Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Angels Before Man by rafael nicolás

80 reviews

mpbookreviews's review

dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault

a_crow_in_the_sky's review

challenging slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

osladek's review

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.0

This was an interesting read. Although much of it was beautifully written, there is no plot for the entire beginning of the book and it took me a month to finish a 360 page book that would normally take me a week. I think the idea and the prose was there for a fantastic Satan retelling, however I was incredibly confused by the choice to make Lucifer the most timid and sweet angel and then end

with him committing horrific violent acts on fellow angels. Although it fit the character progression, it was extremely hard to believe where the character starts to where he ends I believe a better ending would be the character realizing that there are things outside of God’s “rules” that aren’t immoral instead of becoming incredibly violent and disgusting. Or simply starting the character a little less sweet.

Also the grammar of this book needed an editor badly. I kept having to reread sentences because they were missing a conjunction or ending word. This might’ve been a stylistic choice but it made it difficult to read and make sense of. Also the romance was an interesting plot point. I thought it would be more fleshed out but it felt like the entire book built to it and fell off at the end. I did however find a lot of quotes I enjoyed:

“is father good because he is good or is father good because he says he is good?”

“because the angels had only known obedience to be goodness, they did as they were told”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

nevermoregothic's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury

peacholino's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring lighthearted sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Self harm, Violence, Blood, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Fire/Fire injury

honeycupreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is absolutely gut-wrenching… I truly have no words to explain how I feel right now. All I can say is make sure you have some tissues near. Also please make sure read the content warnings at the beginning. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Self harm

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Sexual assault

androgynous_child's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexual assault, Blood, and War

Moderate: Rape and Gaslighting

Minor: Self harm

ladieswholunch's review

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

4.75

Brilliant, actually! I’ll be thinking about this one for a while. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing and Emotional abuse

starsincline's review

• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Self harm, and Blood

spaceaviator's review

dark lighthearted tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I really liked this book. 
Some of the violence in Part 2 became a bit intense and made me feel uneasy. That said, knowing how the story comes together and ends, makes me more okay with it. 
Nicolás’s writing style is what really made it for me. The way narration changed as Lucifer did, as well as the way he writes thoughts and intertwines separate scenes as one. It feels like there’s so many layers to explore in his writing, but it’s also intuitive to follow. 
This was a very unique book and one I would read again some day. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, and Mental illness

Moderate: Torture and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Part 1 and the Interlude are mostly quite nice with some conflict. Part 2 is where it starts to get more tense toward its second half (and exponentially so). You can read just Part 1 and the interlude and it will still feel like a complete story.