the Bigfoot for some reason speak a vaguely defined "American folk language" that SOMEHOW another character speaks, too; a bunch of really unnecessary footnotes) but I'm just leaving it here.

Can someone PLEASE write some good cryptid novels?! Cause this ain't it.

TL;DR "Devolution" is basically just the "Jurassic Park" movie but with Bigfoot. Spielberg=1, Brooks=0. ( )

Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks is set in the deep Pacific Northwest forests near Mount Rainier in Washington State. The story is set in a small, isolated community developed specifically for technologically-dependent people. They are suddenly cut off from the rest of the world by a volcanic eruption. Then in addition to lacking outdoor survival skills and resources, they find themselves being attacked by a group of Bigfoot. While usually any writing about the legendary Sasquatch emphasizes that they are shy, solitary creatures, in this book they are like a tribe of chimpanzee, following a female leader and working together as a cohesive unit.

The story is dark and violent so words like “fun” and “enjoy” seem rather inappropriate but this stylish, dark, and captivating tale certainly pleased me. This isn’t a slow build up to excitement, the imaginative story quickly became disturbing and frightening. I live in the Pacific Northwest and do not for a moment believe in the Sasquatch but as a scary monster story, Devolution is very well done.

The author doesn’t bother with questions like “how did they get here?” or “where did they originate?” he simply jumps into this story of super-predators driven by hunger, stalking and hunting a group of lessor beings. As horror stories go, this one is a good one. ( )

I really like Max Brooks (I LOVED World War Z) and I was excited to read this because I am fascinated by Bigfoot stories so the concept of this book was perfect for me and I was excited to read it. I enjoyed the build up to the action...trying to figure out exactly what was happening and the idea of spending a winter cut off from society with relative strangers.

Where it lost me a little was in the actual confrontation with the Bigfoot troop. It would make a good action movie, I suppose, but I have trouble reading detailed fight scenes and while I totally understand why there was so much of this stuff in the book....it just wasn't exactly for me.

I read in the acknowledgements that this was originally planned as a movie...and I wish it stayed that way. ( )

Really liked this, especially for the attempt to make Sasquatch seem like an actual animal, and not a supernatural being. Horror/suspense was great, and the audio version leant itself really well to the narrative style. ( )