Reviews with content warning for Death - You've Lost a Lot of Blood

what did i just read?! this was the most incredible horror novel i’ve ever read! i want to read any and everything by eric larocca now. this book was phenomenal!

Content Warnings

sharkgirlsam's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad fast-paced

Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

because of the way this book is compiled i don't feel like i can give it a rating? i really enjoyed reading it (i was looking for something that would make me squirm) but it doesn't really fit the normal book composition so it's hard to give it stars
with that said, this book was one of the most unique and disturbing i've read so far
•it's 10000% more vibes than plot which i've learned i actually LOVE
•probably the most gory, graphic, grotesque book i've read so far and probably is my limit, i don't know if i could handle anything that could possibly be worse than this (check TW for this one)
•in my opinion it's more of an anthology of a fictional character put together by a fictional editor which was a little confusing at first but i found it to be pretty cool
•there's a story within a story and i liked them both which is one of the reasons i think i liked it so much
•the diary entries literally made my skin crawl and stomach churn i almost couldn't get through some of them
•the novella reminded me so much of the saw movies, my favorite horror flicks, so ofc i ate it up!
•i have my own personal theory as to how the novella is related to the diary entries and selected poems but i'll leave that out

bookstagram: @littlelibraryofsam !!

Content Warnings

stephanieluxton's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book. What's it about? I don't even know. It's kind of a dialogue between two men who are dating. One is a serial killer. It switches back and forth between that and a novella written by the serial killer in which we follow the story of a video game designer and her little brother who move to a rich/well-known game developers estate because she was hired to work on one of his new games. There's a lot of strangeness surrounding the designer and his estate. Weird stuff happens. Best to go into it not really knowing anything.

Things I liked:

This book is very eloquently written. I literally enjoyed the words used. It was poetic.
It felt like reading two books in one and neither part was boring. It did this incredibly well despite not being a lot book itself.
There was a lot of ambiguity but it seriously worked in this book. No information dumping!
I was surprised. Little hints are dropped throughout the book that certain things were happening and it really comes full circle (mostly in the novella portion).
I found a lot of the characters to be likeable and colourful.

Things I Didn't Like:

That it ended. I wanted to know more!! Although I suspect knowing too much would take some of the magic and the mystery away from this book. This might be my favourite book of the year.

Content Warnings

wadefrye's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was amazing. It was the first book that have ever read fully through. When i first started to read this book I was a little confused on how the poems, the novella, and the conversation recordings linked together, but then in the end it made sense. I will definitely be recommending this book to others.

Content Warnings