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kermitdafrog's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
2.5
My main issues with this book go into heavy spoiler territory so here goes:
There is also some troubling ideas of love in here that I'm having a hard time believing is the character's opinion and not just the author's. Her vehemently denying any interest in Edmund felt genuine up to the point she suddenly heel turns towards the end, states she's head over heels for him and... means she'd obey him blindly? To the poijt of willingly being murdered? Having this be the influence of the river man or even just have this be a shift over time would be far preferable to how it was actually done.
Spoiler free Tldr: some interesting ideas thrown in around a terrible main character, heavy pacing issues, and heavy ideological issues not actually expanded upon enough to be seen as useful or insightful.
Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual assault, Ableism, Child abuse, Murder, Rape, Death, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Blood, Child death, and Eating disorder
Moderate: Alcohol and Alcoholism
cweave's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Overall, dark, twisted and a hard to put down read.
Graphic: Murder, Eating disorder, Rape, and Incest
Moderate: Ableism
celleuloid's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Body horror, Eating disorder, Gore, Incest, Murder, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Death, Ableism, Blood, Child death, Rape, and Sexual assault
finleyfrogreads's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Ableism, Rape, Eating disorder, and Incest
zea_d_writing's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I went into this knowing it was an extreme horror novel: which means I knew that its sole purpose was to be horrific, vile, disgusting, sick, revolting, shocking purely to be shocking, and potentially even offensive. I knew it would likely delve into taboo topics, as these kinds of books often do.
And I wasn’t wrong.
This book wasn’t actually as graphic as I expected. Don’t get me wrong…there are absolutely very graphic, very disturbing, sickening scenes and themes depicted in this book. It just wasn’t as over the top as I expected given what I had heard about this book.
And I actually found the lore of this book really interesting and thought the storytelling itself was very effective.
But this book is absolutely disgusting, sick, and offensive.
I hated Lori, the main character. She’s vile in every way conceivable. Which is exactly how you’re supposed to feel about her - especially by the end.
This book features pretty severe racism and the fetishization of Asian women. It uses slurs (g slur) and describes very graphic violence and SA towards these groups. There is also severe blatant ableism (both in how the disabled character is depicted and how the other characters treat, talk to, and talk about the disabled character. The r slur is used more than once…as well as other derogatory terms.
The book features graphic incest and SA, murder, torture, dismemberment, violence and abuse, eating disorders, and a whole host of other triggers warnings.
Its dark. Its graphic. Its offensive. Its sick. I found the story itself weirdly interesting despite how twisted it was and the lore and worldbuilding were actually very intriguing.
I’m giving this three stars because it did what it intended to do and at no point was anything written within treated like it was supposed to be anywhere near normal or moral or okay. Its an extreme horror novel and everything and everyone within was entirely fucked up.
Graphic: Ableism, Eating disorder, Incest, Racism, Violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Body horror, Chronic illness, Gore, Grief, Racial slurs, Murder, Rape, Self harm, Blood, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexism, and Torture
booknerdnative's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Graphic: Rape, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Gore, Suicide, Medical trauma, Body horror, Blood, Incest, Ableism, Racism, Violence, Murder, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Death, and Eating disorder
szyca's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Sexual assault, Child death, Ableism, and Incest
hitnoises's review against another edition
- 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
2.0
Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Chronic illness, Ableism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Death, and Torture
midnights's review against another edition
I did like the way it addresses the very real and extremely disturbing hero-like worship of serial killers that exists in our modern society in the wake of true crime’s rise.
Graphic: Mental illness, Body horror, Sexual assault, Ableism, Blood, Incest, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence
maggotea's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Rape, Body horror, Torture, Violence, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide, Ableism, Death of parent, Death, Medical trauma, Racism, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Eating disorder, Grief, Incest, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship