Reviews tagging 'Blood'

This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno

75 reviews

ghast's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Moderate: Car accident, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Child abuse and Vomit

killmoore_'s review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense

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

4.5

I finished this, looked at my husband and said "I can't wait to read this again".

This Thing Between Us gutted me. It is a horrific and heartbreaking take on the process of grief, and the isolation and guilt that so often follows losing someone we love in a way that we have convinced ourselves was preventable. 

I loved the small reveal regarding the format of our story, and honestly the jumbled, erratic time line did it for me here - it was written as a memory and clearly comes across as such. The body horror is graphic, the imagery is beautiful, and the portrayal of grief is so spot on that I reached out to hold my partners hand multiple times throughout. 

I was slightly disappointed that we didn't delve deeper into the "haunted itza" story line, and the reason behind the haunting itself fell a bit flat for me, which is why this isn't a 5 star read for me. However, I'm not disappointed, and I look forward to picking this up for a second time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Self harm, Violence, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Animal death, Gore, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

maximauve's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Stalking, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

autumnrevisited's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Animal cruelty, Death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Xenophobia, Suicide, Mental illness, Blood, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts

queenkath32's review against another edition

dark emotional tense

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Gore

caidyn's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This is an odd book. I enjoyed it, but I also was confused by some of the elements in it. Overall, good, but I'd have to revisit it since I wasn't really in the right mood for it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Gore, and Grief

mlewis's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Grief, Suicide attempt, Violence, Xenophobia, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicide, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Medical content, and Alcohol

Moderate: Terminal illness

Minor: Miscarriage

bitchigo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Body horror, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness

amirahazhar's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

This was really something. Engrossing, eerie and unsettling. The synopsis makes it look like Itza, an Alexa-like device is the one behind all these hauntings, but it's much deeper than that. I really wouldn't want to spoil anything, and seriously it's a book that you have to pick up and see for yourself because a summary won't do it any justice. 

Having said that, I was so gripped by the storyline but I felt like the ending was an easy cop-out. All those hauntings and occurrences building up to what? I really wanted there to be some sort of big, fucked up reveal. It is a fucked up cosmic horror, after all. I hate having to interpret an ending and then reading a reddit thread, and some dude says something along the lines of, "maybe he's so grief-stricken that he can't be a reliable narrator, etc". I hope to God that that's not at all what the author was trying to convey, because if it's meant to be interpreted as something that only the protagonist goes through just because he's grieving then why make it a horror in the first place? 

But I digress. Should you read this book? A hundred times, yes. It's really something different and refreshing. It's a great book, even. Just don't put too much of your hopes on the ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal death, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Violence, Body horror, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Gore

catapocalypse's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

It's a hard decision for rating; I'd say 4 stars for execution, but 4.5 is closer for my own personal enjoyment of the book, so I've landed on 4.25 stars.

This is an intense exploration of grief about a man dealing both with the death of his wife as well as with a malevolent force hounding him. It weaves in a variety of other timely anxieties, like always-listening electronic assistants, the many angles of the relentless media cycle, and being a bit disconnected from one's own heritage.

Main thing I want to note is that the first 25-30 pages are slower than one might expect, but then the speculative bits start seeping in, and things really pick up speed as it goes. So I recommend sticking with it, even if the beginning doesn't quite grab you!

Other than that, the ending felt a little weak compared to how hard things go in the middle. It feels as if there are a number of compelling ways things could have gone, but things unravel without pursuing any of them in a satisfying way.

This is a great debut, and I'm eager to read more from this author!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Child abuse, Incest, Racism, and Rape