Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca

705 reviews

hanniballecter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.5

when i first read this book, it changed my brain chemistry. it's so genuinely special to me and, like, the first ever fucked up lesbian shit ive seen in my life. rereading it, though, its kinda mid honestly. one of those books thatd be better if it was written by an actual lesbian.

i adore the writing style, the descriptions, the poetry of it all; it's visceral, haunting, and has stuck with me since i first read it.

i still think a lot about when agnes so joyfully told zoe she finally had their "child" (a tapeworm). also, "fuck you. fuck you and your honesty." will forever stick with me, holy shit.

but, on the other hand, the chat message dialogue is kinda clunky and i dislike how it's advertised as mutual obsession when it's just zoe abusing agnes. the author's notes and the whole police report aspect are wholly unnecessary in my opinion, too; i feel the ending and the characters' fates should've been left ambiguous. it would've made the book, as a whole, hit a whole lot harder. i think describing the bdsm contract as "tortuous" in one of the author's notes was kinda stupid.

all in all, i greatly recommend this, but don't go into it expecting a mutually destructive relationship full of rotting gardenias and parasites and disturbing dreams. it's abuse, but it's poetic abuse. i think i would've liked this one more had i not been misled and had it not had those stupid ass author's notes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Body horror, Slavery, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Self harm, Emotional abuse, and Lesbophobia

lorie266's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Body horror, and Toxic relationship

strabbyfieldz's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-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

3.0

I find myself uncertain how to feel about this book: somehow it is not grotesque enough, while also relishing it the lashings of blood and other viscera it produces far too much. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Child death, Animal death, and Body horror

m0onb3am's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

2.5

unsettling; ended abruptly but i can't tell if that adds or detracts.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Body horror, Animal death, Mental illness, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Suicide attempt

imogil's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

1.0

i should’ve listened to tiktok when they said it was lesbian torture porn. literally why was this written. even the authors note provided no clarity on why this was written. i hate that it was set out as if it was a true crime case - even though unfortunately that could make very poignant commentary on our societal obsession with “true crime” and not letting victims rest but i doubt the author went into this story thinking of that. he literally described their story as “a nightmarish fever dream of inspiration, an arduous ordeal of painstaking creativity.” i understand the want for portrayal of unhealthy bdsm dynamics i guess and the want for people to read gorey horror but it wasn’t even well written??? agnes did not show any signs of being mentally ill to the point that she could be exploited so whole heartedly. i HATED zoe and the fact that she did all of that to agnes - RUINED AGNES’S LIFE - just to see if she could. the only reason this book has 1 star is because the author - unfortunately - has a great grasp on descriptive language and i was able to picture a lot of this really well. 
i do realise that this was a dead dove clearly labeled do not eat and yet i chose to eat the dove anyway. i have read many dd:dne fics and stories before and been fine - i guess this dead dove just wasn’t to my taste. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Torture, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Child death, Animal cruelty, and Child abuse

Moderate: Vomit, Sexual content, Medical content, and Mental illness

Minor: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

unhealthy bdsm dynamics, graphic depiction of a tapeworm and the passing of it, graphic depiction and description of eating raw insect filled meat

miwandie's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.0

shai-hulud ft. vore kink 🪱🤰🏻

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Child death, Death, and Gaslighting

janey_bones's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

4.0

Woah. The wildest story I've read in a while. Grotesque, weird, outlandish. I loved it! The pace, the style, the whole thing was crazy! 🪱

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infertility, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Vomit

flavroc's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-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

3.75

Pacing is a little too quick, reader should sit with the horror described for greater effect. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Gore

specklethecrow's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

1.75

I saw this book recommended online and decided to give it a read. It certainly was interesting.
I'm not one for gore or the trigger warnings but decided to try, seeing how fast I was reading it. I finished this book in under 2 hours and lost my appetite even faster.
Please read the content warnings before you read the book!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Child abuse and Vomit

maggieoc_x's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Murder and Gore

Minor: Miscarriage, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Homophobia