Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones

14 reviews

ehmannky's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

I think this might be one of the best conclusions to a trilogy that has ever existed. The incorporation of horror rules (the Scream 3 rules are references explicitly by characters), the emphasis that the Final Girl does not exist without a community and family supporting her, the idea that to truly cure what ails a toxic society requires you to go and right the original wrong that was committed there and that the original wrong is violence against Native people, specifically Native women...everything is flawlessly done. The prose is beautiful, I was so invested in the characters... truly one of the best endings of a trilogy I could imagine. It is ridiculously violent, with so many deaths that are pointless in that if the characters had just listened or been more careful, they would have lived, but again serve to emphasize the point of a toxic culture leading to more and more easily avoidable deaths. 

 

It has been a while since a character's death hit me so hard, but Banner's had me spiraling in the kitchen at 11:30 p.m. I was so, so sad about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Child death, Gun violence, Blood, Gore, and Animal death

Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape

Minor: Self harm, Racism, and Pedophilia

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Cursing, Gun violence, Confinement, Gore, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Torture, Classism, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, Rape, and Self harm

narzibenoucdel's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Child death, Cursing, Violence, Body horror, Drug use, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Gore, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

gnarlyrae's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Child death, Death, Grief, Murder, Body horror, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Classism, and Self harm

Minor: Rape and Kidnapping

j_yarbrough's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Self harm, Child abuse, Cursing, Gore, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Violence, Animal death, Suicide attempt, and Kidnapping

chainsawheartbooks's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

Thank you, Jade Daniels, for being the sort of horror-loving, scared yet tough as nails final girl that I can actually see a piece of myself in 🧡

This is a perfect end to a brilliant trilogy, that’s not to say I’m not heartbroken to have to say goodbye to Jade, Letha and all of Proofrock though. 

Reading this was like taking a big, deep breath before saying goodbye to life long friends, and my god it was heart wrenching.

The story was excellent, and, as always, told so beautifully, that even when I was reading through tears I didn’t want to reach the end.

I can’t wait to re-read through this series sometime in the future and rediscover the piece of my heart that will forever live on Melanie’s bench overlooking Indian Lake.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Gore, Child death, Kidnapping, Animal death, Death of parent, Addiction, Car accident, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation, and Pedophilia

catsandbookstacks's review against another edition

3.0

*Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the eARC and physical ARC.* 

Book three of the Indian Lake Trilogy pulls no punches with the esoteric horror movie references and elaborate deaths. I love Jade in My Heart Is a Chainsaw and Don't Fear the Reaper, so I had really high hopes for the final installment.

The first 30% had me riveted but then fell flat. With the change of POV between all the books, the first person point of view in this ended up being my least favourite. Jade wasn't back to her fever dream dialogue of book one but she just couldn't keep my attention with the meandering. There ended up being too many out of nowhere threads to wrap up and I lost my sense of caring. I don't know how I managed to be bored with chainsaws, bears, and "Chucky" but it happened.

Happy to have read and finished the trilogy, but I think I'll be imagining that it's only a duology.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Blood, Child death, Gore, Drug use, Murder, Animal death, Grief, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Medical content, Mental illness, Racism, Kidnapping, and Self harm

Minor: Ableism, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Rape, and Sexual assault

hydecircus's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I'm going to miss Jade forever she truely is one of the best protagonists in the world to me. I know "we can't pick our genre" but I am sad she and Letha didn't get together, but at least we got confirmation that Jade is into women and honestly who knows what the future holds for them... But God. What a final installment. I love how well this book balances so many different types of killers at once and yet ties it all together in the end... Oh Jade... I'll miss you forever.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Pedophilia, Racism, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Death of parent, Blood, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Suicide attempt, Violence, Drug abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Alcohol, Colonisation, Grief, Incest, and Car accident

poetsofsweetpea's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

It is always a shock to me when a horror novel wrecks me.  It's not that it is hard to bring me to tears, coffee commercials at Christmas time can do it.  It's just, when a novel spends a good amount of time ripping the guts from its characters, I figure mine are safe.  The Angel of Indian Lake though, gutted me.  It's not just that I love Jade. She's one of the few characters in fiction that I genuinely adore, that I want to reach into the pages of the book and shake because she can't see how special she is. It's also because her growth is so completely perfect.   While the other novels in the series felt like love letters to the genre of slashers, this third and final installment felt, to me, like an homage to the American experience.  In that it highlighted our obsession with pop culture until it mirrors our everyday lives.  The seeds may come from foreign places, but the fruit is all ours, the soil, the climate, and the future of the plant are in the hands of the depraved and brave.  There are so many things I want to say about this novel. I want to write about why this book made me cry, but I hate spoilers in reviews.  I'm also never sure if it is just me or if every reader will love it as much as I do.  There were fewer POV's in this one and I was grateful for that.  The POV's that emerge also had voices that were different. I was never lost in who was telling me the story.  I am glad most of it was from Jade. I listened to the audio book and having Steven King be the voice of the teacher was so perfect.  I almost don't want to tell anyone, just so it can hit them the way it hit me.   In a lot of ways The Angel of Indian Lake felt like three books, like there were three final scenes.  The book was full of blood.  It was leaking out on every page, but it also had heart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Suicide, Terminal illness, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Animal death, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Child death, Police brutality, Stalking, and Torture

bcvogel90's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

Minor: Child death, Incest, Pedophilia, and Self harm