Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

17 reviews

zoenelson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

4.25

The trilogy, overall, was entertaining. The romance was convincing and thoughtful; the supporting cast was mostly wonderful and I enjoyed the character progression. I remain impressed by Harkness' ability to ground this fantasy in our historical and scientific knowledge. 

This particular book did a few things well: it left enough open at the end for the reader to interpret as they please; it solidified Matthew and Diana's love story; and gave us more time with the supporting cast. I did not like that Harkness introduced

another existential conflict in the form of Benjamin raping witches to create a superior creature race. It's related to the main conflict but felt manufactured and was really dark without warning; it also distracted from the main conflict, so the resolution there felt unsatisfying even though it was desirable. I felt that the final battle scene was anticlimactic because there were no real trials or tribulations. Additionally, Matthew's refusal to form a scion was merely a plot tool and thus felt superficial and drew the story out. Speaking of which, this book, to me, felt very choppy trying to tie so many loose ends together which impacted the plot and pacing.

I wanted to rate this a 4.75 because I loved the first book and parts of the second, but choices to add so many elements in the second and third books diminished what the first book set up so well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Torture

Moderate: Blood, Child death, and Gore

Minor: Stalking and Pregnancy

gillian_aftanas's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Gore, Grief, Murder, Rape, Cursing, Death, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual violence, Vomit, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Confinement and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Classism, Genocide, Homophobia, Antisemitism, Lesbophobia, Drug use, and Death of parent

booknerderika's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical content, Child abuse, Murder, Torture, Vomit, Death, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, and Blood

Moderate: Miscarriage

Minor: Antisemitism, Sexual violence, Rape, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and War

laurenleigh's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Wrapped up this trilogy! I really enjoyed this whole series. I read afterwards that Harkness set out to write a trilogy in three different genres: the first to be romance, second historical fiction, third sci-fi. And that makes perfect sense now that I’ve read them all! Yet they all blend together nicely. The sci-fi slant here is about vampire/witch/demon DNA and how they differ from each other or from humans. I loved this part of the book. I want to say more about it but can’t give spoilers! There were a few plot points and loose ends that maybe didn’t get tied up as cleanly as possible, but I still think she did a great job. And wow what a fantastic narrator! With so many accents and characters done so well, the story was really brought to life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Violence, and Torture

theimposter's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Blood, Violence, Torture, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Gore, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Rape

redheadsuperpowers's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I stick by my description of this series as Twilight for adults, but it's so well written, and I enjoyed this close to the series so much. It tied up all the major plot points, and the minor ones left open are likely to close with the next series set in this universe. (The first of those books is out!) The relationship between the main characters, Diana and Matthew, settles some, easing how annoyed I was with male lead in the second book. The family moments were many, and one scene made me cry. I was disappointed with one major plot point though. It's a spoiler, so I won't share it, but I was like 'wait, what? Why? Who?' and the book did not answer that point.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Death, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Murder, Stalking, Torture, Body horror, and Forced institutionalization

euphemiajo's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Pregnancy, Blood, Confinement, and Miscarriage

Minor: Alcohol, Bullying, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Rape, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Child death, Deportation, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Miscarriage, Abandonment, and Chronic illness

maggies's review

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

A great end to the trilogy! The pace flagged a bit in the middle there, but overall, the story was just what I wanted it to be.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, and Blood

Moderate: Confinement, Pregnancy, Medical content, Grief, Death, Vomit, Rape, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent

artmajorese's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

3.75

I mostly picked this one up because I'm a completionist, I needed something to do on a 5-hour flight, and I had already powered through book 2. To my surprise, I enjoyed reading the book!  Expect a convoluted plot, which to me felt a little bit un-earned in its resolution. Most of the book is spent doing things OTHER than solving the central problem.  But if you can suspend your disbelief, you'll find some fun character development moments and (finally) the answer to "what's the deal with Ashmore 782?"

Heads up that the main subplot contains a lot of sexual violence, including incest and sexual violence against children.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Emotional abuse, Incest, and Confinement

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

katvou's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Child abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Rape, Sexual content, and Sexual violence