Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

8 reviews

blackberryjambaby's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Medical content, Physical abuse, Cannibalism, Gore, Violence, Abandonment, Child death, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Ableism, Animal cruelty, and Body horror

Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Torture, Stalking, Vomit, Abortion, Terminal illness, and Suicide

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, and War

agatha_hopkins's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Emotional abuse

Minor: Cannibalism, Violence, and Torture

bookmark3brodi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Medical content, Murder, and War

ghostlyprince's review against another edition

dark reflective tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Sexual harassment

A character throughout most of the book is slowly dying from blood poisoning and I'm not sure if that'd fall under the 'terminal illness' tag or not, A character steals a grenade so that if he's in a fatal situation he can go out on his own terms, a character later in the book does something similar

shieldbearer's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

4.0

An extremely strong showing from Mike Carey, who I know from his work on X-Men. The characterizations were very well done for the most part- most of them are quite layered. The worldbuilding was strong, and the reviewers asking questions about motivations and "evolution" clearly didn't pay attention because those things were explained in the text. 

Ultimately, a few small things did knock this book down by a star for me. For one, I would have

at least switched the fates of Parks and Gallagher, though I also think you could make an argument for Gallagher's survival being more interesting than his death given the detailed backstory and internal conflict he's given. His interaction with the status quo at the end of the story would have been extremely interesting IMO

Part of this may be because I didn't particularly care for Parks, but this is also because Parks doesn't really have anything interesting going on. 

For another, I feel as though

the Hungry children were too easy to corral at the end.

The questions of the long-term viability of Melanie's plan didn't bother me because  that's not the point of the story. 

Finally, and most glaring IMO,

I feel like Sparks would have encoutnered pregnant hungries if they are able to sexually reproduce. I just have a hard time believing this aspect without a little extra narrative support - especially given how often fatal pregnancy is, and how the fungus wrecks so much of the body and shuts down a lot of its systems. Even mentioning a pregnant hungry in the crowd would have helped. I also can't say I'm a fan of the whole "sex is a human instinct" theme. I expected there to be adult hungries like Melanie that showed up later, if they specified that only the kids were the unique ones earlier I somehow missed it.

Either way, I definitely recommend this even if I feel some elements could have been treated with a bit more care- which is about what I would say about his work on the X-Men, as well. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Gaslighting, Death, Gun violence, Medical content, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Alcohol, Gun violence, Grief, Alcoholism, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Pregnancy, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Car accident

wendinogo's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Genocide, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence

hmatt's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

[star rating from 2016, comments from 2024 re-read]

I've been meaning to do a re-read of this book so that I can finally read the sequel (and then donate it from off my bookshelf). I had vague expectations that, in a post[?]-pandemic world where the zombie literature and media has run its course, this wouldn't feel as original or thrilling as it did on my first read, but I'm very pleased it holds up.

I forgot the major plot twist at the end between my original read and this one,

and I do think that's what elevates this to a 5-star book. Without it, by my 2024 reading standards, it would probably be a 4.5 or 4.75.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Child death, Cursing, Cannibalism, Blood, Child abuse, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Body horror

Moderate: Torture and Medical content

Minor: Alcoholism