Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Leech by Hiron Ennes

52 reviews

thayerbowen's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

2.5

It’s … confusing

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, and Blood

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Blood, Death, Gore, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Miscarriage

cold_boy's review against another edition

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I adored this book. I never would have thought a Victorian Gothic horror could ever mesh with post-apocalyptic sci-fi, yet here we are. The story and the world are so meaty and dense and bizarre. Having read quite a bit of sci-fi, I can say Ennes is a master of introducing elements of a world in a way that doesn't feel jarring, and fully explaining the elements without it breaking the pacing or making it feel like the author is personally explaining the world to the audience. 

This is the horror novel I've been craving for a very long time.

Bonus audiobook narration review: I didn't realize Abigail Thorn was the narrator until I hit play, which was a pleasant surprise but I worried my familiarity with her work would distract me from the narration. Fortunately that wasn't a problem, and she absolutely embodied the characters (especially our nameless protagonist). While sometimes she came across as a bit inexperienced, I hope she keeps doing narration, because she has a very expressive and unique voice.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Child death, Rape, Blood, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Gore

owlishbookish's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Leech is quite possibly the most bizarre book I've ever read. I've been mulling over everything I just read since I closed the cover for the last time. The language and imagery were very compelling. There is such an atmosphere of foreboding and it has an almost Frankenstein-esque vibe, only even more grotesque. The identity of the narrator is very surprising and they are probably one of the most unreliable narrators I've ever experienced. It really does work for this story, though. The ending left me reeling and I know I'm going to be thinking about this book for a long time to come.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Medical content, and Body horror

Moderate: Child death, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

ofbooksandechos's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Body horror

Moderate: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Medical content, Blood, Violence, and Pregnancy

Minor: Genocide and Alcohol

CW: loss of body autonomy, dissociation and PTSD

iamdr_rn's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Moderate: Alcohol, Child abuse, Bullying, Gore, Sexual violence, Child death, Rape, Domestic abuse, and Animal cruelty

swell_gal's review against another edition

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Weirdest book I've ever read

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child death, Violence, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Gore, and Pregnancy

thehmkane's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.75

Every hour or so, this book delivered a line or a concept or an event that made me think, gee, this it the genderiest book I've ever read. That holds true to the end. It's complex. It's unsettling. And it is determinedly not cis.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Animal death, Colonisation, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Medical content, Child death, Bullying, Chronic illness, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Grief, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault

Stillbirth

hollyko's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Child death, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Rape, Miscarriage, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Medical content, and Pregnancy

captcapy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Gore, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Rape, Medical content, Child death, and Infertility

Minor: Genocide

dannilmp's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad 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

3.75

For a debut novel by Ennes, I was very impressed at the writing! How can one author make me feel so much compassion for a parasite compared to the human race? This book gave me The Haunting on Hill House vibes at time. Isolated from the rest of the world in a chateux, our doctor has to figure out what is trying to compete against his kind completely on his own. Can he figure it out in time while the chateux crumbles around him?

The setting of this novel really added to the atmosphere, while this book does have its many many scences involving blood and gore, it is the ambience that really shines through. The characters seem to grow and devlop as we learn some of their more darker secrets of their pasts. Again I am blown away that here I was feeling so much sympathy and even rooting for the parasites of Inultus over the humans at one point!

However, I feel the ending wasn't quite as upto par with the rest of the story and the ending left me feeling quite unsatisfied. I don't think the last question in the blurb is answered and given the information we get throughout the story, it's not quite simple to come up with your own conclusions as they really are just wild speculation. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Child death, and Gore

Moderate: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Suicide

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, and Abandonment