Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions by Neil Gaiman

4 reviews

eli99's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

I love almost all of these short stories so much! Normally in a collection of short stories there are some flops but these were so good. I went in on it a little blind so I wasn't expecting some of them to be a tad sexual. It was a good surprise I'd say. The one I liked the least was the last story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Death

Minor: Sexual assault

peeshpish's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

A bunch of short stories, mostly dark, some with the intent to be scary & others more emotional. A few are funny, too. Many of the characters are dealing with loneliness, & most are men. Some are told where the author is the main character. The story settings vary in how much they take place in reality vs fantasy, often combining the two (at least one is set in a fantasy world & many incorporate well known myths, folk/fairytales, and other authors’ fantasy/sci-fi works.) The forward has a short story of its own & small tidbits explaining his thoughts behind each story, so don’t skip it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Gore, Blood, Drug use, Transphobia, Physical abuse, and Chronic illness

Minor: Terminal illness, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Death, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, and Infidelity

innerweststreetlibrarian's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

This is a disturbing bunch of weird, creepy, dark and sometimes sexy stories. Lots of monsters, of the human and the fantasy kind. The one I liked best was about the hotel cleaner in Hollywood who tended the fish ponds. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Child death, Animal death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Abortion

Moderate: Child abuse, Blood, Chronic illness, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cannibalism, Gore, Murder, and Rape

Minor: Alcohol, Torture, Self harm, and Injury/Injury detail

podanotherjessi's review against another edition

dark funny slow-paced

2.75

This was a really weird story collection, which I guess makes sense, all things considered. I love Gaiman's prose, and he has a great narrator voice in the audiobook. But the stories felt so disparate that switching from one to another didn't make sense. None of the stories really seemed to have endings; they just kind of ended. Plus a lot (I mean A LOT) of masturbation in these stories. A bit too much, if you ask me. Also, it's a little nitpicky, but I didn't like that the intros to the stories were all at the start of the book. I much prefer to hear the story behind the story immediately before reading that story.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault