Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman

67 reviews

nice_frogboy's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

emimli's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I absolutely adored this book. A must-read for fans of medieval horror, religious history, Old Testament angels, and the found family trope.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Grief, Medical content, War, Homophobia, Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, Torture, Body horror, Religious bigotry, and Islamophobia

Moderate: Alcoholism, Pedophilia, and Rape

kurumipanda's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Body horror, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual violence, Violence, Animal death, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Torture, Cannibalism, Classism, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Outing, War, Xenophobia, Rape, Pedophilia, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Infidelity, Self harm, Suicide, and Vomit

bxnnny's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective 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

if you like souls-bourne games, you will probably love this book. i loved our main three characters and their complexities and felt very attached to them rather quickly. i felt that the writing and pacing were well done and kept me hooked throughout. i also enjoyed that it was not immediately clear what kind of horror we would see presented in this story, and when we finally do meet the real horrors, i was excited and even more hooked. i'm not a religious person but i loved this story and the vibe.

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment

timberdoodle's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

A raw, horrific, beautiful religious fever-dream that, against all odds, carries a tender message about redemption without sinking into cynicism.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Gore

Moderate: Sexual violence

katiehoneydew's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Pedophilia

maises's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

“[…] fear of Hell is one of many paths to it. Forget Hell and love one another.”

I don’t remember the last time I felt true trepidation or fear in reading, even better to be  rewarded with bearing it at the end. It’s not an easy narrative at all, and even the small slivers of peace have something heavy-laden with it. But Between Two Fires may now be my most favorite horror I’ve read yet. It’s now my belief that in order for any fictional horror to rightly use demons and horrors of hell, having its counterpart of heaven be seriously as divine and powerful much more compelling. Having only one deeply developed without the other is weak to me. I need glowing angel wings coming out of bodies as easily as possessed saintly stone statues on all fours trying to eat you.

Most of all, Delphine and Thomas and Matthieu were my trio. I will miss them so much, despite something happening to someone of these three... I will try to let that go. The epilogue made me cry a lot, too. Sometimes you just need a found family dad and daughter duo - a daughter who also happens to be like. Christ incarnate or something. Really good stuff. I’m so glad this was my first full read of the year, which took only days to blast through because I was so enthralled.

Mind the content warnings. This novel utilizes a lot of things.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Homophobia, Violence, Antisemitism, and Rape

sophie_ursinus's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A beautiful exploration of faith, human flaws, and how best to overcome them. Very dark at times, but a genuinely hopeful ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Violence, Homophobia, War, and Body horror

emilyharmonica's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Vomit, Sexual assault, Torture, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Cursing, Excrement, Grief, Homophobia, Violence, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, War, Pedophilia, Gore, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

danifueck's review against another edition

I never DNF a book, but I just couldn’t go further in this one. The set up sounded so promising - a quest through a plague stricken European countryside with a peculiar saintly girl? Sign me up! But the writing style and way of story telling just wasn’t for me. The “horror” in this book was mostly: look how gross this plague victim’s body is. The monsters described didn’t quite do it for me. The narrative was choppy, and felt like there was one story chapter, one horror chapter, story, horror, etc and it got uninteresting. I really wanted to enjoy this especially since it seems everyone else loved it, but I couldn’t do past 60%. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Medical trauma, Excrement, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia