Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

61 reviews

kt2e56's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

One of the more fucked up books I’ve read in awhile. There’s a dark sense of humor here mixed in with a macabre, gruesome fairytale that feels oddly fitting in today’s climate with Puritan “Christian” values and fascism on the rise hand in hand with a fear of the “other.”

I definitely recommend this one but agree with others about the bizarre fixation on nipples.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Excrement, Islamophobia, Sexual harassment, and Classism

theaceofpages's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I don't know how I feel about tis book. I loved the premise but it just kind of fell flat. Apparently the original version was slightly different so I wonder how much was lost in translation and translocation.

A witch that came with the Dutch settlers has been haunting a small town that the residents can't leave. They track her every move with cameras and an app. She has, however, been relatively harmless since her eyes and mouth were sewn shut, although her whispers cause suicidality. That is until a group of teenage boys decide to taunt her and unleash her full power.

The writing is okay. But there's a lot of nothing too. Most of the story happens in the last 100 pages or so. The author also seems to have a strange obsession with nipples for some reason? Male and female, adult and child. A lot of the descriptions are rather disgusting and upsetting. But it's a horror so I guess it's to be expected. I was kind of rooting for the witch with how the boys were treating her. I'm not sure why they had to be so cruel (although, to be fair, some were worse than others). Other than the witch this seems like a nice place to live.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Toxic friendship

Minor: Colonisation

bahamyulala's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Violence, and Vomit

marina_michelle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Racism, Sexism, and Car accident

mccalab's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Domestic abuse

Does not pass Bechdel test

voilajean's review against another edition

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

dragana1497's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide

entityj's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Confinement

Minor: Vomit, Islamophobia, and Alcohol

winters's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Suicide, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

missbreathing's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

I give this one 4⭐️. Some thoughts:

HEX expertly blends paranormal horror with psychological horror, focusing as much on the witch as on the claustrophobia of being stuck in one place and the insidiousness of mob mentality. The idea of a haunted town is scary enough, but little by little the reader is introduced to more human sources of horror. The author conjures an inescapable sense of dread, and guides us unflinchingly towards the haunting climax. 

This is a translation from Dutch, and, as a result, it’s easy to feel unmoored and confused. The story is also a bit dated in its use of technology (it was published in 2013). And, apparently, the original story is set in a small Dutch town rather than in upstate New York and has a completely different ending (good luck finding it online, though!). This made sense, since the upstate New York setting feels a bit incongruous with the story. However, the ending of this version is pretty great; it feels earned and unavoidable.

Honestly, this might be a new horror favorite! I’d recommend it to fans of the genre. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Islamophobia