Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Merciless Waters by Rae Knowles

3 reviews

semisinful's review

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

1.5

I felt no connection to any of the characters other than Yinka and we were stuck with Jaq’s inconsistent ass perspective. I personally found all the character’s to have extremely similar voices and I just couldn’t stand much of the prose. I was interested in the middle for a while but the beginning and the ending SUCKED. Every “love” scene felt like SA. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Homophobia, Outing, Gore, Gaslighting, Body horror, Colonisation, Violence, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Biphobia, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Lesbophobia

vixenreader's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

2.75

The ending is a bit anti-climatic and it is hard to read about such a toxic relationship. Written more as a first draft than a complete piece, it definitely needed some rewrites, even if there was potential. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Abandonment, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexism, Torture, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Alcohol, Stalking, and Suicide attempt

Be aware that there are scenes of drowning, death of a sibling, romantic manipulation, strangulation, and explicit sapphic sex.

hailstorm3812's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this book. It has a dark fairy tale vibe that was so much fun to float through. It has a kind of lyrical prose that really helps with removing the elements of reality and join the crew, regardless of their horrendous acts. We are supporting women's wrongs here. Jaq can be petty and jealous and murderous if she wants. That does include Lily since I love a toxic sapphic even though she really is quite mean sometimes. I did get a little nervous in the beginning that we were leaning into bisexual stereotypes but I think it is made clear that this is how Lily would always behave as a way to get to Jaq. I wish we had spent more time with the rest of the crew and gotten their stories. It's a really short books so I think we could have spent more time here. I also think a missed opportunity is not interrogating that they all died in groups of two. I wasn't super familar with the lore so it was very fun to dive into this mythology. I also loved the ending, even if the twist was a bit predictable. Overall I had a great time, and it is perfect for spooky season. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Death, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Body horror, Suicide attempt, Outing, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Death, Sexual content, Sexism, and Physical abuse