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Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'
His Hideous Heart: 13 of Edgar Allan Poe's Most Unsettling Tales Reimagined by Dahlia Adler
2 reviews
el_wheel's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.25
She Rode a Horse of Fire: ⭐️⭐️ 1/2
I wish she'd done more to make the story her own. It really just felt like reading the original again in a different font.
It's Carnival!: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
It was good writing, I enjoyed it as a retelling, but I really wanted more of their relationship, so I really understood why she did what she did. Like, don't get me wrong, female rage can be great story material, but I felt like there had to be more to it than just teasing and name calling.
Night-Tide: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Beautiful and haunting, there's not much else to say.
The Glittering Death: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
As a true crime lover, this one really got under my skin. The detail was there, the writing was really good and it gave me some really nice thriller vibes that I enjoyed a lot.
A Drop of Stolen Ink: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Really wanted this in longer form, I enjoyed it a lot and just want a whole series based on these ideas, honestly.
Happy Days, Sweetheart: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This one started off a little slow and unengaging, but I really like where it ended up going, and the ending really felt like the proper one for this story. I enjoyed the descriptions, and I enjoyed the complexity of the narrator and the relationship.
The Raven (Remix): ⭐️
It was just lacking. It wasn't a real retelling, and honestly, it feels like a cop-out. Especially after how well "Annabel Lee" was handled and changed into a whole, beautiful story.
Changeling: ⭐️⭐️
Honestly, I just feel like there wasn't a lot of characterization or substance to it.
The Oval Filter: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Good writing, I loved the twist, and I couldn't stop reading it. It's just a good story and good use of the inspiration.
Red: ⭐️ 1/2
The writing is nice. The descriptions are beautiful, but the story itself doesn't have much to say. I wanted more everything. More characterization, more plot, more substance. It just felt like nothing much happened except descriptions. I got the idea of the story, sure, but I just wanted more to hold on to than flowery language. There's just so much I feel like could've been added here to give the story more meat.
Lygia: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
It was good. The writing was good. It was compelling. I was just a little confused by the ending. My assumption initially was that Roberta changed her own appearance, but the last paragraph makes me think the narrator was simply hallucinating? I'm not entirely sure. I wish I knew where the "here" she was brought to was, so I had a better idea of how this story is meant to be interpreted, especially considering it's never actually mentioned that she's brought anywhere before that very last paragraph. I suppose it just felt like a last-minute twist that didn't fit into the rest of the story. Besides that, it was a good retelling, and I enjoyed reading it. I liked the lesbian lovers twist, and I felt bad for Roberta.
The Fall of the Bank of Usher: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Honestly, I enjoyed this a lot. It was well written, I enjoyed the characters, and I liked the twist on the original story. It was a good retelling. I enjoyed the scify elements the story brought, and the ending was satisfying. It didn't go how I imagined it would when I started the story, but in a very good way.
The Murders in the Rue Apartelle, Boracay: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was so good. It was incredibly well written and very engaging. Once I started it, I was hooked, and I couldn't stop reading. The ending was incredibly satisfying, but I was still disappointed to be done with it already. I enjoyed the characters, and I also really enjoyed the style in which it was written. It was a wonderful take on the original work as well.
The total score is an (averaged) 3.7, rounded/bumped up to a 4.25 to give some extra credit to the fact that I really enjoyed at least half of the stories in this collection. My favorite is hard to pin but I think really has to go to either The Murders in the Rue Apartelle, Boracay or Night-Tide
I wish she'd done more to make the story her own. It really just felt like reading the original again in a different font.
It's Carnival!: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
It was good writing, I enjoyed it as a retelling, but I really wanted more of their relationship, so I really understood why she did what she did. Like, don't get me wrong, female rage can be great story material, but I felt like there had to be more to it than just teasing and name calling.
Night-Tide: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Beautiful and haunting, there's not much else to say.
The Glittering Death: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
As a true crime lover, this one really got under my skin. The detail was there, the writing was really good and it gave me some really nice thriller vibes that I enjoyed a lot.
A Drop of Stolen Ink: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Really wanted this in longer form, I enjoyed it a lot and just want a whole series based on these ideas, honestly.
Happy Days, Sweetheart: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This one started off a little slow and unengaging, but I really like where it ended up going, and the ending really felt like the proper one for this story. I enjoyed the descriptions, and I enjoyed the complexity of the narrator and the relationship.
The Raven (Remix): ⭐️
It was just lacking. It wasn't a real retelling, and honestly, it feels like a cop-out. Especially after how well "Annabel Lee" was handled and changed into a whole, beautiful story.
Changeling: ⭐️⭐️
Honestly, I just feel like there wasn't a lot of characterization or substance to it.
The Oval Filter: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Good writing, I loved the twist, and I couldn't stop reading it. It's just a good story and good use of the inspiration.
Red: ⭐️ 1/2
The writing is nice. The descriptions are beautiful, but the story itself doesn't have much to say. I wanted more everything. More characterization, more plot, more substance. It just felt like nothing much happened except descriptions. I got the idea of the story, sure, but I just wanted more to hold on to than flowery language. There's just so much I feel like could've been added here to give the story more meat.
