Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Mélység by Nick Cutter

38 reviews

reaja's review against another edition

dark tense slow-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

2.0

This book was brutally slow paced for the tension it was trying to build. Copious overlapping and unnecessary plots threads that never really paid off. It spends a good half of the pages in childhood flashbacks. The main character isn't particularly sympathetic despite the massive number of pages dedicated to his trauma. He's just sorta... there. The only sympathetic character in the whole novel is the dog. It still gets a full two stars because the way this author writes in-the-moment horror scenes is really, honestly, scary. I feel like this book needed a really talented editor who wasn't afraid to tell this guy to seriously pare down his manuscript. It should have been a short story or he should have leaned WAY harder into character development on the station. Alice and Clayton were especially flat when they both could have been great characters. Alas, very disappointing, but suitably spooky if you're willing to dump a ton of hours in for a few golden glimmers of damn good horror writing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Self harm, Violence, Child abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Animal death, and Grief

Minor: Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Incest, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Death of parent

sunnyjreads's review against another edition

dark 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic relationship

recollections'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

"the emergency lights flickered, then died. darkness fell like a guillotine blade."

this is a fever dream!! what the fuck was that ending!! (i actually really liked it but the middle dragged for me eh)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Incest, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence

queer_venus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I can't stress enough how desperately Mr Cutter needs to seek out therapy. I've never been driven to feeling physically sick from a book before. I've had fainting spells that have hurt less than reading this book. One time I trapped my nail in a car door and I watched it rot and fall out aged 8 and that experience scarred me less than this book. If given the choice to die or read this book again- I would already have my tickets booked for Sweden. What the fuck is wrong with this author, something truly terrible must have happened to him 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Incest, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence

amberinbookland's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-paced

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Murder, Death, Violence, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Gore, Excrement, Dementia, Cursing, Confinement, Body horror, and Blood

the_escapist's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

I was here for the deep ocean setting, claustrophobia, and slowly losing sanity – that part was done really well. But a huge element features monstrous creations and really graphic gore, which I’m fairly indifferent about.

I thought the first half was great (tense, fast-paced, good with characters, nice balancing backstory with what's going on presently, slowly amping up dread...), the second half less so. It seemed to get slower and more samey. Or maybe it's just a taste thing because that type of horror just doesn't really capture my interest (I'm not squeamish or particularly bothered by it, it just doesn't really make me feel anything).

The ending wasn't bad, but I think it would've been far more effective if the last few chapters were cut.

Reading this taught me that I have a fairly high tolerance for terrible things happening to humans in fiction, but not animals. 

For what it was aiming to be, this book did a pretty good job overall. But it didn't match my taste and what I wanted from it and I found the latter half considerably less intriguing and engrossing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Incest, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

tieflingkisser's review against another edition

dark tense

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Gore, Grief, Incest, Medical trauma, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Cursing

entanglednovels's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Self harm

Moderate: Gore, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

What the fuck was that ending? This felt overly long-winded for no reason.