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tcgarback's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
⭐️⭐️
Critical Score: C-
Personal Score: C
This is LaRocca’s lowest rated book, and that’s saying a LOT, because none of their books are well rated on this app.
I pretty much agree with the hate, though seeing all these one-star reviews lowkey makes me feel bad. But let’s get into it.
The writing is weak. Duh. It’s Eric LaRocca.
What really bothers me is the tasteless handling of the queer characters and the homophobia they face. It almost feels like a straight guy with some messy ideas wrote this thinking he was giving queer people some great real estate in his novel. But nope, a queer person really wrote this, including that r*pe scene. Like yes, this is horror, but I don’t wanna read all that hate crime stuff, oh em gee.
The supernatural stuff was so uninteresting. It makes Clive Barker look like Shakespeare.
I had high hopes from the jacket copy, but this book does not at all live up to the premise.
Oh, and I like that they wanted to go all out with the interior design, but it’s maybe a bit overdone. And that cover is not going to photograph well on my booksta 😩.
On the bright side, this is pretty fast-paced. Some portions didn’t bother me, and at some points I was having fun. Like, this wasn’t that painful to get through; it’s just that it’s very much low-quality fiction.
Critical Score: C-
Personal Score: C
This is LaRocca’s lowest rated book, and that’s saying a LOT, because none of their books are well rated on this app.
I pretty much agree with the hate, though seeing all these one-star reviews lowkey makes me feel bad. But let’s get into it.
The writing is weak. Duh. It’s Eric LaRocca.
What really bothers me is the tasteless handling of the queer characters and the homophobia they face. It almost feels like a straight guy with some messy ideas wrote this thinking he was giving queer people some great real estate in his novel. But nope, a queer person really wrote this, including that r*pe scene. Like yes, this is horror, but I don’t wanna read all that hate crime stuff, oh em gee.
The supernatural stuff was so uninteresting. It makes Clive Barker look like Shakespeare.
I had high hopes from the jacket copy, but this book does not at all live up to the premise.
Oh, and I like that they wanted to go all out with the interior design, but it’s maybe a bit overdone. And that cover is not going to photograph well on my booksta 😩.
On the bright side, this is pretty fast-paced. Some portions didn’t bother me, and at some points I was having fun. Like, this wasn’t that painful to get through; it’s just that it’s very much low-quality fiction.
lbwell700's review against another edition
1.0
Unnecessary excessive violence that served no real purpose but to cause distress.
duckleberryferry's review against another edition
mysterious
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
2.0
jerusha's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
0.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Rape, Violence, Excrement, Gore, and Homophobia
annathechaoticreader's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I am in absolute awe of this book. It has all of the things I love: literary prose, interesting characters, grief-filled religious themes, queerness, and horrifying & grotesque content. It's one of the most poignant horror novels I've read in a very long time and one that I will be thinking about for a long while. It is absolutely brilliant and I'm just so floored by it, absolutely recommend.
"For Ghost, his body was nothing more than a compost heap - a crude patchwork of abused anatomy that even the most impulsive surrealist wouldn't dare commemorate on canvas. Ghost knew well he was a monster, a horrible mutation handmade by grief." page 19
"For Ghost, his body was nothing more than a compost heap - a crude patchwork of abused anatomy that even the most impulsive surrealist wouldn't dare commemorate on canvas. Ghost knew well he was a monster, a horrible mutation handmade by grief." page 19
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Blood, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, Hate crime, Death, Homophobia, Torture, Medical trauma, Murder, Body horror, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Pedophilia
Minor: Ableism, Car accident, and Child death
spockingout's review against another edition
There was a misused double negative on the very first page. Then, the man in the prologue decided he needed to explode everyone’s heads. Then, the main character’s name is literally Ghost. Three strikes you’re out babe.
blankie's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I’m so sad this one didn’t work for me. I’m starting to think that You’ve Lost a Lot of Blood was a fluke and LaRocca isn’t the one for me but I *so* badly want to love them!!
Everything the Darkness Eats had the potential to be such a win for me on paper, but the writing coupled with how disjointed and rushed the plot and ending felt just made it impossible to take anything meaningful away from it. I will definitely keep picking their books up, I’m just not as optimistic as I once was about them.
Everything the Darkness Eats had the potential to be such a win for me on paper, but the writing coupled with how disjointed and rushed the plot and ending felt just made it impossible to take anything meaningful away from it. I will definitely keep picking their books up, I’m just not as optimistic as I once was about them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Hate crime, Kidnapping, and Homophobia
barf_mobile's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Might've given this 3 stars if the narrator sounded less whiny.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Rape, and Hate crime