Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones

32 reviews

elysianbud's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

4.0

I miss Jade Daniels already. 

Stephen Graham Jones gutted me like a fish. Feel like Casey Becker hanging from a tree with my innards falling out.

There's a bit in the acknowledgements (which I also cried at, because I don't want this to be the end) where he says "the cool thing about trilogies is you get to use every last part of the buffalo". By fuck did he use every last part--everything goes down in this finale. All the town lore combines and Proofrock undergoes it's one last hectic and gory night of chaos and blood-shed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Death, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Vomit

adrianicsea's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, and Gore

Moderate: Incest and Child abuse

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

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

grimdark_dad's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad 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

Moderate: Gore, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Blood, Sexual assault, Grief, Violence, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Death, Gun violence, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, and Vomit

kimwritesstuff's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.5

 

The mark of a great horror novel is not that it makes you feel fear, but that it makes you care enough about the characters and world that your heart feels stomped on when they die. The third and final entry in the Indian Lake Trilogy made me anxious, made me chuckle, and also made me cry. Damn you Stephen Graham Jones. 

After four years Jade is finally out of prison and back in Proofrock, this time as a history teacher. When a student gives an unsettling presentation showing several dead classmates and the missing Sherriff's Bronco from book 2 (Don't Fear the Reaper), Jade can feel the slasher start to put its claws into her. This time she doesn't want it. She doesn't want there to be a body count. She doesn't want to lose anyone else. She just wants to be the wise town elder. Let someone else fight for once; she has her best friend Letha and Letha's little girl Adie to protect. Of course, that's not what happens, especially after a dad's head gets ripped off while in the pick-up lane for school. Plus there's a forest fire and some new founders are trying to rebuild Terra Nova. 

Jade is reluctantly dragged back into the slasher as she fights to find who is the bad guy this time. Of course, the new founders also promised thousands of dollars to Proofrock residents if they create a firebreak around Terra Nova by cutting trees down. What could go wrong with chainsaws and axes in a forest fire in a town where there are known supernatural disturbances? The answer is a lot. 

This book hurt me to read, and I mean that in the best way possible. I knew the third entry meant loss and heartbreak, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Jade is much less eager in this novel, and watching her grow has been such a pleasure. Not only has she grown up, she's also created a family for herself. She has so much to lose this time around. The thing I love most about Jade is that she is so selfless. She is willing to walk away and leave if that's what Letha needs. What the town needs. She would end her life if that meant the massacres would stop. 

This book is so much more raw and honest than the previous entries, and it's such a cathartic read. Sure, we lose some characters we love, but the comeuppance other characters get is so sweet. And we get some surprise guests who also make a return to Proofrock. The only thing that made this not a 5-star read for me is that I found myself having to reread passages a few times because the train of thought was a little jumbled. I couldn't understand what was happening so I would page back, reread, and then move forward. 

Overall, this was an enjoyable bloodbath. 

Thanks to Netgalley and Saga for the ARC. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, and Gore

Moderate: Sexual harassment

Minor: Child abuse