Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

49 reviews

dehernandez3169's review

mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I LOVE that the main character is an AFAB masculine presenting person. And the use of non-standard or "neo" pronouns are *chef's kiss*. 

The story was gripping and well told. It was to the point and every word worked to further the story. 

Well done thriller overall! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Medical content

moobell55's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Death, Mental illness, Blood, Murder, and Suicide

While the book does contain bodily gore it is not very descriptive and briefly mentioned. The death and killing of small animals how is described and happens multiple times throughout the book. A reference to suicide to mentioned but describes of witnessed.

ladybean1008's review

dark mysterious tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Death

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

The pseudo fantastical nature was foreboding and creepy in a good way, but I'm not a big horror person so I mostly just wanted to get away from the sentient fungi.  I did read the short story it is based on which was predominantly vibes, and I liked this reinterpretation of it more than the original because the characters had much more depth.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcohol, Body horror, Confinement, Medical content, Mental illness, Slavery, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Classism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Sexism, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

mr_cain's review

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Fascinating concepts.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, Gore, Blood, Murder, Body horror, Animal death, Death, Chronic illness, and Grief

Moderate: Blood

Minor: War, Misogyny, Death of parent, Gun violence, and Confinement

rabidteddybear's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: War and Medical content

Minor: Transphobia

anni_swanilda's review

dark funny informative mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Alcohol, and Body horror

Moderate: Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Misogyny

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicide, and War

lycheejelly's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Animal death, Alcohol, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Death of parent, Gore, War, Blood, Murder, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Vomit

nadiaxm's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Gore, Body horror, and War

librarymouse's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

This was a fast and interesting read. The first half of the book was a little slow, and the last half a little fast, but overall the pacing added to the element of mystery. It wasn't hard to guess where the story was going, in terms of the fungal poisoning, but smaller aspects of the mystery were still surprising.

Madeline having been dead since before the start of the events of the novel was an interesting twist. It makes a lot of sense looking back. It's also really neat how the integration of a language with so many pronouns into the plot through the character of Alex creates further interest and intrigue in how Maddie and Alex interact concerning the way she references the fungus as if it were a child. I don't have any particular love of Poe, beyond the general appreciation, but this was an engaging use of his premise.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Animal cruelty, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Body horror, Death, Eating disorder, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

Moderate: Suicide, War, Misogyny, and Vomit

I marked eating disorders as being a graphic description because of the ways in which the emaciated characters are explained in depth.