Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch, Vol. 1: At the Edge of Empire by Daniel Kraus

4 reviews

kathryn51's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Torture, Body horror, Physical abuse, Violence, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Cursing, Alcohol, Medical content, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, and Hate crime

Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Sexual content, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

apersonfromflorida's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, War, Blood, Torture, and Child death

Moderate: Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, and Gun violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Drug use

jarnbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I enjoyed reading it. It started out fast, slowed once you hit WW1, then gains speed after that. Zebulon has an interesting way of telling his own story that keeps you engaged, until he is bored; then you’re bored. The secondary characters add a lot to this book and you’ll find yourself hating most of them but all of them are in-depth and have unique interactions with Zebulon that make them memorable, even if they only show up for a couple pages. With that, its very much a who’s-who of history and that’s the only way you can figure out what year it is. And when first reading this, I thought Zebulon was a self-insert (and still think he is to an extent). Nonetheless, I’m excited to read the second book and see what happens to Zebulon next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, War, Alcohol, Death, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Torture, Medical content, Medical trauma, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Slavery

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Child death, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Murder

Minor: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Abortion, Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Vomit, Self harm, Pregnancy, Car accident, Excrement, Infertility, Infidelity, and Rape

Most of these are one-time things that happen over the course of a few pages but are extremely explicit. The most graphic was the war arc that happens during part 4. There is a ton of body horror throughout the book including dismemberment, and graphic descriptions of body decay.

annabelle's review against another edition

This started out so strong. I love the darkness of the story and all the gruesome elements. I loved how horrible all the characters were. I loved the health circus and Dr. Leather. 

It was after the 60% mark that I began to lose interest. There were still some good moments, but once Zebulon left for LA I was truly bored. We lost a lot of the horror elements, and we didn't remain in one place with one set of characters. I loved having that in depth character study and we lost that after we got to WW1. The story lacked the depth it had before and it felt like something we had already seen before. Those sections didn’t add anything new. Those sections really reminded me that we are reading from a white man’s perspective. 

The beginning was so good, but the following sections didn’t compare. I don’t want to waste time on books that I don’t love so I DNF’d. It’s not a bad book, it just didn't grip me after a certain point.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, and War