Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Mary: An Awakening of Terror by Nat Cassidy

55 reviews

katiebella_reads's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-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

5⭐️

Trigger warnings ⚠️ 
Animal abuse
Dog murder
Murder
Mutilation 
Blood

Mary is about to be 50, and strange things are happening to her. She is seeing things she shouldn't be seeing. Things that are disturbing. Everyone says it's "textbook " the change. Mary knows it's not. She knows she will have to return to her childhood home to learn the truth.

" I am just a story written in present tense. We all are. We are never finished. "

My Thoughts 

This book is disgusting in all the best ways. Not gag me gross but disturbing and vile. The story seeped into my marrow like an infection.

What hit me the hardest was realizing the whole book takes place in the span of 13 days. April 9th - 20th. It feels like a lot longer. If you're not paying attention to the chapters' headings, you might think it was months, the way the darkness crawls around you.

Wicker Man vibes. Purge vibes. Possession and cult vibes. All the horror vibes I could possibly want wrapped up in one amazing book. Dark atmosphere cruelly contrasts the light that Mary desperately wishes she lived in.

Mary is so well written. It's not often a man can write a woman this well. Especially a woman in the throws of perimenopause. This author has! I could feel and relate to her pain and frustration. She was real in all the best and worst ways. Multidimensional and not glossed over in femal perfection, a lot of authors try to portray.

Not only did he write one female character with depth and realism, but he also wrote many. In all walks of life. Teenage angst to elderly stubbornness. The attributes of the fairer sex are not lost on him. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

richiebow141's review

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

slashergirl90's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

randeerebecca's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I enjoyed this until the last quarter of the book, and then it just got chaotic and confusing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying and Sexism

Minor: Body shaming

athenap92's review

dark medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual violence

erica_reads_things's review

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Holy fucking shit. One of the best horror novels that I have ever read, period. Loved the themes, loved the characters, loved the voice, loved the pacing. Loved everything, absolutely no notes. I enjoyed the gore, the plot, the twists, the dark humor, the grounding themes of women, aging, losing yourself and finding yourself. Phenomenonal. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Medical content, and Death of parent

Minor: Child death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, and Fire/Fire injury

emilythebarwench's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I'm not necssarily a horror fan, but I sailed through this book and couldn't put it down. Would recommend! Quite graphic however..

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

rebrosecca's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

 Disturbing in all the right and wrong ways. I was surprised to learn the author was male considering the main character and 99% of the plot is pre-menopausal women issues. In the end, though, it makes a lot of sense. The misogyny is heavy. The horror is gruesome and uncomfortable. The humor is morbid. The way he paired legit issues about society's portrayal of aging women with gritty, in-your-face violence was unexpectedly confronting. The making of the monsters in this book is chilling and leaves you unsure if the ending is a victory or justice has gotten out of hand. If you want to read something that feels like Stephen King but includes violence against women, this is a solid pick. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

kaitlouise94's review

dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

saccharinewoe's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

something about this book made me feel so much dread at times i was holding my breath, especially with the paranormal stuff lol. had great pacing and was written really well. it was nice to read about an MC that's an older perimenopausal woman (

even if she's got a serial killer in her head

)... i feel like those experiences are often shoved aside or talked about in hush because of how much shame is (unfortunately) tied to aging - which was definitely one of the base motifs in this. i really enjoyed this book a lot and was gagged to the very end lol like it kept me guessing! of course, i would've liked it if it came from the voice of a middle-aged women but as the afterword said - i hope this does open up these conversations so there's more appreciation of that life period for women.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail