Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Woom by Duncan Ralston

25 reviews

mjadeh's review against another edition

1.0

This…was not good. It wasn’t even horror. It was just weird sexual violence and a guy with serious mommy issues. It didn’t succeed in horrifying or disturbing me, it just kind of made me confused as to why a human would write this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Miscarriage, Self harm, Pregnancy, Excrement, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Abortion, Addiction, Racial slurs, Rape, and Violence

ericgarika's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-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

3.25

It’s really hard to review this book because I feel as thought the storylines are largely based on female experiences (which are written by a cis white man). I will say the book does a good job of creating plot twists and tying the stories together. I would not recommend this book to those that do not read about the trigger warning or to those unprepared for a story of extreme horror and pain.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Fatphobia, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Death of parent, Excrement, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, Rape, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Ableism, Abortion, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Please take this as a warning that all of the warning listed are most definitely taken to the extreme.

annihilatrix's review against another edition

dark funny fast-paced

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

2.5

The writing is too good for the content to be so stupid! Potentially I don’t understand extreme horror, it’s so predictable if you’re capable of imagining the next disgusting thing that could happen.

Cramps after putting heroin in your gf’s vagina? Overdose miscarriage!
Anal sex? Messy prolapse!
Into masturbating with a mannequin? Make a dude into a mannequin by sanding his dick off! 
Having a sex worker dilate her vagina when you have mom issues? Stick your head up there for rebirthing!

These are all predictions I made while reading the opening premise of chapters that came true by their end. I might try another book by this author just to see if they have ever tried more compelling subject matter. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexual content, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Racism, and Vomit

meh697's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Gore, Medical trauma, Rape, Torture, Medical content, Drug abuse, Suicide, Body horror, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Abortion, and Vomit

quietlex's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes

This was pure shit. I bought this because I saw a tiktok video claiming that it was a really good horror novel, and now I’m disappointed to have wasted my money. The “Extreme Horror Novel” label on the cover really means “disgusting sexual assault” in a bunch of different ways. I’ve always hated “horror” that ends up being just a sick man’s sexual fantasies/traumas. You can write a good horror that incorporates the good and bad of sex, without having the entire book revolving around the gore and other atrocities that can happen. The title “Woom” is accurate since the thing is chock full of vagina! Each chapter has some horrible thing happening to a poor woman’s body. There’s absolutely nothing scary about this book, it’s just flat out gross. The story telling is awfully drab and boring, with vile things being described blandly in order to grab your attention. It doesn’t work. The only good thing about this book is that it is so short. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, Abortion, Addiction, Death, Abandonment, Medical content, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Child abuse, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

jaimee_reads'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.5

This reminds me of that episode of South Park where Butters writes The Poop that Took a Pee. There is nothing horror about this book, just gross out, tragic stories strung together with a bunch of sex. There are lines in here that I know are meant to shock, but literally had me laughing. It's trying to tell a story about trauma, but again, laughing at how ridiculous it is. Rape is a big plot point in this book, which...it's horrifying enough, it didn't need whatever treatment this was. Also, the author is white, but has a black character call another black character the N word. It's a throw away insult line that didn't have to use specifically that word, and it felt like it was an opportunity for a white person to use it on a technicality. "I'm not calling him the N word, the black character is so it's ok." This was published in 2022. Read the woom. HA! But seriously, don't bother. It's pretty terrible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Excrement, Gore, Vomit, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Abortion, Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, and Pregnancy

hannahdaisy4's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.25

This book was mostly just shock value but I actually enjoyed it regardless! Not sure how many people I’d recommend this to though. Insane amount of triggers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Mental illness, Excrement, Drug abuse, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Infertility, Addiction, Racism, Sexual violence, Gore, Death of parent, Body horror, Blood, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Rape

kjricha's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Fatphobia, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Excrement, Rape, Physical abuse, Vomit, Violence, Abortion, Blood, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Death, Child abuse, Gore, and Infertility

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Disturbingly dark. Not at all what I expected — but heinous nonetheless. This nontraditional tale of horror will definitely fuck up your brain. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Fatphobia, Gore, Grief, Violence, Addiction, Infertility, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Abortion, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Toxic relationship, Rape, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Vomit

wends_nblw's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.25

CW / TW that isnt in Storygraph list : Descriptive scene of a minor engaging in sexual behavior

I honestly don't know how to rate this. I loved the characters and found myself connecting to them somehow, finding the whole

rebirthing

thing to be strangely therapeutic in a sense. However, the complete lack of respect Angel shows at the end for Shyla made me frown, despite knowing it was not out of character. As well, the n word having made an appearance twice was also very offputting. It was so out of place, I can't imagine why Ralston chose to add it in the first place. It's a shame, as it was a very lovely story otherwise.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Body horror, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Infertility, and Pregnancy

Minor: Pedophilia, Racial slurs, and Suicidal thoughts