Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - The Last Word

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Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Last Word by Taylor Adams

184 reviews

haritha4may's review against another edition

4.5

mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Book within a book

Content Warnings

witheringghoul's review against another edition

3.5

dark funny tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

First things first before I even get into anything for those who need to know before reading: the dog doesn’t die even though the guy tried to kill then a couple times like a total pos. I had previously rated this book one star because I’m an ✨asshole✨ and it was before I accepted the fact that I’m a mood reader. I was trying to stick to a rigid TBR where I read things chronologically instead of what I felt like reading and this is a prime example why I shouldn’t do that. I literally hate on books that don’t deserve it. Emma isn’t a bad main character although at times frustrating. The only thing I couldn’t get past in this book is the butter flavored vape juice bit. Who the fuck smokes that? Like of all flavors THATS what you choose? Be so fucking for real. Also there were moments were the scary/creepy factor was absolutely demolished by a cringe factor that made it kinda funny in a really fucked way. And one last thing this maybe considered spoilery but I’m not gonna block it out because it is also a trigger, there is an infant death in this book. It’s used as a tragic backstory piece of Emma and I think people should be aware of that before reading because that can be rough to read. It’s not in graphic detail but it’s there. Also the killer calls himself a sigma male and refers to women as females.

Content Warnings

marrireadsandrambles's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

cassiereadsbooks_'s review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

astoriareader's review against another edition

3.0

dark tense medium-paced

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

SYNOPSIS:

Emma and her golden retriever, Laika, live in a remote, isolated home on the Washington Coast. She is house-sitting for a lady named Jules. Her only human contact is via text with Jules & via dry-erase board messages in the window to the neighbor, Deek.
She chose this lifestyle, as she grapples with some trauma from her past.
To keep her mind off her past, she spends her time reading cheap e-books.
One day, she reads a poorly-written slasher novel by H.G. Kane. She leaves a one-star review ⭐️— and, the author responds begging her to remove it.
After refusing to take down the review, some disturbing things start happening. Could it be the author himself? What’s happening?

THE FATE OF THE DOG (SPOILER)

🐶The dog doesn’t die
⚠️However, still a trigger warning for dog lovers: there is intent/attempts to hurt the dog. These parts are in the first half of the book. There’s two that I recall, and both involve the dog eating items. One item causes a minor cut on her gums. Another is poison, but Emma makes her throw up & she’s okay.

MY THOUGHTS: WHAT WAS GOOD

I loved the premise of the book. I thought it was a fresh idea.
This is my 2nd read by Adams. I previously read Last Exit. Similar to Last Exit, this is action-packed & gruesome.
I loved Emma & Laika. I found it very easy to relate to the duo.
The structure of the book is unique. Once it picks up, the book starts to offer parallel perspectives. Emma tells the real version of what happened, and immediately after, Adams offers the publicized version from a psychopath writer.
I loved seeing Emma’s conversations with her dogs. Sweet and unique.
The first 75% of the book is great & riveting. I loved the concept of Emma and Laika kicking ass. IMO the book should have ended there. If it had, this would be a 4-star review. But, the last 25% of the book brought it down an entire star.

MY THOUGHTS: WHAT WAS BAD

The last 25%, including the ending, was bad. It falls completely flat, and it isn’t satisfying.
Adams tries to do way too many twists.
There is A LOT you gave to suspend belief about in the book.
H.G. Kane is not a believable character. He’s wielding samurai swords at some parts?! lol
The book is scientifically flawed. A drug mentioned in the book is delivered through IV, so this part doesn’t make sense.
This turned into more of gore/slasher genre at some point in the book.

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️3 stars. Unique premise. Starts off great. Last 25% wasn’t good.

Content Warnings

ky_q_xoxo's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

HOLY SHIT. Taylor Adams might as well have ripped out my heart and stomped on it. I am deceased.

Content Warnings

amandaviljanen's review against another edition

2.5

emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

whenimreading's review against another edition

2.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

As I was scrolling past all the 1 star reviews, I thought to myself I only have 2 stars to give… I really enjoyed the opening, it was a page turner until the middle completely fizzling out and draaaged, then the author dragged the ending even more.

Emma is house sitting a remote beach house with its own creaky secrets but after writing a 1 star review and an odd exchange with the author, she’s paranoid of being watched. Isolating herself from events of the past year, throughout the book, a mystery unfolds slowly of what happened. While she’s being chased around the house by a killer.

The book read a bit like a movie script, at one point I described it as a low budget scary movie, it has the final girl trope, twisty but ultimately predictable. The telescope Hangman 🔭 and flashbacks to Emma’s history would play nicely on the screen. Some of the themes were quite sad and downright disturbing - yes, the dog Laika survives but it was really really really unnecessary to include all those almost killed parts. The author does mention the brutal story of the original Laika, which if you don’t already know about, I’m sorry. On top of few other triggers, which may be spoilery, so please check at your own risk.

Soooo the two ⭐️⭐️ stars are for the first part of the book 🤌🏼 and the one passage I really liked 🪐✨

“I don’t believe in God. But sometimes when I look out at the universe, I want to. There’s so much wonder out there. Planets made entirely of diamonds or ice, worlds where it rains molten glass whipped into knives by hurricane-force winds. Deep, dark places where the laws of physics as we understand them simply cease to be. Swirls of red and violet nebulae hundreds of light-years across. A human lifetime, traveling at the speed of light, couldn’t even cross a tiny fraction. She smiled. I guess I’m in love with the beauty and terror of it.” 💛

Content Warnings