Reviews tagging 'Torture'

When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen

56 reviews

kaerene's review

dark 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

5.0

Another TikTok recommendation that lives up to the hype. It has everything thing: horror, ghosts, and multiple deaths at a wedding on an old plantation home. Once you get halfway through, you will be unable to stop reading as you are taken on a wild journey not knowing what is a vision and what is real. This is a really heavy read so be sure to check content warnings as these characters go through a lot in this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Sexual harassment, Hate crime, Body horror, Racism, Rape, Violence, Torture, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Alcohol, Racial slurs, Murder, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, and Blood

aisabel's review

dark sad 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Racism, and Slavery

Moderate: Murder, Gore, Grief, Sexual assault, Torture, Blood, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Rape

nchipp's review

dark emotional sad tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Murder, Racism, Rape, Torture, Slavery, and Violence

singalana's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

• 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? No

3.0

 

I’m feeling conflicted about this book. I wanted to like it more, but it fell a bit short for me. The premise is interesting and important: the main character is invited to her childhood friend’s wedding. The wedding is held at a renovated plantation that has a dark history of slavery. 

The book starts slowly, exploring the childhood of our two main characters: Mira and Jesse, and their friend Celine, whose wedding they are now invited to. We get an account of the events that led to Jesse being ostracized and them drifting apart. The events really kick off at the end of the book, when the story turns chilling.

The book explores an important topic of slavery and how that history still affects the lives of black people today. There are some disturbing depictions of what happened to the slaves. Unfortunately, for me, the events got a bit confusing towards the end and I couldn’t keep up with why people did what they did. I wish Mira and Jesse could have been a bit stronger characters, and the relationship between them felt slightly forced.

In conclusion, the topic is extremely important, the main theme of the book was great and the “american gothic” atmosphere was well executed. With a better characterization and a little more thought to the ending this could have been an excellent book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Gore, Hate crime, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Classism

Moderate: Physical abuse, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Murder, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Confinement, and Death

Minor: Terminal illness, Alcohol, Animal death, and Stalking

readingpicnic's review against another edition

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Torture, Sexual assault, Racism, Racial slurs, Rape, Violence, Slavery, Sexual violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

lindseyas's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad 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? No

4.75

This was another book that I read for my "Literary Hauntings" class. It wasn't like the normal "hauntings" that we'd been reading about, but it was the most realistic, and certainly the most visceral, emotional and raw. The combination of history and the supernatural is the perfect encapsulation of what the gothic really is – our pasts coming back to haunt us. The novel played perfectly into this archetype, with a tense tone and winding suspense keeping it in place. It used gore and mental anguish to create a haunting aura that has lasted with me long since reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Hate crime, Torture, Murder, Physical abuse, Body horror, Child abuse, Slavery, Racial slurs, Racism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Confinement

hunkydory's review

dark tense medium-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Physical abuse, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Murder, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Hate crime, Rape, and Blood

mfrisk's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

This read was a good mixture of social commentary and supernatural horror. It discussed the complexities of growing up in an area which still holds onto its segregated and racist history and even makes an attraction out of a plantation which has seen atrocities which we see recreated by the ghosts who still are haunted by what they saw and experienced. It discusses poverty, racism, friendship, and the need to feel you’ve moved up. The only reason I’m giving it 4 stars is I think it could have incorporated the elements of horror earlier on in the book. There was a lot of background given on our characters and setting which was helpful but I think didn’t allow us as much time to get into some of the story elements and delve deeper. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Slavery, Gore, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, Sexual violence, Torture, Racism, Confinement, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Sexual content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, and Child abuse

Minor: Toxic friendship

finleyfrogreads's review

dark sad medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Sexual violence, Blood, Death of parent, Rape, Body horror, Classism, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Grief, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, War, and Torture

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, and Child abuse

savvylit's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

When the Reckoning Comes has many layers to its horror. First, there's the genocidal legacy of chattel slavery. Then there are the deeply sadistic acts of this specific plantation's owner. Third, there are groups of murderous ghosts. Fourth, there's deep-seated modern racism and classism. Lastly, there's the unique terror of a plantation becoming a luxury resort.

Like all of the horror in this novel, the latter element of terror is inspired by reality -- many former plantations throughout the American South have been renovated into deluxe event spaces. McQueen skillfully depicts this unique and ignorant glossing over of the truth. That a place of such immense suffering can be turned into a for-profit monument to a romanticized version of antebellum America? How deeply twisted. At the Woodsman plantation central to this novel, not only have the grounds been turned into a resort BUT one of the paid "entertainments" is reenactment of slave labor. Reenactments that are done by local Black people - the very descendants of the folks originally enslaved at that exact location.

Ultimately, When the Reckoning Comes is revenge horror at its finest. The ghosts of slaves that had been brutally tortured ultimately force many white descendants of owners and staff to reckon with their legacy of death and terror. Not only that, but McQueen's story itself pushes readers to consider the myriad, nuanced ways in which genocide echoes throughout the modern American South. The bloody echoes of slavery are still here. And that's the real horror.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Body horror, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Death, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Confinement, Classism, Genocide, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Slavery, Child abuse, Racism, and Rape