Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Near the Bone by Christina Henry

73 reviews

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

READ CONTENT WARNINGS
This book! It was highly recommended by a YouTuber I watch and you know what? It was really good. It was scary, especially so since I live in a wooded area and I read it at night. I'm glad I didn't read this in winter because then for sure I'd be even more scared. I do have some questions involving Mattie and the creature but the answers, or lack of them really, do not seriously detract from the book as a whole. Super fast paced and kept me interested the whole time.

I wish Griffin and Jen could've made it out of the mountains with CP and Samantha. Griffin was clearly a good dude and had good friends. Wish we could've found out about how they explained their deaths and how Samantha and CP carried on and healed afterwards. Def would've liked to see a Sam-Heather reunion after all those years

I need to read something light/feel good now since this was a pretty heavy book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Vomit, Confinement, Drug use, and Grief

jordanem1995's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Animal death, Death of parent, and Gore

budgie's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, and Injury/Injury detail

stephanieluxton's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The atmosphere in this book is fantastic. There's a couple frightening scenes in the beginning and I wish that tone was maintained more throughout the second half of the book. The ending was fine but I think it could have been better. Overall, I did really enjoy the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, and Confinement

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, and Animal death

Minor: Rape, Murder, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Infertility, and Drug use

mmwi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Child abuse, Animal death, Child death, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Domestic abuse, Rape, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Confinement, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Religious bigotry

wallabystew's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, and Misogyny

Moderate: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, and Animal death

mapscitiesandsongs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? No

2.0

All in all this reading experience was disappointing, especially because BooksandLala recommended the book in one of her videos. The most annoying part of this book were the characters. They felt so unrealistic and one-dimensional. William is your typical abusive and religious lunatic that wants his wive all to himself and beats her up for disrespecting him/not being a good wife. I honestly didn‘t buy it. There was not depth to his character. He is just an archetype. Kiran Millwood Hargrave did a much better job at depicting an abusive and religious husband in The Mercies.  On a different note, what were those reactions and dialogs in the most terrifying moments?

A monster throws a human heart through the window? You know what, let's make grilled cheese. Your best friend gets strung up on a tree by his organs? I suddenly feel hungry and want some eggs. Like what?

  No human would react like that. Also what was the point of the whole scene with Mattie and C.P. in the cabin?

There is a creature and a kidnapper out there and they are having these chill conversations without paying attention to the very obvious threat outside. And what was William doing outside all the time? Were did he go? Why didn't the creature hunt him too when he was already injured and that creature supposedly only attacks weak/injured humans? It doesn't make any sense.

The ending was just the cherry on top. It was so rushed and we don't even find out what exactly the monster is. During some parts I felt like the monster was just some metaphor for William which would have made the story that much more interesting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, and Confinement

Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Vomit

rosemaryslibrarian's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Animal death, Blood, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Child abuse

kris_t97's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Very well-paced book showing the darkness of humanity and the unknown.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Death, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Confinement, Animal death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, and Torture

There are a lot of graphic themes in this story, so I wouldn't recommend it if these themes are triggering. More of the main character's background is shown later on, but from the first page, there is a lot of dangerous and problematic behaviour experience by her.

soaphest's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

3.75

started very strong, well-paced, but the story lost its steam a bit the further it went on. characters weren’t really given much depth

so even when jen and griffin died i didn’t feel a particular way about it because we really didn’t get to know them that well.

there was some lost potential with the whole creature aspect of this book and the conclusion wasn’t as satisfying as i had hoped for it to be. still, henry has a way of writing which makes you finish her books in just hours. ultimately i love reading her works & this book was no different. overall it was a very compelling read but i just wasn’t particularly wowed by it in the end.

also i was a bit confused how the whole plot point of heather was just dropped out of nowhere? it was made into this huge thing & ultimately nobody knew anything about her and it was never explained why that was, which also made the ending feel a bit rushed and abrupt

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Drug use