Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Everything The Darkness Eats by Eric LaRocca

25 reviews

achay91's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Car accident, Child death, Cursing, Excrement, Grief, Hate crime, Blood, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Death and Murder

chilivanilli28's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Homophobia, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Rape, and Child death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

r_o_s_e's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Kidnapping, Rape, Sexual assault, and Grief

Minor: Pregnancy, Abandonment, Child death, and Islamophobia

bookishpriest's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

1.5

This felt like two half-conceived short stories stitched together for the sake of making something long enough to publish as a book.  Two parallel storylines that suddenly meet up in the last 10% of the book. Some of the ideas were interesting, but fell flat and didn't recieve their due. There were references to Sandman and Needful Things that could have been very compelling but did not deliver.

There were several depictions of extreme violence and homophobia (check the trigger warnings before reading!) that did very little for the story or character advancement,

didn't get much treatment and, in the end, were hand-waved away without any real follow-up.

This felt to me like a version of trauma porn and not at all helpful.

Whatever the author's intent, I couldn't find it in these pages and it was disappointing enough that I won't be looking for more of their work.

The narration of the audiobook is well done and a pleasant listen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Homophobia, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Ableism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, and Death

Minor: Pedophilia

julesbarthe10's review against another edition

challenging dark

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

3.0

Eric LARocca never cease to leave me in utter "WTF-hood" after I read one of his books. I think I've become addicted to the utter confusion they cause me. Everything the Darkness Eats hits on topics of homophobia, severe grief, devote worship, idiotic adults, and of course god is there also. A luring old man seems to seamlessly convincing people to join him in his creepy home so he can show them something beyond there wildest dreams, and then no one hears from them again. Ghost (the MC) can save them though, at least that is what the old man tells him. Only he can set them free, and all he has to do is trust the weird old man. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Homophobia, Violence, Sexual violence, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Blood, Sexual assault, Death, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Grief, and Child death

mindysbookjourney's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Grief, Homophobia, and Hate crime

Minor: Car accident, Death, Pedophilia, Ableism, Biphobia, and Child death

riflelizards's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Blood, Car accident, and Excrement

Minor: Child death, Death, Biphobia, and Medical content

mikepalumbo's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Torture, Car accident, Violence, Rape, Gore, Blood, Homophobia, and Hate crime

Moderate: Pedophilia

dokushoka's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Homophobia

Moderate: Rape, Violence, Death, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Chronic illness, and Hate crime

Minor: Child death, Pregnancy, Excrement, Murder, Islamophobia, and Grief

ericarobyn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Everything the Darkness Eats by Eric LaRocca is a dark and brutal supernatural thriller set in a town where small-minded hatred runs rampant.

In the quiet town of Henley’s Edge, vulnerable people are going missing. The police are aware but don’t seem to have any leads. One officer is determined to solve the case but soon finds himself a victim of hate crimes that steadily get more violent.

Can both cases be solved before it’s too late for everyone involved?

Set up to focus on various perspectives, readers will get sucked into each storyline! Following the characters into their individual circles of darkness, orbiting around one another until they all meet in a dark basement.

I absolutely couldn’t wait to see where this twisted and dark tale was headed.

With Eric’s writing, you know he isn’t going to shy away from the darkness. As I highlighted some content warnings above, please be prepared for various scenes that will make you flinch and want to rage over the horror of it all.

My Favorite Passages from Everything the Darkness Eats

She mindlessly began to covet the lines around his mouth and eyes until they resembled the scratches at the bottom of a teacup. She thought of a silver spoon, circling the bottom of a cup–going over the dark thin lines like the immeasurable loop of time, the nauseating ache of infinity.

Ghost felt unclean, as if he could sense Mr. Crowley crawling around inside him, rummaging through his thoughts and overturning stacks of memories until he came upon the one thing that mattered most to Ghost-his sweet Hailey. He knew he should leave, but a curious part of him begged to know the answer to a question that needed to be asked.

My Final Thoughts on Everything the Darkness Eats

Horror fans, you need to have this book on your radar!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Homophobia, and Violence

Moderate: Death and Child death

Minor: Car accident