Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca

55 reviews

lilybear3's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

This was on everyone's tiktok so I wanted to experience it for myself.  This wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Do I have critiques?  Of course, so let's get into it.  I liked this edition because it had 2 other stories.  I don't know if the original book has this, but the author explains the inspiration for each short story and I really appreciated that.

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke:  WTF did I read?  I get why people are disgusted, horrified, etc, but isn't that the point?  There's just about every CW/TW possible.  The ending was confusing in the sense that why on earth did it end like that.  My critique is in the characterization.  The characters didn't seem realistic in the way they talked to each other in the emails.  The Instant Message chats were more believable.  This story had more potential to be suspenseful and horrifying, but the pacing was too fast.  Their relationship escalated too quickly and it's hard to believe that Agnes would dive so deep into a relationship within, what, like 2 weeks?  I looked up the meaning of the ending because I was curious if I missed something, I like that there is discussion surrounding it. 3/5

The Enchantment:  I liked this better than the first story.  It was truly suspenseful, but the ending was confusing.  I am interested in things with religious undertones and I was trying so hard to put the pieces together.  It wasn't as climatic as it could've been but I was scared of what would come next. 3/5

You'll Find It's Like That All Over:  This story reminded me of The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell and The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe.  I don't know if it's as good as those since it's been a while, but it's similar.  I could tell where this story was going since it was familiar, and I don't think that's a bad thing.  3.5/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement

jazhandz's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.25

Firstly this review is for the version of the novella that was published in a collection with the novella "The Enchantment" and the short story "You'll Find It's Like That All Over." To be frank, I don't think either of those are worth your time and wouldn't recommend either. Nonetheless the content warnings include warnings for all three servings, and the additional notes section will explain what warnings apply where.

"Things Have Gotten Worse..." is half haunting and half boring. Something I noticed throughout the story (throughout all three, honestly) was some incredibly strange pacing. The novella(s), and I would say should, have been drawn out into full novels rather than being stifled by the length. Everything felt underdeveloped and rushed. And yes, the horror aspects were thrilling, but I thought they were underwhelming. The characters were underdrawn and unconvincing. I'll likely keep thinking about some of these ideas for some time.

Also, one thing about "The Enchantment" that drove me nuts (cw for death/suicide):

I recognize it's supposed to be supernatural in nature but how, god, HOW did Milo crucify himself. Once you nail one hand to a cross you cannot nail the other one. That's not how hands work. This legitimately distracted me to the point of not being able to focus on the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Miscarriage and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content and Xenophobia

Things Have Gotten Worse...: animal death/cruelty, body horror, implied suicide/death, sexual content, toxic relationship,

bodily parasites

The Enchantment: suicide, sexual content, miscarriage, injury, unhealthy relationship You'll Find...: xenophobia

boglord's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Child abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility, Vomit, and Abandonment

our_bookish_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.0

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes 

I strongly suggested if you are  squeamish or detest in depth descriptions of animal or human cruelty that you skip this book.

The first story is very disturbing, gory and unsettling. I barely made it through a couple parts due to the graphic nature, but I just couldn't look away. I loved and hated it all the same.
I wasn't a fan of the last 2 though.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

ardentreads_'s review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail