Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

12 reviews

kchen138's review

dark funny 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

3.25

You can definitely see the growth in Hendrix’s writing. Amy is like a lot of his main characters, headstrong, flawed, middling luck, but reasonable. I would’ve loved to see more of her humor/personality come through in the middle of the book rather than the semi-one note of fear/disbelief in what’s happening. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Murder, Blood, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders

SPOILER If Hendrix were to write this book today, we would’ve definitely gotten another third act of Amy and Basil finding the other coworkers. I thought örsk was going to be more connected to the big bad than they were. Typical corporate evil rather than supernatural. I wanted more backstory to the prison and who exactly was sending out the “Help” texts. Concept is super cool. I read the audiobook but would love to check out the physical for its design and detail. Not bad but not my favorite story from one of my favorite authors.

embee007's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

"It was the kind of repetitive labor that killed your soul."

Quick, fun read. The joys of working in a very strict retail place,

compared to a jail, when it's is haunted by one.

“Orsk: Our Home Is Forever”

This very quickly goes from light, sarcastic, & easy going, to very dark, & traumatic (for our MCs).

"The only thing it didn’t offer was coffins. Yet."

“There was a prison here, and we built a new prison on its ruins, and all the old prisoners came out to give it a try.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Stalking, Death, Murder, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Gaslighting, and Gore

yannic_rasmus's review

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

The second Hendrix novel I've read so far. I just love the mix of horror and comedy so much, even though this book's horror aspect didn't catch me quite as much as his other work(s) did. Still, it was a really cool experience - especially given this amazing design! The story was fast-paced, the characters felt really authentic and the ending left me wanting to read more; I would definitely recommend it :) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Medical trauma, Body horror, Self harm, and Confinement

Moderate: Excrement, Gore, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Blood, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Addiction, Abandonment, and Cursing

librarymouse's review

adventurous challenging mysterious fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

I'm glad I got this book in print to read, but now, I'm unsettled by it.

Ruth Anne's snoopy😭. Twice, when he came up, first in Amy's thoughts right after Ruth Anne succumbing to the pennetants, and again at Ruth Anne's memorial, I nearly cried. Grady Hendrix has a neat trick of characterizing his characters with little, branded quirks, like Ruth Anne's religious attachment to Blistex and Amy specifically stopping at the Speedway for coffee that somewhat break the suspension disbelief while making them a bit more interesting. Ruth Anne's Snoopy waiting for her on the couch at a home she'll never return to takes that almost comical brand name dropping and turns it on it's head. Making the thought of a mass produced toy waiting for it's loving owner to return home such a deeply gut wrenching thing in the slog of gore and terror in this book makes upsetting and gorgeous space for grief. Ruth Anne gouging out her own eyes to avoid seeing the things that terrified her, with the childlike belief that if she can't see them, they can't see her is equally upsetting.

Matt and Trinity are interesting characters, but they don't get as much space in the book to be known. The focus is on Amy, Basil, and Ruth Anne. Ruth Anne does a great job personalizing Basil to Amy, beyond the archetype of ineffective middle manager. He believes in her as a person. It just takes a while for the two of them to understand each other.

This book really takes the concept of the real evil being capitalism to the furthest degree possible beg it would fall into a spoof/satire category. Orsk is a corporate, bureaucratic nightmare.

The gradual shifting of the images from possible furniture pieces to torture equipment is honestly funny. I like how each item is showcased in the chapter. In some scenes, this book reads a bit like a fanfiction, which isn't a bad thing. It provides much needed moments of levity.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical content, Physical abuse, Body horror, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Self harm

mallory10100's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

this was WILD 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Murder, Police brutality, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Confinement, Excrement, Grief, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Cursing, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicide, Death, and Vomit

gracklewarp's review

adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gore, Suicide, Body horror, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Abandonment, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Excrement

romehsaur's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Death, Medical trauma, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Slavery, Torture, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Bullying, and Kidnapping

odrib's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, and Torture

Moderate: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Excrement

davidrb's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

You can tell this was one of his earlier works, but even then, he's still such a talented horror writer. His character writing suffers a little here, and that's my main complaint. Amy is still fantastic, though! Great, creative book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Excrement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, and Torture

spooderman's review

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Ableism, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Vomit

Minor: Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, and Misogyny