Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones

11 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

jellyfishleila's review against another edition

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Child abuse

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

zenzi2read's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

I understand the desire to make the final chapter in a trilogy, bigger and better with more kills. It works in a movie, but not in a book to be honest. I felt like there were too many subplots in at the end. It felt like chaos. I read an interview with the author, and he admitted that he had no planned for the trilogy going forward and frankly it shows. There is no line that  connects all three plots if you like slasher as a sub genre this might be fun but for me it was just OK.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual assault

paronomaniac's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Child abuse, Ableism, Child death, and Sexual assault

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

effingunicorns's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

4.25

This didn't go one bit how I thought it would, but the nice thing about saying that here is that I can think back to the previous two books and figure out the seeds of The Angel of Indian Lake, as opposed to the out-of-left-field bullshit we've all encountered a time or ten. A part of me wishes there'd been a little more telegraphing of The Ultimate Culprit, but another part of me was just like "yes, of course", a third part of me was satisfied by the cultural comeuppance, and then a whole fourth part of me just went straight to,

"Did you know that most non-indigenous North American folk magic has ties to Christianity?"

Anyway! Wonderful end to a wonderful trilogy. Easily as gory and brutal as the previous books (maybe more, really, my brain doesn't really register that sort of thing the first time around), deeply ruthless but not as ruthless as I feared, and the things that mattered the most, I think, all got resolved by the end.

Also Jade got a sick-ass superpower for all her suffering, so she's not allowed to argue anymore that she was never the final girl.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Child abuse and Sexual assault

annact's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-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

This book, despite its horror, is a love letter.

It is a love letter to being alive. A love letter to finding people that make it feel worth it. A love letter to fighting for them, but also fighting for yourself. To finally, finally fighting for yourself. A love letter to surviving despite how much the world doesn't want you to. To standing up when it knocks you down, and saying, "not this day". A love letter to surviving despite how much you don't want you to. To putting down the knife. To having a friend who loves you enough to hold you to their chest, to not let you sink under the weight of the world, to not let you betray yourself with your own hand. A love letter to living, not just surviving. To building a life. 

A love letter to Jade fucking Daniels, the angel of Indian Lake. Jade Daniels, the final girl. Jade Daniels, who survived despite it all, not out of luck, but sheer determination and force of will. 

Jade is probably my favorite character of all time. Thank you, Stephen. This was a fitting ending to a series that started my heart like the chainsaw it is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug use, Death of parent, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Murder, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Grief, Gun violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Pedophilia and Animal death

Minor: Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Rape, Alcoholism, Bullying, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, and Sexual assault

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

dark 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: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Body horror, Gun violence, Murder, Death, Child death, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Grief

Moderate: Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Racism, Medical content, Mental illness, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Classism, Torture, and Animal death

Minor: Alcoholism, Rape, Genocide, Sexual content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pedophilia, Car accident, Excrement, Alcohol, Confinement, Sexual assault, Vomit, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Suicide, Abandonment, and Ableism

missbreathing's review against another edition

dark 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

I can’t believe I forgot to review this book.

I adore the Indian Lake trilogy, and this is a wonderful finale. It’s no surprise I loved it. I’ve got very little to say except: read it! And if you haven’t read the first two books, run don’t walk. 

Jade Daniels, I will love you forever. This book really cements Jade as one of the best characters horror has seen in years.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Murder

Moderate: Grief, Vomit, and Drug abuse

Minor: Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts