Breeding Ground

       I was excited to dig into Breeding Ground by Sarah Pinborough as the monsters in the tale are not the typical zombies or vampires that have been overdone in the apocalypse genre. Instead, a psychic spider-like race of creatures develop from within human hosts to bring about the end times. What a lovely twisted concept. It is such a pity that fabulous concept isn't fleshed out into an engaging book. 

Image by Elfodelbosque

       In my family, I am the designated spider disposer. I scoop spiders that have found their way inside up in a cup and take them outside while the family shrieks in terror. The husband and kids have a case of overactive Arachnophobia. I, on the other hand, am quite fond of spiders. They are graceful impressive creatures. Our local Arizona orb weavers decorate my house regularly with magnificent webs. I ensure the Hubby doesn't spray incest poison around tarantula mating season so they can cross our property safely. I mention this because the monsters in Breeding Ground are infinitely more terrifying for those that fear spiders. Obviously, this aspect of them didn't affect me so much. The way they come into existence was horrific, but the spiderness of the Widows didn't phase me. How scary this book is likely varies on the individual reader's reaction to spiders.
       The Widows themselves were one of the best parts of the book, as well as one of the biggest disappointments. Their development inside humans is ten shades of grotesque. Pinborough creates a unique monster species with interesting abilities such as a a collective conscious and a venomous bite that produces horrific effects on it's recipient. Then we have a weak reason for their development, genetically modified foods have somehow lead to the evolution of humans growing the Widows inside their bodies. Not believable. Their weakness is also groan worthy; Somehow deafness creates an element in the blood that is toxic to these creatures. I'm not buying that one either. Seems far-fetched and a desperate grab to give them them a weakness that is unrealistic. These creatures are way overpowered, which makes the main characters' survival unrealistic.
         The plot is in many ways typical of the end of the world type stories. Small band of survivors band together to create a safe haven against the swarm outside only to turn on each other as sanity and humanity within the group crumble. This is accompanied with stereotypical characters, such as the wise old man, the crazy trouble maker, and the scientist. Not only is the plot predictable, it has immense holes in it. Our man characters gets sick next to a river and is soaked in urine. Instead of taking a dip in the water to rinse off the smell, he decides to take the long trek back into the village to break into a store and get fresh clothes. A mini bus and another survivor conveniently show up after their cars are destroyed to take them to safety. Widows don't come out during the day, but happen to do just that to attack one of the cars. You get the point. 
         Our narrator, Matt Edge, is inconstant. He is devoted to and is hopelessly in love with his longtime girlfriend, Chloe, yet manages to sleep with the only other two of age women survivors in quick succession (quite a feat, I might add, since there is a decent size group of other men yet the women only go for him). At times he seems to take charge and at others so clueless as to not connect his second lover's strange behaviors to the first who incubated a Widow. Overall, he doesn't seem to be anyone in particular except male. By male, I mean that Pinborough wrote on his character sheet, he's an average guy and left it at that. However, it is apparent she was uncomfortable writing from a male perspective as much of his internal conflict revolved around wanted to sleep with women and then feeling apologetic for that desire then chalking it up to him being 'just a man.' I find this just as frustrating as when women are written as nothing more than 'just a girl.' 
         Gender and parenthood are a big part of this story.  The focus on gender is present from the very beginning as the Widows, at first, only develop from women. The women survivors ultimately are the cause of the group's self-destruction. I couldn't help feeling that Pinborough had a theme of the complicated dynamic between male and female leading to procreation that she was trying in impart in the book. The group ponders at several points how the all-female Widows will reproduce, which is answered as the men start growing their own black version of the creatures. The villainous troublemaker is revealed to have thrown his own daughter at a Widow to save himself and tosses out the only young girl of the group at the climax. Matt starts the story with a pregnant woman and ends it with one as well.  However, whatever point she hoped to make with these elements never fully develops. At some points I considered Pinborough was drawing attention to Matt's relationships to highlight how men and women need each other for our species to continue in the future. Or maybe Pinborough wished to use the repeated theme of children dying to symbolize how we as a society are failing the future generations for selfish reasons (like messing with the genes in our food and so on). None of this sticky strings of theme ever came together to create the web of meaning I was looking for. 
          I should add that there is a sequel to this book which leads me to wonder if many of the weak spots are explored and corrected in the next installment. Perhaps the clear explanation for the Widows development is revealed in Book 2 and maybe the themes and meanings for the work come together. Sadly, I was so disillusioned with this first book that I have no intention of reading the next one to find out. 
          Overall, this book felt like a work-in-progress that was published long before it was ready. Given more time and a few more drafts, I can imagine this becoming a story that would scare the pants off a reader with fleshed out characters and fixed plot holes. As it is, the book is a disappointingly poor execution of what could have been a unique monster story. My recommendation, skip this one.