This book seemingly has it all. Who would say no to creepy killer spiders, global panic and worldwide intrigue? Usually I'd be first in line for a synopsis like this so imagine my disappointment when I actually read this book.

Except from a variety of descriptions (in various parts of the world) of how the creepy spiders are attacking and random relationship tidbits of the characters involved, nothing else happens. I now that this book is part of trilogy so the author naturally leaves something for the other books in the series, but for goodness sake you need to give the reader some story/character development. Disappointing.

Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for providing a free digital copy in return for an honest, unbiased review.

A well written piece of post apocalyptic horror! The spiders were terrifying! I think where this fell a bit short for me though was 1) Too many characters to keep track of 2) Cliff Hanger ending- a personal pet peeve. Overall a well written book, with an interesting concept.

I was never able to download this book in any format, and I do not remember ever requesting it as it is not a genre that I normally read...

This was okay—not as great as I wanted it to be though. Interesting concept though I feel it could have been executed better.

I am totally unsure as to why I chose this book--spiders? EEK! If you're looking for a book that will give you the creepy chills, this is definitely it. I felt spiders crawling all over me for days.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1665885958

I received a Netgalley copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is definitely a page turner. It kept me up all night. And this book will make most readers feel the skin crawl. Why? Because this book is about motherfucking killer spiders.

And, this book ends with a cliffhanger so I'm guessing that there's a sequel in the works. I'm going to include unsatisfying endings in my reviews from now on because it pisses me off when the story is great but the ending is crap.

This is Del Toro territory. Creepy good and very well done. The Hatching would make an excellent television series.. Wildly fun!

The book has a very interesting concept, but not great on execution. It jumps around too much and seems to have too many story lines for this type of book.
I would think that every character in a book should have a purpose, otherwise, why even put them in there? There's a couple characters that don't seem to matter.
Finally when there's a series of books each book has a conclusion or resolution & sets the stage for the next book. This one does not.
Overall I liked the book well enough, but I don't know if I liked it enough to buy the next book

Interesting, fun read for fans of thrillers, natural disasters, and apocalyptic scenarios. Definitely recommended.

I struggled with this book. I enjoyed it for the most part, but it jumped around a little too much (for my taste), and I just didn't click with the characters.

I'm trying to clear this from my shelf but can't do so unless I send a review. I didn't have a chance to read this particular book.

As indicated, this is a 5 star review, however, on the creepy-crawly scale, it is a 10. My absolute worst nightmare would be to face legions of baseball sized spiders that are intelligent and hungry. This book far exceeds any nightmare that I could ever conjure up. I could not wait to read the series!

Book one was "The Hatching" where we are introduced to the ancient spider plague as they emerge from a cave in China in shadowy waves and begin their march throughout the world. Spiders that operate under one intelligence. In Tokyo, a huge, glowing egg sac has been discovered.

I highly recommend this book to all lovers of horror and sci-fi books.

The Hatching turned out to be my own personal version of hell. Lesson learned! Never hit the NetGalley request button on a book with a vague description without doing some research. To be fair, I'm not sure what I was expecting when there is a spider web on the cover... In case you are as oblivious as I was, spoiler alert: this book is about killer spiders. I tend to avoid books that have to do with things I am terrified of, like man-eating spiders, so why did I give this one a go even after I discovered it was about spiders? I wanted to see if I could conquer my fears and read it. I am proud to report that I was able to make it through this one, although it gave me a serious case of the "willies."

Let's talk about the horror/thriller elements. This book was terrifying for someone who is scared to death of spiders. Would The Hatching disturb someone that doesn't have arachnophobia? I'm not sure, but it sure worked for me. This book felt more thriller than horror. Despite the fact that this book terrified me, I must admit it was very readable – I just had to know what was going to happen next. What is it about apocalyptic books that make them so compelling? I think it's the fact that these types of books bring up scenarios that make us think about what we would do if we found ourselves in a similar situation.
*Side note: If I was in this situation, I would be curled up in the fetal position weeping. In case anyone was curious*

I feel like this book would translate well to film... but I also feel like it would be a fine line and could easily become a corny movie if put into the wrong hands... In the right hands, I think this story would do well as a film. Actually, for some reason this book gave me Independence Day vibes, so if you are a fan of that movie, you may also enjoy this book.

If I had no idea who the author was before reading this, I could have told you it was written by a man. This book definitely feels like a book that would appeal to the “man’s man.” This is not a criticism of the book, just that you should not expect flowery writing. I would describe this book as being a little rough around the edges. It has foul language and is crude at times, which doesn’t bother me, but if you are easily offended this probably isn’t going to be your cup of tea.

