Reviews tagging 'Blood'

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

35 reviews

paulawind's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

What the fuck was this book. Do I so severely lack media literacy skills or intercultural reference skills that most of this book left me thoroughly confused? Paul being a severely unreliable narrator also wasn’t helping to judge the actions and motivations behind them of any character but Pablo. In the end

we find out that Julian genuinely loved Pablo with his whole heart, all cruelty was just Paul’s interpretation, Julian desperately wanted Pablo to love him, even orchestrating murder with him

. Having said that I still don’t understand the motivations of characters by the end. They seemed to be taking 180 every chapter, are they in love, are they not, is Paul just self-loathing or is he actually criminally insane? Getting inside his head made me feel dirty. But then again this is a book, according to the author, about queer isolation and how we are still perceived as “the other”, which is only layered with other marginalisations. And I can see it in the book but there are still so many other points and themes the novel is touching on that leave me confused and they didn’t seemed to be resolved by the end. Or, as I said in the beginning, I just didn’t get it and the metaphors and symbolism was actually really straightforward and I’m just stupid. Which would be very valid, I think ever since exiting academia I am using brain cells at the exponential pace 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Eating disorder, Addiction, Toxic friendship, Violence, Murder, Self harm, Alcohol, Blood, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Car accident, Classism, Homophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

ford_defect's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This book felt like it was written by someone who probably used true crime Tumblr in the early to mid 2010s, jotted down an idea (or maybe started writing it) for one of their problematic OTPs, went to college and learned how to write, and then turned what was initially a fanfic into a literary thriller. As someone who was pretty active on Tumblr in the early to mid 2010s, I did enjoy reading this because of that familiar feeling it gave me.

Like a guy beating up another guy, but intimately??? Saying "I hate you so much" after having passionate sex????? I lived for that kind of thing.

Though, generally I'm more of a plot guy, and the plot isn't very structured (but it really doesn't have to be). This story wasn't boring as a whole, but the prose was dense and boring for me at times. I don't fault the author for it. I think it's that this type of book (character-led--and unlikable characters at that) isn't really my thing, but I have rated it higher than other books that weren't really my thing. And unlike other books that aren't my thing, I am considering getting a copy to re-read sometime in the far future.  

4/5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Murder, Violence, Suicide attempt, Blood, Death, and Suicide

Moderate: Homophobia, Grief, Antisemitism, Body shaming, and Bullying

Minor: Classism and War

ickkayleeb's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Violence, Murder, and Blood

lisaalessandra's review against another edition

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

2.0

This book is deeply disturbing. The content actually made me sick. I started reading this book because it was being compared to “The Secret History”. But if that is why you are considering reading it, please don’t. I decided to give 2 stars instead of 1 because it was well written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Blood, and Gore

ashlikes's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Grief, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, and Homophobia

Moderate: Blood, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Antisemitism, Sexual content, Suicide, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape, Bullying, Sexual violence, Animal death, Sexism, Vomit, and War

dixiecarroll's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

This is stunning, but dense. It’s the secret history, but a little more violent and a lot more gay. I ate it up and it made me feel so many uncomfortable things… and made me question what we’re all capable of. Unreal. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Grief, Gore, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Suicide attempt

aidareads's review

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

this was an interesting read for me. i found the premise engaging and i admit i had high expectations because of leo's (https://www.youtube.com/@TheBookLeo) review, but i still didn't seem to enjoy it as much as she did.
see, i think my main "problem" with this book is that i really, really wanted to absolutely love it. i was expecting a dark academia type of story - and don't get me wrong, they got the dark part very well. it was the academia part that i believe i've been missing. 
also, while i do think julian and paul's toxic and obsessive relationship was quite well portrayed, i struggled to actually connect with them (and, by extension, with any character in the story). i did appreciate how they progressively get more and more unhinged, but they already started off as a bit insane. i didn't really empathize with neither of them, even if i did suffer for them when they did.
also, i don't know if paul is canonically neurodivergent, but he does exhibit MANY autistic traits, which i found curious. 
overall, i did like the book, but i didn't love it, and i also didn't feel like it was a solid 4 stars. i also checked the trigger warnings for it and was still unpleasantly surprised when i noticed how graphic and frequent self-harm is in the story because it wasn't listed when i checked the tags, so please do take care and check those before reading this!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Homophobia, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Antisemitism, Blood, Murder, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, and Drug use

cameronreads's review against another edition

4.0

I don’t quite know how to articulate my thoughts about this book. I can’t even really tell if I liked it, all I know is upon ending it I’ve been left in shock about the entire reading experience. Watching this incredibly toxic relationship progress and reading Paul’s completely unreliable narration felt like watching a train wreck I couldn’t tear my eyes away from. I do think it is excellently and cleverly told; the slow pacing works well for the story, the writing style matches it perfectly, and the unreliable narration that is slowly revealed as more and more unreliable is fantastic. There is something addicting about the relationship between Paul and Julian - they are truly awful together and only bring each other pain but you cannot help but feel so much towards them. I will be thinking about this book for a very long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Homophobia, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Antisemitism, Grief, and Suicide

Minor: Classism and Fire/Fire injury

addyruth17's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

Slowly enthralling, creeping like ivy growing up a brick wall. Many character moments and traits in the beginning that I felt saw right through me, which is scary by the end. Nemerever paints so well with words--I love the color scheme and I enjoy how uncomfortably visceral the senses were. There's a lot of build-up, so the pay-off is a bit disappointing to me; maybe one could argue that's part of the genius, leaving the reader suspended.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Toxic relationship, Death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Cursing, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness

_meganno's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Homophobia