Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Don't Fear The Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones

49 reviews

elysianbud's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

"...many sequels have surpassed their original!"
"Name one!"

The answer: 'Don't Fear the Reaper'.

He's only gone and Terminator 2/Aliens/The Godfather Part 2'd us. One has to wonder if Stephen Graham Jones did this on purpose--the ultimate meta callback to Scream 2's classroom scene about sequels, because this sequel is better than the original.

Yet another incredibly fun ode to slashers, in my opinion, 'Don't Fear the Reaper' far exceeds its predecessor. I found the plot easier to follow, the characters more alive (until they're dead), and overall more entertaining. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Murder, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Child death, and Animal death

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Classism, Medical trauma, Cursing, Drug use, Alcohol, Colonisation, Confinement, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, and Medical content

atomicbritt's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Violence, Blood, Gun violence, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

xenomorph's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Blood

jillaay_h's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Violence

ehmannky's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-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

5.0

Stephen Graham Jones is such a spectacularly talented writer I and it is such a treat to read a sequel better than the first installment. I honestly think it's better than My Heart Is A Chainsaw--something about Jade and her crew being grown up and them dealing with this trauma and violence that is at the heart of the American West and the small towns just hit right. And I didn't know if I would love the multiple character POV, but it worked so well. It also had these moments of dark humor that made me chuckle amongst the horror that I just loved (Jade being indignant about a slasher using a gun was very good). 

My only criticism is that I felt that the fantastical element was as seamlessly integrated into the plot as it was in the last one. But I'm so excited for the third book in this series it's been so good so far. 

On a reread I agree with everything me from a year ago said, but I think this is book, like the first in the series, improves on a rereading. Knowing the twists in the plot makes it really fun to see the foreshadowing for the reveal for what it was.

I also missed this on the first read through, but the way Dark Mill South is continually compared with at least vaguely physically resembling Tab Daniels just makes it fit in so well with the slasher genre of the Big Bad Slasher rising from his grave for the sequel. Also, Jade's mom hits so hard because it's a woman who tries to protect her daughter but is ultimately too weighed down by her ineffectiveness, her unrealized dreams, to actually be a protector. I think reading this one so soon after rereading the first one really just made her death a lot more meaningful than I found it the first time through.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Body horror, Murder, Torture, Violence, Death, Gore, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, and Self harm

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

nicolewhopickedthisbook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Now I love me some Stephen Graham Jones but this book was a little too convoluted, especially getting to end with the reveals (plural). 

Why do we need two murderers? Why does Jade keep switching her name?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, and Murder

alexg52's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Drug use, Alcoholism, and Rape

perthalus's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

The writer tries way to hard to make his main character an iconic badass horror protagonist to the point where it becomes eye-rolling.  Instead of focusing on character dynamics and relationships you just get mostly pointless snapshots of random character’s lives before they die a few pages after.

The antagonist somehow also feels incredibly undercooked despite the book being 500 pages long, and the prose is so confusing at times that I honestly can’t tell what is where and how something is happening. You think you’re in one place and then bam you’re on the opposite side of where you thought you were.

Made me miss the first book, which wasn’t too great in the first place.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Grief, Violence, Blood, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Cursing and Car accident

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Police brutality, and Emotional abuse

jayjm94's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

As perfect a book as I’ve ever read. It had everything: horror references, incredibly adept women, strange teenagers, a small town on the water, a snowstorm, and some light supernatural content. an absolute gem by SGJ, almost certainly my best book of the year (close 2nd being my heart is a chainsaw) cannot wait for the 3rd!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Violence, Body horror, and Drug use

Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Car accident, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Animal death, and Incest

zosiablue's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring tense 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

4.25

Man, marry me, Stephen Graham Jones. He's just the best. Like all his stories, this one has full heart and gorgeous writing and campiness and tragedy and action and total respect for the genre. He's the only my writer I know who can do textual jumpscares. This is true horror but it's exhilarating because it follows slasher-horror rules until it doesn't and the rule breaks are totally earned. Can't wait for the next one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicidal thoughts