Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo

53 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

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

skelepen's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Blood, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Abortion

flamesocks's review against another edition

dark funny tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Fire/Fire injury, and War

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

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

ryuutchi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.75

It's been a while since a book made me feel seen like this

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Homophobia, and Blood

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Rape

jocie_roller's review against another edition

tense

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

1.0

Hm. I don't think I've ever read a book that wrote itself from a 5-star review to a 1-star review in such a liner fashion. And in only 150 pages. Here is a reenactment of my thoughts and their corresponding anticipated star-rating of this book as I thought them:

5-stars: ooh, this book has potential! A non-passing trans man in the 1920s with WWI battlefield nursing experience visits a remote Appalachian town to provide reproductive and gender affirming health care to anyone who needs it, including another young trans man despite threats from a bigoted preacher in a vaguely spooky, gothic setting. Neat!

4-star: Ok, I get it, the vibe is spooky and suspenseful. Please get on with the plot.

3-stars: The two main characters start a sexual relationship with a pretty graphic sex scene. I'm slightly uncomfy about the age gap and power gap relationship. Also, I prefer my novels free of the type of words for body parts and sex acts usually found in porn titles.

2-stars: Oh, goodness, now we've added super gory violence to the egregious sex scenes.

1-star: Was this entire thing just a bestiality/bloody murder/age-gap porno masquerading as a lit fic novella??? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder

brookiehew's review against another edition

hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Blood

Moderate: War

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence