Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Leave the World Behind

This was an insane read. I’m slightly new to reading thrillers, it was a genre I never really read (no idea why) until recently. This book was incredibly bone chilling and unpredictable. I was surprised that I was never able to guess what was happening next which I was very excited by. I don’t think the characters were incredibly well developed but the book was on the shorter side and character development didn’t seem to be a main aspect of the book so I never minded. This is one of the most captivating thrillers I’ve yet and would definitely recommend!

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javabones's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

I thought this was going to be a thriller/mystery but it turned out to be a disaster in itself. Finished it out of stubbornness and hope that it would go somewhere. It did not. The writing style draggggged on and it was so bizzare and full of gross sex details?? It was so bad it was funny, after you got over how uncomfortable it was. It deserves a lot of trigger warnings, which makes it seem interesting, but literally nothing happens.

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cheyanndow's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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jesshaslegs's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

this books is so damn near perfect that it made me want to go and stockpile canned goods for the inevitable end of days

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hannah_krantz's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

I dont think I'll ever read another thriller like this. Completely original and disturbing. I kind of wish I had to write an essay on this book, specifically analyzing how much the author delves into the animal within humans. Super interesting and memorable read for sure.

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notenoughnewts's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

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halceeeeeeeee's review against another edition

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mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

2.5

not enough there to be liked or disliked? The plot didn't go anywhere, but the concept in and of itself was interesting. A lot of the sexualisation of the teenage son was completely unnecessary and added nothing, the sex in general felt like it wasn't really serving any purpose. Overall, pretty underwhelming rip.

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magicalrealem's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam was an interesting slow-burn. I listened to it, and I think I would’ve enjoyed it more had I physically read it. I like how close the story stays to the main characters, and I would’ve preferred it stay that close instead of pulling out with flash-forwards or hints about what was happening. I didn’t know much about the book outside of the jacket description, so I wasn’t sure at first whether what was going to happen would be on micro or macro scale. I will say there is a section of incredibly well-written and disturbing body horror that had me pausing the audio book.

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