Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Mary: An Awakening of Terror by Nat Cassidy

41 reviews

theimposter's review

mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Body horror, Bullying, Animal death, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Death, Rape, Misogyny, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, and Torture

neptunianram's review

dark

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

3.5

forcefully written with depictions of violence against women so clear i felt i had to look away from the page. an engaging story, but maybe horror novels are something i only read once or twice a year for a reason…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Murder, Gore, and Body horror

wylovat's review

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Bullying, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Child death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Animal death, Confinement, Blood, Cursing, Body horror, Body shaming, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Violence, Death, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Vomit, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Xenophobia

archaicrobin's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Mary is about a sincerely weird middle aged woman with identity issues who returns to her verbally abusive aunt’s home in hopes of reliving her past and finding out who she is. Unfortunately, Mary is tied to the town in ways she never expected and is haunted not just by her past, but by actual malevolent spirits only she can see. 

This one is a gory, weird, humorous, and empowering novel about how society views middle aged woman mixed with a violent twisted cult led by a misogynistic serial killer and kooky townspeople. 

Mary was hard for me to get into at first just because Mary herself it is not very likable to begin with and the story moves a little slowly. However, I stuck with it and I’m glad I did because once things start happening they don’t stop! I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed this one, and recommend it to anyone looking for a horror novel that’s disturbing and twisty but feminist and reflective.  Check content warnings for sure, this one is gory. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Misogyny, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Death of parent, Child abuse, Sexism, Animal death, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Chronic illness, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, and Gore

morganmay's review

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

I absolutely loved this book. If you read it you HAVE to read the author’s notes (one at the beginning and one at the end) as they are a huge part of the reason I loved this. I won’t give too much away, but it definitely went a different direction than I predicted and I will keep parts of Thai book with me forever.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Abandonment, Sexism, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Cancer, Death of parent, Body horror, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Ableism, Animal death, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Torture, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Stalking, Misogyny, Bullying, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Violence, and Trafficking

cantfindmybookmark's review

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Murder, Torture, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Death, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexism

jamieleepilk's review

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Animal cruelty, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

erinxmegan's review

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Blood and Gore

lizunfair's review

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual assault, Body horror, Gore, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny

enchantressreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

“There’s a corpse in the bathtub.”
What an opening sentence.

The town of Arroyo, Arizona has a strange vibe to it—the residents seem slightly strange, and there’s a giant house in the center of town where brutal murders took place. Mary Mudgett was born the day these murders took place, and returns to Arroyo near her fiftieth birthday. Mary is a strange woman. She doesn’t have a lot of friends and prefers the company of her porcelain dolls, or her Loved Ones. She can’t look women in the eye, because if she stares too long, their faces begin to melt into terrifying effigies of themselves.

The plot of Mary is fascinating. I love any book that has a strange small town with some secrets, but Mary herself was really frustrating. She’s supposed to be a fifty year old woman, but she seems more like an overgrown teenager. (Further into the story we learn some other things that make this even worse, but those are spoilers.) I understand that she’s a flawed character with some trauma, but it really doesn’t explain some of the choices she made. I’m glad she had some character growth, but by the end, I really wasn’t a big fan.

I also wish we could have seen more about the original murders. I knew they weren’t the main point of the story, but maybe a little more background would have helped me get into the story before Mary was introduced. Even though I’ve given Mary a three star rating, I still recommend it to anyone who loves a nice small town with secrets they hide from outsiders. There’s also a haunted house, and some creepy kids.

Thank you to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the chance to read this advanced review copy. All opinions are my own.

CW for animal death, murder, blood, gore, body horror, misogyny, animal cruelty, sexual assault, sexual violence, racism, and homophobia

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Animal death, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Sexual violence, Misogyny, and Sexual assault

Minor: Homophobia and Racism