Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Woom by Duncan Ralston

81 reviews

lanieh09's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

It was pretty gross, pretty messed up…but I wouldn’t say that it will be giving me nightmares.  Fast read and well written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, and Infertility

annihilatrix's review against another edition

dark funny fast-paced

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

2.5

The writing is too good for the content to be so stupid! Potentially I don’t understand extreme horror, it’s so predictable if you’re capable of imagining the next disgusting thing that could happen.

Cramps after putting heroin in your gf’s vagina? Overdose miscarriage!
Anal sex? Messy prolapse!
Into masturbating with a mannequin? Make a dude into a mannequin by sanding his dick off! 
Having a sex worker dilate her vagina when you have mom issues? Stick your head up there for rebirthing!

These are all predictions I made while reading the opening premise of chapters that came true by their end. I might try another book by this author just to see if they have ever tried more compelling subject matter. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexual content, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Racism, and Vomit

silverheartbookclub's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Abortion, Addiction, Gore, Death of parent, Murder, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Mental illness, Violence, Grief, Body horror, Death, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Excrement

Moderate: Infertility and Kidnapping

Minor: Abandonment and Body shaming

quietlex's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

This was pure shit. I bought this because I saw a tiktok video claiming that it was a really good horror novel, and now I’m disappointed to have wasted my money. The “Extreme Horror Novel” label on the cover really means “disgusting sexual assault” in a bunch of different ways. I’ve always hated “horror” that ends up being just a sick man’s sexual fantasies/traumas. You can write a good horror that incorporates the good and bad of sex, without having the entire book revolving around the gore and other atrocities that can happen. The title “Woom” is accurate since the thing is chock full of vagina! Each chapter has some horrible thing happening to a poor woman’s body. There’s absolutely nothing scary about this book, it’s just flat out gross. The story telling is awfully drab and boring, with vile things being described blandly in order to grab your attention. It doesn’t work. The only good thing about this book is that it is so short. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, Abortion, Addiction, Death, Abandonment, Medical content, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Child abuse, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

jaimee_reads's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

0.5

This reminds me of that episode of South Park where Butters writes The Poop that Took a Pee. There is nothing horror about this book, just gross out, tragic stories strung together with a bunch of sex. There are lines in here that I know are meant to shock, but literally had me laughing. It's trying to tell a story about trauma, but again, laughing at how ridiculous it is. Rape is a big plot point in this book, which...it's horrifying enough, it didn't need whatever treatment this was. Also, the author is white, but has a black character call another black character the N word. It's a throw away insult line that didn't have to use specifically that word, and it felt like it was an opportunity for a white person to use it on a technicality. "I'm not calling him the N word, the black character is so it's ok." This was published in 2022. Read the woom. HA! But seriously, don't bother. It's pretty terrible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Excrement, Gore, Vomit, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Abortion, Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, and Pregnancy

hannahdaisy4's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-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

3.25

This book was mostly just shock value but I actually enjoyed it regardless! Not sure how many people I’d recommend this to though. Insane amount of triggers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Mental illness, Excrement, Drug abuse, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Infertility, Addiction, Racism, Sexual violence, Gore, Death of parent, Body horror, Blood, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Rape

joy_ong's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Blood, Abortion, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Death, Gore, Child death, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Drug use, and Violence

kjricha's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Fatphobia, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Excrement, Rape, Physical abuse, Vomit, Violence, Abortion, Blood, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Death, Child abuse, Gore, and Infertility

hoole95's review against another edition

dark emotional relaxing tense fast-paced

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

3.5

People kept on telling me this was a super  fucked up book and you couldn’t unsee it after you read it and for most of it I wasn’t  seeing that. The scene were some what disturbing but nothing burned in your brain bad. Till like the last chapter like what the hell was that 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Fatphobia, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Abortion, Physical abuse, Rape, Murder, Body horror, Vomit, Blood, Addiction, Gore, Violence, and Pregnancy

shayyyy31's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Fatphobia, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Abortion, Death, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Vomit, Excrement, Grief, Infertility, Sexual harassment, Miscarriage, Gore, Homophobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Rape, and Toxic relationship