Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Ruinsong by Julia Ember

4 reviews

qraveline's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Blood

Moderate: Torture, Gore, Violence, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Lesbophobia, Abortion, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Body horror, War, Genocide, and Cancer

sarah984's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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? No

3.0

I thought this was a really fun idea for a story, and the singing magic was cool. Everything was tense and the stakes felt high. Most of the characters were interesting.

However, the characters we spend our time focused on are probably the least interesting of the bunch. They spend a lot of time complaining and making impulsive decisions (and then complaining that people don't trust them not to make impulsive decisions) and you only kind of hear about other characters doing cool things in the background. The ending wraps up extremely fast so a lot of the victories don't really feel earned. I get the idea of noting every character’s skintone instead of making special note of who wasn't white, but it really drove home how white the core cast still was so I don't know if it helped.

Also this is a nitpick but if you're retelling Phantom of the Opera and you drop ZERO chandeliers? You're doing it wrong.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Abortion, Death of parent, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, and Sexual content

sun_hearth's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Alcohol

I would say that there are themes of emotional grooming here but it’s not a content warning tag here

caidyn'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I've been excited about this book since I started hearing about it. A dark, queer story about magic and breaking out of an abusive realm? Sounds fantastic. It fell a bit short of my expectations, but it was still a good read. I'm not quite sure exactly what I expected, but I felt that the book could have used a bit more polishing. Such as, with the worldbuilding and pacing. At times it was an infodump and that really jacked with the pacing. Still, it's a good standalone fantasy that I would gladly revisit one day!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Abortion