Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

25 reviews

thekeytotheend's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-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

4.5

Not as scary as i was expecting, but I wouldn’t consider that a bad thing per say. I was expecting more haunting but the demons are fun too. I enjoyed the introduction to the world and the idea that both science and religion fit into this story, that no point is dismissed. I do find it surprising that the main character lets go of her faith so quickly throughout the book, but I don’t mind, considering what she went through Also i am a huge fan of the character being autistic and well written at that, not just quirky or weird for the sake of weirdness but actually well written autism.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Car accident, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism

spacerkip's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, and Homophobia

Moderate: Gun violence, Outing, Torture, Ableism, and Medical content

semisinful's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

I really loved this book,

seeing an autistic character so well represented was the icing on the cake of what makes this book special and important to me. I don’t see a lot of queer horror with happy endings and this just made me smile a lot.

Thank you Chuck Tingle.

This book was delightful and made me cry every time her chosen family accepted her autistic quirks. I’m lucky to have a family and a chosen family that accept me for my quirks and seeing it represented this way in fiction is so important.

Thank you for this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Religious bigotry, Torture, and Homophobia

Moderate: Ableism, Sexism, and Sexual assault

vixenreader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

A call to love in the face of self-righteousness and wilful ignorance, this book is horrifying, entertaining, and incredibly loving to those who need it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Ableism, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Homophobia, Sexism, Outing, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Gore, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Stalking, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Blood, Body horror, Violence, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Car accident, Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, and Misogyny

Be aware of people vomiting bugs out of their mouths, gay conversion therapy, using religion for hate and oppression, and demon imagery.

trashgobby's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, and Homophobia

Moderate: Gore, Medical content, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, Abandonment, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Torture, Gaslighting, Ableism, Gun violence, and Drug use

cluelessavian's review against another edition

dark funny 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Body horror, Gaslighting, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Car accident and Gore

Minor: Ableism

shelfdeprecation's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, and Body horror

Moderate: Ableism, Abandonment, and Car accident

Minor: Cursing

clichemarker's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.75

This book felt like Grace Chastity meets Lost Causes of Bleak Creek.
While some parts were a bit predictable,

That twist at the beginning of the love interest dying was crazy.

And that world building! Like you're introduced to these creatures, and they're given a solid set of rules and characteristics, and that shit stayed consistent!
The autism rep is great (being explicitly stated) and you can't help but root for these main characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, and Car accident

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

Minor: Body horror, Gaslighting, Ableism, and Abandonment

cakehatwombat's review against another edition

emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

Gives a supernatural angle that allows for catharsis for both the characters and the audience, which I really liked.

They literally exorcise the demon of 'don't be gay', it's not subtle. It is satisfying, though, having something concrete they can defeat, even if they can't fix fundamentalist Christianity more broadly. They can save themselves and others from at least one horrible thing, y'know? Also all the demons horribly maim and then kill the people running the camp, so like, very affirming.

I liked Rose a lot- I always like curious characters who, like me, would click on every single object or npc in a video game to double check if it's interactable. 

OH, very important:

gay kids all make it out okay in the end! No dead black guy!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry and Death

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Gaslighting, and Vomit

Minor: Medical content and Ableism

For a book that centers around a gay conversion camp, the book doesn't talk much about the day-to-day reality or go into really intense detail about the emotional and religious abuse that happens there. Like, it obviously happens, but

the characters don't remember most of what happened. The part that the mc remembers clearly is being tied down and having a demon possess her, which is obviously upsetting, but

the really heavy stuff is avoided. Camps like these are obviously deeply traumatizing, and the characters in the book are clearly fucked up bc of it, but the horror of this book doesn't capitalize on (exploit is too extreme, but do you get what I mean?) the reality of places like this. The horror is supernatural and beatable. TL;DR much less intense than you would assume based on the name and premise. If you can stomach reading articles about actual gay conversion camps then this is nothing. I cannot speak to any type of response from personal experience. For the vomit, the mc

vomits up flies, and while it is described in detail the first time and she is very horrified by it, it happens often enough that she kinda becomes numb to it? She also discovers the cause of it, which helps her deal with it, I think. She vomits up flies bc she's possessed by a demon who is contracted to keep her from thinking gay thoughts, not bc she ingested or incubated any bugs.

Also, there are no tags for bugs or insects, which I'm surprised by? Anyway, there are definitely bugs in the book. If worms or flies are your nopes, then this book is not for you.

hyphae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Violence, Body horror, and Homophobia

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, and Confinement