The Hatching is one of those books that gives you a large number of characters, and switches perspectives often. While I understand why the author chose to tell this story by introducing us to multiple characters, it was almost too much. I would have preferred for the story to have been told through 3-4 main POVs, and leave the others off. We were introduced to a new character every chapter up until the 30% mark before we cycled back around to some of the past characters. I think only focusing on 3-4 main characters would have helped me form a connection to at least one of the characters. The way The Hatching presented so many characters really made it tough to really get to know them in depth or really root for them.

I loved that Boone featured so many female characters in positions of power in this story: the president, a marine squad leader, a leading scientist in the field of spiders… HOWEVER his portrayal of these women was a tad on the derogatory side. Just an FYI Boone, not all females are sex starved. The president was having an affair with her chief of staff. The biologist was sleeping with one of her students. I can't remember for sure, but I think the marine squad leader had something casual going with one of her team members? Regardless, I didn't feel it was necessary to throw the female characters' sex lives into the book when it really wasn't pertinent to the plot. I think Boone brought up one male character's sex life, which was the seismologist's assistant who basically harassed her with inappropriate details of his sex life... again unnecessary to the plot. Had Boone taken out these pointless details, it would have had not effected the story at all and made the story a little less "cheap" feeling.

Overall, The Hatching was a very readable & thrilling book. The final page ends on a big cliff hanger that will leave readers wanting more. Despite the fact I didn't love this one, I'd consider continuing on with the series to see what happens next...

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Atria Books and Ezekiel Boone for the opportunity to read this book!

This book languished on my "to read" shelf for a long time, but I'm so glad I finally read it! Warning - if spiders totally creep you out, get ready to be really scared!

Strange things start happening all over the world - weird seismic activity, a businessman is killed in the jungle, a rich American dies as his plane crashes, China drops a nuclear bomb "accidentally" on its own country, and a scientist in DC receives an ancient spider egg sack that appears to be hatching. Told in short chapters from lots of different perspectives, these stories come together in scary fashion to show how quickly the problem of these man-eating spiders is spreading.

I really got into some of these characters and the story and couldn't wait to see what happened. Of course, there are 2 more books in this series so I'm on to #2!

I have very much enjoyed this entire series. This first title is particularly strong. It has everything--terrific characters, non-stop action, and creepy monster spiders set to take over the world.. Short chapters and frequent viewpoint changes are used effectively to build suspense.

Truly scary! As an avid horror reader, I was truly scared. The story starts slowly, but once it picks up speed, it will pull you in.

I accidentally clicked on the widget link for this book, and I don't plan to read or rate -- apologies!

Writing
Just to be clear, in case you couldn't tell from the cover, the ancient species, long dormant, is giant flesh eating spiders. In a book about giant flesh eating spiders does the writing even matter? My answer is no. I do not care how cheesey you want to go in a horror novel about spiders. Please. Take this to every extreme you possibly can. I am more than willing to go there with you. That said, I really do think Boone does this as well as you possibly can do a horror novel about spiders. The dialogue is largely believable, the characters feel at least somewhat real, people act in ways that people could possibly actually act in reality...it wasn't badly done at all. I've read a lot of monster horror and this is some of the best in terms of writing. I mean it's got it's cliche lines ("If we aren't overreacting then God help us all" is one of my favorites), but I'd be disappointed if that kind of line weren't in there.

Entertainment Value
I just can't emphasize enough how much I love a good monster story and one about spiders? Please. It's like it was written with me in mind. I loved everything about it and absolutely devoured it. It's got everything I look for in a monster story - compelling characters with intriguing back stories, but not too much back story and a real focus on the monster and the havoc it wreaks.

Overall
If you love a good monster story or if you love spiders (or if you hate spiders and like being deliciously creeped out) this is a great summer read. It's the perfect blend of thriller and horror novel and the pace just doesn't let up throughout. I had a blast reading it and immediately passed it on to friends. And I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for all of Boone's future novels.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy to review!

Such a creepy yet interesting novel! -

Review will post on From the TBR Pile on October 8, 2016: http://fromthetbrpile.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-hatching-by-ezekiel-boone.html

Goodreads 3 stars: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1774965645

Amazon 3 stars:https://www.amazon.com/review/R2KRTXJGISS051/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

Review:
I'll start by saying that I am an arachnophobe. Big time! So I'm not sure how I survived this book. Actually, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be, By that, I mean not as scary. I was more creeped out than anything. At the very least, I was certainly entertained. The premise of the book is that there is an ancient species of spider that has awakened and been set loose on the world.

The story is told through multiple points of view and in different places all over the world. As I said, this was more creepy than it was scary. Because ,there isn't a lot of suspense. This is the first book in a series and it felt like I was watching the first part of a made for TV mini-series. This first book sets up the series, with everyone learning about the threat, but not a ton of answers. The book ends with an epilogue, but it's really more of a cliffhanger and a clear setup for the next book, Skitter. Unfortunately, that doesn't come out until next year. If you are looking for a "horror" story, this really doesn't fit that category. But it's worth a read. If anything, you'll probably look at spiders differently!
-Kari