Reviews tagging 'War'

Gone to See the River Man by Kristopher Triana

13 reviews

cainincarnate's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

2.0

a lot of thoughts about this book so long review incoming.

i guess i’ll start with what i liked. i feel like, a lot of times in horror in general but especially more extreme horror, disturbing topics get thrown around for shock value with no respect to the people who’ve actually lived through these things. very slight, non-specific spoilers, but

i do think the subject of incestuous sexual abuse was handled well, and you’re very clearly shown just how mentally damaging it is to the victim. it’s extremely brutal and gut-wrenching to read, which it should be.

i don’t think it was used just for shock value at all, which i appreciated, as disturbing as it was to read.

i’ve never really hated a protagonist like i hated lori. she starts off unlikable and annoying and then just becomes downright evil as the story unfolds. yet this never really took away from the reading experience for me, it actually added to it, which can be hard to pull off.

normally i don’t really like point of view switches, but it flowed well in this book. i also enjoyed the timeline jumping around a little bit and the inclusion of the letters between lori and edmund. overall i thought the plot flowed nicely. i also appreciated the writing style, there were some really beautiful descriptions in this book, especially when it came to nature. 

i also love the southern gothic plot in general, as well as the whole vibe of the river man and the almost cosmic horror direction the story took with him. i think the supernatural elements of the story were really fun.

what i didn’t like, firstly, was the way the only black character in the story was written. i’m not black so take what i say with a grain of salt, but his dialogue just felt extremely unrealistic, bordering on almost caricature-ish. he was also just the whole “magical black man” trope guiding the main character with his superstitious, folky wisdom. he exists only to help abby and lori (spoiler)

and then dies.

other people, especially black people, have talked about this trope better than i ever could so i just recommend looking it up and reading about it. 

there’s also racism against asian people in this book, especially asian women, which felt unnecessary. i get it’s extreme horror and we’re diving into taboo topics and the worst of humanity, but i was uncomfortable when slurs against asian people were dropped, like, at least five times in two pages. and i get that he’s not a good person at all (to put it extremely lightly), but the fetishism of asian women on edmund’s part just felt weird to read. and the treatment of the asian character niko just felt off to me. i’m not asian either so i’m probably not the best at explaining it, but i figured i’d warn about it regardless. i just don’t see why it was necessary to make the majority of the serial killer’s victims asian, and then give him a backstory as to why. 

i also didn’t like how abby’s disability was portrayed as a punishment to lori. i get that lori is an extremely unreliable, selfish narrator, but it did feel like abby was treated more like lori’s burden and ever-present reminder of guilt instead of a human being. i wish she was a bit more fleshed out as a character and had some more of her own narrative moments, i think this would have balanced lori’s selfishness and abby’s humanity. also the sudden r-slur drop in her monologue at one point was very unnecessary. i get that we can explore dark topics without condoning them, ableism included. i also just think we have responsibility as writers when we take on these topics and we have to be conscious of the message we’re sending about disabled people.

then the parts where lori starts calling edmund her king and saying she should bow to him. i think it would have been interesting to explore her descent into obsessive love for him if it was drawn out more, but it comes out of absolutely nowhere. she goes from calling him her friend to being insanely in love with him in the span of a few pages. i guess you could take this as the river man’s realm warping her mind, but i still would have appreciated more time to show that was happening to her. 

the ending just fell flat to me, i thought the final dialogue was cheesy and the last few chapters just seemed rushed. 

ultimately i think this book would have benefitted from being longer. i think there needed to be more development, especially for abby and lori. i also think all of the issues i’ve listed just soured what could have been a much better book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Gore, Murder, Racial slurs, Incest, Racism, Rape, and Ableism

Minor: War and Domestic abuse

goldbs's review

challenging dark fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Gore, Rape, Murder, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Blood, Cursing, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Death, Mental illness, Violence, and Eating disorder

Minor: War

bmads's review against another edition

dark 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

0.25

I don’t even understand how this was published this was the worst book I’ve ever read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Incest, War, Ableism, Racial slurs, and Murder

reader248_5's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

2.25

Don’t read it. It’s disgusting. The main plot in itself is fine, it’s the subplots. I almost threw up. Look, it’s a well written book, but not worth the read. However, the main character was wildly interesting to look at. Her thoughts are… interesting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Blood, Sexual content, Rape, Incest, Gore, and Body horror

Moderate: War, Eating disorder, Torture, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, and Self harm

mconroy9137's review against another edition

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: Death, Gore, Racism, Incest, Misogyny, Body horror, Child death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Rape, Sexism, Murder, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Ableism, Body horror, and Eating disorder

Minor: Alcohol, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Vomit, Abortion, Domestic abuse, War, and Cursing

sargasso_c's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Truly horrific but beautifully written. Worth a read if you can stomach it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Ableism, Body horror, Medical content, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Cursing, Racism, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Rape, Abortion, Alcohol, Grief, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide

perfectcupoftea's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Sexual assault, Ableism, Child death, Gore, War, Racism, and Self harm

dyingfetusmax's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Incest, Child abuse, and Ableism

Moderate: Racism, Racial slurs, Murder, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, and Xenophobia

Minor: Rape, Death of parent, Medical trauma, War, Torture, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

ashofadummy's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

OMG i loved this book! Its disgusting in the best way possible, and i loved how it blenda fantasy and reality? horror, i thought it would be more of a creepy supernatural being in the woods kind of book but it wasnt i loved that. The ending is fitting but kinda lame, I think that after everything that happened it was a little bit hurried/didnt get the amount of words it deserved? i would loved it if it. was a lottle more detailed.

I loved how yo start fellong pity for Lori and her sad lofe, thinking that maybe this thing for serial killers is just a way to spark her boring life, and wanting the best for her in this creepy situation she got into, but when you start to learn about her past you just want the river man to tear her apart. I think it was a perfect way to pass the book, i hate when horror books just take innocents lives to shock you more. /

Overall i think it was a good read to get our of a reading slump but the werinig, althought beatiful at parted, needed to be better at some points, specially develpment-wise. I loved the idea of intercalating present, past and the letters but theres something in how this is written that makes me go ehhhh.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Self harm, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Gore, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Mental illness, Rape, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, Vomit, Bullying, War, and Xenophobia

jellybean_gene's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.25

Unflinching and in your face, this is one of those novels that I would only recommend to hardcore horror fans.

That said, I believe the execution and storytelling were excellent. Some scenes were difficult to get through, but that was kinda the point. That said, at a certain point it felt like it was introducing more disturbing content just so it could. The

brother's death served virtually no purpose whatsoever

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Violence, Murder, Sexual assault, Incest, and Sexual content

Moderate: War, Sexual violence, Eating disorder, Murder, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Blood, and Child death