Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Une Fenêtre sur les ténèbres by Benjamin Peylet, Rachel Gillig

101 reviews

stateofrina's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

First of all, thank you to The Book Leo from YouTube for this recommendation. Absolutely devoured. Personally, this book was really suited to my tastes. It was filled with magic, the kind that is dark, powerful and always comes with a price. I was drawn into this world from the first page till the end, I could not take my eyes off it. Every chapter was enjoyable to me, I found myself even rereading some pages just to truly absorb it. One thing that can really stray me away from a book is badly done romance, but I actually loved it here. I was giggling at their rare moments alone together, and the steady build up was devoured. I love Ravyn so much. I even annotated this down; he is a captain (always has been a personal favourite), commanding, smart, trustworthy, protective and reliable. He is the type of man I need for a series like this which is tense and dark, yet not overwhelmingly so. Just the right amount of mystery, a found family trope, and some really good magic. I love the card system, and how easy it was to understand. I love the characters, not one of them has fallen flat for me and I can actually imagine them pretty well in my head which is usually a difficult task for me without proper references. Elm and Emory has personally stuck out for me. The Nightmare grew on me, and I found myself going from disliking and mistrusting him to actually loving the slow unravelling of his backstory and how he was

once the Shepherd King.

Book One was perfect with what it has to offer, and I find myself excited to go into Book Two to unravel more of the mysteries this series has to offer.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore and Blood

tabea1409's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

kmart_ceo's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A dark fantasy with a card system for magic. It’s different and frankly refreshing. I couldn’t stop reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Physical abuse, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Animal death, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

karinreadsalot's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Gore, and Violence

elythrim's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No

5.0

Absolutely exceptional, all I want condensed in one book
Specially The Nightmare working part time as a couple's counselor

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Child death

alchristan's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Violence

violetofthesea's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

this was so good!!! best book i’ve read in a long time.

i’m excited to see what happens next with the nightmare and Elspeth. I know she’s still in there, but I wonder how long it will be to get her back in the next book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Gore, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Physical abuse

straybutterfly's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism

crinkledmochi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

VIBES!!!! 
Gothic, mystical, yet darkly cozy. 

the romance was cute but definitely needed more fleshing out as everything happened within the span of a couple weeks. 

the worldbuilding! yes ma’am, I hope that in the next book the world kinda opens up a bit more but with the way this book ended I don’t think we’re going very far. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

erinreadsbooks's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

2.75

This book just didn’t grip me. I felt like the first 75% of the book moved really slowly and I felt myself getting bored. The reveal of

the Nightmare being the old king

also felt prolonged—it was fairly obvious that this was the case so when it was “revealed” to Elspeth and the reader, it just felt underwhelming. I don’t enjoy when it feels like the author is underestimating the reader, and this was one of those times.

I also wasn’t a big fan of the romance, but that may be personal preference as I don’t enjoy the “love at first sight” trope. 

The concept of the story—a bargain with a greater entity that takes more each time one asks for favors—is really compelling, and the ending was interesting. I just wanted the whole book to be as eventful and impactful as the last 25%. 

Read if you like dark fantasy involving bargains for power with a tiny bit of romance. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Murder