Scan barcode
Reviews tagging 'Blood'
Ambergris: City of Saints and Madmen; Shriek: An Afterword; Finch by Jeff VanderMeer
4 reviews
laurareads87's review
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.0
I have long wanted to read the books of Ambergris having previously really enjoyed Vandermeer's Area X books. While this trilogy represents his earlier work, it is absolutely masterful in its worldbuilding; each of the books reveals something about the others and through all of them, Ambergris emerges as a fully developed and entirely living world, complete with history, culture, religions, and social norms. It reflects some of the the wide range of Vandermeer's talents, with the first book ultimately a collection of novellas, the second written in biographical style (complete with interjections from the presumed dead subject of the biography), and the third a detective story. It is not for the faint of heart and not a quick read, but this trilogy is vital reading for fans of the 'new weird.'
Content warnings: torture (on page), body horror (extensive, graphic), blood, gore, violence, murder, death, colonial violence / colonization, genocide, suicide, grief
Content warnings: torture (on page), body horror (extensive, graphic), blood, gore, violence, murder, death, colonial violence / colonization, genocide, suicide, grief
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Death, Body horror, Blood, Gore, Colonisation, Genocide, and Grief
Moderate: Suicide and Suicide attempt
larbster90's review
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Death
Moderate: Blood, Colonisation, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child death, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Excrement, Sexual content, War, Alcohol, and Genocide
fungivibes's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Self harm, and Torture
Minor: Miscarriage
shewantsthediction's review against another edition
I read the first story, "Dradin in Love," and didn't like it. Early VanderMeer is unfortunately just too verbose, meandering, and unpalatable for me. The first Ambergris book, City of Saints and Madmen, was originally published in 2001, while Annihilation (my personal favorite) was published over a decade later, in 2014. It's clear that VanderMeer vastly improved in the interim, and while I understand all writers have to start somewhere, I'm just not interested in putting myself through this 900-page monstrosity.
Also unexpected is the dudebro-y quality of his early work. He said in an interview that his wife proofreads a lot of his stuff now and that's partially how he's able to write female characters so well. I believe it—not only because I was impressed by his ability to write so many women in Annihilation, but also because the timelines match up: according to Wikipedia, he married his wife in 2003. Bless!
Also unexpected is the dudebro-y quality of his early work. He said in an interview that his wife proofreads a lot of his stuff now and that's partially how he's able to write female characters so well. I believe it—not only because I was impressed by his ability to write so many women in Annihilation, but also because the timelines match up: according to Wikipedia, he married his wife in 2003. Bless!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Gore, Mental illness, and Violence
More...