Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Raparigas Selvagens by Rory Power

32 reviews

nicosta_music's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I feel like Wilder Girls is being done a disservice by being marketed as Lord of the Flies but with girls. Both books involve one gender of schoolchildren being stuck on an island, but the similarities stop there. And speaking as someone who hated Lord of the Flies: thank god that they do. 

Wilder Girls was a truly exciting read -- the plot kept me hooked the entire way through, and the characters were interesting and engaging. I thought the world-building was interesting and the different twists were essential in continuously raising stakes throughout the book. I think my only complaint is that

the ending does feel a bit underwhelming. It sort of leaves the book open to a sequel, but not enough so that I felt it was a good ending. It reads more like the author just didn't know how to end the book so it was left ambiguous.

But besides that, I still thoroughly enjoyed Wilder Girls, and it definitely defied my expectations in a good way.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Self harm, Terminal illness, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Suicide, Gun violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Violence, Death, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, and Confinement

Minor: Torture and Vomit

sareidle's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Terminal illness, Murder, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Grief, Dysphoria, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Animal death, Self harm, and Physical abuse

wynnie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Violence, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Gun violence and Medical content

Minor: Torture, Self harm, Vomit, and Suicide

fanboyriot's review against another edition

dark 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

3.0

I’ve had this book for a while and just got around to reading.  Naturally, I went into it knowing nothing, as one does.  To say it was not what I was expecting was an understatement.  The plot did have a promise, there were some things that seemed all too realistic in a horror-ish paranoid way.  The setting was done nicely at least.

Honestly, most of what I didn’t like was the ending.  We got no answers for anything really, and it left with absolutely no resolution.  It just felt like it was dragged out and then it just ended.  The switching POV I normally really like just didn’t work for me; they just seemed too close to one another and a few pages in I’d forget which character it even was.

(First Person POV)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Genocide, Death, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Torture, Body horror, Gore, Blood, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Animal death, Confinement, Chronic illness, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Child death, and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Ableism, Vomit, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Cursing, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, War, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, and Eating disorder

sapphire_dreams's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

This is literally one of the best books I ever read!! It’s chilling, dark and kinda a coming of age. I ADORED the characters and the whole story was so well constructed. The whole of Raxter and the dynamic between the girls was SO GOOD!! I genuinely loved it 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Torture, Death, Genocide, Gore, Blood, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Self harm, and Abandonment

eddiroll's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Suicide, Death of parent, Gore, Body horror, and Violence

Minor: Torture

f2c's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Gun violence, Child death, Violence, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Murder, and Kidnapping

sinaprst's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

this was ok
i picked this up because i liked the cover, so i knew basically nothing about the story whatsoever going into this

in short: the book is about a boarding school on an island were somesort of virus or diseases spread, that lead to several students and teachers dying while others grew second body parts or similar stuff. now the school and island have been on lock down for i believe 18 months, while the government tries to find a cure (alledgedly). we follow our main character Hetty and her friends Bryce (i think is her name) and Reese while they trie to survive and figure out what is going on the island.

first of all, i loved the writing style. the author used some interesting choices, especially with the second pov character later on, that might not be for everyone, but i absolutly adored them. 

the beginning is very slow. the first like 60 pages felt like ages to me, because nothing really happens except for pages over pages of exposition and world building.
but after that i got hooked and couldn`t put it down 

nonetheless i felt like the book lacked some depth in some parts. i couldn`t really connect to any of the characters and in end still felt like i knew nothing about them, eventhough the story is very character driven

the sapphic lovestory also felt very out of the blue

and literally lasted like under 24h in book time????

. i was all in all very disappointing to read and i was hoping for more. 

 

the ending was also very open and left me with more questions then answers honestly. i also wished that Bryce was really dead, her suddenly being still alive felt weird to me, idk why tho. 
also, did Hetty and Reese really just leave the rest of the girls to die on the island, when they literally scolded the headmistress and this other girl for the exact same thing just like one page before that??? this behaviour really confused and is probably one of the reasons why the ending felt so weird to me.

 

all in all, i loved the cover, premise and writing style, but the characters felt shallow, the lovestory underdeveloped and the ending questionable, therefore well deserved 3/5 stars from me :)

edit: i have just found out that her name is Byatt and not Bryce 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Violence, Vomit, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Medical content, Murder, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Cursing and Grief

Minor: Torture

sifairi's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

I really enjoyed this book, but It felt very slow for me. About 3/4 of the way through it does pick up and then I couldn't put it down.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Abandonment, Blood, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Self harm, and Torture

parkerluck's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.75

This was fine. It was a quick read with some neat concepts that don't really get dug into. I didn't find Hetty particularly compelling and the plot beats were all pretty par the course for a story like this. Didn't really have the tension/descent to warrant the Lord of the Flies billing, honestly. 

I also found it distracting that

the bear was just a photocopy of the Annihilation bear?? No one wanted to make that a different animal during the editing process?

Something I might rec to a younger family member as gateway horror, but not something I will remember for long now that I'm finished it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Self harm

Minor: Murder, Torture, and Animal death