Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

98 reviews

emco_0's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Child death, Blood, Miscarriage, Body horror, Confinement, and Death

Moderate: Drug use, Death of parent, Grief, and Cancer

draconicdetective's review

dark tense

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Body horror, and Blood

Moderate: Drug use and Death

Minor: Child death

oliviaburley's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Thoroughly enjoyed the gothic horror elements, could not for the life of me understand why Jane was risking it all for this man she barely knew. I wish it was revealed earlier that her adopted family skipped town so she was essentially stuck with the manor, having no home to go back to would have been a better motivation to all in with the crazy than the insta-love for the good doctor after one night together.

It got a little meta and hard to follow towards the end but I enjoyed it, great Halloween read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Blood, Gore, Body horror, and War

lovesit1892's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

This book started out strong for me with a unique take on the classic gothic horror storyline--mysterious new husband, creepy old house, etc.--but by the ending I was frustrated with the writing. I don't think I've ever read a book with such redundant writing; there was so much text on the page that was repetitive, vague, and really said nothing at all. By the last five chapters I was losing interest, to the point where I considered not even reading past

Chapter Zero

because it did nothing to further the storyline. 

The characters were not really that engaging, and as the storyline and writing devolved that left nothing interesting for me. I would still give it 3 stars because I liked this take on gothic horror, it wasn't just the typical ghost story but it definitely could have been better fleshed out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Body horror, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Drug use, Gaslighting, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Drug use and Death

Minor: Vomit and Panic attacks/disorders

rtaire's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Medical content, and Body horror

Moderate: Gaslighting, Drug use, and Child death

mamaowlbear's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Gaslighting, Death, Child death, Pregnancy, Drug use, Blood, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, and Medical content

buildingtaste's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

From the first chapter, I always felt like this book was not quite telling me everything I needed to know. Since the setting is an alternate England, I would have expected more direct exposition about the things that make it meaningfully different, and also for these differences to have an impact on the story. As it was, we were soon locked in a country house, fundamentally indistinguishable from an English house (except of course for

the haunted basement

. Though having never stayed in an English country house I guess I can't be sure). Simply setting this novel in a more familiar country, even if in a fictional town or county, would have made this experience much more grounded and improved the contrast of familiar and unfamiliar once things got really weird.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Murder, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Self harm, Torture, Death, Abandonment, Mental illness, Animal death, Confinement, Death of parent, and Violence

Moderate: Medical content

Minor: Sexual content and Forced institutionalization

As a gothic horror novel, Jane Lawrence comes in fast with explicit gore. Elements of the magic system involve having something affecting a person's organs/moving inside their body, which

the protagonist

describes experiencing in detail.

rachaeldamms's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

I started out thinking this would be a 5 because I was digging the setting and atmosphere, and seeing the relationship between Jane and Augustine develop. I loved The Luminous Dead and was looking forward to more from this author. What Caitlin Starling does exceptionally well is getting into a character's head. However, the plot of this book becomes a bit slippery after Jane arrives at Lindridge Hall, and I found myself getting confused and lost at times. This may have been intentional, as the same thing is happening to Jane at this point in the book. I was hoping for a bit more lore in regard to the haunted ancestral home. Overall this was an interesting take on a classic genre. I am begging Mike Flanagan to adapt this into a miniseries.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Gore, Medical content, and Body horror

Moderate: Drug abuse and Gaslighting

babybasil's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

Points off for a few places where I was bored with the conversations the characters were having, but they were important conversations. 

Overall, I adored this book. It was the right amount of tense and unnerving that I really ended up adoring it. One of the main twists was a bit “oh ok,” but it didn’t take away how much I loved the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Medical content

Moderate: Gore and Body horror

illuminatedspace's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Abortion, Grief, Murder, Confinement, Death, Medical content, Pregnancy, Self harm, Torture, Medical trauma, and Violence

Moderate: War and Gaslighting

Minor: Drug use