Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

111 reviews

apestforwrens's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Grady Hendrix always makes you think with his writing. Sometimes that thought is " I wouldn't have made that narrative decision" and sometimes that thought is "this is a super creative take on the vampire story".
Hendrix is fantastic at pulling you into his main character's head and forcing you to see why they are reacting to their situation the way they are. This is a horror book and contains some potentially upsetting stuff. I'd definitely recommend checking the trigger warnings before starting if you're worried about that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, Classism, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Suicide attempt, Death, Death of parent, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Vomit, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Dementia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Terminal illness, Violence, Pedophilia, Murder, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Medical content, Kidnapping, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Gaslighting

Minor: Drug use, Fatphobia, and Drug abuse

marieeveparentroy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Gore, Grief, Vomit, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Violence

Minor: Infidelity

cassie7e's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

Will fully review after thinking on it. But MAN the men in this book are insufferable!

TW: Sexual assault, death, torture (kinda),  gore

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual violence, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Child death, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Terminal illness, and Classism

Minor: Racism, Physical abuse, Fatphobia, and Animal death

c_dmckinney's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Gore, Grief, Dementia, Death of parent, Stalking, Body horror, Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Classism, Self harm, Kidnapping, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Racism, Terminal illness, Sexism, Sexual content, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Sexual violence

Minor: Infidelity, Medical content, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Addiction, Religious bigotry, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Fire/Fire injury

a child is obsessed with Nazis and starts being unkind to animals, multiple children are preyed on by a literal monster

pimaz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Suicide, Child death, Death of parent, and Gore

linneak's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Murder, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Violence, Rape, Gaslighting, Medical content, Medical trauma, Child death, Death, Dementia, Gore, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Stalking, Sexism, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Terminal illness, and Misogyny

Minor: Classism, Drug abuse, and Alcohol

lyndis8377's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Gore, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide

Moderate: Violence, Rape, Gaslighting, and Sexual assault

Minor: Infidelity, Animal death, Death, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Self harm, and Drug use

onemamareads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Read my full review here: https://onemamassummer.weebly.com/book-reviews/the-southern-book-clubs-guide-to-slaying-vampires

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Murder, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Self harm, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Sexual assault, Gore, Blood, Death, Child death, Sexual violence, Sexism, Misogyny, Violence, Racism, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, and Body horror

chezler24's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.75

A book that puts a new spin on vampires and their victims. It offers believable social circumstances with race, gender, and wealth disparity that proved to be the perfect grounds for the vampire-like being to swoop in and place everyone under his thumb. As with other Grady Hendrix novels, you're going to have those scenes which unsettle and gross you out. (Perfect for horror fans although not everyone's cup of tea.) I enjoyed the progression throughout the book and how Hendrix paced things time-wise. It would have been interesting to see a bit more of the other book club members' thoughts, but, because everything was from only Patricia's pov, we had to balance the book club members, her family members, and various other townspeople who popped up along with her inner dialogue. With that being said, I felt at peace with the ending. To me, it made sense and answered most of the questions about how the ladies carried out their plans; however, I was left wanting to learn more about what exactly the vampire creature was - that's just personal curiosity though. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Rape, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Suicide, Murder, Medical content, Infidelity, Gore, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Death, Child death, and Blood

jensimon's review against another edition

dark

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Rape, and Terminal illness