Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Affair of the Mysterious Letter by Alexis Hall

4 reviews

bree_h_reads's review

medium-paced

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

4.5

I was curious to see how this book would tackle retelling Sherlock Holmes. I was honestly pretty impressed with it.

The world felt very vibrant and chaotic in a way that new elements could be introduced without feeling out of place. I was willing to buy almost anything the book tried to sell, simply from how well it established the strangeness of the world. The chaotic nature of the world lent well to writing ancient eldritch entities, and allowed for some hints of eldritch horror. This aspect was only a detriment when it left the story feeling a bit muddled during busier or more action packed aspects, but it wasn’t anything that took too much from the story.

All the characters felt very interesting and I wanted to learn more about them. I was left to taken with each character and their bright personalities to the degree I was disappointed to find this was the only book featuring them. John, Shaharazad, and the Second Auger especially stood out to and fascinated me. I found everyone extremely enjoyable, even when they weren’t the most morally upstanding.

Finally, the casual queerness of the characters was really nice. I enjoy when it doesn’t feel like a big deal that characters are queer in some way. There’s just a comfort provided by a simple mention of queetness that I appreciate.

Overall a great read, and I definitely recommend it to people looking for a fresh spin on Sherlock Holmes or that enjoy the game Fallen London.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Confinement, Drug abuse, Murder, Drug use, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, and Stalking

Minor: Police brutality

imds's review against another edition

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Gun violence, Blood, Murder, Drug abuse, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Body horror, and Transphobia

purplepenning's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Religious bigotry

mar's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I'm always a big fan of fantasy mysteries and mean lady detectives, so this was just in my wheelhouse. I wasn't super invested in the main plot/mystery, honestly - it was a bit weak and disjointed - but the humour, LGBT representation, endearing characters, and cool worldbuilding that's a wild mess of fantasy and sci-fi with eldritch magic and time travel kept me reading anyway. I also wish there was more character development, but, other than that, I liked it a lot. It's super weird and ridiculous, but in a delightfully charming way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Violence, Death, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, and Torture

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Transphobia, and Infidelity