Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer

12 reviews

catspajamas15's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

3.0

First note: Does the dog die? No. But it definitely doesn’t feel like that through the book, so keep your wits up.
Overall, this was a fun read. Kind of a combination of The Ruins, The Descent and The Hunger.
Not super gory, not super scary but I had a good time.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Gore, Alcohol, Body horror, Animal death, and Blood

chainsawheartbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.5

I’m never going hiking in the wilderness again! ⛰️

That was something else. Truly. I don’t think any words I can come up with would be able to describe the horror I felt reading some of that, and the utter fear I felt for the characters. 

I’m going to be completely honest and say that I didn’t like Dylan at the start; I thought she was so well-written and felt so real that I genuinely didn’t care for her, especially when she was so dismissive to Luke (and yes I’m aware that the valley probably had a big part to do with that), but she made me angry.
Yet, by the end, I was routing for her.

There were moments when I forgot I wasn’t in the Kentucky wilderness, and I honestly gripped this book as hard as Dylan gripped that rock face.

I can’t wait to read the next thing Jenny Kiefer releases cause damn! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cannibalism, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Suicide, Blood, Alcohol, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Gore, Vomit, Animal cruelty, and Violence

birdieex's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I'm not a rock climber by any means, so this wasn't a book I could relate to in that way, but I still enjoyed it, even when the lingo flew over my head.

The spook factor deserves 2 stars at least. I'm a sucker for spooky places where people go and don't return or return absolutely traumatized. A trope I can never get enough of, even when we never figure out the mystery to why the environment is hostile. It's just that sense of danger and mystery!

The detail was absolutely engrossing. The description of the environment was gorgeous. The horror was written in a way that made me physically recoil and look away from the book in some cases. (Bugs! Bugs get me!) Every line about the forest was chilling.

I liked the opening telling us immediately that our characters die because it gave the whole journey a sense of dread. As I read, I was constantly attempting to pick up pieces of the puzzle and put it together. I'm also fond of sweary narration, especially if it showcases character personality, so the beginning was amusing to me.
(Examples: 

1. The very first line of this book is "Fucking finally". It adds spice to the character thoughts if they swear and you're adding that to your normal narration.
2. "He'd only managed to become a slightly above-average climber, never having the skills or luck to climb the hard shit-"
3. "So he'd spend the fall inside this cramped, cold-as-fuck, single-engine plane,"

I think you get the idea. It isn't overdone, but it's nicely peppered in there.)

However, as much as I enjoyed all of those elements, there are cons. 

One petty thing that nagged me was when Sylvia, who had a basic medical background, when assessing an ankle and wrist injury said it was "likely fractured, if not broken." Those are synonymous. Though, I'm putting that down to the fact her medical experience was limited to "an emergency first aid course" as she said.

Also why was Dylan's the only phone to get signal? Maybe I missed it, but it was like she was chosen. Is this simply because she was

final girl?

Possibly.

Not a con, but a spoiler alert for the dog living or dying for those who need to know before going in:

We are led to believe at first that the dog, Slade, is dead, but eventually is revealed to be alive.

Overall, thoroughly enjoyed the fear factor in this book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Cursing, Gore, Death, Self harm, Suicide, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Vomit, Alcohol, Animal death, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, and Medical content

Minor: Death of parent, Cannibalism, Colonisation, and Child death

Infant death for child death.

beersbooksandbooos's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.0

I have to say that I picked up the book because of the cover before even reading the synopsis. Once I read the synopsis I knew this was a book for me.  Dyatlov Pass has always fascinated me and all the lore that surrounds it.  I read some of the reviews as I read the book and I do agree with them saying they were getting The Ruins and As Above So Below vides.  I enjoyed most of the book, then it took a turn in the last quarter. That was when it lost me and I got a little bored that it didn't feel like picking it back up.  I felt a little cheated out of a better ending and it also felt a little rushed. This is Jenny Kiefer's debut novel and I can see her writing going up from here.  I will pick up her other books if/when she writes them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Murder, Body horror, Animal death, Cannibalism, Suicide, Cursing, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Domestic abuse, Gore, and Vomit

babyfacedoldsoul's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Self harm, Violence, Vomit, Animal death, Gore, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

nadiajohnsonbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Child death

Moderate: Vomit, Animal death, and Alcohol

Minor: Colonisation, Stalking, and War

queersubtext's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Animal death, Murder, Cannibalism, Child death, Body horror, Violence, Alcohol, Gore, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

nika_nix's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The story started off very strong, I really enjoyed the setup of a mountain discovery and rock climbing and how the group of characters is connected. The writing was solid and the creepy scenes very good, but the plot got boring a repetitive so I lost interest in the second half. It was okay, I'm glad I read it, but I was expecting much more from this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Alcohol

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Violence, Body horror, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcohol

thegayestghost's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Violence, Vomit, Blood, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Grief, and Toxic friendship