Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

All These Bodies by Kendare Blake

17 reviews

vismyth's review

dark mysterious slow-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

2.5

It's a 2 and a half for the interesting setup and initial ambiguity that really does drag you into the story wondering whether there is a supernatural twist or not and what happened to end up with a teenage girl drenched in blood surrounded by bodies
but that ambiguity is never resolved and the ending isnt satisfying enough to make up for it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual assault, Sexism, Confinement, Gun violence, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, and Cannibalism

implied sexual assault, implied grooming of a minor

lsalyer's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Grief, Murder, Death, Blood, Bullying, and Classism

Minor: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Torture, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Gore, and Vomit

echosong's review

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Sexism and Adult/minor relationship

r0bin_05's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

a string of murders in the US in the late  fifties, characterised by the chilling lack of blood at the crime scenes. a murder in a small town, the sheriff's son, and a girl.


supernatural / murder mystery / historical fiction

one of those that you read in one night [although that might have something to do with my scaredy-cat-ness lmao]. i did to try to reach a satisfactory not scary conclusion which was not reached. [on both counts to be honest]


so a) not my favourite genre because of the supernatural-ness 
but b) well written on the most part, loved the world building 
c) found the centering of romance annoying to be honest and unnecessary- i am a straight romance hater
d) ending fell a bit flat. a non-ending. 
e) enjoyed the characters though

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, and Sexism

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Confinement, Child abuse, Stalking, and Vomit

vaniavela's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

Sixteen bloodless bodies. Two teenagers. An impossible explanation.

Michael was an interesting narrator. He was able to separate his emotions from the investigation at such a young age and with no prior experience, which is impressive.

This book focuses on someone who doesn't talk at all, either to defend herself or plead guilty, which was somehow boring and annoying. There are no breakthroughs or investigations, there is just Michael trying to get Marie to talk and Marie refusing to do so.

We never find out what really happened. I wanted answers and instead got an ambiguous ending. The pacing was also slow, which didn't help.

In the end, I'm not sure how I felt about this book. I couldn't even tell if the story included paranormal elements or not. I would have liked some action moments in the story, but that wasn't the case. 

This just disappointed me, it had so much potential, but in the end it was poorly executed.

tw: murder, blood, death, adult/minor relationship, animal death, physical abuse, child abuse, rape, sexism, abandonment, underage alcohol consumption, child death, confinement, death of parent, grief, misogyny,  violence.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, and Physical abuse

Minor: Child abuse, Rape, and Sexism

em_5460's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book had a very high concept and was excellent for the first 2/3. However, once it came to wrapping things up, I was very disappointed.

The choice to not reveal the Blood Drinker left me feeling unsatisfied. The book opened all these loose ends with the Blood Drinker and his relationship to Marie that it never tied up. I think that by changing the last third to a plot in which the Blood Drinker is identified and punished would finish this story up amazingly. It is a bit of a lazy ending, since what you expect to happen, Marie getting blamed and executed, is exactly what happens.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Violence, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Child death, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Sexism

kjn1329's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Stalking, Alcoholism, Cannibalism, Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

taryn_g's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Gore

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, and Sexism

Minor: Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual violence

bookishgoob's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

A young girl is found at a crime scene with 3 dead bodies drained of blood, yet she is covered head to toe in blood that isn’t her own. Arrested, she says she will only give her confession to the sheriffs son, Michael. A short read from Kendare Blake about murder, betrayal, and the way society looks at young women. 


I didn’t hate this book, but i didn’t love it either. The way they kept calling Marie “fast” made my stomach churn. I understand why they said everything they said about her, but it didn’t make it easier to read. Women are so often villainized before they are victimized and then made villains once more. Men don’t often understand that 15 year old girls are just that, girls. They aren’t fast or seductresses. They are children. Most of this book hurt my heart. A lot of the stuff that was said about Marie was so sickening. It was a sad story and many people say they recommend it for ages 13-15 but i really think it’s 15-17 ish. The dark themes of this book will not be able to be understood by a 13 year old. 

Michael was kind of annoying and I also didn’t like that a lot of the story revolved around him instead of Marie. It’s a story about marie, but it’s ultimately a story about michael growing up i guess? Like a dark coming of age in a way? The ending felt too drawn out but also too rushed. It’s not what I expected, but it was enjoyable to an extent.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Child abuse, Cursing, Self harm, Sexism, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Body horror, Child death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Grief, Confinement, and Death of parent

notsarahconnor's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

 I'm a simple gal, give me a book that even hints at vampires and it's on my TBR pile.

I'm surprised by how much I liked this book. Atmospheric and with a great voice, Blake has really blown me away!

Read the full review on my blog! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Pedophilia, and Murder