Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

26 reviews

alexandrias_library's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Child abuse, and Animal death

chainsawheartbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

I’ve finally finished this.

The combination of characters and insane morals people will drop to all for the “good of the town” were really interesting, and I found the actual setting intriguing, I loved learning more about its rich and fucked up history. 

But this felt like a slog. I really wanted to enjoy it more than I did, and I can’t really put my finger on why I didn’t.

There was a whole host of characters that I both wanted more information on, while also not really caring what happened to them.

And I really wish that the witch had more to do, especially in the end. I understand the whole metaphorical aspect of it, but I wanted her to get shit done.

All in all, I’m content with the fact I’ve read it, but I sadly can’t see myself revisiting this. Evidently this just wasn’t for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death, Confinement, Grief, Gore, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Rape, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, and Islamophobia

snazzy_suze's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

The book absolutely haunted me. As an avid horror reader, I'm typically pretty unfazed - I enjoy the thrill of a spooky book, but when I put it down I'm done being spooked. Hex was NOT like that. Trying to solve the mystery of Katherine's motives drove me absolutely insane. I had nightmares, I saw omens everywhere. This book is SPECIAL. If you are a horror lover, this will not disappoint you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Child abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault and Forced institutionalization

sugarbucky's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

INCREDIBLY CHILLING and DAMN ORIGINAL!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Violence, Sexual violence, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, and Suicide

Moderate: Islamophobia, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, and Homophobia

jilly_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I DEVOURED this book. I rarely get this enthusiastic about new horror and this was just *chef’s kiss* perfection. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, and Grief

Moderate: Self harm, Child death, Suicide, Rape, Medical content, Violence, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Death, Sexual violence, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Sexual assault

Minor: Child abuse, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Abortion

dan_tee's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

3.75

A lot of good stuff in this book. For the pure horror, the author builds tension well and holds it across many pages at a time. It makes you want to know more, even as you're peeking through your fingers. 

It has some interesting themes m, though I'm not sure the author knew what they wanted to say with some of them. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Islamophobia

Minor: Homophobia

A couple of descriptions stick out as offensive/out of place. It's helpful to remember this was written 10+ years ago, and the author is not endorsing homophobic or islsmophonic views, merely using characters with these virws to solidify who these bigots were and what they thought.

dreamofbookspines's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

EXTREMELY scary. The phrase "banality of evil" kept coming to mind. Sometimes the tone or phrasing was odd but that may be a translation artifact.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Physical abuse

_sappho_wannabe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

the most disturbing book i’ve ever and might ever read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Body horror, Self harm, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Death, Gore, Grief, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, and Bullying

Minor: Homophobia

turtleofhades's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.75

This book. This book is gonna leave me with nightmares for the next little while.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Child death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, and Suicide

Moderate: Child abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Animal death, Bullying, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Child death, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Abandonment, Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Islamophobia, Torture, Animal cruelty, Blood, Cursing, Mental illness, Classism, Death, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, and Sexism

kimberlyswalters's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

I struggled to put this book down every evening. I was hooked from the very beginning, but also too scared to let myself finish it quickly. I suffer from stress hallucinations and would rather not risk seeing Katherine in my bedroom, so smaller doses of this nightmarish read were necessary. I rated it 4.75/5 because I still have a few questions I want answered and it bugs me that I'll never know the answers to them, and I do think answering some of them would benefit the storytelling. I understand that not everything has to be explained in full detail, but I don't like having as many questions as I do. I still would highly recommend reading this. A story this fun and haunting is worth the extra questions. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Torture

Moderate: Alcohol, Gun violence, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, and Vomit

Minor: Car accident and Excrement