Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Woom by Duncan Ralston

117 reviews

quietlex's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-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

This was pure shit. I bought this because I saw a tiktok video claiming that it was a really good horror novel, and now I’m disappointed to have wasted my money. The “Extreme Horror Novel” label on the cover really means “disgusting sexual assault” in a bunch of different ways. I’ve always hated “horror” that ends up being just a sick man’s sexual fantasies/traumas. You can write a good horror that incorporates the good and bad of sex, without having the entire book revolving around the gore and other atrocities that can happen. The title “Woom” is accurate since the thing is chock full of vagina! Each chapter has some horrible thing happening to a poor woman’s body. There’s absolutely nothing scary about this book, it’s just flat out gross. The story telling is awfully drab and boring, with vile things being described blandly in order to grab your attention. It doesn’t work. The only good thing about this book is that it is so short. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

gallant_reviews's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I am truly at a loss. This pushed my boundaries and made me feel heartbroken. What a ride in such a short time. Not for the faint of heart but a distinct pice of work. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Rape, Violence, and Abortion

sexytinatrainconductress's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual assault, and Violence

jaimee_reads's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

0.5

This reminds me of that episode of South Park where Butters writes The Poop that Took a Pee. There is nothing horror about this book, just gross out, tragic stories strung together with a bunch of sex. There are lines in here that I know are meant to shock, but literally had me laughing. It's trying to tell a story about trauma, but again, laughing at how ridiculous it is. Rape is a big plot point in this book, which...it's horrifying enough, it didn't need whatever treatment this was. Also, the author is white, but has a black character call another black character the N word. It's a throw away insult line that didn't have to use specifically that word, and it felt like it was an opportunity for a white person to use it on a technicality. "I'm not calling him the N word, the black character is so it's ok." This was published in 2022. Read the woom. HA! But seriously, don't bother. It's pretty terrible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

joy_ong's review

dark fast-paced

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

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Abortion, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

kjricha's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Abortion, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

hoole95's review against another edition

dark emotional relaxing tense fast-paced

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

3.5

People kept on telling me this was a super  fucked up book and you couldn’t unsee it after you read it and for most of it I wasn’t  seeing that. The scene were some what disturbing but nothing burned in your brain bad. Till like the last chapter like what the hell was that 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

hmn54437's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I don’t want to say I enjoyed reading this because I definitely didn’t, but I don’t think you’re SUPPOSED to enjoy the reading experience when it comes to this novella. 

While it grossed me out in every way possible, the twists were interesting and I think it had some interesting things to say about the “rebirthing” trope that we see in literature. It’s a difficult read and one I don’t recommend if you’re squeamish in ANY way, but for extreme horror I was a fan of the shock value. 

It also has some intriguing things to say about the kinds of conversations and relationships that can build between two people that have been served some of life’s worst scenarios. 

Will I ever read it again? No. 
Do I recommend it? No. 
Will I ever forget it? Definitely not.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Infertility, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, and Abortion

clarke's review against another edition

dark funny 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? Yes

4.0

This was so fucking funny

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Fatphobia

jadorereadss's review against another edition

dark

• 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

2.0

I gave it 2 stars not because it’s bad but because it’s such a dark horror story that creeped me out and made me uncomfortable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Violence, Excrement, Abortion, and Pregnancy