Reviews tagging Racial slurs

Wanderers, by Chuck Wendig

14 reviews

buck50's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

There’s a really fantastic story here. Unfortunately it’s buried under some really awful and ultimately pointless subplots. The core medical mystery and characters are really written- it’s tense, it’s weird, you can feel the characters grasping at straws to figure out what is happening. 

BUT: there’s an entire hackneyed subplot about a pastor and his family, and a violent militia and its leader and its just… awful. The story grinds to a halt every time Matthew and Ozark are the subject. They really don’t add anything and Mathew the character is a cliche, his story arc is a cliche and he’s just 100% unlikeable. Ozark is supposedly a racist Hoosier drug dealer but clearly the author has never been to Indiana. His dialogue is also cliche, his violence utterly gratuitous- do we really need

Spoiler

a graphic description of Ozark raping Mathew?

or honestly any of the other violence? It’s not like I’m against reading about violence it’s more that, we get it- Ozark and his crew are violent people. We don’t need more descriptions.

The ending is… meh. Because it’s been over complicated with a huge racist militia subplot the ending is just overly complicated and over wrought.

We suddenly learn things at the very end of the book that were mentioned in passing very early in the book, and we are meant to feel like this is exposition that changes everything. 

A good editor could have cut this in half and turned it into one really good medical horror story and one cliche preacher and evil story. But instead what you get is an imitation of Steven king without the charm.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Mental illness, Injury/injury detail, Grief, Gore, Body horror, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, War, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Kidnapping

bidufta's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Rape, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Addiction, Terminal illness, Murder, and Injury/injury detail

g_newton98's review against another edition

adventurous reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Racial slurs

kristene's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Torture, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death and Death

glorfindeled's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Racial slurs

lauren_may's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Rape, Racial slurs, and Racism

qwerty88's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

Spoiler

Person of Interest meets The Stand

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Alcohol and Animal death

jenny_d's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

1.75

Man... this book could have been a LOT shorter. Lots of repetitive phrases. A few characters that could have been entirely left out, like Pete, without changing the story at all.

Spoiler

I feel like the rape scene in the bunker could have been a fade-to-black kind of thing instead.

There were parts of the story that were pretty good, but by the time I was two thirds of the way through I had lost a lot of interest in the story. It felt like a slog after that. Plus there were so many things about it that were way too squicky for me .

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Dementia, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, and Xenophobia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

abbie_y's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective 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: Rape, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Gun violence, Death, Death of parent, Blood, and Gore

demiwriter's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Torture, and Rape

Moderate: Blood, Racial slurs, Violence, Gun violence, and Gore

Minor: Suicide and Animal death