Reviews tagging 'Gore'

How Long 'til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin

6 reviews

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Death, Racism, and Murder

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Sexism, Police brutality, Misogyny, Classism, Infertility, Sexual content, Gun violence, Violence, and Bullying

Minor: Suicide, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Miscarriage, Homophobia, Child death, Slavery, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Drug use

rnbhargava's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing 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

This is a wonderful collection of short stories by NK Jemisin. The content is thus varied and so are the triggers. There’s a good amount of Fantasy, Science Fiction, Magical Realism, even supernatural horror in this collection. It’s not perfect. Some of the stories are arguably too short, basically the germ of an introduction or an idea. Some others are perhaps slightly plodding, though I enjoyed quite a few of the stories regardless of length.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Car accident, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Murder, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Violence

There’s a lot of content warnings across all these stories, I honestly probably missed some. That said, I loved the majority of Jemisin’s shorts in this book and I look forward to reading even more books from her.

monstrouscosmos's review against another edition

4.5

I really like NK Jemisin as a rule, and these short stories are largely no exception. a lot of heavy themes were tackled with a focus on individual and community survival and connection. I admit to struggling through a lot of the stories, and skipping a couple that ended up having triggering themes/events. I extremely enjoyed the stories connecting peoplehood to places, that's a theme in Jemisin's work I love to return to! I don't know if I'll reread this one, but I'm glad to have read it the one time at least for sure. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Kidnapping, Death, Sexism, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Racism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Car accident, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, and Miscarriage

Minor: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Child death

rotfaced's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

What an incredible collection of short stories. This book had been recommended to me as a way to re-build my defunct reading habit, and it served its purpose well-- I looked forward to my daily dive into the vibrant, well-wrought worlds that Jemisin seems to so effortlessly weave. Even the stories I did not enjoy as much brought value and perspective to my day. 

Some favorites from the collection:

Red Dirt Witch
L’Alchimista
The Effluent Engine 
Cuisine des Mémoires 
The Trojan Girl
Too Many Yesterdays, Not Enough Tomorrows 

And, of course, the closing story, "Sinners, Saints, Dragons and Haints, in the City Beneath Still Waters." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Child death

bibliofilth's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

I just love Jemisin's writing so much.

The Ones Who Stay and Fight  - 4.5/5
The City Born Great - 2.5/5
Red Dirt Witch - 5/5
L'Alchimista - 4/5
The Effluent Engine - 3.5/5 only because it's so rushed in a short story format - I loved every element of this and would absolutely love a full novella or novel with this concept
Cloud Dragon Skies - 4.5/5
The Trojan Girl - 4/5
Valedictorian - 5/5
The Storyteller's Replacement  - 3/5
The Brides of Heaven - 5/5
The Evaluators - 1/5
Walking Awake - 5/5
The Elevator Dancer - 3/5
Cuisine des Memories - 4/5
Stone Hunger - 2/5
On the Banks of the River Lex  - 4.5/5
The Narcomancer  -2/5
Henosis - 2/5
Too Many Yesterdays, Not Enough Tomorrows - 4/5
The You Train - 3/5
Non-Zero Probabilities  - 2/5
Sinners, Saints, Dragons, and Haints, in the City Beneath the Still Waters  - 4/5

Content warnings: gore, racism, death (Walking Awake specifically is more horror and has some disturbing imagery)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Racism, Death, and Body horror

cheye13's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This collection is absolutely amazing. It's not that every story within is necessarily perfect, but as a whole this book is magnificent. The stories themselves are beautiful pieces of art; Jemisin crafts full and distinct new worlds with each piece, giving them the backbones to stand alone and clothing them in beautiful prose. But the care with which the collection was assembled is also noteworthy – the stories transition so well and the pacing of the collection never stagnates. Even the introduction is a good read, equal parts narrative, inspiring, and contextualizing.
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★★★★★ | The Ones Who Stay and Fight; Red Dirt Witch; L’Alchemista; The Storyteller’s Replacement; The Brides of Heaven; The Evaluators; The Elevator Dancer; Cuisine des Mémoires; The You Train

★★★★ | The Effluent Engine; Cloud Dragon Skies; The Trojan Girl; Walking Awake; The Narcomancer; Henosis; Too Many Yesterdays […]

★★★ | The City Born Great; Valedictorian; On the Banks of the River Lex; Stone Hunger; Non-Zero Probabilities; Sinners, Saints, Dragons, and Haints […]

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Gore, Racism, and Violence

Minor: Police brutality, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, and Slavery

None of the sensitive content is gratuitous; all is in service to the stories and handled/written sensitively in my opinion.