Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Horrid by Katrina Leno

10 reviews

quercine's review

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Incredibly unique style and really vivid writing. The setting, atmosphere, and emotions are all very richly detailed, and once things got going I couldn’t stop reading. There are lots of layers to symbolism and metaphors, as well as to the relationships between characters. 

The ending was unexpected and shocking, and left me sort of just staring into the middle distance for a while. I hated it as the conclusion for characters I had grown to love but loved it as a piece of writing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Death of parent, Body horror, Child death, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Death, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Suicide, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Confinement

daniellestarredpages's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Death, Death of parent, and Addiction

Minor: Confinement

winterdevil's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

 A YA horror that was spooky vibes and sketchy shit from start to finish. It felt like I was watching The Conjuring again with the anticipation, the tension, being alone in a dark hall, lights turning off, shadows of footsteps under the door of an empty room... I love horror, I love haunted houses and ghost stories, and this is a well-done blend of horror, grief, mental illness, and intergenerational trauma. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Bullying, Murder, Mental illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Confinement

brandon_the_beldam2993's review

dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Child abuse, and Confinement

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Animal death

sunsetcity's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence

sunshinestark's review

3.0

Horrid is a story filled with grief and ghosts that blurs the line between what's real and what's not, leaving you to wonder whether Jane's haunting is the result of mental illness or the dead who can't - or won't - move on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders

gm_vak's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Grief, Mental illness, Torture, and Violence

delvesinshelves's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Child death, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Body horror and Blood

Minor: Confinement

coolmombeck's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Fast read and creepy. Leno wrote a perfectly accurate description of pica (eating of non-food items as comfort during stressors for people that struggle with specific OCD). While I truly enjoyed the book, the ending left me saddened. I thoroughly enjoyed the addition of the love of Agatha. 3/5 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Bullying, Violence, Death, Confinement, Child death, and Animal death

ollieshark's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

**this book contains themes of grief, anger control issues, mental illness, gaslighting and emotional manipulation, death by suffocation, and mentions of animal cruelty, animal death, drinking, and bullying. if you are sensitive to any of these, this may not be a good read for you.**

pretty much all of my thoughts on this novel can be boiled down to a few points.

1.) the pacing was too slow for a novel as short as horrid (my edition is 322 pages of story).
2.) as a result, the ending suffered greatly. it feels like it was cut off too quickly in order to keep the story short. i have a bad habit of rushing endings but usually fix it before the final version. horrid ends AT the climax. there's no falling action or resolution, so if you're looking for a neat little ending, you won't find it here.
3.) the prose itself is great. i actually love the meandering tone it had at the beginning. it sets the atmosphere of small town maine up well. BUT, when the novel takes 100 pages out of 322 to get going, you need to speed things up a bit. just a tad.
4.) however, the resulting tropes and cliches used didn't wow me. i know you don't have to reinvent the wheel every time you use a trope, but they're considered cliche for a reason.
5.) i found the synopsis on the dust jacket somewhat misleading. jane wasn't bullied by the "bad seed" so much as had like 3 unpleasant encounters, and then they avoided each other the rest of the novel.
6.) it has absolutely no romance whatsoever, which is the only thing about horrid that makes me want to recommend it.

while i would be willing to give leno another try in the future, i found horrid rather basic. it's a typical ghost story that doesn't really do anything fancy, but it's a good way to dip your toes into spooky season before getting into more hardcore novels, or for those who are looking for lighter horror/ghost stories in general.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Grief

Moderate: Bullying, Mental illness, Self harm, and Suicide

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Confinement