Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Ritual by Adam L.G. Nevill

14 reviews

broccoli_aesthetics's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

The first part in the woods is very tense and interesting. The stalking creature is damn scary and the characters are flashed out really well. Unfortunately I feel that the second part of the book falls flat:

the black metal band is honestly too stereotyped to be interesting

and I felt like it killed the mood.
The book then gets better again near the end

with moder and the white children

Overall, i still enjoyed the book quite a bit. 4/5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Body horror, and Blood

Minor: Fatphobia, Body shaming, Racism, and Homophobia

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

---

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 

---

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

---

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

sunduck's review

dark sad tense medium-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

4.25

Act 1 is absolutely solid. Act 2 has great moments but feels out of place.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Animal death, Vomit, Violence, Stalking, and Murder

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. 

---

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.

---

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

hagss's review

dark emotional 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

3.0

I thought the plot and storyline was really great. But not so much the body shaming and misogynistic view of one of the only female characters or the use of slurs.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Minor: Fatphobia, Misogyny, and Body shaming

raychelbennet's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-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? Yes

1.0

 If (like me) you decided to read this book because you enjoyed the movie so much, do yourself a favor and don't do that. 

Here's what Adam Nevill told me is the worst horror in the world: being fat. Being fat is the most monstrous thing about humanity. We're going to overlook the cool, tree-like monster thing and instead talk about the fat, flubby, and/or chubby bodies of people in nearly every single sentence. It's exhausting. It's fatphobic. It ruins the whole book IMO

The *real* cincher for me though was when--for absolutely no reason other than to be a creep--Neville decided to describe a teen girl as having a doughy, yogurty-smelling c*nt. I'm going to go vomit somewhere to get that sentence out of my head.

This is another book I wish I hadn't read. Usually I can find some redeeming qualities, but the bad far outweighs the good. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Torture, Confinement, Violence, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Ableism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Classism, and Gore

Moderate: Violence and Animal death

danimacuk's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Cursing, Death, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Gore, and Gun violence

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Grief, and Confinement