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nightmarekitty13's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
miss_page's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
sonice's review
2.0
1.5 stars. What am I missing people. I've read reviews of this collection and people seem to love it. I can't fathom how. Nearly every one of these short stories suffers from the same problems, which I'm going to get into right now.
First, the unnessessary, pointless, frankly rediculous sexuality that is shoehorned into every tale. I'm not a prude, I'm not a homophobe, but come on man. * Rawhead rex is on a killing spree, and - suddenly masturbating - the town is chasing him down. * A man has just seen a person stuffed into a bathroom stall with his eyes ripped out, and - suddenly trying to bang a hologram - doesnt know if he's gone crazy. * A gay couple are driving along, both interally monologuing how much they dislike each other, when - suddenly buttsexs - they find themselves lost on the wrong road. * I could go on but the amount of random genitalia in this book is outright comical. Which is fine, if you aren't going for tension and terror.
Second, NOBODY ACTS THE WAY REAL PEOPLE ACT. * A woman is making love to her husband in a field, suddenly monsters show up and try to rape her, and she's like 'yes please....' hey husband, you don't mind do you? * A giant made out of human bodies has just killed thousands, and the only surviving witness decides 'you know what? I'm gonna go ahead and hitch a ride on this thing because that seems like fun'. * A man admits to kipnapping and torturing a girl to his friend, who decides 'this is fine' and grabs another beer. * I could go on. The characters in this book are all complete idiots, to the point where I just can't suspend my disbelief enough to feel any kind of connection to anyone.
Third, with only a few exceptions, these stories aren't scary. Not at all. AT. ALL.
How did this guy get so many of these works made into movies?
I have to be missing something, right?
The 1.5 stars I'll give it are only because some of these stories had interesting ideas (although horribly executed), and that SOMEHOW I did actually stay engaged enough to get through the whole thing; mostly through sheer morbid curiosity I think. 1.5/5 would not books of blood again.
First, the unnessessary, pointless, frankly rediculous sexuality that is shoehorned into every tale. I'm not a prude, I'm not a homophobe, but come on man. * Rawhead rex is on a killing spree, and - suddenly masturbating - the town is chasing him down. * A man has just seen a person stuffed into a bathroom stall with his eyes ripped out, and - suddenly trying to bang a hologram - doesnt know if he's gone crazy. * A gay couple are driving along, both interally monologuing how much they dislike each other, when - suddenly buttsexs - they find themselves lost on the wrong road. * I could go on but the amount of random genitalia in this book is outright comical. Which is fine, if you aren't going for tension and terror.
Second, NOBODY ACTS THE WAY REAL PEOPLE ACT. * A woman is making love to her husband in a field, suddenly monsters show up and try to rape her, and she's like 'yes please....' hey husband, you don't mind do you? * A giant made out of human bodies has just killed thousands, and the only surviving witness decides 'you know what? I'm gonna go ahead and hitch a ride on this thing because that seems like fun'. * A man admits to kipnapping and torturing a girl to his friend, who decides 'this is fine' and grabs another beer. * I could go on. The characters in this book are all complete idiots, to the point where I just can't suspend my disbelief enough to feel any kind of connection to anyone.
Third, with only a few exceptions, these stories aren't scary. Not at all. AT. ALL.
How did this guy get so many of these works made into movies?
I have to be missing something, right?
The 1.5 stars I'll give it are only because some of these stories had interesting ideas (although horribly executed), and that SOMEHOW I did actually stay engaged enough to get through the whole thing; mostly through sheer morbid curiosity I think. 1.5/5 would not books of blood again.
astralpastures's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
2.5
ssummar's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Car accident, Infidelity, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual violence, Stalking, Torture, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Child death, Death of parent, Drug use, Cursing, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Sexual content, and Vomit
jesse421's review against another edition
3.0
Fun enough stuff. You can see Barker's writing has influenced a lot of horror writers, and I would guess opened the door (or at least popularized) a lot of taboo topics in horror writing. And when I first read this, maybe 15 years ago, I remember feeling like the overall tone of - "dark horniness," I'll call it - feeling a bit scandalous. Not sure if it was my age, or the times (or both). But reading it now, it's easier to avoid any sort of "shock" value and focus on the stories themselves. Like any collection of short stories there are highs and lows here but ultimately it's a pretty breezy, easy to read collection. There's a few psychological stories in here, but the majority of them revolve around a central monster or supernatural thing - which to me is more fun in a short story setting. Feels more straightforward, and almost quaint. Sometimes the real Monster isn't us, it's actually a Monster. That's not to say there isn't subtext to these stories, but sometimes it's nice to just read about a creature ripping people apart or whatever.
kat_macwhirter's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0