Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Sixteen souls by Rosie Talbot

15 reviews

catherinedsharp's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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? Yes

5.0

A beautiful and spooky read, perfect for October! A wonderful mix of the cosy and the dark, creating a story of found family and making the world a better place. Can be quite dark and graphic at points but would recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Suicide, Blood, Death, Murder, and Grief

natashaleighton_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? N/A

4.0

A delightfully spooky, humorous and marvellously plot twisty romp that hooked with the promise of ghost-filled antics, that I’m happy to report did NOT disappoint! 

I’ve yet to visit York (the setting for Sixteen Souls) myself but Rosie Talbot’s beautifully atmospheric world-building and wonderfully descriptive prose really brought the city and all of its rich, uniquely haunted history to life. 

I also loved the dialogue, and the use of British colloquialisms, which made all of the characters’ interactions feel waay more realistic —it was almost as if Talbot had eavesdropped on actual ghostly conversations, making for an incredibly immersive and entertaining reading experience.

Our loveably endearing cast of characters helped with that too. Aside from the obvious villains and a few of the Mouldy Oldies (old spirits who essentially govern the city’s ghost residents) , I pretty much loved them all. Particularly Charlie (our reluctant, ghost seeing MC) and his spectral, ride or die besties Ollie and Heather— as well as the highly amusing George Villiers, who won me over with his rather amusing antics. I also liked fellow seer Sam whose adorably sweet romance with Charlie gave me supernatural Heartstopper vibes that I’m excited to see more of.

If you’re looking for something spooky to read this autumn, but also love heartwarming found family vibes, LGBTQIA and disability rep —then I thoroughly recommend checking this out. Just make sure to check the TWs beforehand. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder, and Gun violence

Moderate: Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Kidnapping, and Medical trauma

Minor: Homophobia, Ableism, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, and Transphobia

sammymilfort's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective tense slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Grief, Blood, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Torture, Medical content, Body horror, Death, Suicide, Gore, Terminal illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, and Medical trauma

mxajlikesbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Moderate: Violence, Child death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, and Body horror

Minor: Cancer

anton13's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Wow. Just wow. It’s not quite my usual read but nonetheless I loved reading it. It’s like Lockwood and co. meets Heartstopper. I love how different identities and people are represented. It was quite the roller coaster and I saw none of it coming. I thought I had it all figured out but boy let me tell you I didn’t. I really recommend it. So much love to this book and to Rosie for writing it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Suicide, Body horror, and Gun violence

Moderate: Medical content, Death, Violence, Child death, Cursing, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Blood, and Kidnapping

Minor: Bullying, Ableism, Transphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Cancer, Homophobia, and Torture

domann's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Death of parent, Blood, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail

fe_aye's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

Solid book, if you’re a fan of The Mediator series by Meg Calbot you’ll enjoy this. It’s the same sort of vibe with a new setting, new rules and a darker plot line. Reading this was simultaneously a blast from the past and something entirely new. An interesting take on the concept of being able to see ghosts and what that can do to your life. 
Along with the paranormal is a good mystery element that keeps you guessing. Great book really enjoyed it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death, Gore, and Gun violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Child death, Death of parent, Medical content, Terminal illness, Vomit, Body horror, and Blood

Minor: Classism and Forced institutionalization

milessmiles's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

I read this for my bookclub and it was fun!! :) 

(positive)
- loved most characters, and even liked the main character towards the end (great character development) 
- such a cool idea!! would love a sequel or a prequel 
- i really liked the writing! 

(negative)
- Just overall, my main issue with this one was the world building and the pacing. Would have loved to learn more about the world, i have way too many unanswered questions. And it felt pretty slow in the beginning and then rushed in the end. 
- the random transphobia from the main character.. this didn't need to be in the book (was a huge critique point at my bookclub meeting too)
- just lots of trauma that kinda didn't get questioned mhh

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Body horror, Death, Transphobia, and Suicide

micareads123's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Sixteen Souls is a fun, high-stakes book about a couple of boys who have come back from the dead and are banding together to solve the mystery of why some of the ghosts of York have gone missing. 

I have seen a lot of reviewers say this book is “like Heartstopper, but with ghosts,” but I very much disagree. The only parallels I can draw between the two are the queer relationship and age range of the MCs, and some parallels could perhaps be drawn between the personalities of MCs of both stories, but the plot couldn’t be more different. 

This book was a lot darker, tenser, intense and violent than I expected; that said, I did not check the CWs at the beginning of the book. That was okay for me, but I would urge other readers to check the CWs and TWs before beginning. 

I did, however, think the plot was very original, and I appreciated seeing disability rep via the MC, Charlie, who had lost the lower parts of both his legs to Meningitis. He talks about his experience with using his prostheses and wheel chair, which was new for me. I was also happy to see trans rep via the secondary MC, Sam. 

I enjoyed learning new words and colloquialisms from the York, England, vernacular. I love language and am always eager to learn more about the language spoken in a region other than my own. 

Overall, while this book was not what I expected, I did enjoy it. I loved seeing the character development and cared about all of the characters involved, including the ghosts, who were utterly quirky and charming. 

I am also interested in seeing — and will very likely seek out — whatever Talbot comes up with next, and I do suspect a sequel to this book will be in her future 😉. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Death, and Suicide

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Torture, and Violence

pan_to_ffel's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide, Death of parent, Violence, Body horror, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Deadnaming, Transphobia, and Homophobia

needles stitching a wound