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alexlouise97's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Vomit, Animal death, Bullying, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Child death, Violence, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Rape, Body shaming, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic friendship, Kidnapping, and Pedophilia
anni_ly22's review
Graphic: Classism, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Body horror, Torture, Violence, Death, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Incest, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Abandonment, and Mental illness
sabrina_the_alien's review
4.5
Graphic: Violence, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Vomit, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Torture, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Classism, Gore, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Incest, Medical trauma, Rape, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, Child abuse, Excrement, Medical content, and Mental illness
zyderm's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
I ended up with a copy of this book from my sisters colleague, who is a published author and used to work at penguin publishing. She raved about this and called it a pinnacle of modern horror. A complete load of shit.
Any bad reviews you read about this are true, including the authors particularly misogynistic writing. His blurb at the back states he has a wife, but I refuse to believe that since this reads like he’s never touched a woman in his life, and in fact seems like he’s actively disgusted by women’s personal parts.
The authors writing is exceptionally juvenile, and were it not for the subject matter, his writing combined with the illustrations included would lead me to believe this was ya. He also has odd wording choices “a single tear pissed out of his eye” that he uses consistently and that quickly became irritating.
The worst part is I think the author may have actually been trying to write a mature book that was disgusting and at times clearly intended to be emotional and impactful. However everything comes off extremely comical, the end had me laughing, the rest I was amused or annoyed by. Writing for these characters is non existent. I wouldn’t recommend this to anybody unless you actively like schlocky garbage.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Excrement, Infertility, Sexual assault, Child death, Death of parent, Bullying, Gore, Grief, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Classism, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
junebug333's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Body horror, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Child death, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Rape, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Death, Bullying, Blood, and Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Infertility, Alcohol, and Homophobia
marslotus's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
To start off, if I had a quarter for every time I rolled my eyes while reading, I could probably pay for my groceries. I believe the book was trying to do something clever, or just for the sake of writing explicit scenes, by not adhering to traditional story structure when introducing the antagonists and their motivations. We are seemingly meant to view the character Rock Stanley as the main character (I only assume so because the book starts and ends with his perspective) despite the fact he is an obstacle for the cast we are supposed to root for, therefore making him an antagonist (“his” side are the ones issuing most of the narrative challenges, not the children/parents who are facing them). We're shown through his detailed narration the horrible situation he has been raised in and how he longs to be free of it, as well as well as his abuser's motivation and history for why she's doing these things to him and to the protagonists. Showing these thoughts from the very beginning as opposed to discovering them alongside the protagonists leads to the issue of padding, something the book's middle suffers greatly from. The antagonists are already on the precipice of change (or stagnation in Geraldine's case) and are simply waiting for that last push towards either the dark or light, something that only comes at the end of the book. This creates scenes that are an absolute chore to return to over and over with the antagonists restating the same things they're feeling with different words. I feel like this could be easily rectified by focusing more on the protagonists experiences with the antagonists and find out their backstories either ⅓ or halfway through the story. This way, there's more things for the parents to do in the middle than cry or scream at each other and Rock thinking some form of “Maybe I'm on the wrong side” again and again.
Additionally, this book has a serious problem with telling instead of showing. From the moment the author decided to describe a 7-year-old girl as sadistic, I was so curious how that description would have been built upon,
This book very rarely struck fear or horror in me which I find so upsetting because I love being horrified. I will give the author the fact that he's talented in describing the gore and injury these characters go through as well as establishing traits that make me care and hate certain characters (though the “telling not showing” issue occasionally arises in the latter aspect). I just wish it was all structured a bit differently, that horror was the utmost goal of the narrative and not a simple gross-out attempt.
Graphic: Vomit, Sexual content, Gore, Grief, Incest, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Bullying, Violence, Child death, Murder, Torture, Rape, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Homophobia, Cursing, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Misogyny, Kidnapping, and Infertility
Minor: Fatphobia
lauradameron's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Confinement, Blood, Gore, Child abuse, Animal death, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Death, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Body horror, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Rape, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Physical abuse
citareads's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Excrement, Gun violence, Death, Vomit, Cursing, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Child death, Child abuse, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Violence, Torture, Murder, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, and Rape
redbagels's review
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Incest, Torture, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Excrement, and Sexual assault
lycheehoneydew's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Blood, Gore, Death, Child abuse, Body horror, Child death, and Torture
Moderate: Cursing, Death of parent, Sexual content, Gun violence, Infertility, Vomit, Animal death, Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
Splatterpunk, very disturbing imagery and gorey details.