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Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Homophobia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content
Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual content, Grief
Minor: Vomit, War
I enjoyed the plot and—while at times meandering—his prose was great. I liked the focus on classic vampire lore and how it connects to the characters' tenets of literature and religion in the modern world. But there were things that bogged it down as well.
To start, there were so many characters referenced it felt like I was expected to learn the names and personalities of the entire town. I liked the main players, and thankfully I got over the confusion once the plot got going and focused more on them. There were a couple relevant female characters, but I wish they had a larger role in the story overall. And of course the casual use of homophobic slurs/mentions of rape/slut shaming really date the book. And I honestly expected it to be scarier.
I'd heard about his lackluster endings more than once, but I quite enjoyed this one. I thought it worked for the story being told, if a bit simply. And I know horror endings are though to land.
Overall a good book with flaws. I'm definitely willing to try more of his work, so if anyone has suggestions of where to start, please feel free.
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Homophobia, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent
Minor: Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Rape, Blood
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death
Moderate: Blood
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Rape, Sexual assault
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
Stephen King adding his trademark horror, and his other overlooked trademark of pretty gross mentions of things, as well as a small reference to something needlessly sexual, therefore adding a multitude of trigger warnings. he is a good writer when he sticks to the plot imo.
Overall, good book, just a little too long to live up to the hype.
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Gore
Moderate: Rape
Tip: when a character appears, write down the name and what they do, because you’ll need it. In the end I had a list of over 30 characters mentioned (mostly secondary but the book has chapters for each one of them).
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death
Moderate: Rape
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death
Moderate: Gore, Homophobia, Pedophilia