Reviews tagging 'Death'

And Then I Woke Up by Malcolm Devlin

32 reviews

annamorgan27's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Gore, Grief, Vomit, Alcohol, Suicide, Murder, Cannibalism, and Death

doomluz's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This wasn't what I expected it to be about but I oved it. It reminded me of the films Shaun of the Dead and They Live. I liked the commentary it made about stories and beliefs.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Gore, Murder, Violence, and Grief

fleen's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Death

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Confinement

monica_85's review

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book is a social and political allegory rather than a true apocalyptic fiction. The overarching theme is how easily people's realities can be shaped by the information they are fed. If I knew this going in, I probably would have enjoyed it more. 

Needs some more editing, as well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Murder

halfass_reviewer's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book reminded me of the movie The Happening. Which is to say I enjoyed it immensely. The plot was interesting. In short, it's about a plague. It's about people who see monsters and people who are monsters. It's about surviving not just the monsters, but the narrative that people create and spread. It's about getting better, or not. What I really loved about this story is that it was told as if the reader was actually a member of the group. This is to say, the narrator talked directly to the reader, which really draws me into the story. It was also a short read so that was a plus as well. I think all in all this was a nice little, horror-adjacent story.

<spolier> My only gripe about the story, besides some of the dialogue tag and placement was Lelila's one chapter where she provided her side of the story. I felt the chapter was unnecessary and although it was good background as to how the infection affected her, it wasn't relevant. I was thinking maybe it would somehow relate to the Val guy she and Spence are chasing or maybe the last few chapters would focus on her, but neither of those things happens. We just get a story about how she breaks promises to her younger self, gets married, has a child whom she may not love, and then murders them. No relevance to anything that's going on before or after the story. Unless I missed the point.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Child death, Body horror, and Cannibalism

professor_jango's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, Death, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Murder, Body horror, Blood, and Child death

pages_of_gray's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Death, and Cannibalism

dalmavatai's review

dark reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

A book with a super unique concept that could have been better in its execution. The characters were not particularly fleshed out, and the message could have benefited from subtlety and nuance rather than sort of whacking the reader on the head with it. I enjoyed the writing style and some of the characters' reflections. I also think I had the wrong expectations because I thought the majority of the book would take place in this psychiatric facility which it didn't; it's very much for fans of apocalyptic fiction who want some commentary on the power of propaganda & narratives. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

spooderman's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Self harm, Blood, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

literaryliaisons's review

mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence