Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Extasia by Claire Legrand

17 reviews

amris's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual assault, Gore, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Sexual content, Torture, Body horror, Death of parent, Grief, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence

Minor: War

aseel_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

2.5

Kind of odd to mix a super patriarchal society/witches with a dystopian type of world. Not really sure how I feel about that. I liked the witchy and queer elements of it but the overall plot wasn't as smooth as It could have been. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Lesbophobia, Blood, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual harassment, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Torture, Sexual content, Violence, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, and Religious bigotry

sav_22's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I very much enjoyed this book. I would describe it as Fear Street 1666 meets handmaid’s tale meets Ethel Cain’s Preachers Daughter. This is very much a deep dive into processing systemically rooted oppression of women, and explores the craving for justice to the extreme. I think if you like June  (Handmaids tale) as a protagonist, you’d enjoy many of these characters. My main gripe is

the underland plot twist. Unless there is a sequel she meant to set up to justify that plot point and further explore, then imo it just as easily could have been removed and replaced with them finding out that the devil is just a symbol of people that assert misery and domination over others or something.

  the pacing was also a weakness but overall it’s an interesting concept and a compelling read 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexism, Child abuse, Grief, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Death of parent, War, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death, Child death, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Confinement, Abandonment, and Adult/minor relationship

kazli's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

gay witches with religious trauma, what more could you want?
I loved the world-building and the female characters fighting for what they deserve.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Violence, Bullying, and Body horror

lvjysunday's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Murder, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Gore, Physical abuse, and Death

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Minor: Grief and Animal death

This book deals with a lot of heavy topics.

karenreadsbooks's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Misogyny

Moderate: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

sarah984's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

1.0

I was so excited to read this because I loved Sawkill Girls but this book did not work for me.

First of all I think it's kind of cowardly to set this book in the context it winds up being set in and not explicitly make the cult religion Christianity. The society isn't described particularly well; the book is so long and drags on but so many things are glossed over so there's not much of an idea what their everyday life is like. I kind of wish that Amity had had a few "normal" visitations and other duties as a saint before it all hit the fan.

The characters are all cardboard cutouts (the only one I found mildly interesting was the

second POV character

and she's only in a couple of chapters near the end), the witches feel pointless (their entire role could easily have been fulfilled by other characters who were already present) and the romance is very silly.

The magic system isn't well set up and basically just works however the plot needs it to. The plot itself just does whatever to get to the next point - I never understood why Amity was so set on meeting the devil in the first place.

Also it's annoying going into a book that says it's about revenge and righteous anger and then having the message be that we need to be nice to bigots because maybe they don't know that racism and misogyny are bad. I almost wish racism hadn't come up at all because it's handled so clumsily

- there are like 3 (marginally) important Black characters because the founders of Amity's cult were white supremacists, but of those characters 1 dies and 1 is a villain, and since Amity only even found out Black people existed like last week the cult's racism isn't super plot relevant. Two different revolutions happen basically off page so the author doesn't have to try and explain how they did that without hurting anyone's feelings.

Also the sequel hook was stupid. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Bullying, Cannibalism, Confinement, Grief, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Racism, and Self harm

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Vomit, and War

archaicrobin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.0

I was a little weary after hearing this was YA because every YA I read usually ends up being some cliche love triangle filled with tropes, so I was happily surprised when Extasia was so visceral and original. 

Set in a misogynistic utopia of the future called Haven, Amity is a devout follower of God, even allowing herself to be beaten weakly to atone for her womanly sins. However, once she stumbles upon a coven in the woods and her own powers, Amity starts to realize that everything she once believed is a lie. 

Extasia does not shy away from the horror in Haven, and at times I had to remind myself that yes even though I just read about someone’s bones being snapped in half this is a YA book! It was genuinely eerie and disturbing, and the characters were not only lovable but diverse! So much representation in this book, and it’s done so well. 

I highly recommend this one! Only reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars, is because towards the end the story tends to drag on and I feel like it could have ended much 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Sexism, Death, Domestic abuse, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Body horror, Sexual violence, Violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Emotional abuse

kryzysowa_narzeczona's review against another edition

dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Religious bigotry, Torture, Physical abuse, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Death, Child death, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Confinement, and Infidelity

Minor: Homophobia and Sexual harassment

micaelamariem's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

 

Last month, I ordered a one-time book box from the Unplugged Book Box. They are a book box focused on self-care, and in it I recieved beautiful smelling lotion and perfume as well as a copy of Extasia by Claire Legrand (published by Katherine Tegan Books). Due to the packaging, it made the read even more pleasant with a heady aroma on each page.

But more about the actual book.

Claire Legrand is a former musican turned author with eleven published novels under her belt. She tends to focus on darker and grittier subjects for middle grade and young adult audiences. However, her debut into the adult fantasy world is coming with the Middlemist trilogy, releasing in spring 2023.

Extasia is a young adult horror novel with a specific focus on religious trauma. When the World That Once Was came to an end, God spared one community of people to create Haven and live by His ways. The main character, who goes through a series of names, is about to be annointed a Saint. She hopes with her sainthood she can stop the evil that has been leaking into her village, killing men. But there are dark beasts that follow her and a dark power seeks her out.

I am quite new to the horror genre as a reader. I’ve always interacted with horror tv shows and haunted houses and reading dark fantasy, but I haven’t read a lot of actual horror. So, I’m not quite sure by what criteria I should review this by. It did have a great gothic dark atmosphere, perfect for the witchiness of the plotline. There were also plenty of gory scenes, for those more inclined to body horror. I will say that I personally didn’t find it scary so much as compelling and enticing, where I wanted to turn the pages to see what happens next. However, I’m weird and don’t scare by things that ought to be scary.

I also loved the themes of this book. As someone that has encountered a bit of religious trauma myself, I am curious and like to read about religious horror or books with religious themes–whether for good or for bad. But what really drew me in was the main character’s lesson that things in the world was not all black and white and that perhaps we all have a darkness inside of us.

I thought the main character’s development was really done as she went from someone blindly following what she’d been taught to opening her eyes and questioning everything, even herself. The other characters, however, were not as nuanced. Still, my favorite characters–Blessing and Samuel–didn’t disappoint me.

There were a few minor things that bothered me about this book. It bothered me that all the feminine names were nouns–Temperance, Rage, Hunger, Blessing, etc. It felt like we were too on the nose with these names, really overteaching the lessons of the book with their name changes. There were also a few minor inconsistencies–like when the girls had to write something and could despite saying they never learned their letters. And also, the main character’s father didn’t make sense to me, in some ways. There were a few scenes that made his whole arc confusing to me.

Overall, I’m giving this book three stars. It was good and I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t something I’m obsessed with nor can I ignore the flaws.

Some other forms of art this book reminded of: The Grace Year by Kim Liggett, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, The 100.

Trigger warnings: body horror/gore; violence against women; domestic violence; forced imprisonment; attempted rape; torture; cannibalism; someone being burnt alive; death of a parent; religious trauma. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Religious bigotry, Gore, Sexism, Torture, Violence, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Bullying, Cannibalism, Infidelity, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Homophobia, Rape, Child death, and Sexual assault