Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Ruins by Scott Smith

5 reviews

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Horror Summer Camp Book Club / June Pick

The Details:
Narrated by Patrick Wilson
Unabridged 

I really wanted to take part in this group read so for the first time, I purchased more credits!

This was a fun read. Once we got into the meat of the horror, it had me in mind of the Day of the Triffids. I think I'd be interested in reading more plant based horror.

The body horror was quite grim (in a good way), but I didn't find that it made my stomach turn or had me feeling nauseated.

There were no distinct chapters, which made it hard to pause but helped to amplify the blurred lines of time as terror set in for the characters.

The characters themselves weren't very likeable but felt believable for the most part, though some feeling more 2D (or more caricatures of a person) than others. I think my favourites were Matthias and Pablo.

I don't think this will be a strong story that would be very memorable long term, for me, but it was fun for whilst I was listening, I'd recommend it to others and I'd be interested in giving the movie adaptation a go.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Torture, Death, Violence, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Gore, Gaslighting, Excrement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Confinement, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Suicide, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Grief, Cannibalism, Body horror, and Abandonment

Minor: Cannibalism

bccorrea's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

1.0

Do you like being stressed out about lost in a jungle kind of book? Oh boy do we have the book for you. The book is actually well written. But there are a lot of weird parts that made me go well I can't wait to be rid of it. I hated as a Latina reading about descriptions of Mexico from a WASP perspective. Parts of the text made me feel hated and gross. Take that as you can. The horror is there, but there is also a certain amount of inevitable predictability. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Car accident, Classism, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Sexism, Self harm, Suicide, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Excrement, Death, Cursing, Blood, Toxic friendship, Torture, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

traa's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Body horror, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Death, Medical content, Alcohol, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Cannibalism, Excrement, Gun violence, and Vomit

Minor: Rape, Drug use, Sexual content, and Racism

kdrupp's review

adventurous dark tense medium-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

3.25

Loved the concept for the plot. Realized half way through that this was going to be a more character driven story than it is a mystery about what is actually going on, as the majority of the story is about how these 6 characters interact with eachother during a life or death survival situation.

I did like how it's never revealed what the plant is or how it got there, leaving the audience to assume it's something that's always been here, spreading its malice to whoever happens to step foot in it's home.

The main thing that dropped the rating for me is how the two female characters are written - they're written with no personality to the point that the only distinguishing factor between them is that one of them is more promiscuous. This was a huge turnoff for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Alcohol, Cursing, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Body horror, and Blood

Minor: Cannibalism

taylorlanxon's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Torture, Body horror, Cursing, Gore, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Death, Dysphoria, and Medical content