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clevelandbookgirl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Infidelity, Blood, Confinement, Murder, Mental illness, Body horror, Sexual assault, Suicide, Death, Gore, Sexual violence, Rape, Racism, Cannibalism, Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Violence, Pedophilia, Addiction, Sexual content, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Torture, Terminal illness, Racial slurs, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Incest
Minor: Animal death
erinbarton's review against another edition
2.5
firstly, the blurb describes an interesting premise which doesn’t actually take place in the book until the last 100 pages. throughout the first 150 pages of this novel the two main characters are separate. this meant the pacing felt so inconsistent since we had basically 150 pages of slow background leading up to them meeting, deciding to team up, and executing their kill together all within the last 100 pages.
secondly, the gore and violence felt purely for shock factor with no other deeper purpose / meaning. the book talks a lot about the HIV epidemic of the 80s and 90s but this just felt like a secondary plot point with no real connection to the main murder storyline. as a reader very much desensitised to gore/violence the shock factor just didn’t land and i found myself quite bored throughout most of this. this could be influenced by my recently reading notes on an execution which also heavily features a serial killer but is a much deeper exploration of redemption and nature vs nurture, but exquisite bodies just felt so empty in comparison
Graphic: Rape, Terminal illness, Murder, Violence, and Cannibalism
smilingsammie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Addiction, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Drug use, Physical abuse, Suicide, Blood, Cannibalism, Rape, Sexual assault, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Addiction, Police brutality, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Self harm, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Cursing, and Injury/Injury detail
sammysamsam's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Blood, Classism, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Stalking, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Torture, Toxic friendship, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Rape, Sexual content, Gore, Incest, Outing, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Vomit, Xenophobia, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Death of parent, Excrement, Misogyny, Colonisation, and Slavery
floorsalad'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Drug use, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Sexual violence, Torture, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Mental illness, and Suicide
nittiotvaan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Drug use, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Torture, Murder, Rape, Vomit, Confinement, Death, Terminal illness, Drug abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, Racism, Sexual assault, and Homophobia
Moderate: Grief, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Racial slurs, and Domestic abuse
millawi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Gore, Vomit, Body horror, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Addiction, Drug use, Excrement, Incest, Kidnapping, Medical content, Racial slurs, and Racism
liyanakey'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Cannibalism, Gore, Toxic relationship, Blood, Drug use, Death, Murder, Body horror, Suicide, and Rape
korvakoira's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
SPOILERS/LONG RANT
but exquisite corpse, wasn’t that. it was just a splatterpunk’s wet dream with slurs sprinkled in that the author CANNOT SAY BTW………
the book is paced reallt weird like we get introduced to all the characters and their lives and then 60% into the book the actual plot plot starts to yaknow, be written. 60% explanation 40% execution… and that’s being generous
it felt very low key racist at times…. the main cast is 3 white men and 1 vietnamese man. guess which one is framed as ‘innocent’ and ‘exotic’ and is the only one that is violently raped and murdered 😑 yeah…… the Vietnamese character
ALSO. HIV AND AIDS IS A VERY VITAL PART OF THE BOOK????? i can sort of see why but like then everyone brushes it off but also like, idk, the author frames ppl with HIV and AIDS as monsters… even going so far that the 3 horrible abusive murderous main characters have AIDS and the ‘pure and innocent’ POC character doesn’t <- he is almost given AIDS several times in the book in sexual ways and it comes off as borderline fetishy at times ?!
it also rubs me the wrong way that all the characters are gay when this happens, like cool gay men but also WHY ARE TOU PORTRAYING THEM AS MONSTERS…. HUH⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️
i don’t know, it’s a fucked up book which is fine to write, things can and should push people’s comfort levels, but challenge them in meaningful ways not just
GORE GORE MURDER RAPE GORE CANNIBALISM GORE .. fuck it got exhausting after a while, i had to put the book done and just drink some water bc it was just, so edgy, i think i got cut while reading it
REVIEW WRITTEN BY TRANS POC LESBIAN
Graphic: Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, Gore, Homophobia, Rape, Alcohol, Blood, Cannibalism, Violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Murder, Torture, and Toxic relationship
sarah1910's review against another edition
Graphic: Rape, Murder, Racism, Racial slurs, and Violence