Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

25 reviews

kawooreads's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Its been awhile since I rated something 2 stars...this book...it is insanely graphic and obscene one minute and borderline boring the next. Essentially Frank, the protagonist lives a hermetic lifestyle on his family's small island in Scotland with his father. At the beginning they learn that Frank's older brother Eric has escaped an institution and is making his way back to the island.  As Frank awaits his inevitable arrival, he divulges the frightening reasons as to his brother's incarceration. Frank admits that he himself has a dark secret, that he killed three of his child relatives in his youth, including his little brother. The rest of the book is Frank nonchalantly describing the grisly ways in which they died while roaming around the island, engaging in intense animal cruelty and performing psychotic rituals with his "Wasp Factory". I held out to the end for 2 reasons, 1) its relatively short, just under 200 pages and 2) every dang person on tiktok said this is one of their favorite disturbing horror books and I'm trying to read Spooky for October...I do not recommend this book to anyone unless someone just wants to indulge in torture stories and relishes a read that will make them regret the time they wasted. Its an extremely disturbing story that had no redeeming qualities and quite a bizarre and lackluster ending. But maybe these kinds of stories just aren't for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, and Violence

grimfrown's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Medical trauma, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

temsu's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Violence

mettenikkessen's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book left me feeling really confused and puzzled. The plot was very unexpected and quite random, and I felt as though I missed a deeper meaning or layer to the end. It did not feel like an end to this story really.
But having said that I did enjoy reading this book - even though it has plenty of horrific scenes. I just really love Iain Banks writing style. His magical atmospheric writing and storytelling which makes the landscape and characters come to life, but also his almost humerous dry sentences about quite gory events. Even though the main characters are very unlikable people, it is still interesting (and not as frustrating) to read the story from their point of view. Overall, I liked this book but I cannot really explain why and I would understand other people dislike to it as well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Violence, Torture, and Murder

tabithalevis's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Lots of animal abuse, and a confusing plot that leaves me with many questions. Finished it in one day so definitely something to quickly get through!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, and Vomit