Reviews tagging 'Grief'

House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson

17 reviews

bookishcookiemonster's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.25

The idea was great, execution not as much. I didn't feel connected to any of the characters. I wish we knew more about the world this takes place in. 
And the overall story is very slow and boring. 
This might have been better as a short-story 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Vomit, Abandonment, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, Body horror, Classism, Murder, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, and Gore

salemander's review against another edition

4.75

love a gothic vampire vibe and this book does it so well. it was so interesting to see marian’s descent into this strange world and the ways she has to regain her sense of self. i wanted a little more character development from all the girls in this story, i felt like we only really saw just like outlines of who they all were, but overall i really enjoyed this story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Emotional abuse, Blood, Confinement, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Addiction, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Drug abuse, Gore, Violence, and Gaslighting

that_guy_bo's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Many of the reviews I'd read about this book focused heavily on the sapphic elements, so as a gay man, I wasn't sure if this one was "for me." But, the blurb had intrigued me, so I thought I'd give it a shot.
 And I have to say, this was one of the most gripping books I've ever read!

 I've raved about it to anyone and everyone at every possible opportunity, because it really doesn't matter what your sexual orientation is, this is an entrancing book.

  The scenery is dripping with every possible luxury, which makes the slowly mounting horror of the story stand that much starker against the decadent backdrop.

Additionally, as a huge fan of vampires, while this isn't technically a vampire story, it has all the trappings of one, and it certainly has the atmosphere! So if you're a fan of vampires, you'll very likely love this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Grief, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Chronic illness, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, and Addiction

Minor: Death of parent, Terminal illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Incest, Classism, and Chronic illness

zghutcheson01's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Drug use, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Cursing

jasper_is_atypical's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gore, Grief, Violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Self harm, Animal death, Cannibalism, Classism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Body horror, Bullying, Gaslighting, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual content

Moderate: Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, and Torture

Minor: Death of parent and Incest

pebbletown's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Mfw when the sapphic gothic vampires book is actually rly fucked up and not just sexy: 😲

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Blood, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Gore, and Animal death

Moderate: Child abuse and Grief

zany25's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

I think this book might work best if you read it kinda fast because there are definitely some slowdown sections that might drag, but I found enjoyable anyways. To me this book is all vibes, gothic classist mean girl lesbian vampire vibes. Which I liked, I wouldn’t say the plot is terribly strong until the ending, but if you’re along for the ride it’s definitely easy to get pulled in.

Also I’ve drawn blood for work in the real world and their blood letting descriptions were pretty spot on, aside from the sprinkling of supernatural of course, I enjoyed how they described the veins and scarring as a nice realistic touch. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Drug use, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Domestic abuse, Death, Alcohol, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Minor: Mental illness, Self harm, Incest, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Terminal illness, and Addiction

slicebread's review

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Honestly I expected so much more…it’s not my type of story 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Blood, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Violence, Terminal illness, Self harm, Murder, Gore, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Cannibalism

magellen's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

If you enjoyed year of the witching well this is....also a book? Lesbian pseudo vampirism was a great hook and there's plenty of dark twisty moods and lustful passages HOWEVER the quality of the book itself is lacking. You get just enough environment to float through but it has an underdeveloped vibe overall, unsure of its setting and borrowing too heavily from a variety of eras/locations to make coherent sense. You just have to shrug and go alright, sure, vague works. 

The main thing for me was the repetitive language. Like woof. WOOOOOOF is the turn of phrase repetitive and adverb dependant in an intrusive way. So many SOs. Words used back to back in awkward cadence. 
You've got a lively mc who 'swallows dry' CONSTANTLY - babe, she can just swallow. Like christ if i hear the phrase SWALLOW DRY in 50years it'll still be too soon.
Unplug your brain and roll with the power imbalance bluebeard vibe, and you'll have fun. Pay attention and ugh. Also tw for blood. Every dang page someone's gushing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Chronic illness, Classism, Abandonment, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Violence

vixenreader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

In lieu of the legendary Elizabeth Bathory, this book has some amazing atmosphere, the prose is emotionally-wrenching, the cast of characters (led by a strong female lead) are nothing short of fascinating, and the horror is corporeal to a tee. Seriously, it’s a great book about exploitation, imbalance in relationship dynamics, and what it truly means to escape more than one toxic situation. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Addiction, Death, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Child abuse, Grief, Self harm, Trafficking, Alcohol, Drug use, Alcoholism, Confinement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Misogyny, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, and Gun violence

Be warned, there are scenes of moderately graphic lesbian sex, ageism, and how the system pits women against one another.