Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht

40 reviews

zazreads's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

5.0

This book is absolutely brilliant. It must be clarified that when I say it is brilliant, I am not claiming that it is ethical. The book is fucked, but the fuckery is strung together with the most witty and eloquent use of words. It is absolutely enrapturing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Violence and Murder

Minor: Excrement

rotfaced's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book inspired me to start writing again. My only complaint is that it is too short. The prose is beautiful, tightly written, and full of detail which makes rereading fun. I read this book twice, each time in one sitting; Many of my friends were able to do the same. If I were not currently lending it out to my friends, I would likely be reading it again. 

This book has incredibly dark overtones and sets the scene with a (TW) sexual assault, which is obvious if not terribly explicit. The gore is spelled out in detail. The main characters are well-personified bastards, obviously meant to be read as villains, and their relationship-- central to the plot and to the pacing-- is filthy and treacherous. This is not a light read, nor is it meant to make you feel good. You are getting right what it says on the tin, but I loved every moment of it. 

On Johann and Florian's relationship:

Disclosure: I am a bisexual man. I want more mlm content like this. This book is explicitly gay in its framing of the relationship between Johann and Florian (sexually/physically, if not always romantically). I want more awful, terrible men who are also queer. Reading this book destroyed my standards. I had given up on trying to find compelling queer men in rich fictional settings where the narrative isn't ABOUT being queer, and this book got my hopes up again. I know this isn't everyone's cup of tea, nor do I expect it to be, but it is something I wish we had the option to read more often.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Terminal illness, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse

Minor: Incest, Pedophilia, and Child death

Terminal Illness: Plague is a major theme in the book. Symptoms are described in visceral detail. Incest:

The incest is implied between the twin siblings, but not confirmed, with no explicit action that could be read as romantic instead of overly familial. It did not trigger me, someone who is triggered by incest, but I was wary of it and can understand peoples reservations.

emory's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Self harm, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Excrement, Grief, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Medical content and Pedophilia

moonmisandrist's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.75

 Enjoyed it, but like a lot of novellas, felt too short/unsatisfying. Honestly? Not problematic enough. 

 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Violence, and Death

emilyparagraph's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Toxic relationship

Minor: Incest and Sexual assault

This novella deals heavily in plague imagery and plague as a force itself.

Part of the main plot is also Florian manufacturing another, worse plague as part of his revenge scheme

inameitlater's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense

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

5.0

Fantastic

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, and Gore

dubious consent

hungryandhappy's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

4.0

It was bloodier than anticipated and the monster was so flirtatious I loved it! Many things happened in just a few pages and the ending surprised me a lot. Perfect if you're a fan if horror books but want a short one. And it's also queer, so even better!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Body horror, Death, and Gore

jesssparksnotes's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Body horror

Moderate: Blood, Suicide, Misogyny, and Mental illness

Minor: Incest

mar's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

2.0

the main characters and the relationship between them was pretty fascinating and compelling up until the scenes with kinda dubious consent vibes that made me super uncomfortable. I liked how atmospheric and vivid the writing was but GOD the constant extremely graphic violence and gore was uhh a bit Too Much for me, and i get that this book revels in being morbid and fucked up but was the implied incest really necessary 😭 probably should've checked the content warnings on this one folks ngl 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Violence, Child death, Gun violence, Gore, Terminal illness, and Death

Minor: Pedophilia, Incest, and Rape

moralquibbling's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-paced

• 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

5.0

So so so brilliantly twisted and dark. The writing was lush and gorgeous and every passage was steeped in such phenomenal sharp and violent description. None of the characters were remotely likeable, but they were all fascinating anyways, and I think I still managed to love them all in some weird way. And it was full of dark and dry humour that genuinely added to the dark atmosphere of the novella. Obviously, I adored it and would recommend it to everyone (although do watch out for the content warnings), but it's also so short that you might as well try it out for yourself even if you're unsure if you'd like it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Toxic relationship, and Sexual violence

Minor: Rape