Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Brother by Ania Ahlborn

32 reviews

defeating_my_demons's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Violence, Gore, Murder, Cannibalism, Torture, Physical abuse, Blood, Child abuse, Death, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Gaslighting, Grief, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Toxic friendship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Stalking, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

naddl0r's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Gore, Blood, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Animal death, Murder, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Violence, Stalking, Kidnapping, Incest, Gaslighting, Death, and Cannibalism

lizardgod's review

challenging dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Incest, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexism, Blood, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Gore, Grief, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cannibalism, Child death, Cursing, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Torture, Violence, Alcoholism, Bullying, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, and Vomit

Minor: Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, and War

aj176's review

dark sad tense fast-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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Child abuse, Child death, Body horror, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Torture, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Suicidal thoughts

bxtskr's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

please read the content warnings for this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Incest, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Violence, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Stalking, Torture, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

maggotea's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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: Bullying, Confinement, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Drug use, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Murder, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Sexual content, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Gaslighting, Gore, Stalking, Animal death, and Child death

abbeyhuffine94's review

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I was able to guess most of the ending. And even then, I wasn't super surprised. However, I thought this book was an interesting (albeit cartoonishly overdone) look at a violently dysfunctional family and cyclical abuse and violence. Very emotionally charged and scary.
Reb was one of the most evil characters I've ever read about. Michael was one of the most infuriating. I understand he was living in horribly abusive circumstances but his cowardice irritated me throughout.
I do think this novel was extremely far fetched. I also think that horror has to have some reaches at times to make for a truly scary story. I guess if everyone was reasonable, horrible things would happen less.
One more observation: this book was way tamer in terms of graphic violence than I anticipated. On a horror scale of, say Haunting of Hill House to American Psycho (non-graphic horror to very graphic horror), it's about a 5-6.
The vibes were very cool though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment, Violence, Stalking, Child death, Child abuse, Cannibalism, Confinement, and Death

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Rape, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Gore, Incest, and Sexual violence

shannananahey's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Body horror, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Grief, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Vomit, Grief, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Rape, Stalking, Sexual violence, and Incest

Minor: Death of parent, Homophobia, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

finleyfrogreads's review

dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Child death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Stalking

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Kidnapping, Sexism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Addiction, Torture, Alcohol, and Animal death

whitneyonline's review

medium-paced

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

2.5

 This is not a badly written book (which is what I usually give my 2 star ratings to), but I just didn't connect with it. I was promised the Texas Chainsaw Massacre of books but it was hardly scary. Yes there were a few death scenes and descriptions of gore but they weren't all that frightening. I feel like Ahlborn tried to tackle too much, with the end result of none of the relationships feeling truly fleshed out - especially the relationship between Rebel and Michael, the one the whole book is supposed to revolve around.

Reflecting back it feels like the women in this book just served as plot devices that serviced the men (Laura Lynn, Misty Dawn, and Alice). Although I did enjoy how the twist near the end showed what a terribly evil person Rebel is. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Incest, Kidnapping, Murder, and Physical abuse