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literarylove_'s review against another edition
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
jiggityjog's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, and Child abuse
jbcrue's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Cannibalism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Suicide, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Self harm, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Drug use, Gore, Sexual violence, Violence, Rape, Animal death, Body horror, Medical content, Terminal illness, Vomit, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Excrement, Medical trauma, and Mental illness
elvenpanther's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This novel was dark, and gritty, and explored so much more than "monster" trope. In a way, it focused on how monstrous people could be. How sometimes it's not what goes bump in the night that you need to fear, but instead your neighbor or your classmate. It explored broken people, broken families and broken children and their struggle to navigate the world when they feel alone.
I didn't really know what to expect when starting this, and yes some parts of the novel made me squirm, but overall I enjoyed it. I had watched the Swedish film adaptation after and I will say I appreciate how much more in depth the book went. It made for a much more complex and visceral narrative than the movie.
*As a warning, the book does strongly contain the topic of pedophilia*
Graphic: Self harm, Murder, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Rape, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, and Medical trauma
Minor: Animal death
jaedia's review against another edition
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Murder, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, and Fatphobia
owlribbon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Suicide, Violence, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
slushhhhy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Violence, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Bullying, Gore, and Murder
thefigtree's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
the novel is uncomfortable to read and at many parts made me physically curl up and cringe but it's good and it's clever and i liked it. it definitely could have gone on for another 100/150 pages and been an appropriate length too (with a more fleshed out ending!!!!).
it's definitely going to throw you off if you go in for the vampires (or because it often gets advertised just as a 'lgbtq vampire book'), you have to be prepared for the content and how it's handled, but if you are it goes to show that when vampires are done well it really does work.
Graphic: Bullying, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, and Rape
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Self harm, and Suicide
Minor: Vomit, Domestic abuse, and Homophobia
kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
0.5
Scene after scene of child molestation and frankly unnecessary harm on women and children… the few women characters were there only to be extremely bad mothers or sexual objects… though to be fair, ALL of the characters were extremely unrealistic fucked up caricatures.
This book was far too long (because of all the pedophilic content shoved in) and had a lot of strange subplots that all came together eventually with no real satisfaction. The only actually interesting thing about this book was how it dealt with Eli’s gender; disgusting castration scene aside, this book was surprisingly faithful to the inherent genderqueer-ness that has existed in vampire myth since the beginning. I’m sure someone could write or has written really interesting papers on gender in this. That’s the only nice thing I can say though, otherwise this was a moderately interesting vampire myth idea squandered on gratuitous trauma porn. What is it with Swedes and pedophilia???
Nasty book, the author should be jailed
Graphic: Misogyny, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Animal death, Blood, Rape, Gore, Bullying, Death, Pedophilia, Body horror, and Sexual assault
lizardgod's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Homophobia, Murder, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Trafficking, Drug abuse, and Transphobia