Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

74 reviews

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.

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Content Warnings

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

abookwormspov's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Cannibalism, Body horror, Child death, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Violence, Slavery, Grief, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, and Death

kathleenab's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad fast-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

blacksphinx's review against another edition

dark 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

2.5

While being leagues above the other book I've read by Cassandra Khaw, Nothing But Blackened Teeth, it is still a mixed bag. 

It has some gruesome moments of gore and cruelty that earn it the label of horror. Nothing made me laugh or roll my eyes like the previous novella I read. And yet, I finished it not having the faintest idea what on earth a "mermaid" was in this universe. Perhaps it would have been better less as a standalone and more as a novella in a story collection taking place in the same universe?

The romance also took me by surprise in a bad way, considering how much I winced listening to one half of the couple muse about the other's gender.

The things I liked and the things I didn't balance the scales of my opinion. This will almost certainly be the last thing I read by this author.

Also, really didn't like the audiobook. It was the first time I've gotten completely lost and confused about who was speaking, which didn't help my experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cannibalism, Violence, Death, Torture, Medical trauma, Body horror, Child abuse, Blood, Medical content, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Transphobia, Vomit, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, and Domestic abuse

daniellekat's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

2.0

A talented author, but the writing is just not for me. I mostly enjoyed their previous novella, Nothing but Blackened Teeth, and thought to given this one a try. The story was interesting and captivating but the writing was over the top. It was almost like they were going out of their way to make use of obscure words and descriptions. The imagery was gruesome and gory but by the last 20ish pages I was really skimming through (It probably didn't help I was also reading another extremely descriptive book at the same time). There were moments that took my breath away but overall I found this to be not very memorable. I think I'll pass on Khaw's work in the future but it has to be said that their novella covers are absolute works of art.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Child death, Cannibalism, Gore, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Blood

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

mermaidsherbet's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Medical content, Child death, Death, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Miscarriage, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Rape, Abandonment, Death of parent, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

xangemthelibrarian's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Okay okay okay. If you want to read: 

1. about a mermaid who is true to actual myths and not Hans Christian Anderson or Disney, AND is a badass character with sharp teeth

2. A beautiful, somewhat immortal Frankenstein-Monster-Plague Doctor 

3. A trio of Doctor Frankensteins with absolutely no morality to speak of, only the thrill of chasing immortality

4. A novella that is short, sweet, and will kick you right the feels and then kick you again while you're down, only to reach out and help you up once it's done hurting you

5. A lot of body horror. Blood. Guts. Disemboweled intestines draping over the snow, eyeballs being popped out in great detail, viscera and vomit. 

This book is for YOU. DO IT. PICK IT UP RIGHT NOW. IT'S BEAUTIFUL. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Child death, Medical content, Gore, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury

gondorgirl's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Murder, Torture, Cannibalism, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Violence, Body horror, Blood, Grief, Misogyny, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

emimli's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense

2.0

I wanted to love this, but ultimately it fell flat for me.

My biggest gripe with this book is that the ending seemed very rushed and didn’t fit with the overall atmosphere of the story. It also felt very unearned. I’m not a fan of deus-ex-machina style endings where the central conflict is solved using a completely new, previously unmentioned plot/world/character element, which is unfortunately exactly what happens here. 

Additionally, from a technical standpoint, Khaw’s writing style is  pretty unbearable. Her prose reads like she just discovered the synonym tool in Microsoft Word. It’s overwrought to the point of being nonsensical at times.

The love story at the centre of this book was my favourite part, but even that needed to be built up much more.

The two MCs go from being vaguely horny for each other to expressing their undying love within mere hours. Nevermind that, as far as the reader knows, the MCs barely ever interacted prior to the events of the story, and now they’re too busy fighting for their lives against immortal sadists to have any real meaningful conversations. Am I supposed to believe these people are desperately in love when they barely even know each other? We needed a slower burn.

Overall, there are some  cool ideas in here, but the execution was sorely lacking.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Medical content, Child abuse, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Animal death, Confinement, Kidnapping, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Torture

kateh0321's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Author: Cassandra Khaw
Genre: Short Story/Horror
Format: Audiobook
Rating: 3.5 

TW: Gore, body horror, cannibalism, child death, torture.

This was a fascinating novella. With the rich language (confusing at first in the audio format), Cassandra was able to explore a retelling of The Little Mermaid that is delightfully morbid and dark. It relies heavily on body horror, which will not be easy to stomach for many, but to me added to the macabre and eerie tone. I understand it was a novella, so I felt like I could have learned more about the plague doctor and the cult, but overall it was an absorbing story that I finished in one day. 

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. The book publishes on May 2nd. 2023!

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Torture