Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor

14 reviews

stellenelcielo's review

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

ngl I started reading this in 2021 and then stopped halfway because life decided to get traumatizing for no reason...but yeah, decided only to finish it because I picked up another book by this author about vampires in Alaska, that I found out in the wild (walmart) and felt I needed to finish this one first. 

I did enjoy finishing it, but felt a lot was going on. I vibed with it anyway, and my only real (minor) criticism is that

Rosie also being a psychopath felt like it came out of left field

, and it was a real missed opportunity to

make Wrigley the sole psychopath, mirroring the online alt-right, misogynistic and incel culture that seems to nurture sociopathy in teenage boys.

I was not prepared for that final reveal, but I mostly chalk that up to taking more than a year to finish the book so my memory of the finer details is a bit fuzzy. Anyway, yeah, was a solid entertaining read, and I look forward to 'The Gathering', which has been waiting on my shelf for the last week.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Murder, Child death, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Gore, Sexism, Stalking, Child abuse, and Death

clarkg's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

While the story itself is compelling and well-written, this book has some serious problems with regards to its representations of Black, disabled, and queer people. There is a particularly gruesome depiction of Black, queer, low-income women that leans heavily on violent "welfare queen" stereotypes, made worse by the fact that the book has no positive examples of people of color in its main cast of characters. Additionally, this book contains a disability trope/storyline that I found to be in extremely poor taste. I believe in giving people grace and room to grow, but at least within the confines of this story, I wish that the author had been more mindful of how her choices work to reinforce harmful societal narratives about marginalized communities. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Violence, Murder, Blood, Emotional abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide

Moderate: Gore, Child death, Child abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Classism, Murder, Racism, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Stalking, Ableism, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Abandonment, and Bullying

Minor: Sexism, Misogyny, Deadnaming, Cursing, Adult/minor relationship, Terminal illness, Animal cruelty, Dementia, and Animal death

nialiversuch's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Mental illness, Animal death, Abandonment, Bullying, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Child death, Murder, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug use, Vomit, Drug abuse, and Car accident

singalana's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Murder, Suicide, Bullying, Death, Torture, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Blood, Child death, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Sexual content, and Religious bigotry

tyserena's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Violence

Moderate: Pedophilia

mysterymom40's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Rape, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Stalking, Toxic friendship, Blood, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Self harm, Torture, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, and Death

Minor: Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Homophobia

graphic scenes, even with teen characters; lots of cursing and what could be read as blasphemy to some; biblical interpretation and views shared by religious persons; ghost-like appearances

shelbsies's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

The Burning Girls is an eerie, dark, tangle of thrills. I did not want to put this book down. The atmosphere was so vivid, I felt like I was watching an A24 film or a show like Bly Manor or Hill House.

Though this story has many twists and turns, it had many threads throughout it that allowed me to slowly weave all the mysterious bits and pieces together. The "plot twist" (if it can even be called that) was executed so well; the truth of the various mysteries was shown in snippets and tangled threads throughout, in a way easing the reader into an understanding of what happened while still keeping me on my toes, which I quite enjoyed. I didn't have to act surprised at a big twist because Tudor really guides the reader into what happened by first giving hints and then verifying what's true.

For a moment I thought the ending was going to disappoint me, but it all came together so gracefully I was immediately able to disregard what bothered me. Despite everything that happened, there was a moment that felt a bit too far fetched and I had to suspend my belief, but upon further reading I realized it did really fit into the nearly unbelievable chaos of this book (and I also accepted that this is fiction and anything is possible).

If you're curious, it was Wrigley's plot that bothered me. I found it hard to believe this town had housed so many twisted teenagers through the years (Jacob being the other and honestly Rosie too), yet I was completely unfazed every time a burning girl apparition was seen... but as the scene in the church passed I got over it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Bullying, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Gore, Child death, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

mydearwatsonbooks's review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Violence, Pedophilia, Murder, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Gore, Child abuse, and Suicide

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death of parent, and Homophobia

Minor: Racism, Vomit, and Sexism

Use of r-word

scburhans's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

 Walked into this book knowing nothing but the title, and boy was it a wild ride. Overall, I thought it was pretty good book, but there were some details that I felt uncomfortable with. I did find some of the elements to be rather predictable, but there were a few twists that surprised me. I thought there were a lot of great complex characters, however, there were still some really stereotypical, 2D characters as well, which was unfortunate.

** Spoilers Below **

The biggest thing I had an issue within this book was Ruby's family. It made me really uncomfortable that the first black and gay characters we get in the book are child abusers and murderers. While I don't think the racism and homophobia from this decision was intentional - I think it was in an attempt to introduce a discussion on unconscious biases - but it still did not read well at all. Having the villain of the story fake a disability also made me incredibly uncomfortable as a disabled person. There was a lot of covert, and I hope unintentional, ableism in the story. I did, however, enjoy the rest of the book, so I did decide to give the story 3.5 stars rather than just three. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child death, Murder, Pedophilia, Suicide, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Confinement, Death, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

kathryn_a's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Hate crime, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Stalking, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Vomit