Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Illuminae by Jay Kristoff, Amie Kaufman

42 reviews

mothreadsbookssometimes's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

Illuminae was a fantastic book and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series. I first read the Aurora Cycle trilogy, and I loved it so much that I had to read the rest of Kristoff’s and Kaufman’s works. And boy, am I having a time!
Illuminae is a very YA-friendly sci-fi mystery/thriller (I know it’s not tagged as a thriller, but it is) with minimal swearing (“censored on reports”), and only vague references to sex (jokes about “your sister” and references to acts done prior to the events of the story). 
Take it from someone who normally hates thrillers, this book is good. Admittedly, there’s a lot of death and blood (only a few disturbingly gory parts, though), so do keep that in mind, but I didn’t find it too uncomfortable and I’m normally a very squeamish person. 
Can’t wait for the next book! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Blood, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gore, and Death of parent

Minor: Confinement, Cannibalism, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, and Self harm

I know it’s a lot of content warnings, so do proceed with caution. I’m not very good with blood/gore, but I only had a couple small parts (see below) that made me uncomfortable. There’s a lot of death, but it’s not vividly gory until about 45% (I think) into the book

when they enter the quarantine bay and 70% through

when the remaining Alexander survivors escape the ship

. For the most part, they just say “there’s blood/dead bodies/screams in the distance” but they don’t go into great detail with every mention of violence.

booksngrannies's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Death, and Gore

moonykaden's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pandemic/Epidemic, Gore, Death, Body horror, and Blood

Minor: Vomit

stardust_heidi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Holy. Shit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Body horror, Death, Medical trauma, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Death of parent, and Grief

sunnythesassy's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Genocide, Death of parent, Death, Body horror, Violence, Terminal illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Gaslighting, Confinement, War, Vomit, Blood, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Colonisation

Minor: Abandonment and Child abuse

mapplethenerd's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Body horror, Murder, Self harm, War, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

maregred's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Death, Violence, Death of parent, Body horror, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and War

Moderate: Blood, Grief, Abandonment, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

alexa's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

2.75

so. i have been collecting some thoughts throughout this whole thing and they might not be especially cohesive, but that's ok, i was always more of a bullet list person.
i like the format of this, it was really interesting and fun, even if limited the amount of what you can learn about the world. some things were weirdly the same considering we're 500 years in the future, as i already expressed.
it might be just me, but the romantic drama between 2 high school seniors was the least interesting part of this thing, i found it irrelevant and at time or two a little bit annoying, but i suppose that's 17/18yo allo people for you. dunno, never been there.
honestly in general, i did not feel much attached to or interested in the characters beyond like a superficial level.
the ai in this was so weirdly melodramatic and rambling aside from its twisted logic which i'm assuming comes from the damage sustained.
in the q&a at the end, the authors mentioned talking with psychiatrists as part of the research that went into this and it does not sound very inspiring, considering the level and amount of demonization of people struggling with psychosis is staggering and infuriating, i think it was actually my biggest problem with this book.
the authors were quite good at creating tension and making one need to read on to know what happens next, i'll give them that.
however, i'm not entirely sure about continuing the series. it's likely i will i guess? not if they continue the ableism though, i'm not gonna stand for that

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Body horror, and Confinement

trs01's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

2.5

The writing in this book feels like a rough draft. The authors don't know how to handle serious situations, and the banter and humor were poorly timely and off-putting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, War, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Genocide, Death, Confinement, Gore, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Fire/Fire injury, Chronic illness, Body horror, Blood, Murder, Vomit, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Xenophobia, Racism, and Sexism

laurenevlyn's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-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

4.75

This book is incredible. I laughed, I cried, I got angry and heartbroken and hopeless and hopeful. Not sure how you got me to root for the murderous AI with an obsessive crush on the main character, but you did. The plot twist was insane and made me cry. This is one of those books that will stay with me for a long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Medical trauma, Medical content, Gun violence, Death, Blood, Gore, War, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Body horror, and Mental illness