Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Small Favors by Erin A. Craig

28 reviews

seforana's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, and Gun violence

carolibrary's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal death, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, and Mental illness

Minor: Suicide

smellymiche's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Pregnancy, Animal death, Death, Murder, and Blood

briely's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

immovabletype's review

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Grief, and Xenophobia

Minor: Misogyny

jwhitlow91's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Pregnancy, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Gun violence, Medical content, and Alcoholism

Minor: Vomit, Miscarriage, and Suicide

whenjessreads's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

Bees. Monsters. Madness. More bees. Yes please.

I love the way Erin A. Craig writes creepy atmospheres. In this book, like in A House of Salt and Sorrows, there’s this soft, almost lazy overtone with just an undercurrent of… wrongness. I would describe the book as a gentle horror, if such a thing exists. There’s a quiet solemnity, calmness, and feeling of isolation throughout - but also some MESSED UP mutant animals that come out of the forest, and several gruesome violent deaths 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

It showcases the idea that the monsters hiding in the dark may not be as destructive as the monsters within ourselves. There’s an aspect of the macabre in the mutated creatures that feature as the initial ‘villains’, but the real horror of this story is found in humanity itself, and in what happens when the dark parts of ourselves are magnified and unrestrained.

The book is told in seasons, with the plot building pretty slowly. I didn’t have a problem with the slow progression because the tension remained… tense… throughout, however it did make the final 100 pages or so seem quite rushed, and a little messy. To be honest though, everyone knows I love a good ‘descent into madness’ storyline, and sometimes that kind of chaos can’t be presented calmly and orderly. ACCEPT THE MESS!

The setting was fantastic, the characters were well rounded, and while the twist was pretty obvious, experiencing it from the perspective of the MC still felt new and devastating, so kudos to Craig and her beautiful writing.

I do prefer A House of Salt and Sorrows to Small Favors, but I still enjoyed this read a lot!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gaslighting, Death, Violence, Misogyny, and Religious bigotry

lizgriffinwords's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

A chilling tale perfect for fans of The Village, but with an even more gruesome twist. This is not one to listen to at night!! As an oldest daughter, I found Ellorie’s stress and burdens remarkably plausible.

Be aware of potentially triggering content including religious trauma, gore, blood, fire injury, hangings, hallucinations, animal death, and prominent character death. THIS IS A HORROR NOVEL.

Sadly I found the open ending to be dissatisfying; otherwise this would have been a 5 star read for me. I would have preferred either more confirmed closure OR an all-out horror ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Death

ashlikes's review

dark mysterious 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Animal death, Death of parent, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Child death, Miscarriage, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, and Alcoholism

mpurdy's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? No

4.5

I was utterly enthralled in this story. It gave me a rumpelstiltskin retelling feel. It was a page turning favorite. I fell in love with so many characters and felt there pain but at the same time grew to despise others. I gave it 4.5 because I had two unanswered questions. 

 
are her parents alive? I mean I figure they are because of how it ended but I would have liked to get the confirmation. My other question I guess is I wanted to see how Sam really grew so dark? Or was he always that way? I wanted a replay more of when he made
 his bargain with the "queen". And how absolutely messed up that he was so readily to offer his twin like wtf. Like was he just mad that his dad respected Ellerie more and that set him off?!
This isn't a spoiler but if you have read this wouldnt it have been kinda cool if Ezra the real Ezra had joined the Kindred to spare the town a little longer? I enjoyed the backstory on the first hanging in Amnity Falls not the hanging itself but how famlies have been at eachother at the start. Looping back to what the "Queen"  said about how the violence was here they just kinda helped it along.

All in all it was a great book and has become a favorite that I will cherish in my collection. I am looking forward to reading her debut novel. I really enjoyed her writing. It was the perfect amount of flowery imagery, loveable characters that were soooooo easy to connect to, and a dark fairytalk/folklore that I cannot get enough of.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Animal death