Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

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

104 reviews

sina4books's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Torture, Excrement, and Pregnancy

mrpetej's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

lauriebird's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

2.25

I really had high hopes for a book. First of all, the cover is gorgeous! Congratulations to the artist because that cover really drew me in and kept me going.

I love to read queer literature even if the characters are morally grey or ambiguous. However, I feel there is something… “icky” about the way the author wrote about the woman that I feel falls into the evil lesbian trope. I found that their motivations within the story were not often clear. I feel like it it was written to shock but not provoke the reader to look into the characters. Perhaps he wrote the shock value to distract from what little personality he gave both women? I think this story is so underwhelming for what could have been a truly remarkable premise. Neither woman has a unique voice and honestly, they sound like they’re writing in an into to philosophy course. S.Penkevich said it right when they mentioned that this could’ve been a story that examined class and power dynamics and could’ve given a deeper look into Agnes’ vulnerabilities. 

I think it’s also important to note in this story that both women are equally manipulative and manipulated. Agnes and Zoe both use love bombing and silence as punishment. However, Agnes repeatedly reaches out to Zoe (in a way that feels very “lesbians have mommy issues” but I digress) and begs for love while Zoe’s affection is contingent on Agnes completing her tasks. Once Agnes does and becomes obsessed with the relationship between the two of them, Zoe becomes disinterested which leaves Agnes presumably devastated. However, to get to this conclusion, the story meanders through nothingness. I set this book down a few times; not because I was disturbed but because I was incredibly bored.

As I stated, this could’ve been a great book! This book has so much potential. It is disturbing to a point but the prose was just too distracting for me. I feel like if the author gave himself more time to truly develop a voice and personality for both women and delve further into the manipulation and desires for both women, this could’ve been an amazing novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Violence and Abandonment

Minor: Grief, Gaslighting, and Classism

automatic_rae's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

Dark & twisted. Creative & thought-provoking. Gripping & gruesome.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicide, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abandonment

rmjennsch's review against another edition

dark tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, and Sexual content

maggieoc_x's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Gore and Murder

Minor: Homophobia, Miscarriage, Vomit, and Pregnancy

porshainielsen's review against another edition

dark

• Strong character development? No

2.5

 The namesake of this short story collection was my least favorite story. That particular story felt poorly written, and while I understand it is a short story, there was absolutely no build-up. The other stories were a little better, but the animal violence was unnecessary. I did like that there was some interconnectedness between the stories, but as a whole, this was underwhelming. I guess that is what happens when "extreme" horror goes viral on Tik Tok.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Suicide

cupofcauliflower's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

things have gotten worse sincr we last spoke was a 5/5 for me, loved the format, body horror was very intense. 

the enchantment was alright, didn't love it, just wasnt something i was intently invested in but i must admit i was hooked. 

youll find its like that all over was also alright, just didnt relate very much at all but it worked with tension very well. 

if i only read things have gotten worse i wouldve marked this 5 stars, but i didnt connect or feel as invested in the other 2. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Miscarriage, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Grief, and Toxic friendship

alexdefel513's review against another edition

fast-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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Self harm, and Suicide

tropicalpanda's review against another edition

Too gory and disturbing, I barely made it through the salamander murder and I had to stop when she began describing crucifying a baby in excruciating detail

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail