Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

95 reviews

tavvyj's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I read this in a book club and can tell I liked it quite a bit more than most of them did. This novel is emotional, and so much of it is tense. Heuvelt uses very specific language to stand out specific passages, and because of that it can warrant disgust at times.

I'm going to talk about the nipples here, which are a large part of the shock value. My friends said things like "don't make a drinking game out of it" and the like, so while I was reading I kept count of the mentions. While it's a higher number than one would expect in a non-smut or romance book, it mentions them 10 total times, 9 of which are for shock value and disgust. Talking about Tyler's nips was weird though. 

In any case, the use seems pretty clear to make the imagery stand out and not just mentioning nipples just to mention nipples as my friends emphasized.

The book is dark and emotional, it's horrific. And it's a reminder that the true evil in the world is, and has always been, humans being afraid of something.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

luxrae's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

hollyberry_books's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment

mysimas's review against another edition

Made it half way through… The idea of the witch all chained up, with her eyes and mouth sewn shut just randomly haunting the town was interesting and unsettling, and the way the townies tried to live normal lives around her and camouflaged her from visitors made for my favourite take-away from the whole story.

But the writing style, the characters, the misogyny all put me off. This is one of those books that’s written a little like watching a movie: the action is described but there’s no additional value to the text. The character work didn’t go deep either, and especially the ‘police’ guy came off annoying and incompetent. I skimmed ahead to see how it ends and feel no need to stick around for the rest of the journey.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Torture

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Death of parent

ggcd1981's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Medical content, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Drug use

Male Gaze

weirdow's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Pretty much nothing but compliments here. Good horror writing,  diverse cast/perspectives. Spooky and  emotionally impactful level.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, and Violence

Minor: Gun violence

breezer's review

dark sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

quabbityash's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Self harm, and Suicide

Moderate: Animal death and Child death

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

essgeearr's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Sexual assault, and Suicide