Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Woom by Duncan Ralston

123 reviews

ericgarika's review against another edition

dark 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

3.25

It’s really hard to review this book because I feel as thought the storylines are largely based on female experiences (which are written by a cis white man). I will say the book does a good job of creating plot twists and tying the stories together. I would not recommend this book to those that do not read about the trigger warning or to those unprepared for a story of extreme horror and pain.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Please take this as a warning that all of the warning listed are most definitely taken to the extreme.

annihilatrix's review against another edition

dark funny fast-paced

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

2.5

The writing is too good for the content to be so stupid! Potentially I don’t understand extreme horror, it’s so predictable if you’re capable of imagining the next disgusting thing that could happen.

Cramps after putting heroin in your gf’s vagina? Overdose miscarriage!
Anal sex? Messy prolapse!
Into masturbating with a mannequin? Make a dude into a mannequin by sanding his dick off! 
Having a sex worker dilate her vagina when you have mom issues? Stick your head up there for rebirthing!

These are all predictions I made while reading the opening premise of chapters that came true by their end. I might try another book by this author just to see if they have ever tried more compelling subject matter. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kt_berg's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence and Abortion

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, and Abandonment

Minor: Drug use and Medical trauma

abbsp222's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Gore, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, Abortion, and Abandonment

silverheartbookclub's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infertility and Kidnapping

Minor: Body shaming and Abandonment

quietlex's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

This was pure shit. I bought this because I saw a tiktok video claiming that it was a really good horror novel, and now I’m disappointed to have wasted my money. The “Extreme Horror Novel” label on the cover really means “disgusting sexual assault” in a bunch of different ways. I’ve always hated “horror” that ends up being just a sick man’s sexual fantasies/traumas. You can write a good horror that incorporates the good and bad of sex, without having the entire book revolving around the gore and other atrocities that can happen. The title “Woom” is accurate since the thing is chock full of vagina! Each chapter has some horrible thing happening to a poor woman’s body. There’s absolutely nothing scary about this book, it’s just flat out gross. The story telling is awfully drab and boring, with vile things being described blandly in order to grab your attention. It doesn’t work. The only good thing about this book is that it is so short. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

jaimee_reads's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

0.5

This reminds me of that episode of South Park where Butters writes The Poop that Took a Pee. There is nothing horror about this book, just gross out, tragic stories strung together with a bunch of sex. There are lines in here that I know are meant to shock, but literally had me laughing. It's trying to tell a story about trauma, but again, laughing at how ridiculous it is. Rape is a big plot point in this book, which...it's horrifying enough, it didn't need whatever treatment this was. Also, the author is white, but has a black character call another black character the N word. It's a throw away insult line that didn't have to use specifically that word, and it felt like it was an opportunity for a white person to use it on a technicality. "I'm not calling him the N word, the black character is so it's ok." This was published in 2022. Read the woom. HA! But seriously, don't bother. It's pretty terrible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

dee_elizabeth's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual content, Blood, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

nogutsnostory's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

0.25

This book was nothing like what I was expecting. I was expecting a true horror novel. Not a perverse, overly detailed and grotesque trauma filled booklet. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Drug use, Infertility, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Excrement, Vomit, Abortion, and Pregnancy

lizzyjanereadsbooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

This book was….. something. I’m not sure I would classify this as horror. Definitely very weird, and left me with my mouth literally hanging open. LOTS of trigger warnings. This whole book itself is a trigger warning. Probably a book that will stay with me for a long time with how bizarre it was.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Abortion, Murder, and Sexual harassment