Lygia: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
It was good. The writing was good. It was compelling. I was just a little confused by the ending. My assumption initially was that Roberta changed her own appearance, but the last paragraph makes me think the narrator was simply hallucinating? I'm not entirely sure. I wish I knew where the "here" she was brought to was, so I had a better idea of how this story is meant to be interpreted, especially considering it's never actually mentioned that she's brought anywhere before that very last paragraph. I suppose it just felt like a last-minute twist that didn't fit into the rest of the story. Besides that, it was a good retelling, and I enjoyed reading it. I liked the lesbian lovers twist, and I felt bad for Roberta.
The Fall of the Bank of Usher: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Honestly, I enjoyed this a lot. It was well written, I enjoyed the characters, and I liked the twist on the original story. It was a good retelling. I enjoyed the scify elements the story brought, and the ending was satisfying. It didn't go how I imagined it would when I started the story, but in a very good way.
The Murders in the Rue Apartelle, Boracay: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was so good. It was incredibly well written and very engaging. Once I started it, I was hooked, and I couldn't stop reading. The ending was incredibly satisfying, but I was still disappointed to be done with it already. I enjoyed the characters, and I also really enjoyed the style in which it was written. It was a wonderful take on the original work as well.
The total score is an (averaged) 3.7, rounded/bumped up to a 4.25 to give some extra credit to the fact that I really enjoyed at least half of the stories in this collection. My favorite is hard to pin but I think really has to go to either The Murders in the Rue Apartelle, Boracay or Night-Tide
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Torture, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, and Mental illness
Moderate: Child abuse, Homophobia, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Murder, Racism, and Transphobia
Minor: Cancer, Bullying, Drug use, and Gore
booksthatburn's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This anthology is a collection of retellings of stories by Edgar Allen Poe, where the second half of the book holds the original tales. Most of the originals I’d never read before because I don't really care about Poe, so I came in fresh for most of these. In each case I read the retelling and the original to compare them, but you could easily just read the retellings. I tended to better like the ones which were less of a re-skin and a setting update, but were the ones that fundamentally changed some aspect of the narrative, either by gender-swapping, exploring aspects like misogyny and various marginalizations, or changing the ending. That's mainly a reflection on me not specifically caring about Poe and should not be taken as a statement on the quality of the individual retellings, since they weren't all going for the same things (which is good, especially in an anthology).
I'm going to highlight a few of my favorites. The one pretty straightforward retelling which pulled me in even when I wasn't expecting it to was "It's Carnival!" I like the updated setting, and I especially like how the MC’s motives are understandable just based on how the other person acts during the very short timeframe of the story. It also captures that feeling of overkill from the original, that this event is simultaneously horrific and relatable. "She Rode a Horse of Fire" is the only one I read before reading the original, and I like it a lot! The original felt boring and confusing (at least partly because of how I know I missed a bunch of the social context and implications of what happened), but the retelling is really vibrant and engaging, it captures the intriguing parts of the original while feeling like a new story, which is great. I particularly like how the narrator is a character instead of being a passive observer. Lygia is chilling and perfect, it makes all the words fall out of my head and I love it so. I would read a whole series set in the world of "A Drop of Stolen Ink", I love heists and retellings, and a retelling that turns a kind of boring description of an cool exploit into a sci-fi future story about identity, loss, and yearning is just awesome.
Honorable mentions go to "Night-Tide" for sapphic yearning, "The Glittering Death" for its handling of the MC, "Happy Days, Sweetheart" for its calm and calculating heroine, "The Oval Filter" for coolest technological update, "Red" for sheer baddassery, and "The Fall of the Bank of Usher" for making hacking feel like magic and fungus feel like technology.
I'm going to highlight a few of my favorites. The one pretty straightforward retelling which pulled me in even when I wasn't expecting it to was "It's Carnival!" I like the updated setting, and I especially like how the MC’s motives are understandable just based on how the other person acts during the very short timeframe of the story. It also captures that feeling of overkill from the original, that this event is simultaneously horrific and relatable. "She Rode a Horse of Fire" is the only one I read before reading the original, and I like it a lot! The original felt boring and confusing (at least partly because of how I know I missed a bunch of the social context and implications of what happened), but the retelling is really vibrant and engaging, it captures the intriguing parts of the original while feeling like a new story, which is great. I particularly like how the narrator is a character instead of being a passive observer. Lygia is chilling and perfect, it makes all the words fall out of my head and I love it so. I would read a whole series set in the world of "A Drop of Stolen Ink", I love heists and retellings, and a retelling that turns a kind of boring description of an cool exploit into a sci-fi future story about identity, loss, and yearning is just awesome.
Honorable mentions go to "Night-Tide" for sapphic yearning, "The Glittering Death" for its handling of the MC, "Happy Days, Sweetheart" for its calm and calculating heroine, "The Oval Filter" for coolest technological update, "Red" for sheer baddassery, and "The Fall of the Bank of Usher" for making hacking feel like magic and fungus feel like technology.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Vomit, Child abuse, Kidnapping, and Animal death
Minor: Misogyny, Homophobia, Transphobia, Ableism, Sexual assault, and Domestic abuse
CW for misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, sexual assault (backstory), domestic violence (backstory), car accident (backstory), vomit, child abuse, kidnapping, torture, violence, assault, animal death, major character death, death.
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