Reviews tagging 'Death'

Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman

65 reviews

box_wine_hero's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A horror story that takes place during the outbreak of the bubonic plague--it's like this book was written just for me. The monsters are horrifying and work as well as literal terrors as they do metaphors for the ravages of the plague.  The ending was satisfying as well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Death

jomojobo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Sexism, Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, Torture, Violence, War, Death, Murder, Xenophobia, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, and Death of parent

Moderate: Antisemitism, Rape, Sexual violence, and Sexual content

Minor: Homophobia, Pedophilia, and Infidelity

jellygh0st's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, War, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Blood, Cursing, Child death, Body horror, Suicide, Torture, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Gore, Murder, Excrement, and Death

Minor: Rape, Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Antisemitism

It's not ill-spirited, i.e. portrayal is obviously not condonement - but antagonists mention/voice intent on sexual assault, antisemitism, and religious supremism very frequently. The author doesn't take pleasure in the idea of exploring those ideas out of morbid curiosity, as some books might, but they are mentioned and given proper emotional weight and punishment when necessary.

thenoboshow's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, Death, Religious bigotry, Grief, Murder, Cursing, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, War, Sexual assault, Pandemic/Epidemic, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual violence

ripxw's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Violence

Minor: Rape

shadowdra126's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book is one part Dark Souls, two parts Hieronymus Bosch, set to the soundtrack of every heavy metal band ever created, and finally seasoned with wit and humor through and through. 

This book was amazing and moving and also completely and totally fucking bitchin’

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, Death, Cursing, Body horror, Alcohol, Murder, Religious bigotry, Torture, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Gore, Antisemitism, War, and Blood

garrettcz's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I liked it, but it felt longer than necessary and the ending was pretty confusing. I kept having to reread parts of the end over again before I really understood what was going on. The last 15% could have been tightened up. 

The characters and dialogue were the best parts. 

It had a lot more horror tropes than I expected. Very dark in places. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Torture, War, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Addiction, Biphobia, Violence, Vomit, Bullying, Chronic illness, Classism, Cursing, Gore, Murder, Child death, Confinement, Death, Excrement, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Antisemitism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pedophilia and Rape

darkpizza's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death of parent, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Violence, Classism, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Animal death, Torture, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexism, Rape, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Homophobia, Excrement, War, Vomit, and Misogyny

enbyrd44's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

1.0

I was not the target audience for this book.

The way the author talked about a twelve year old girls body was creepy. And then compound that with an almost rape that is turned into a bonding moment, utterly disgusting. 

The story itself felt very start stop to me. 

The idea was good, the execution just didn’t work for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcoholism, Child death, Vomit, and Murder

Moderate: Excrement, Rape, Body horror, Gore, and Religious bigotry

gwenhwyfar's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

I knew just by looking at it that this book was for me. This might be the most metal book I've ever read. It's blasphemous. It's pestilential. It's ridden with corpses. It's a hellish pilgrimage across 14th century France. It goes in with the brutality, so I would pay close attention to content warnings. 

This story is about a young girl, eventually revealed to be named Delphine, approaches a group of brigands in around Normandy to help her bury her father. One, named Thomas, ends up killing the others, has her father buried, then agrees to accompany her to Paris and then Avignon (the papacy was in Avignon in the 14th century). On their travels, they also are joined up with a priest named Matthieu. Thomas had fought in the battle of Crecy, sustaining heavy wounds. His lands were then stolen from under him and he was unfairly excommunicated. Matthieu had a homosexual affair which was uncovered by the village he served, so his flock had abandoned him. Delphine is... Jesus 2.0. You see, God is missing, and Hell has declared war on of Heaven. The gates of heaven are defended but the angels are unable to help on earth, where demons are running rampant. The demons are responsible for the plague. They detect Delphine and they attempt to hinder her pilgrimage; her only protectors being Thomas, Matthieu, and various lesser angels working in secret. There's some seriously messed up imagery throughout.

I loved this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Murder, Death, Violence, Torture, War, Religious bigotry, and Antisemitism