Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

263 reviews

jscoot22's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, Grief, Blood, Confinement, Gore, and Torture

praevalesco's review against another edition

2.75

It's hard to rate this book because of how weird the pacing is. It takes more than half the book to actually get to anything interesting. When it finally does get to the point, the character reactions are so unrealistic it makes everything feel goofier than intended. Would've been a lot better as a short story than a book. 3 stars for originality though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Death

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Like The Office or Superstore but make it fantastical horror. There were scenes that grossed me out so much I was physically gagging. There was also lots of humour, but I found that zapped out by the end. Strong start and middle, but I definitely lost interest by the end. Liked this more than The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires and I might check out more by him in the future after this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Vomit, Body horror, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Torture

pettywhaler's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Violence

lottieingham's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Physical abuse, Vomit, and Confinement

Moderate: Blood, Torture, Gore, and Death

kalira's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

What a very well-written horror (story? experience? yes?); it was also a well-done slope that had me cringily anticipating Bad Things, easing up and even laughing, thinking it wouldn't be so horrific after all, and then . . . hooboy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Vomit, and Body horror

Moderate: Blood, Gore, and Death

Minor: Alcoholism

eye trauma, finger/hand trauma (self-inflicted and not)

milly_gm01's review against another edition

challenging dark funny 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Murder, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Body horror, Blood, Medical content, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

embee007's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

"It was the kind of repetitive labor that killed your soul."

Quick, fun read. The joys of working in a very strict retail place,

compared to a jail, when it's is haunted by one.

“Orsk: Our Home Is Forever”

This very quickly goes from light, sarcastic, & easy going, to very dark, & traumatic (for our MCs).

"The only thing it didn’t offer was coffins. Yet."

“There was a prison here, and we built a new prison on its ruins, and all the old prisoners came out to give it a try.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Stalking, Death, Murder, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Gaslighting, and Gore

ericas_booked's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I actually really liked this book. Grady Hendrix really has a style of writing that is almost laugh-out-loud funny at times, but can take a serious turn within even a sentence. I really like that. 

I wasn’t really feeling this book to begin with - 
I didn’t like the main character out of the gate, as she has the exact opposite of a likeable attitude, but as I kept reading, everything began to slot into place, and everything was an intentional choice by the author. 

This was a solid read, and I look forward to reading more of this author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Blood, Gore, Torture, and Murder

cameronaverwhy's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This book was actually so thrilling and hilarious I read it in basically one sitting. The characters are all realistic, the whole concept is brilliant and the whole book just WORKS. Not to mention it’s printed like an Ikea catalogue and looks like one too. Well done, Grady Hendrix, well done.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, and Mental illness

Moderate: Torture and Blood