Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Marigold by Andrew F. Sullivan

5 reviews

benji_dw's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.75

The system of shadow blood capitalist condo magic is so fascinating that it saves my review. It’s a good book, but so grimdark that finishing it felt more of a chore than a good read. But it’s a book set in Toronto that pushes new boundaries so I don’t regret reading it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

vixenreader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

As a Toronto resident, this book hit home. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Genocide, Car accident, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Violence, Medical content, Ableism, Medical trauma, Body horror, Classism, Abandonment, and Infidelity

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Racism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death of parent, and Kidnapping

Minor: Drug use and Terminal illness

Be aware of fungi, viscous dissolving bodies, mould, dysfunctional family relationships, some nudity, poverty, starvation, rich people being horrible, and disassociation.

tigger89's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

This was a novel that had a lot of very interesting ideas in it, but ultimately didn't really do it for me. Starting with the good, I loved the Wet and what it represented. It was creepy, disgusting, and brought the horror whenever it showed up. The reveal of how and why it thrived made sense and worked to drive home the novel's critique of urban development and runaway capitalism. In fact, the concept of this novel combined with the imagery used was so solid that it was very frustrating that it didn't land well for me.

I think the novel's biggest issues had to do with its length, as well as the number and variety of characters. What we have is a medium-length novel(350 pages) packed with a huge cast of recurring characters, as well as many more one-off characters introduced through various vignettes. This meant that I spent most of the novel struggling to remember names and who people were, constantly wondering if so-and-so was important or if we'd never hear from them again. This led to the first two thirds of the book dragging pretty hard, with my opinion somewhat soured by the time the pace picked up for the final push. At the end of the book I felt exhausted more than anything else, which isn't really the emotion you want a good horror novel to end on. I think it would have worked better either trimmed down to be shorter and snappier, or expanded to give everything more room to breathe and develop.

Does the dog die?

At one point, a character adopts a coyote-dog-thing. The dog survives to the end of the narrative, but his ultimate fate is unclear.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Body horror

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, and Violence

sarah984's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

I had fun with this one - a dark story of a future Toronto crumbling under the costs of doing business. I thought it was just a little bit too long (some parts were repetitive) but overall I enjoyed it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child death, Death, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicide, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Classism, Death of parent, Grief, and Kidnapping

Minor: Addiction, Bullying, Car accident, Gun violence, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Dementia, Excrement, and Sexual harassment

oracle_of_madness's review against another edition

3.5

This was wild! I really got sucked into this one from the beginning.   The idea of the spores, the gruesome consequences of coming in contact with them.  And, really, at the center of it all is the hulking Marigold.  This place is evil, that's certain, and if you dare to read this twisted tale, be ready for multiple angles looking at evil.  

I liked this.  I thought it was twisted, which is something I love.  I love getting into the heads of characters and seeing the world through such a twisted viewpoint.   This book has a lot packed in it and hops around to different points of view.

Okay, how many times did I use the word twisted in this? Lol.  But, that's just the perfect description!

Out April 18, 2023!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Violence