Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Sister Who Ate Her Brothers: And Other Gruesome Tales by Jen Campbell

10 reviews

erenrinren's review

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

Surprisingly, this is the first work of fiction that I have read from Jen Campbell. Surprising because I tune in almost every week for her booktube videos and I find her voice soothing and her insights on books delectable.

The Sister Who Ate Her Brothers and Other Gruesome Tales was fantastic, diverse, and definitely spooky. It was interesting reading tales that I had never heard of and they were complemented beautifully by Adam de Souza's illustrations. My favourite tales were The Souls Trapped Under the Ocean and The Woman and the Glass Mountain.

Though they are fairytales, there is some mention of injury/body horror, but in a very minute and plain way with no ghastly descriptors.

If I ever have a child with a bit more grit and that can handle these sorts of tales, I can imagine that they would gobble each one up like I did.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Animal death, Murder, Blood, and Death

All mentions of these things are not very descriptive and very brief.

toffishay's review

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

Such a fun, spooky read! I don't think that this would be too scary for kids, but wouldn't treat them with kid gloves either.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror and Death

lou_o_donnell's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Violence, Torture, Death, Gore, and Murder

questingnotcoasting's review

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

4.0

This was a really great collection of dark fairy tales. They were all so different and it was interesting to see which countries they all originated from. I also thought the illustrations were really effective. They're quite simplistic but really creepy. I was not the sort of child who liked scary stories but I can tell that this would be perfect for one who did. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Gore, Kidnapping, and Body horror

loxeletters's review

dark lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.5

While I enjoyed this book, I felt each of the stories could have been a little more fleshed out. I understand that fairy tales can be short/more simple, but I've also seen countless instances where such stories were told in a more measured place and with more detail, which I enjoyed immensely.

On a different note, I was a bit disappointed by the art. I loved the cover and the borders, but many of the full page spreads just felt overly simplistic in style. That's definitely just a personal preference, though.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cannibalism, Death, Death of parent, and Violence

leighsnerdlife's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

This is a fantastic collection of fairy tale retellings, complete with queer and disabled characters and positive representation of disfigurement. The writing is well suited to middle grade and higher, and the illustrations are lovely. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death and Cannibalism

graythegay's review

adventurous dark funny 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cannibalism, Child death, and Death

orangeoverload's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

A brilliant book! I would recommend this to any child of any age, and to adults too! The stories are scary and sometimes made me squeamish, but they're all such adventurous stories with great representation of disability, race and sexuality too. It was great to see which countries the stories originated in and how the illustrations represented that. Talking of illustrations, they are beautiful and creepy and fit the vibes of the stories perfectly! A great book overall for a spooky season 🎃 👻

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Body horror

aliceonpaper's review

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Gore, Death, and Cannibalism

winter_b's review

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Gore, Death, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Death of parent