Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran

88 reviews

_p0ssum_'s review

medium-paced

• 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Colonisation

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Car accident

steppenfreak's review

dark emotional tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation

Moderate: Suicide, Violence, Abandonment, Body horror, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

raynbowkitty's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book made me feel physically ill several times. Tough, but intriguing story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Slavery, War, Body horror, Xenophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Vomit, Mental illness, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, and Colonisation

Minor: Alcoholism and Death of parent

disnelyse's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

• 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Colonisation, and Racism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Death

Minor: Vomit and Car accident

uncreativeoops's review

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

3.75

The vibes were immaculate, which is pretty important for a gothic horror novel, and the author managed to create an eerie and tense atmosphere while also describing everything so aesthetically. The descriptions felt very... indirect? I sometimes had to reread parts because I wasn't sure what was actually happening but that is by no means a criticism; I adored the language. Plotwise however, I struggled a bit. Haunted houses only work if the characters have a good reason to be in them and not leave once, you know, they realize they might die. In this case, there were reasons for the main character not just going home, but they weren't strong enough for me. I got her motivations and I liked how her struggles with her family and her identity played out, but her behavior in the house was just ridiculous. And some of it seemed like it only happened to set up conflict between characters, the main thing that didn't work for me. Nearly every thing that characters got angry about was so obviously only there to create a shocking reveal and lead to an argument and some of the "dark secrets" I just straight up didn't consider as bad things. The romance also suffered from this.
My favorite thing however were the shorter horror chapters and how horror as a genre was used to discuss colonialism, racism, and sexism. Gothic horror has always been used to portray societal issues with supernatural metaphores and this was done so well here. I also have never read YA horror before and was pleasantly surprised how well these two can be mixed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Abandonment, Colonisation, Racism, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Blood, Animal death, Medical content, Addiction, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Alcohol, and Misogyny

Minor: Homophobia, Biphobia, Car accident, and Bullying

zimmermanrl15's review

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

3.5

I really enjoyed this book! The themes around self discovery, colonization, and how we handle feeling like a foreigner in our own culture or home country were laid out in a way that I think is very digestible to an audience willing to understand or relate to those concepts.

I don't have any particularly major gripes with the books overall plot, writing or tropes used, but I will say that I was left with a bit of longing for more. What that 'more' would look like, I'm still unsure of months after I've initially read it and some time to think about it. Possibly higher stakes throughout the whole story, but that would have ruined the slow burn intentions of the house. 

I do think Trang has a great skill for writing thriller/horror and would love to see more from them in the future!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Body horror

pinkalpaca's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Body horror, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Death of parent

weirdassfanta's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Beautifully written. This book gives you slight chills while showing that you are allowed to be angry and make mistakes. Also deals with colonization and struggling with your identity. It’s a great read for body horror lovers who are looking for something diverse.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Body horror, and Colonisation

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Alcohol and Alcoholism

I will also warn people about the detailed and common talk of bugs in places they shouldn’t be, such as skin and food, as this is a trigger for me. So please be conscious of that if you decide to read this book.

velvetssamu's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• 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

2.75

the concept for the book was super interesting but i found it very repetitive and slow for the first 200 pages 

if you are afraid of bugs in any way do not read this book 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Body horror, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Car accident and Colonisation

pbeeandj's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror