Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - Woom

This is a hard book to rate or review because I can’t say I enjoyed this book by any means but it’s not the sort of book you’re meant to enjoy (if someone told me they enjoyed this book I think I’d back away slowly and then run as far away as I could) it’s definitely a gruesome book that’s not for the feint of heart and I would not take trigger warnings lightly for this book it’s brutal honestly.

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cakeboxing's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

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

0.5

I don't want to go into too much detail so that I can leave this a spoiler free review.

Be sure to check trigger warnings if you read this book.

I bought and read this book on kindle immediately after watching a tiktok saying it was the most disturbing thing they had every read. While I don't think it's deserving of that title (at least for me), I can definitely agree that it's not your typical horror novel.

The writing style was decent, though the author felt the need to explain everything to the reader, at least eventually. Because of this, I saw the ending coming from a mile off. That was surprising to me, since a lot of people had said they'd never read something so horrible and that the ending had left them in shock.

I haven't read very many horror stories, and I've never read any body horror so this was my first. I would not say that I am particularly accustomed to scenes like these, I don't go out of my way to read about or watch bloody depictions of various violations to the human body. Maybe I'm just a millennial existing in a dystopian society called the US of A, where I've become desensitized to gore in mainstream media, politics, and everyday life.

All that said, this book did literally nothing to really freak me out. (I really don't want to know what that says about me as a person.) Sure, there were definitely scenes that were grotesque, where the descriptions made me a little sick. To me, the majority of the disturbing scenes are in the first half of the book. At around a quarter through, I started to feel uncomfortable in my own apartment even when not reading, and I became scared for one of the characters - everything a person wants in a horror book. But those feelings quickly faded as the pacing changed and the plot became obvious and predictable. Since I saw the end coming, it wasn't very satisfying or unsettling. Someone who doesn't see the end coming, however, would likely find it to be incredibly shocking.

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erica_reads_things's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense fast-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

3.5

Hooooo boy is this one a ride. Very graphic, disturbing, but unlike some other horror novellas that I've read recently, the plot and point of this one was actually interesting and kept me wanting to read and find out what the fuck was going on. Lots of trigger warnings (I always make sure to add those). But this was actually an interesting read for a gore story.

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reading_binosaur's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.0

I literally cannot give it any more stars. I didn't hate it, but definitely didn't love it. Really fucky

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rachelreads2453's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is insane, in the best way. Brilliantly crafted. Deeply unsettling. Trigger warnings for.. pretty much everything.

Content Warnings

abbie_reads_horror's review against another edition

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dark sad fast-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

lisa_butler79's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

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

3.0

This was definitely a WTF did I just read book. I feel like I should go to church and make a confession that I finished this book.

The mini stories that made up the whole story are written by someone very sick in the head, but what's even stranger I wasn't bothered by the stories, I wasn't grossed out as I was told I would be in fact it was quite a laughable story. I blame my dad for letting me watch "faces of death" as a child I'm not easily upset.

This book does have a lot of trigger warnings and not at all for the Faint of heart reader.

I found this book darkly humorous and disturbing.

Content Warnings

sopranoreader's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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