Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Stolen Tongues

Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Stolen Tongues by Felix Blackwell

25 reviews

bookhoarderhaley's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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: Yes

I haven't read a horror book that has truly creeped me out in a while. The sense of dread, the emotional wear on the characters, and the absolute "holy shit" moments were expertly crafted. I was hooked right from the prologue.

The depictions of Faye in her sleep state and the Hollow One made my damn skin prickle.

The only reason it's not a full five stars is the mystery of the cellar at the cabin is never revealed, I can handle the other mysteries being a bit ambiguous but that one felt like it should've been at least acknowledged considering it was mentioned at least three times.

Besides that this book filled a horror void I've been looking to fill for a while! Excellent!

Content Warnings

munchvat's review against another edition

5.0

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This was an absolute pleasure to read. Equally scary and intriguing. I related heavily with the main character, Felix, because I have battled with Emetophobia since I was a child as well. The way the author creates his characters is compelling and they all feel multidimensional. If I lost my memory, this book would be one of the first I reread. Also the way he describes his characters, especially his Native American characters shows no arrogance or stereotypes. He made them actual characters instead of the typically Native Americans we see in movies and books.

Content Warnings

novellearts's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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: Yes

I accidentally read The Church Beneath the Roots before Stolen Tongues because I didn’t realize the two were related. After now having read both, I think I did enjoy Stolen Tongues a bit more.

Stolen Tongues felt more mysterious to me as we were left without many answers whereas The Church Beneath the Roots gives the readers that explanation that we would be looking for.

As with The Church Beneath the Roots, this book was atmospheric and unsettling. I don’t want to spoil any parts of the story because I think it would ruin the scare factor, but if my partner started doing any of the things that Felix’s wife Faye was doing, I think I would pack up my things and leave! Love you deeply, but maybe not that much haha!

Again, I have such a weakness for spooky books taking place in the secluded woods. Definitely an entertaining and spooky read.

Content Warnings

chaptercheckout's review against another edition

2.5

dark emotional sad medium-paced

This was probably great as a creepypasta, but was lacking as a novel. I hated the ending. As others mentioned in their reviews, the author acknowledged people using Native stories, but then he ends up doing the same thing as what he condemned.

Content Warnings

stephanieluxton's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I put off reading this for awhile because I had listened to an audio version of the creepypasta a few years ago and wanted to wait until I'd forgotten a lot of it before picking up this book so I could enjoy it more fully.

This book is genuinely scary. The sense of isolation and an omniprescent humanoid entity pretty much sums up all my fears. This book is about Felix and Faye, an engaged couple who go to her parents cabin in Colarado for some time away and end up stuck up there after a storm. Then weird shit starts happening in which a figure can be seen in the dark near the treeline and someone or something is whispering to Faye (who's a sleepwalker) while she sleeps, and she's answering it.

The best thing about this book is the atmosphere. It's dark. It's unsafe even in areas that should be safe. The entity is mysterious, scary, and uncanny. We spend most of the book having basically no idea what's going on and I think that's what makes it scary. Some people might find it a little repetitive but it worked for me.

The problem was the ending. The reveal was so weak. In the original creepypasta, I vaguely recall the ending being more ambiguous and I think that would have been the better way to go. Throughout the story the entity is basically tormenting Faye and Felix because he's trying to extract a certain but of information from Faye while she's sleeping. Once we learn the information, we are so underwhelmed.

The entity is trying to figure out "what makes 5?" The number 5 is very important and Felix is trying to get to the bottom of what that number means and why the entity needs to know it. It's finally revealed that 5 represents Faye's brother, the fifth member of their family, that was stillborn. Once she rememebrs she had a brother, she grieves his passing (even though this was like 20 years ago) and then the entity just leaves the alone? That makes no sense. I also felt like the locked cellar door was going to be really important and the it was never spoken of again. I have a lot more questions too. Who made the dreamcatchers and what was their actual significance. I thought it was really cool that when Felix destroyed the dreamcatcher, it gave the entity access to come into the house and attack him. It seemed like the entity did it, but why would the entity make a totem to protect them from him? Maybe I misunderstood.

Overall, this book is quite spooky but I think it would have benefitted from making the entity's motivations more clear. A book like this should either answer all our questions, or keep it totally ambiguous. I was thrown off by it being in the middle of the road.

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bewhitedragon's review against another edition

4.25

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Stolen Tongues has definitely become a new favorite for me in regards to horror stories. I will say though, I don't think it's necessarily a "scary" story, but more of a creepy, unsettling one. I think the distinction is good to make, as I can see why some people didn't understand why this title was being called "the scariest story they ever read" and whatnot. It starts off really strong, and I can also see why others may have dropped off from it, but I really enjoyed it from start to finish. A very well written story that made me uncomfortable in many ways, and I may likely revisit it in the future just for some spooks.

Content Warnings

seershlen's review against another edition

4.0

dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Content Warnings

milkinthefridge's review against another edition

3.75

dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

probably the creepiest prologue i’ve ever read - but as the book went on i feel like it got less and less scary?
felt a little repetitive at times, especially when they were at the cabin
it was hella creepy at times

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