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indiepauli47's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Touki's club book of the month 🙃
Reading a classic in the horror genre, and Io.. it was dark.
I heard many things about this book, but I was not expecting it to be this blunt and descriptive.
No wonder this was banned.
The prose is excellent, although very slow in my opinion; the characters reek of evil and despair, and I got all the East Ellis vibes reading this.
I'm not sure about the ending, but then, how could such a book truly end ?
A classic, yes, but not for everyone.
Reading a classic in the horror genre, and Io.. it was dark.
I heard many things about this book, but I was not expecting it to be this blunt and descriptive.
No wonder this was banned.
The prose is excellent, although very slow in my opinion; the characters reek of evil and despair, and I got all the East Ellis vibes reading this.
I'm not sure about the ending, but then, how could such a book truly end ?
A classic, yes, but not for everyone.
eris_in_chains's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Thoroughly enjoyed this book though I must say that it's very much a product of its time (cannot tell whether the author intented to fetishize East Asian men here.) An interesting Jeffrey Dahmer fanfic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Terminal illness, Body horror, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Death, and Rape
Moderate: Police brutality, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Blood, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Physical abuse
reneete's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I love it when artists aren't afraid to cross some boundaries. And that's pretty much the thing I enjoyed most about this. It's nicely written, but unnecessarily wordy in places. It's a twisted character study of sorts, but a bit too edgy and stereotypical for my liking. The social commentary is impactful, but it doesn't mix well with the horror aspect, which in itself is too romanticized. Like well-written AIDS fanfiction with two Jeffrey Dahmers as main characters.
erica_reads_things's review against another edition
dark
sad
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
4.5
This is one of the "oldest" horror books that I have read on my journey so far and it did not disappoint! I could have gone for even more gore, personally, but I did really enjoy the intense emotional stories of the characters Tran and Luke. The inclusion of the AIDS epidemic and the societal commentary was a pleasant surprise amongst my expectation of a gory horror novel. This was just overall a pretty great, quick read and a must for horror fans.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism, Body horror, Murder, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Death, Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, Torture, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Violence, Grief, Drug use, Sexual violence, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Classism, Animal cruelty, Addiction, Homophobia, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Incest and Stalking
motor's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
The premise is an interesting take on true crime and it’s written really well, but the content is awful. Many people would be deeply disturbed by this, I could push through as I wanted to know what happened next but there’s a lot of unnecessary themes added. Necrophilia, a lot of it, which I guess makes sense for serial killers but also, an Asian fetish. Very clearly the authors fetish as the way Tran is described is disgusting and the words used to describe him are dehumanizing, Luke’s personality revolves around his Asian fetish. Lots of slurs that I’m almost 100% sure the author cannot use in real life, all of it unnecessary. Genuinely who thinks of stuff like this, 2 stars because it’s unfortunately written well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Torture, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Alcohol, Gore, Violence, Racial slurs, Drug use, Drug abuse, Rape, and Murder
annaxr's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- 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
3.75
rowanh41's review against another edition
5.0
A sweet but savory book. So detailed I got so lost. I was kept on the edge of my seat the whole time. Definitely recommend
scarereviewblog's review against another edition
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Death, Body horror, Gore, and Violence
everyotherpageorso's review against another edition
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I don’t know how I can give this a star rating.
Well written but it’s a book you endure rather than enjoy, which I guess is the point.
Allusion to Konerak Sinthasomphone at the end was really heartbreaking. If you aren’t familiar with the case, Konerak was 14 years old when he escaped Jeffrey Dahmer after being attacked, and police were alerted of an injured and naked boy in the area. Dahmer showed up, said they were lovers, and the police allowed Dahmer to take the boy back to his, where he killed him, despite the protestations of many African-American bystanders.
In the novel’s very clear reference to this incident, it is Jay who is allowed to leave with the injured and naked Tran, despite the protestations of an unnamed black musician, who is ignored and berated with slurs.
While I understand the objective of putting a real life example of police incompetence (especially when it pertains to marginalized victims) in the novel, I still think it’s disrespectful to the victim’s memory, as it seemed to me that it was not so much a reference or allusion as it was a line-by-line fictionalization of a real murder, eroticized through the perspective of his murderers. Yes, we do get Tran’s perspective during this as well, but I don’t think this offsets the disrespect of it.
Well written but it’s a book you endure rather than enjoy, which I guess is the point.
In the novel’s very clear reference to this incident, it is Jay who is allowed to leave with the injured and naked Tran, despite the protestations of an unnamed black musician, who is ignored and berated with slurs.
While I understand the objective of putting a real life example of police incompetence (especially when it pertains to marginalized victims) in the novel, I still think it’s disrespectful to the victim’s memory, as it seemed to me that it was not so much a reference or allusion as it was a line-by-line fictionalization of a real murder, eroticized through the perspective of his murderers. Yes, we do get Tran’s perspective during this as well, but I don’t think this offsets the disrespect of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Homophobia, Torture, Addiction, Cannibalism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Drug use, Suicide, and Drug abuse
mirandarocks's review against another edition
2.0
I felt like this book was trying to hard. I get adding sex and violence To progress the story, but in this book, it felt like they were just doing it for the sake of doing it. The story overall was okay. I hated the characters but I’m guessing that was the point.