Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

15 reviews

ambert's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

3.75

The difficulty in letting go of grief, and the disastrous consequences caused by holding on. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Animal death, Death, Sexual content, Body horror, Grief, and Blood

Moderate: Child death, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Drug use

Minor: Death of parent

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

r_o_s_e's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal death, Child death, and Grief

Moderate: Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Dysphoria, Murder, Ableism, and Blood

Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, Sexual content, Vomit, Drug use, Excrement, Physical abuse, and Chronic illness

smuds2's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.0

For a first novel, it is quite good - I'd happily read any another novels written by Córdova.

The pacing is quite good - I think it pauses where it needs to pause and speeds where it needs to speed. I think I would have liked it to sit a bit more with Joseph - it felt like his chapter was stuck mostly with narrative and rapid character development to a climax.

There were some unnecessary sexual explicit scenes for my taste (I'm not quite sure the fact that they were sexually explicit added anything valuable to the importance of the scenes). I also think that at times, the first three chapters lapsed into kind of a generic voice.

I think that, thematically, this is a great work of weird-fiction? Magical realism? depicting the grieving process. Lucia, not really understanding monstrilio, but begrudgingly living with it (I'm thinking especially post attack). Lena just being supportive to both her friend(s) and the manifestation of their grief. Magos arc of basically saying "I can fix it", while it 'dragged' on her life (although, not for the worse - I'm thinking of her turning down the Valencia gig to stay with family could easily be interpreted as a reprioritization directly as a result of the strengthened bonds formed during grief).

I don't think Josephs arc is nearly as clean - and maybe that's the point?

And I'm not quite sure how to square away uncle luke in this setting - is he the enabler? Is that good? The safe place to act your worse during grief?

I also think that a major shortcoming of the book was not sitting with lucia's death and then just kind of ignoring jackie. is that because they were not supportive? And as a result faded out of their life? I feel like there could have been thematic commentary for how to grief for a "normal" death.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Animal death, Drug abuse, Body horror, Cannibalism, Deadnaming, Drug use, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Child death, Gore, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Grief, and Torture

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