Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell

5 reviews

abookwormspov's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

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

5.0

This was an absolute joy to read! Love me an asexual blob girlfriend

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Death, Blood, Grief, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Cannibalism, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Violence, Stalking, Torture, and War

bebidocrimes's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

Usually I don't think 'cozy' and 'horror' mix well, but this book had such a beautiful balance. The action was brutal and detailed, but the relationship felt so soft and genuine. I'm not the right person to speak on asexual representation, but I feel like this does justice to ace couples.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death of parent, Body horror, Death, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Abandonment, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia, Pregnancy, and Classism

kaiyakaiyo's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

this was so fun and sad and unique and gory and strange and sweet and heartwarming and gut wrenching and whimsical and… you get the gist, I LOVED this. 

heavier subject matter than I expected, but I think it balances well with the comedy and gore. this gave me the same “I’ve never read anything like this before” feeling as Walking Practice; I’m so pleased to have found another book for that mental shelf 

I’d write forever if I had to say all the reasons I liked this, so I’ll leave it at: 5 stars, favorite shelf, so fresh and so so hard to put down. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Blood, Body horror, and Murder

Moderate: Vomit, Grief, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Animal death, Physical abuse, and Animal cruelty

lets_b_libros's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow, just WOW. Where to even start— this needs to be THE new blueprint for monster romance. 

I loved seeing the story through the eyes of a monster that has good intentions but inhuman morals… From the start, when

Shesheshen assumed the gory death of her “father” was an act of love on his part... That she saw no other possibility than being a creature born out of selfless love… AGGHHHHH.

That immediately had me hooked. I had to know how a being whose perspective on human life was so skewed could eventually fall in love with a human herself. 

And the book just got better and better, with such a satisfying and wholesome ending. The best book I’ve read all year, best wlw book I’ve read in a WHILE.

If anyone knows of any books that are anything similar, message me!!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Child death, Body horror, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Gaslighting, Homophobia, and Animal death

Minor: War

laurareads87's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.0

Someone You Can Build a Nest In is ambitious: not only is the character non-human, she’s not even approximately humanoid (unless she chooses to be) but rather a shapeshifting blob that can take objects in from her environment – chair legs, knives, body parts of others – and use them to shape herself. It’s well written and I’d happily read more from John Wiswell, but not everything about this worked for me. 

What I liked: the novel includes thoughtful asexual sapphic representation, some well considered conversations about trauma and its impact on relationships, and a mix of graphic gore and violence with humour that somehow inexplicably worked in terms of overall tone. The pacing mostly worked for me. There are some fantastic descriptions and turns of phrase in this book. 

What I didn’t love so much: Shesheshen felt way too human as a non-human POV; I understand wanting to make the POV character somehow relatable, but this didn’t quite work for me. The last 20% or so of the book felt like an unnecessary add-on. The insta-romance wasn’t convincing (I’m admittedly not a romance reader, and those who are might like this aspect of the story more than I did).  

Thank you to the author, DAW, & NetGalley for providing me with an ARC. 

Content warnings: emotional abuse, physical abuse, gaslighting, child abuse, child death, blood, gore, body horror, injury detail, violence, murder, death, animal cruelty, animal death, grief, abandonment. Don’t be misled by reviews calling this ‘cozy’ – the abusive dynamics in this book are severe and pervasive. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Abandonment, Body horror, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Blood