Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Dead Inside by Chandler Morrison

67 reviews

elle622's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Medical trauma, Cannibalism, Drug use, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Gore, Abortion, Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Drug abuse, Medical content, Body horror, Infidelity, Sexual content, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence

adelinekramer'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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

The writing is beautiful. But really read the trigger warning before. I already knew what I was going into.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Blood, Gore, Rape, Vomit, Suicide, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Medical content, Child death, Cannibalism, Body horror, Sexual content, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Infidelity

wholecuppatea's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

I DNF’d this. It’s shocking just for the sake of being shocking with absolutely nothing else to offer. The MC is the biggest pick-me incel/edgelord known to mankind and I can’t shake the feeling that the author self-inserted here somewhat. 

How many times can a character repeat how dark and twisted, how different and not like anyone else he is you may ask? Apparently every other page. We get it. 

If you want a pile of misogynistic incel necrophilia fantasy then go right ahead. If you want splatterpunk/shocking books there are many out there that do it 100 times better. Don’t waste your time/money. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicide, Medical content, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Abortion, Cannibalism, Gore, Death, Misogyny, Body horror, Child death, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Pedophilia

meeshbunny's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

0.5

Nope

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Gore, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Abortion, Body horror, Sexism, Rape, and Car accident

deathmetalheron's review against another edition

challenging dark funny tense fast-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

3.5

Not for the fainthearted, to put it lightly. The prose and approach to character is phenomenal. It goes without saying that the major themes of this book are cannibalism and necrophilia, and the author does not shy away from visceral descriptions of both acts. 

This is my first splatterpunk book, and even though the majority of themes are met with revulsion the vast majority of character dynamics/situations negotitate with the severity in an appropriate matter, that is to say--appropriate for their subject manner. The protagonist is quite unlikable, and while there are dips in moments whereas you wonder whether the dislikability is intentional or just potentially reflective of an acidic actual personality of the author it mostly fits the story. 

That is to be said, the most grotesque scene in this book (if you've read it, it's very obvious, the one about 2/3 to 3/4 through the book) is very clearly written to offend and due to its nature comes across more as shock jock tomfoolery than necessary revulsion. The last action taken in the scene by the characters is far too meta but for a book that is so meta-aware the text does nothing to indicate it understands that angle at this point in the story. As it stands, the concept of exploring humanity's dark psychological recesses is certainly possible but it will always reek of tryhardism if we simply rely on weak, ineffectual shock without any existential consequence.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, Body horror, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death, Rape, and Blood

Moderate: Medical trauma, Medical content, and Murder

Minor: Infidelity

kristinajoy07's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Suicide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Pregnancy, Blood, Violence, Mental illness, Medical content, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

linneajht's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-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

5.0

That was extremely disturbing. I LOVED IT. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Animal death, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Abortion, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Cannibalism, Eating disorder, Death, Abandonment, Death of parent, Child death, Blood, Car accident, Body horror, Sexual content, Rape, Pregnancy, and Addiction

maxinekelly's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

kellireadsstuff's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This book holds no punches. You are dropped almost immediately into the depravity and it doesn't really let up at all. The characters are deeply flawed and you're just an observer to the deeply disturbing stuff they get up to. 4 stars for great writing, 1 star off because holy heck.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Blood, Drug use, Rape, Pregnancy, Self harm, Death, Miscarriage, and Addiction

hannah_allen's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

2.0

I believe there are two ways to write a disturbing book. The first way is to develop the characters, their personalities, their backgrounds, etc to give the reader full insight into why each character is the way they are; the story calls for dark scenes because the characters have been intentionally created to be dark people. The second way is to say to yourself, “What are the most disgusting/vile/disturbing things people can do? I want to write those things and have my characters do them.”

Unfortunately, this author chose the latter of these options when writing Dead Inside.

The reader receives limited information about the two main characters and their backgrounds. There isn’t a full-fledged story told- we go from one horrific and gruesome situation to the next, until the book eventually ends. And in my opinion, if an author is going to commit to the dark and disturbing parts of the human psyche, then the author has a responsibility to the reader to write a story, not a series of disturbing happenings loosely woven together with necrophilia and cannibalism.

Aside from the author’s descriptions of the books’ settings, the prose is underwhelming, and the dialogue feels forced. The twist is predictable, but is set up very well throughout the book. The author gives the reader a lovely, ironic dichotomy of the two characters’ “final forms” in the last pages that gives some relief from their grotesque tension. I also enjoyed the brief periods of time I found myself “rooting for” the main character; these were also welcomed reprieves from the book’s (at times) unnecessary graphicness. 

With all that being said, I *am* sitting here thinking and talking about this book, and this could very well be one of the author’s goals. In that sense, he did what he set out to do. I just think this book could have been written with a clearer point of view. Maybe I’ve interpreted this in a way it’s not meant to be interpreted, but I will not be re-reading this book to parcel that out. 

If you want a much darker, shorter, and more disturbing book with the same vibes as Verity by Colleen Hoover, this *might* be a book worth your time. If you absolutely love body-horror movies, this might be a book worth your time. If you’re looking for something purposefully shocking, this also might be a book worth your time. 

TRIGGER WARNINGS (graphic descriptions): necrophilia, cannibalism, sexual assault, rape, abortion, infant death.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child death, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Rape and Murder

Graphic descriptions of necrophilia are included 2-3 times throughout this book.