Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Things We Do to Our Friends by Heather Darwent

3 reviews

madelinequinnee's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I mostly enjoyed this book, but I think it could have gone further with what it was trying to do. It felt like it was building up to a big moment throughout the whole thing, but by the end there still wasn’t really anything? 

The writing was very beautiful, and I think this book definitely has a good idea to it, but I just would have liked to have seen more exploration of the characters and their actions. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Suicide, Addiction, Alcohol, Medical content, Murder, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Animal cruelty, Blood, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Stalking

_tabby_'s review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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

4.75

I havent been able to stop thinking about this book since I finished it. The ending is the most gripping, surprising and unexpected twist that this book holds (and there are a number of twists). The book itself is worth reading simply just to get the full force and shock of the ending.
The theme of deception is vitally important to both the personalities of the characters and the authors writing style. Not only does Darwent use this method to create interesting and surprisingly dark characters but also to give the reader the impression that we're also being deceived from a narration pov. The biased/ unreliable narrator is a very clever technique that this book was perfect for.
However, I couldn't rate it 5☆ simply because the beginning was slow and lacked traction.
Loved this book and I dont think the final plot twist will ever not be on my mind.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Medical content, Murder, Torture, Toxic friendship, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism

aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Sexual content, Violence, Suicide, Infidelity, Murder, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Animal cruelty