Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

180 reviews

cartermon4's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

emmonsannae's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was PERFECT! The haunted-ikea vibe is impeccable, the haunting is scary and well executed, the plot is the perfect length, the characters are lovable and develop beautifully, and it’s funny! Not to mention the ikea catalog graphics. The entire thing is inventive and a delight to explore. Such a great reading experience!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Torture, and Forced institutionalization

inakar's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Torture, Forced institutionalization, and Fire/Fire injury

theizzyfrost's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Bit of a damp squid of an ending if I’m honest but give Grady Hendrix his flowers for innovative physical book design that is relevant to and legitimately enhanced the experience of the story

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Torture, Forced institutionalization, and Injury/Injury detail

cosmicpanda's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Self harm, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Medical content and Murder

mj452's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Misogyny, Sexual content, and Alcohol

katlam_24's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I just finished this, and it’s the first horror book I’ve read in a while. I really really hated and loved this book so much. I don’t ever want to read it again, but I will talk about it for years to come. It was so unique right off the bat. I expected this to be a dumb and silly little haunted IKEA, which it was initially and drew me in. The characters felt real but I didn’t realize how much I liked them until I wasn’t sure they’d make it out. Once it got ugly, it got UGLY. There were a handful of times I physically squirmed and had to put the book down because I could FEEL the disgusting gory bits in my mind. I usually read romance and fantasy books and they tend to feel repetitive after a while so I like to throw in a book like this to shake things up. This one for sure did the trick. I want to crawl under the covers and read sweet books until the urge to shake things up grips me again. I highly recommend reading this book if you want suspense, gore, disgust, humor, and just overall a terrifying good bad time

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

renicula's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

astrangewind's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.75

As an avid IKEA fan, I found the premise of Horrorstor to be captivating. Orsk is a perfect reflection of the home-goods-paradise-slash-capitalistic-hellscape that does resemble a panopticon, in some ways. 

There's a lot of subtle horror in this kind of labyrinthine store that Hendrix explores. For example,

Matt and Amy getting turned around in the showrooms, the fake doors opening impossibly into long concrete hallways, and the general eerieness of being in an empty store at night

. However, I wish the book remained this subtle. I wish I came out of it with a quiet, haunted feeling that follows me when I go to an IKEA-like store. Instead...

I got ghosts

. To his credit, Hendrix tried to humanize the more boring parts

such as the bit with the ectoplasm pouring out of Trinity's mouth

, but the whole trope of "structure is on top of a place where a bunch of people died" is a little bit lame. 

I did like the ending, though. Good character development, good creep factor. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide and Torture

Minor: Death, Drug use, Slavery, Blood, and Excrement

tifftastic87's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Amy works for a soulless beige big box furniture retailer and she really dislikes it. Her goal was not to be here, but to go to college. However, coming from a low income family that's not always so easy. Crushed with student debt and bills she can never seem to catch up, she dreams of the "sit down job." She's determined to put in minimal effort and Orsk and just go along to get along. Until the day she gets offered roughly $800 in cash to put in an overnight shift to figure out what is causing some weird things to be happening. Amy agrees and shows up for the overnight with her supervisor and a lovely sweet cashier. They're surprised by two other employees who have snuck in to do their own research. What is in store is worse than a casual haunting, this runs deep. 

Another great take on capitalism by setting a tense story inside an Ikea knock-off. I only wish I read this closer to Finna. Hendrix did a really good job of using the exact types of people that I have found at every retail job I have ever had and perfectly expressing how soul crushing retail is. The way corporations treat their employees and how society views productivity in general. I really appreciated this one. It was also gory and made me squirm in just the right amount.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Misogyny and Racism