Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

108 reviews

ajsteele1699's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, and Gore

reggiethebird's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book is in black and white and red. Lots of red. I feel like the author went through an anatomy textbook, found all the strange and unused verbs, and strung a story together as an excuse to print them out. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Miscarriage, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

carolined314's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

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

3.75

Brutal, precise, haunting

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Miscarriage, Rape, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

blackheart's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

This book was fantastic. Dark, gory, and heart wrenching. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

kelleykamanda's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

Really fascinating idea but I thought the length did great disservice. I felt that maybe if it was longer with more character depth and lead in, the story would have been more captivating. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Murder

msradiosilence's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ofbooksandechos's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Gore, Blood, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse, Torture, Cannibalism, and Pregnancy

additional content warnings: dismemberment, evisceration, corpse mutilation, cult like society, being forced to eat one self’s body parts

aprilthelibrarian's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Torture, and Cannibalism

librarymouse's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

The gore and viscera of this novella sheaths a love that is tender in that it is beautiful, and tender in that it is raw to touch.

the narrator growing to look more human in the epilogue harkens back to the miss the reference of the falsehood earlier on about a mermaid's ability to become human if they love a prince deeply enough. The plague doctor's empathy becomes the narrator's upon their eviceration and subsequent death. The space and tenderness the plague doctor holds for the children being mutilated by the surgeons who killed and revived them over and over again is transmuted in their death to make the desire to preserve life something tangible to the narrator.

I enjoyed the way readers were dropped into the story after the narrator had taken a sort of revenge, and is figuring out where to set herself in the world after, and I enjoy that some things are left unexplained.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

kathleenab's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad fast-paced

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Torture, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, and Murder

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury