Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Maeve Fly by CJ Leede

159 reviews

caseyundercovers's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Wow, what a wild ride. Predicted the ending, but it still had its fun twists and turns.

It has more debauchery than spice. You have been warned.

It is very graphic and not for the faint of heart or young readers!

Could recommend to horror fans and my fellow weird lit girls.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Excrement and Gaslighting

emhicks72's review

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

shadowykittenwizard's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, and Gaslighting

cozypete's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Sexual content, and Torture

Moderate: Sexual violence

alicelalicon's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder

bees_knees735's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

4.0

If you wanted to love American Psycho but needed an actual plot look no further. Maeve is messed up, gross, obsessive, and just a bit endearing and the end had me fucked up. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, and Domestic abuse

albernikolauras's review

dark funny 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

An utterly disgusting book following a grossly unlikeable main character who works as a Disney princess in (what I assume is) California Adventure. This book was one of those "it's a trainwreck but I can't look away" where Maeve is the trainwreck. Cue the body horror in so many indulgently gross ways. I enjoyed this in a very uncomfortable way and just because, in some ways, I think Maeve and the city of Los Angeles were well-portrayed - even if they were unbearable at times.

I wasn't the biggest fan of the ending. It felt like a complete severing of the tension building throughout the novel. Overall, though, I feel like some of the scenes from this will haunt me - which is exactly what I would want from this.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Gore, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Details on some of the content warnings -

Very graphic scenes of torture, of sexualization of torture, of cutting up bodies or sticking hamsters in orifices. Of doxing people's information. Just a lot.

atmissv's review against another edition

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

4.5

I loved this book, but it is DARK! I read a review that compared it with American Psycho, and that is an apt comparison - though this one has more moments of (dark dark pitch black) humor.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

axel_p's review

dark funny medium-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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Abortion, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

gretaslittlelibrary's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

 4.25/5⭐️

“Men have always been permitted in fiction and in life to simply be what they are, no matter how dark or terrifying that might be. But with a woman, we expect an answer, a reason.”

The more I sit and think on this book, the more I enjoy it. Maeve cleaved her way into my brain and won’t leave. I crave more Maeve (someone please pick up the rights to a movie, it would crush as a movie) or CJ please give us a sequel, or a prequel about grandma??

This book was raunchy, gory, entertaining, and horrific. However, it was also so much more. The above quote really resignated with me and was a pretty major focus of the book. It was nice to see a FMC just be terrible. I saw some reviews that say she actually wasn’t and that her trauma from her grandma showing her what she did when she first got to LA. But I didn’t get that from the book, in fact Leede writes it so we know that Maeve was terrible before she got there, it’s part of what helped her bond with her grandma.  It was nice to just feel her rage, annoyance, confusion, and sense of loss. There’s also a ton of other things you can look into this book for such as psycho-sexual nature and misanthropes, but I don’t feel the need, or want, to dive farther into it right now. It was a fun and dark read and I just want to enjoy it and continue to think about it. Maybe I’ll reread and dive deeper into the themes at a later dated.

Relating to the raunchiness, goriness, and horrificness: I know a lot of people talk about the eggs, but for me it was the teeth. I don’t like teeth things to begin with so that almost threw me off this book, but I’m so glad I powered through. I do wish there was a little more of the gore and horror in the beginning of the book, prior to the pool table scene, but I get why (I think) the author didn’t do it it. It let us get to know Maeve and then let us witness Maeve’s world turn when Gideon entered the picture. 

A few other things I loved about it: the twist ending, the Halloween incorporation, and the descriptiveness of places around LA (as someone whose never been, I felt like I was there with Maeve). 

My biggest dislikes: The ending felt a little rushed and ended with no resolution. Teeth things! And the Johnny Depp/Bartender scenes, if anyone’s read this and can explain the reasoning for these other than it’s a place Maeve calls her own, please let me know! 

Please check trigger warnings before reading, some big ones I can think of is body horror, sexual assault, descriptions of violent murder and torture, mutilation, etc. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis