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kyra_joy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
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
4.75
Loved this for the most part, the end was definitely a bit out of blue but still interesting and enjoyable to read. I could have done without endless amount of fatphobia but otherwise a really great read. I found the characters flawed in a very real feeling way and it talks about growing up and what happens to friendships when life’s expectations catch up to you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Blood, Death, and Fatphobia
cantfindmybookmark's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
This is a book about 4 bros who get lost in the woods. The bros, especially the main bro, is fat phobic and hates women. The best way to survive this horror story? Embrace your primal self and toxic masculinity. . I’m so disappointed my book club picked this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Misogyny, and Sexism
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Excrement, and Gore
Minor: Homophobia, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Murder, and Religious bigotry
elijah9715's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
Moderate: Homophobia and Fatphobia
asaintsheaint's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Gore, Misogyny, and Violence
miranda_redmond's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I enjoyed the first half but didn't like the weird turn it took towards the end. Also not a fan of the misogyny that keeps popping up throughout the book any time a female character is mentioned.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Misogyny, and Blood
Moderate: Fatphobia, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Religious bigotry
ggcd1981's review against another edition
adventurous
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
3.75
Eu tinha interesse em ler os livros de Adam Nevill havia um tempo e tendo a perspectiva de assistir à adaptação para filme de The Ritual resolvi ler o livro antes. Em geral achei a obra uma sólida história de terror, porém com alguns problemas. Em primeiro lugar os personagens, os quais eram mais numerosos do que a sinopse deu a entender. Inicialmente se tem os 4 “amigos da universidade”, Luke, Hutch, Phil e Dom que após não se verem por alguns anos resolvem ir juntos em uma viagem pela natureza escandinava no Círculo Ártico, onde acabam tomando um atalho por uma floresta ancestral com entidades antigas e sinistras. Isso dá início ao pesadelo do grupo. Desses 4 personagens iniciais apenas Luke, e talvez um pouco Dom, são mais aprofundados. Luke é o protagonista e gostei dele como personagem, porém alguns diálogos combinados com a narração de David Thorpe fizeram o personagem em alguns momentos parecer choramingar muito, tendo longos momentos de auto piedade. Apesar de gostar de Luke esses elementos desgastaram um pouco o personagem para mim. Os personagens introduzidos na segunda metade do livro, Loki, Fenris, Surtr, e a velha (acredito que nenhum nome foi dado a ela no texto) foram bons vilões secundários, porém foram mal utilizados em alguns momentos. Isso me leva a atmosfera, que foi bastante eficiente em grande parte da narrativa. A floresta antiga e sombria, a impressão de que havia sempre algo os seguindo e os observando. A ideia de que havia todo um povo que servia o que quer que seja que estava na floresta e que a velha era a última desse povo foi assustadora. Contudo, houveram momentos em que o autor quebrou a atmosfera desnecessariamente, deixando a segunda metade do livro mais lenta e menos aterrorizante. Nevill escreveu longos diálogos entre Luke e Loki, entre Luke e Fenris, e até mesmo longos monólogos mentais para Luke. Todos estes fizeram a narrativa perder ritmo e se arrastar quebrando o clima de terror, pois se Luke estava tendo longas conversas racionais com seus captores a situação se torna mais mundana e menos sinistra e assustadora. O terror da metade final do livro teria sido mais eficiente se os diálogos, e no caso de Luke monólogos, tivessem sido mais diretos, menos prolixos. A escrita em geral foi boa, a não ser pelos problemas já citados (diálogos e monólogos longos e desnecessários). O enredo teve reviravoltas inesperadas. Confesso que a mudança de cenário da segunda parte da obra me surpreendeu. Do início ao meio da narrativa foi quando a história fluiu melhor, porém as sequências finais foram interessantes. O final foi cheio de ação apesar da cena de encerramento deixar a história em aberto. A lógica interna a história foi um pouco turva, poucas explicações foram dadas sobre o que era a entidade que caçava na floresta. Menções foram feitas a figura do demônio existente nas Religiões Cristãs, também foi dado o nome de Odin a entidade (apesar que não sei quão fiel é este livro as religiões nórdicas). Durante grande parte do tempo tive a impressão de que a entidade seria algo antigo que não necessariamente tinha um nome e os personagens humanos tentaram encaixa-la em figuras de religiões convencionais. Além disso porque este ser poupou Luke na floresta? Teria sido apenas para que a velha, Loki e os outros, após ter encontrado e trazido Luke para a antiga casa, o entregassem em sacrifício? Burocrática essa entidade. The Ritual teve momentos sólidos de terror e alguns momentos tediosos de diálogos. No geral foi, em maior parte, eficiente como uma história de terror. Dou 3.75 estrelas.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Blood, Body shaming, Confinement, Bullying, Death, Car accident, Kidnapping, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Stalking, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Misogyny, and Sexism
corruptednatz's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Those poor 4 guys in the woods…they went through HELL. And I felt their pain. I knew the trip was screwed from the very beginning because the 2 unfit men hurt themselves. It was literally on page 5 😂 I also like how the monster in the woods like to decorate the trees with bodies like it Christmas. Very jolly. oh my god the way the monster took Hutch and Don will stick with me forever. It shocked me. It was quick and easy 😭</spoiler
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Gore, Physical abuse, Murder, Blood, Fatphobia, Death, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, and Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, and Vomit
maggie_t's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
Disclaimer: I will be discussing surface details without going into the nitty-gritty of the book.
Having watched the movie before reading, I personally think the first half of the book holds up better than the script, but the movie handles the latter half more coherently. Doesn’t necessarily take away from its reading value, just changes how it reads. Instead of a story about something inherent within the character/s or the baggage they carry it becomes more so an arena of uncaring hostiles forcing the characters through the grinder.
The author’s snide disdain for anything feminine or fat stains his writing. It goes beyond one or two character’s personal world view as it permeates the entire book. The main character often remarks on how feminine, or femininely beautiful, other male characters are; sometimes as out of pocket observations, other times with a sneering judgment that’s hard to miss. The fat characters are determined by the story as sweaty, wheezing losers, unpleasant companions that unjustly lash out against the main character due to bitterness of his “freedom”. The wives of the fat guys are then framed almost as ‘befitting’ partners to their unpleasantness: a depressed mother of a sickly child and an unstable gold-digger. And the fat girl doesn’t crop up without the author reminding you how her body looks, which he justifies as relevant because the girl is usually naked.
To his credits, he writes paranoia and that gut-drop sensation of realizing something is hiding in plain sight very well. Chapters with the monster are compelling and tense, with memorable moments of you catching up to the character as he realizes he’s not as alone as he seems. The conflict near the end (before the climax confrontation) is pretty satisfying to read, unlike other books that put the characters through hell with no vindication.
Overall I would have rated this higher had the author not imparted so much misogyny and fatphobia into this, but it was an easy fast read with some high points.
Having watched the movie before reading, I personally think the first half of the book holds up better than the script, but the movie handles the latter half more coherently. Doesn’t necessarily take away from its reading value, just changes how it reads. Instead of a story about something inherent within the character/s or the baggage they carry it becomes more so an arena of uncaring hostiles forcing the characters through the grinder.
The author’s snide disdain for anything feminine or fat stains his writing. It goes beyond one or two character’s personal world view as it permeates the entire book. The main character often remarks on how feminine, or femininely beautiful, other male characters are; sometimes as out of pocket observations, other times with a sneering judgment that’s hard to miss. The fat characters are determined by the story as sweaty, wheezing losers, unpleasant companions that unjustly lash out against the main character due to bitterness of his “freedom”. The wives of the fat guys are then framed almost as ‘befitting’ partners to their unpleasantness: a depressed mother of a sickly child and an unstable gold-digger. And the fat girl doesn’t crop up without the author reminding you how her body looks, which he justifies as relevant because the girl is usually naked.
To his credits, he writes paranoia and that gut-drop sensation of realizing something is hiding in plain sight very well. Chapters with the monster are compelling and tense, with memorable moments of you catching up to the character as he realizes he’s not as alone as he seems. The conflict near the end (before the climax confrontation) is pretty satisfying to read, unlike other books that put the characters through hell with no vindication.
Overall I would have rated this higher had the author not imparted so much misogyny and fatphobia into this, but it was an easy fast read with some high points.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Animal death, and Gore
Moderate: Misogyny, Body shaming, and Fatphobia
Minor: Addiction, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Homophobia
samankins's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia
Minor: Misogyny
kendrabetweenthelines's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Many reviews of this book mention that it seems like two separate novels, and I agree. The first half, during which the friends get lost in the woods, is ominous and atmospheric. For the first 150 pages, I was really excited to see how the gloomy and bleak atmosphere would develop into the ritualistic horror described in the synopsis. The second half gets into the ritualistic aspect, with a strong side of black metal and satanic panic. The second half of The Ritual was disappointing for me, mostly because the author seemed to throw away the tension and atmosphere developed in the first half. The spookiness of the faceless evil became chaotic and weird instead of scary.
My biggest problem with the book is how the author treated the women. There is a very clear contrast between how Nevill describes the male characters and how he describes the female characters. The story is told by a male character who seems unhappy with his own romantic life, but the descriptions of women went beyond character development. I was completely turned off by the rampant sexism and body shaming, particularly in the second half of this boo
My biggest problem with the book is how the author treated the women. There is a very clear contrast between how Nevill describes the male characters and how he describes the female characters. The story is told by a male character who seems unhappy with his own romantic life, but the descriptions of women went beyond character development. I was completely turned off by the rampant sexism and body shaming, particularly in the second half of this boo
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism and Fatphobia