Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

67 reviews

fivefeather's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• 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

Seven Moons is a twisting rat's-nest of a story - easy to get lost in, but constantly engaging, and always moving forwards. Brutal, graphic, and darkly witty.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Murder, Sexual content, Death, Hate crime, Police brutality, War, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Suicide, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Confinement, and Genocide

Minor: Car accident, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Drug use, Animal death, and Death of parent

regans's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Death, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Child death, War, Genocide, Gore, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Torture, Drug use, and Car accident

Minor: Alcoholism

mattiaforc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Violence, Torture, War, Murder, Blood, Death, Police brutality, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Homophobia, and Racism

forestfloor's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.0

"You are thinking of that most impossible of all mythical creatures: the Honest Politician."

I found a lot of this book really compelling: the characters, the descriptions of Sri Lanka, the world building of the afterlife. I didn't know anything about Sri Lanka before and it certainly made Sri Lankan '80s politics intriguing. 

However, I found the prose quite difficult to follow - I didn't really get into it until about half way through. This is probably in part because it's written in second person, which isn't my personal favourite. I think that the concept of being able to go where your name is spoken was really cool but it resulted in a constant jumping between locations and interactions which was also interspersed with past memories and I found it quite disjointed - it didn't make for easy reading.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Xenophobia, War, and Police brutality

Moderate: Infidelity, Racism, and Homophobia

Minor: Death of parent and Suicide

sydneyrose18's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: War, Suicide, Homophobia, Infidelity, Drug use, Genocide, Murder, Grief, Police brutality, Self harm, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Gore, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, and Colonisation

bluedijon's review against another edition

challenging dark inspiring reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

Goodness, I loved this book. Maali is such a compelling, complex character, and it was bittersweet joy to follow him through his journey. This book is explicit in its descriptions of the Sri Lankan civil war, and uses the long tradition of magical realism to make sense of the horrors inflicted by people on their neighbors and themselves.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Hate crime, Gun violence, War, Blood, Homophobia, Grief, Police brutality, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Classism, Murder, Death, and Genocide

heatherjchin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Trafficking, War, Death of parent, Grief, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexism, Blood, Genocide, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Bullying, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, and Toxic relationship

not_dead_yet's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

It’s about the inner workings of a genocidal civil war and one man’s single-minded scheme to stop it by exposing the truth.  As a side dish it’s a murder mystery. 

The chaotic structure of the writing draws you in to the chaos of the forces driving the civil war.  The chaos continues after death without missing a beat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Violence, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, War, Racism, Torture, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment, Genocide, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Infidelity, and Kidnapping

mittensmcgee's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Violence, and Homophobia

Moderate: Suicide, Gore, and Colonisation

jenbosen's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful

5.0

For such a gruesome book, it was remarkably beautiful and hopeful. It is disorienting at first. Stick with it, though, because the farther you get, the more captivating it becomes. (I want to learn more about Sri Lankan history now too.) Definitely not for everyone, but if you like weird existential books, this is a top notch weird existential book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, War, Gore, Alcohol, Blood, Kidnapping, Homophobia, Genocide, Murder, Racism, Police brutality, Child death, Violence, Torture, Death, Animal death, and Suicide