Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones

16 reviews

zelephante's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gore, Violence, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Body horror, Suicide attempt, Car accident, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Vomit

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

hauntedantiqueshop's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

I really liked the first one but the second book was a disappointment for me. And unfortunately, this was another let down.  There’s way too much going on and I don’t think half of those loose ends get tied up in the end. I’m pretty sad that this trilogy ends on this note for me but it really was a mess.

tldr; Makes me think we would have been better off with just My Heart Is A Chainsaw as a standalone book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Murder, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse and Grief

Minor: Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, and Child death

heggs's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Death of parent, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Death, Child death, Body horror, and Blood

mmccombs's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

3.0

Honestly, the only reason I got through this was because I felt I owed it to Jade to finish the trilogy. The first book was an absolute sucker punch wow of a story, the second book was a bit confusing but engaging, and this last book was basically impenetrable. 

Last year I went to a book event for Reaper, and SGJ described his writing process of just letting the story unfold from his brain without any kind of plan (even in determining who the slasher is) going into it. I’d say for the first book (and his Only Good Indians) this is a process that works and makes for very compelling horror, but in this book it felt noticeable in a bad way. Meandering, convoluted, unfocused, there were too many characters, too many “big bads,” too many things happening, and not enough clarity to make sense of any of it. 

While SGJ can create vivid (and I mean VIVID) descriptions of gore and bodies and actions, his work tends to struggle with establishing a firm sense of place or time. Throughout this entire series but especially this installment, I was never quite clear about where these things were happening, if it was night or day, or what Proofrock even really looks like (where is the lake? Where is the dam? Where is the town? Where are the characters in relation to these places?). Without this kind of grounding, I never quite felt stable enough to understand who was in a given scene or what was happening.

The “Baker Investigations” parts only added more confusion to a story that was already confusing. I did like that this was from Jade’s POV, but her inner ramblings often got too long and lost the plot’s momentum. I think this could have been a 250 page book and still retained Jade’s singular voice while staying a bit clearer on the action. There are some really fun and moving portions of this book, but I felt like they got lost in the sheer volume of Jade’s thoughts (which was the point, I guess, but it didn’t make it any more enjoyable).

Ultimately, I’m glad I finished out Jade’s story, and she will remain one of the most impactful characters I’ve ever read. While I wish I resonated with this final installment a bit more, she will forever remain my final girl.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Gore, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Grief, and Kidnapping

ramreads5's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Gore, Grief, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, and Physical abuse

shay43geek's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Gore, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Body horror

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