Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

9 reviews

emilywemily6's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.75

Oooo this was good. My horror at Magos’ attempt to grow a piece of her dead son’s lung cannot be matched. The beginning of this book was so unhinged and I was yelling at the cast to get rid of Monstrilio before he ate them all. And yet I grew to love that little monster and found him cute with his arm tail. And I was horrified at myself for thinking he was cute!! This novel explores what it means to be human and what it means to be a monster and made me want to reread Frankenstein. I really felt for M and how he tried so hard to fit in and appear less monstrous. I appreciated that this bunch of misfit/unhinged family members tried to protect M even after some of the things he did. There were strong themes about trying to change others/trying to alter what we created when it doesn’t suit us (again, it makes me want to reread Frankenstein!). The horror of this story was really in M’s origin and the story became more meaningful towards the end. Honestly, I was hoping for more horror and for there to be a tipping point at the end, but as another reviewer wrote there was an emotionlessness to the gore/sex that made it less horror-ish than it could have been. I’ll be thinking about this book for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Child death, Medical content, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Death, Grief, Sexual violence, Animal death, Blood, Drug use, Gore, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Bullying and Alcohol

booksthoughtsandtea's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Violence, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Child death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Death, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Animal death, Chronic illness, Drug use, Gore, Sexual content, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Confinement

The middle part drags a little. Once you are in the last quarter of the book, you will understand the purpose of it. Get tissues ready.

alainral's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Animal death, Gore, Murder, Sexual content, and Grief

Moderate: Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship

michaelion's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I've never read a book where the characters are gay and it's not central to the plot and have that book be anything less than 4.5 stars. Gay for no reason! Gay people being people who also happen to be gay!

I'm clawing at reasons not to give this 5 stars. The best books leave me speechless in my reviews, and this is one of them despite the fact I do have a lil sum sum to say. There's something about it that left me hovering just under 5 stars. M's section alone is worth 5 stars for sure, but for the others I was like oh this book is a 4.25, 4.5, and then M blew it out the park. I love books that leave me with an empty lingering feeling in the pit of my stomach. What an excellent writer. Such beautiful descriptions. I left this book hungry and enjoyed my meal. As a person with an unhealthy, complicated relationship with food, know that's quite a task. And then the story? W O W . I love when families ❤️ There's truly layers to this. And it was so hard renting this from my li rary it doesn't seem to stay on the shelves, FOR GOOD REASON !!! I WILL be buying it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexual content, Gore, Grief, Violence, Body horror, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Medical content, Animal cruelty, Murder, Animal death, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Abandonment, Drug use, Confinement, and Medical trauma

onlyincursive's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Somehow devastated me and gave me hope at the same time. An interesting look at the ways people handle grief and the challenges of living in a world where you’ll never fit in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Death, Dysphoria, Grief, Medical content, Murder, and Gore

Moderate: Eating disorder, Medical trauma, Violence, and Drug use

Minor: Toxic relationship, Excrement, Cursing, and Suicidal thoughts

kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-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? Yes

4.0

I actually liked this a lot by the end! The Magos section was nearly unbearable; her pov was so selfish and internal it bordered on unrealistic. Grief is one thing, but it seems she was an awful friend/loved one even before that, to the point that she wasn’t really believable. I nearly DNFed in her section, which is extremely rare for me. But I pushed through & once I got to Lena, Joseph, and M, things really started to flow well and I felt so much more investment in the characters. Uncle Luke <3

Extremely tragic, sometimes gory, but ultimately sort of healing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Toxic friendship, Blood, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, and Gore

chasingpages1's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child death, Body horror, Grief, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Chronic illness, Confinement, Gaslighting, Medical content, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Death of parent, Alcohol, Cannibalism, and Torture

coffeebean216's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Grief, Death, Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Moderate: Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Body horror

savvylit's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-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? Yes

5.0

Monstrilio is everything I never knew that I wanted from a literary horror story. To start, the characters are fully-formed, distinct, and loveable. Magos and her grief-turned-madness. Joseph and his aching sadness. Lena and her loyal practicality. Uncle Luke and his devotion. M and his empathy and wild spirit. Each character is unique and memorable.

Beyond the brilliant characterization, Monstrilio as a story is deeply compelling. Grief as a living thing... Grief as a monster! This core concept is so well executed - especially in the final chapter that follows M's perspective. I also absolutely loved the casual sexual fluidity of this book and its characters. This may have been the most bisexual story I've ever read and I am absolutely here for it.

I'm not sure what else to say except that Monstrilio is a fantastic book that I want to recommend to everyone I know.

Thank you to @netgalley @zandoprojects and @samanito for the advanced reader copy of Monstrilio in exchange for my honest review! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Murder, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail