Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Compound by Aisling Rawle, Aisling Rawle

54 reviews

tarareadsalot's review against another edition

4.0

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Mental illness, Murder, Alcohol

Minor: War

nailartklaudia's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship

Moderate: Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content

ladieswholunch's review against another edition

4.75

challenging reflective tense

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Infidelity, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: War

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship

ehindmon's review against another edition

4.0

dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Man, I really enjoyed reading this book. All the characters were kind of train wrecks of human beings and it was really hard for me to put the book down and go to sleep. I just kept needing to see what craziness they’d get up to next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexism

Minor: Gore, Sexual content, Vomit, Sexual harassment, War

booklovingcatmom's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death

There is a scene where they capture ducks and break their necks.

issymaae's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Racism, Sexual content, War

mandas_bookcorner's review against another edition

3.75

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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The Compound follows Lilly, a young woman waking up in a remote desert compound with nineteen strangers, all competing in a high-stakes reality competition. As the game progresses, seemingly simple tasks evolve into dangerous, morally questionable situations, and Lilly must decide how far she’s willing to go to win. 

Overall, the book started strong and gave me major Love Island meets Big Brother vibes, with a touch of Nerve. I was hooked until chapters 15/16 when the plot took a chaotic turn that lessened my enjoyment, ultimately dropping my rating to 3.75 stars. It’s a great fit for reality TV fans who enjoy suspense, but even I—an avid reality TV viewer—found the chaos a bit overwhelming. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Racism, Sexual content, War

hellokaley's review against another edition

4.0

dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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What a wildly weird book. I don’t know if I would have picked this one up on my own, but it was the perfect compulsive read, especially after coming off of two books I didn’t care for. Fans of reality TV will feel right at home as the plot line is a reality TV show drawing similar themes from Big Brother / Love Island, while having the high stakes dystopian elements of Lord of the Flies / The Hunger Games. It’s a slow burn and the beginning is a bit hard to really get into with so many characters, but as the people whittle down and the stakes get higher, it’s gripping. There are elements of a psychological thriller where it is written to make you feel squirmy uncomfortable and it did. Deeper themes of consumerism, overconsumption, performativity, and surveillance are present and will definitely get you feeling and thinking. The ending was a bit of a bore for me, but I enjoyed the slow burn that escalated until it was boiling over. An unexpectedly bingeable and unique debut!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood

Moderate: Animal death, Infidelity

lilacs_read's review against another edition

2.5

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Loved the first half and the love island vibes but the second half felt like it lacked the depth ot needed to continue the story in a compelling way, the second half was trying to lean into the dystopia vibes but it didnt get deep enough for me. It was a good interesting read, just not enough depth for it to be a favorite.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail

snowmuzu's review against another edition

3.25

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Misogyny, Violence

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: War