Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom

306 reviews

lupalionessa's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

I love a historical thriller and this one was definitely fascinating. I loved the development of the lore, which took Christian demonology and played with it in an interesting way. Some will be a bit disappointed the author didn’t go full Satan but I found it more interesting and nuanced.

I loved how erotic and sensual the feeling of Abithas magic was - really tapping into the idea of religious ecstasy. It was also written so tangibly that you could almost feel it yourself (pun intended.)

The pacing was pretty good and I feel like if I wasn’t busy with work I would have finished this much quicker. Overall, a great read. 

Also, Wallace, when I catch you Wallace!!! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Torture

saxonthecurious'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Colonisation

Minor: Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Slavery, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

goldensisyphus's review

adventurous 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? Yes

5.0

Fantastic story! Unique and unlike anything I've ever read. I loved this book so much!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

sq11's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring mysterious fast-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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Sexism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Torture, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Sexual violence

rachelunabridged's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Cursing, and Grief

Minor: Death of parent and Alcohol

seschiltz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death

karmascycles's review against another edition

dark sad 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

2.0

I found this book to be conflicting for me and throughout the entire story I kept changing how I felt about it. In general I am not a fan of puritan/god-focused/misogynistic books because I find them to be tired, annoying, and overdone. I became more intrigued with Slewfoot after the introduction

to Samson and his interactions with Abitha

However, it seemed to be a constant up and down for me.

The amount of graphic female torture by the male characters in this book was too much for me.

It felt unnecessary to show it in great detail, over and over again, in order to get the point across, really. It's like, in a way, yes I understand we are talking about a 17th century puritan village but like, come on, did we have to describe every detail? Did we have to draw it out over and over and over again when it happened? Besides that, many of the characters felt a little too one-dimensional. They were either mean or they weren't. That was all there was to them.
I think my other issue with books like this, whose entire plot revolves around the suffering of women, is that for me the revenge will never be enough. There is no amount of revenge on abusive men that can be done to ever satisfy me, so I am tired of reading about it.

I'd hoped this book would've been more about Abitha leaving the people behind in order to form a new life with Samson, however that wasn't exactly the case.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Grief, and Murder

bethijay's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This would have been the best book I read in 2024, but it took me until the end of January to finish it. Really intense at times, the story left me guessing. I will definitely be rereading this many years to come.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Grief, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

the bad guys die in the end and vengeance is had for all the brutality earlier in the book

narsere's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-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? No

2.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Animal cruelty

mimishake's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Torture

Moderate: Animal cruelty