Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo

100 reviews

readingwithgoose's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

4.0

Chapter 14......Lee Mandelo you will always be famous

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Transphobia, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Rape, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death

jellybeans19's review

challenging dark fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

xan_van_rooyen's review

dark emotional medium-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

3.5

What started out as a historical novel set in Appalachia took an unexpected turn and somehow wound up a

sexy werewolf novel complete with beast-mode erotic scenes. I was not prepared for this and the tone of the story seemed to shift quite dramatically toward the end. I'm glad our two trans masc protagonists got their happy ending but I just wish the book was longer and had delved deeper into the characters and the lore behind the werewolf.

As it is, it felt rush and the best, magical parts seemed to have been skimmed over in favor of the sensual scenes.

An interesting historical read with a dash of the paranormal.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Deadnaming, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

This book contains some pretty explicit sexual scenes between a trans man and a humanoid werewolf creature in his shape-shifted beast form.

madscientistcat's review

dark mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Dysphoria

Minor: Animal death, Physical abuse, and Racism

dehydratedfarmer's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

TLDR: The trans romance promised in the synopsis is between the 30-year-old main character and an 18-year-old boy with trauma. If the book had been advertised as "trans age-gap monster-fucking Appalachian small-town religious bigotry historical revenge horror," it would have reached its ideal audience.

I loved Summer Sons, and I really wanted to love this book. Transmasc/T4T Appalachian gothic horror sounded like the book of my dreams, and that is indeed a true descriptor for The Woods All Black, but there were a couple things I couldn't get past.

I'd taken a look at the content warnings previously, but I didn't discover an important detail until too late. There were warning signs when the main character Leslie was first revealed to be 30, and later, Stevie as 18, but it still caught me off guard later on because I simply didn't think the story would go there. Leslie and Stevie start a sexual relationship, all the while with Leslie continuing to refer to Stevie as "boy" and "youth." While Stevie is technically a legal adult, the severe age gap personally made me uncomfortable, especially considering Stevie's vulnerable and traumatized status (which becomes increasingly clear as his backstory is revealed). My bad for not doing enough research in an attempt not to spoil the book for myself, I guess.

Structurally, The Woods All Black seems to meander like the many backwoods trails described within it, while the advertised horror remains an underlying element that feels more like creepy atmospheric background than active suspense — though it did ramp up toward the end. The trans representation was good, if painful to read in a setting constrained by 1920s bigotry, and it was interesting to experience the perspective of a trans person before much of the modern-day language to describe queer identities was available. The book's atmosphere feels true to its historical setting, touching upon issues of oppression and societal expectations common to that era, but many of the characters were flat and lacked defining features, while the overarching plot was vague and largely directionless.

Oh, and there was graphic monster fucking. Multiple pages of it. Which wasn't even what bothered me, just was completely unexpected in a huh, well that's happening now kind of way. If the book had been advertised as "trans age-gap monster-fucking Appalachian small-town religious bigotry historical revenge horror," it would have reached its ideal audience, which was not me, unfortunately. Someone will dearly love this book, and I'm happy for them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Homophobia, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, and Pregnancy

belladonnashrike's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

2.75

unfortunately very underwhelming. the horror was barely present after a lackluster buildup and I am left disappointed.

I think that mandelo wrote queerness in the 30s/40s(?) very well and I enjoyed that aspect a lot! the writing there reminded me of a pride & prejudice retelling, most ardently, by gabe cole novoa. and I’m also a big fan

of the whole shapeshifting being an allegory for transitioning!

but everything else wasn’t particularly great, honestly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Transphobia

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Minor: Animal death, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

imchelsi's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? N/A

2.75

A case of "wtf did i just read" for sure.  I so wanted to love this one for what it was described to be, queer Appalachian folk horror. But it didn't focus much on the horror and was mostly just poor character development and ill-timed, lengthy sex scenes (I feel like such a hater 😭). 

The only reason I didn't dnf this is that it was such a short read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Hate crime, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

lyriumbones's review against another edition

dark fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming and Transphobia

Moderate: Gore, Sexual assault, and Violence

qpqdelia's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A tense read that left me wanting more. A story of revenge and comeuppance. Feels very relevant today. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault

Minor: Homophobia, Torture, Excrement, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and War

aglaeca's review against another edition

dark sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

This was a read that I found very self indulgent. I don’t think it will be for every reader, as I think a lot of what I loved about it was its resonance with my own experiences. However, it hit all the right notes for me, and was fast paced and felt like a light, cathartic read despite some heavier subject matter. The age gap could be upsetting to some but I didn’t find it particularly dwelled on or sexualized myself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Transphobia, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Rape, Abortion, and Pregnancy