Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

33 reviews

postmortem's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Sexual assault, Body horror, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcohol

kt2e56's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

One of the more fucked up books I’ve read in awhile. There’s a dark sense of humor here mixed in with a macabre, gruesome fairytale that feels oddly fitting in today’s climate with Puritan “Christian” values and fascism on the rise hand in hand with a fear of the “other.”

I definitely recommend this one but agree with others about the bizarre fixation on nipples.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

marina_michelle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Violence, Death, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Child death, Child abuse, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Bullying, Racism, Body horror, Car accident, and Sexism

voilajean's review against another edition

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Sexual assault, Violence, Rape, Self harm, Animal death, Child death, Sexual harassment, Grief, Misogyny, Suicide, Torture, Confinement, and Fire/Fire injury

connorjdaley's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

My fiancé suggesting I listen to this because we are both from The Hudson River Valley, which is this novel’s setting. I was a bit surprised by this choice, as this novel is the author’s English language debut, and the setting is pretty damn accurate. I wonder if he lives there now? 

I listened to this on my way home to see my parents. Highland Mills, Central Valley, and Harriman we’re mentioned by name more than once, and all three are directly connected to my home town of 22 years, Monroe. West Point Military Academy, as well as 9W through Cornwall, Bear Mountain, and the novel’s featured hospital, St. Luke’s in Newburgh, are all places I’ve frequented as well. It was super cool and kind of eerie to read a novel like this about where I’m from. 

The town of Black Spring has a problem, what kind of old town doesn’t? This town’s problem just happens to be a 17th century immortal witch named Katherine. Since they were able to sew her eyes and mouth shut she hasn’t been too much of a problem, just creepy. And luckily she never breaks from her current schedule… 

So because I always listen to an audio and read a physical book at the same time, I had this really unique experience of reading these two very similar scenes in two drastically different novels within like an hour of each other. Both this novel and C.V. Hunt’s ‘Halloween Fiend’ feature a fall festival that isn’t really dedicated to their town’s (I’ll say) affliction, but at the same time kind of is. It was cool to see how each framed how their town responded to what they had been forced to accept as normal over time. 

The climax of this novel does some really interesting things in its depiction of the degradation of humanity. Is it the witch causing it, or the town itself? Either way, they so easily are lead to depravity. Brothers, sisters, mothers, husbands…no one is safe and everyone is guilty. 

Personally a 4/5*. Spooky, atmospheric, dark. It looks like there’s a sequel to this but it’s only available in Dutch? I’m confused. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Suicide, and Violence

theremightbecupcakes's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

mlemzor's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Sexual violence, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Rape, Child death, Confinement, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Torture, and Vomit

kingsteph's review against another edition

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Child abuse, Grief, Religious bigotry, Bullying, Child death, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Murder, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Racism

coleyglasses's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

1.5

The concept for this book was fantastic but the ultimate execution was very much lacking, especially in the back half of the book. 
Additionally

Way too much nipple torture and very poorly written female characters

Made for an uncomfortable read at times and not in the good way

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Vomit

misty_muskrat's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Grief, Gore, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Islamophobia, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide