Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

50 reviews

mollymctouch's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I didn’t know this book was going to be full on horror, but there ya go. It was so well-balanced. Seriously gave me the creeps. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Gore, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Islamophobia

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

bludgeoned_by_hail's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

3.5

A surreally terrifying and original story. Just thinking about the premise of a rotting witch popping up randomly in my house gives me the chills, and the exploration of the prosaic ways in which a small XXI century town would deal with an ancient mystical curse like this is very unique and interesting. The creepy atmosphere of Stephen King-esque small town gothic (King is a big influence in general) escalates and the tension rises, but unfortunately it all falls apart in lazy shock horror and hamfisted moralizing.

The amazing concept is also pretty heavily dragged down by the book's "dudebro-isms": the almost fetishistic amounts of gendered violence used for horror, the mean-spirited portrayal of small town folks as bloodthirsty Bible-thumping idiots, and the entire character of Robert Grim, the epitome of "Reddit cool". Sometimes even the language of the writing slips into these cringy tropes, which makes the big sweeping declarations about the evils of humanity and mass hysteria feel even more adolescent.

This all makes it sound like I didn't like the book, which is not true. It's an incredibly spooky and engaging read and I'd still definitely recommend it to horror fans everywhere. I'm just kinda pissed about the ending still ;-;

(Also the setting should've stayed Beek in the English version, WHERE IS THE DUTCH HORROR REP)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Gore

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, and Suicide

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

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

hauntedantiqueshop's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-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? Yes

1.0

an absurd amount of nipple in this book and I assure you, it isn’t in a fun sexy way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Alcohol

There isn’t a tag for the f slur but it is used a handful of times.

acorn192k's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

Thomas Olde Heuvelt stop talking about nipples challenge. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

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, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Suicide attempt

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

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

aparker89's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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

4.5

This is a solid book! A fascinating story full of terror, love, heartbreak and most importantly- the evil of mankind! 
Good f&cking book! Definitely not for the faint of heart but damn- my heart hurts after reading this! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

kaywhiteley's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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

4.0

I agree with some that a lot of the message of this book was told outright, rather than simply shown through the story. However, I did love this book. It was creepy and disturbing and the concept was rather unique. I will say, it took me a while to fully become immersed in the writing style, but by the end I couldn't stop reading until I finished. And jesus that ending...

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Islamophobia

maddie1280's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I will forever be scarred. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail