Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman

66 reviews

silea's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

An unusual novel. The Black Death permeates every element of the story but isn’t the focus. Supernatural abominations are just one of the many challenges the people face. The stakes are huge but also small and personal. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Body horror, Grief, Homophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gore, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Death, Cursing, Antisemitism, and Blood

Moderate: Islamophobia, Classism, Sexual assault, Torture, Death of parent, and Excrement

Minor: Miscarriage, Classism, Excrement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Cannibalism, and Child abuse

carodunn's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Religious bigotry, Cursing, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Excrement

cold_boy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.0

What a strange and original horror novel. You often see Christianity influencing the horror genre, but I've never seen the religion used in a way that's quite this pervasive, effective, and unique. Buehlman leans into the bizarre and often surreal parts of Christian mythology on both the demonic and angelic sides, to great effect. The setting is probably my favourite aspect, especially the way he presents plague-era France as a truly apocalyptic place, with the emptiness and paranoia reminiscent of zombie movies. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Body horror, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Antisemitism, Sexual assault, Torture, Misogyny, Homophobia, and Sexual violence

mkyarian12's review against another edition

dark reflective sad 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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Antisemitism, Body horror, Child death, Blood, Classism, Death, Gore, Homophobia, and Murder

jrmathison3's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death, Genocide, Gore, Sexual violence, War, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, and Infidelity

jselliot's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was actually a much better book than I thought it'd be, going into it. The opening made me a bit skeptical, and I'm picky about horror. I'd actually classify this more of a dark historical fantasy than horror now that I've reached the end. 

It does help to have some knowledge of biblical figures, so you won't be lost with the cast of characters that rotate in and out through the  background and as antagonists, but you can always look them up if you're willing to pause your reading for context. The book is, as a whole, thoroughly researched but also thankfully not absolutely mired in period-accurate sexism of the 13th century. There's absolutely whispers of it, but it fades into the background as the importance of the plot and character development pushes to the forefront.

I also loved the epilogue of this book. It provided closure in more ways than one for the characters, which is what I think sets it apart from the horror that it is tagged as. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Body horror

Moderate: Antisemitism, Sexual assault, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Rape and Homophobia

moppyy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

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

5.0

Southern Gothic if the "Southern" referred to the South of France and if "Gothic" referred to 14th century medieval Catholicism

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Homophobia, Antisemitism, Animal death, Murder, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, and War

storyorc's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

4.5

If the Souls games were set in medieval France during the Black Death. Hideous, but imbued with great sense of purpose and poetry. The characters mostly feel very real despite being quite archetypical. A very immersive feeling of pilgrimage; no idea if it's actually historically accurate but it feels right. The climax was stretched a little too long for my taste however - after a certain event, the momentum took a stumble. The final confrontation was biblical and worthy, yet I enjoyed the journey most, if enjoyed is the right word when there are Elden Ring bosses in the rivers and ruins around every corner. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Ableism, Rape, Animal death, and Child death

heptaspud's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Body horror, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Gore

Moderate: Antisemitism and Homophobia

nice_frogboy's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Adult/minor relationship