Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

107 reviews

archivegf's review against another edition

This book was recommended to me from horror booktok and this is not a horror book for sure but that’s not the reason why it wasn’t good the reason that I did not finish was that it was simply boring. The narration drag on, the plot seemed to have been going nowhere and honestly it was just flat the book gave me nothing. The reason so many people recommend this book was because it’s disturbing but the only disturbing thing about it is the amount of talk about killing animals and if that makes you uncomfortable then obviously that would be something you would classify as a fucked up book but when you take that factor out of the book the plot is just insanely boring. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

kayleyb's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Animal death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, and Violence

dmsullivan's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

 So, I think I enjoyed this...as much as one can enjoy a book that includes graphic descriptions of murder, animal cruelty, and genital mutilation.

Frank is not someone you want to be around, but it was interesting getting into his mindset, his daily routines and the rational of why he would do the things that he did (as terrifying and gruesome as they were).

This is a pretty short book, but at times it did feel a little too long with some of the descriptions of the mundane parts of his day. I wish the author would have used some of that space to give a little more background on the "twist" ending, which felt a bit rushed. And while Eric was terrifying, I personally wanted some sort of "answer" by the end, which we really didn't get. (I kept looking to see how many pages were left and wondering if we were going to get any answers by the end). However, this is the first book I've read by Banks (not the last) and this is possibly his writing style. Stories don't necessarily have to have an "end" to be thought-provoking. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Torture, and Death

americattt's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Racism and Misogyny

keerak's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence

_egg_wash's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child death, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Murder, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny and Gaslighting

thomasdj's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, Murder, Torture, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Domestic abuse, and Body horror

Moderate: Misogyny

indiaautumn's review against another edition

dark tense

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Misogyny

smolpye's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty

Moderate: Gore and Animal death

carlyalynnsia's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

1.0

If you like or can cope with books narrated by psychopaths, you might really enjoy this one. It came to me highly recommended and I’ll grant that the main character is certainly interesting. 

I was curious to find out more about Frank’s internal logic, but ultimately, his calculated killing of animals, including three children, became too disturbing and put me off. I put the book down.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Murder, Animal death, and Child death