Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould

16 reviews

blackthornfaery's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Lesbophobia, Death, Abandonment, and Homophobia

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Hate crime

satsumaorange's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

I love ghosts, I love gay people, I love

evil supernatural mind control

. What more could I want? 
I wasn't a huge fan of the audiobook narrator's tone, but I got past that eventually. Logan's dads were the best part of the book, I loved whenever they were in a scene. Gay rights and dead kids! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Bullying, and Grief

Moderate: Biphobia, Violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Blood, Police brutality, Classism, and Gun violence

piphux's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Hate crime, Violence, Murder, and Child death

Moderate: Police brutality, Abandonment, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Alcohol and Panic attacks/disorders

marcostorin's review

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

This book felt like watching a good thriller/horror movie with lots of well-handled social commentary. I couldn't put it down after I started it. I think my favorite part - besides how fun it was to read the book - is that it makes you face your (internalised in my case) homophobia. I think the best way to read this book too is without knowing much about it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Murder, Police brutality, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Alcohol, Biphobia, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, and Sexism

Minor: Stalking

goldfish_human's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.5

Okay, I really loved it 😳
It was sapphic, mysterious and thrilling. 
I do agree that it's giving a Riverdale vibe but like, in a good way, in a strange, mysterious, "small town not as perfect as it seems" and "don't trust anyone" kind of vibe. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Homophobia, Murder, Grief, Bullying, Lesbophobia, Violence, and Death

Minor: Blood

robin_reads's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

1.5

Paranormal small town murder mystery. A married gay couple return to their terrible small town in the buttcrack of Oregon with their adopted daughter.

The romance in this felt completely unnecessary and did little to nothing for the plot. I didn't connect with any of the characters and didn't much care what happened to any of them. 
The plot surrounding the mystery wasn't bad. 
The pacing is weird sometimes--very slow and then time jumps of days and weeks. 

The ending was so weirdly happy and didn't feel like it fit. I get that a Happy Ending is always nice and most people want those but I would've preferred if it ended it a more tentative, maybe almost wary open ending

Additional CW: Drowning, attempted murder

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Blood, Kidnapping, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol

pucksandpaperbacks's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

This was an excellent debut. Lately, as I read thrillers, they're too slow paced for me and this was exactly what i was looking for! It's intense, gory, and super queer. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Death, Child death, Murder, and Blood

neomreads's review

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I liked the LGBTQ representation, and the characters. It was a good read with mystery and plot twist.  

Basically bout a girl that us always moving around bc of her parents job and they decided to settle in the dads' hometown. 
However, in that town a boy was missing  and his girlfriend is trying to find him. She keps feeling his ghost.
Both of them team up and try to find the dead boy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Homophobia, Violence, Blood, and Hate crime

ashthemenace's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

I read this book in a day. I haven’t done that in YEARS, but it was impossible to put down!! It was so easy to get into it and keep reading it. Pretty much all the characters were likeable, and if they weren’t, you at least didn’t hate them.

except for the Sheriff. But you’re supposed to dislike him at the end.> It doesn’t waste time on descriptions and there was no point in time where I ever caught asking why the author included something.  This review is so bad because I can’t even really gather my thoughts on this book. But it was PHENOMENAL. Do yourself a favor and read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Cursing, and Death

Minor: Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Hate crime, and Gun violence

I’m not sure if the gun violence tag counts for this book, but there technically is an act of violence committed using the gun, even if it wasn’t shot, so I counted it.

frankiejo's review

dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

 I think it could have done with another edit—it sags a little in the middle, the characters "grimace" way too much, and at times the writing feels a little detached. however, these flaws are mostly made up for by the likeable (if everyman) leads, a setting so real it seems to breathe, and an intriguing mystery at its core, all topped off with a helping of lesbian romance. i enjoyed the foreshadowing as well.

I said "ohhh" out loud when i realised the implications of Logan's dreams of being buried alive

 
 an enjoyable read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Child death, Homophobia, Outing, Grief, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Death of parent and Violence

Minor: Blood