Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Ritual by Adam L.G. Nevill

21 reviews

charlieeee's review against another edition

dark tense slow-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? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Body shaming, Cursing, Xenophobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Fatphobia, Religious bigotry, Confinement, and Sexism

Minor: Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, and Kidnapping

The first part was fabulous. Some really good examinations of people growing apart; philosophy of life (for male-socialised people anyway); it was tense and had some great metaphors and other strong writing. And then part two happened where I would have sworn I was reading a completely different book altogether! The metaphors were over the top, made no sense in the context of the scene and the characters were really stereotypical - and the less about ‘Surtr’ and the constant repetition about her breasts, body and ‘smell’ of her genitalia the better. Was so disappointed by part two. So so disappointed.

And the reveal of the big beastie ‘the god’ in the woods at the end was such a let down. Everything was leading up to this point and the pay off was so disappointing - we barely get a paragraph. There’s letting your mind fill in the blanks and then there’s this.

aus10england's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

1.5

LOOOOONG BORINGGGGGGG

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Death

Moderate: Animal death

rivercat0338's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Physical abuse, Death, Blood, Body horror, Torture, Kidnapping, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Body shaming, and Gun violence

snazzy10101's review

challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.5

the vibes are wonderful (including the second half with the black metal band, i liked the change of pace) and the descriptions are baller. 
however. none of the characters are remotely likeable, and there are 2  female characters (one old lady, and one teen girl who is fat shamed AND sexualised).
there’s a lot of fat phobia 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Violence, Death, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Gore, Misogyny, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Murder, Addiction, Alcohol, Grief, Antisemitism, and Cultural appropriation

pastelbread's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Animal death, Death, Violence, Body horror, Blood, Torture, Fatphobia, Excrement, and Addiction

bumblebeefarts's review

 It just seems like the author really dislikes both fat people and women. Don’t even get him started on fat women. 

On top of all that, it’s way longer than it needed to be. Broken up by some scary moments in the first half that made me hope it would be worth finishing. This hope was unfounded. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Moderate: Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexism, and Ableism

Minor: Alcohol and Alcoholism

seapotatohowisitalrtaken's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Homophobia, Gun violence, Violence, Death, Gore, Blood, Cursing, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death

nutmegandpumpkin's review against another edition

I just found none of the characters likable and the pace to be extremely slow. As much as I wanted to finish it because it wasn’t that long of a book, I had to be real with myself that I wasn’t finding it enjoyable. Dare I say the most sinful thing a reader can say? “The movie was better.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, and Blood

Moderate: Vomit

archaicrobin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

Adam Nevill is one of my favorite horror authors and The Ritual is a perfect example why. Nevill has amazing characterizations, suspenseful storytelling, and a plot with so many layers it’s hard to put down! 

Four college bros meet up again years later for a holiday weekend hiking in Sweden. The four all have unresolved tensions, which linger over the holiday, and worsen the trip. In hopes of ending it early, they decide to take an uncharted path through the forest. But what once seemed like a good idea quickly darkens as the four realize the forest is off in some way, and much bigger than anticipated. And there’s something following them …..

I love creature features, especially when the creature is based on regional lore. The Ritual has an excellent mix of survival horror and supernatural horror woven into myth and lore native to Norway and Sweden. The descriptions of the unknown creature that lurks in these woods alongside the slowly crumbling friendship of these men is truly horrifying.

Survival horror and Supernatural horror are my favorite genres, so to see the two combined so well was perfect. 

If you enjoy dark fantasy, supernatural horror, or survival horror I would recommend The Ritual for its excellent storytelling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Blood, Dysphoria, Murder, Death, Body horror, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Gun violence, Sexism, and Violence

chessakat's review against another edition

challenging dark tense 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? Yes

3.0

I feel like this was almost two books smashed together. I greatly preferred the first half - so scary and atmospheric! Lots of dread but also just magic, friend tension, drama. 

The second half just epically needed an editor - I think I just got EXTREMELY fatigued by the high state of tension. Like, you can only feel despair and hopelessness for so long before my brain is just like, please, for the love of dog, make something plot-y happen again. It just dragged so so much. I think I just strongly preferred the supernatural scary to the humans. They were so banal.

By the time the end came I was so ready for it to be over that finally seeing the monster was just like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . 

Curious to see the movie adaptation, as I heard it diverges from the book quite a bit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Grief, Physical abuse, Confinement, Fatphobia, Violence, Blood, Body shaming, and Gore