Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Das Dorf der toten Seelen by Camilla Sten

9 reviews

nnnghhh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Grief, Suicide attempt, Blood, Body horror, Death, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

hunkydory's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Death, Murder, Religious bigotry, and Violence

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book grabbed me from the beginning and didn’t let me go! I liked the premise and found the book unsettling. The writing was atmospheric and eerie, with suspense slowly building throughout the book. I’m always a fan of stories about unsolved mysteries and abandoned towns!

As always, I love switching POVs and timelines. The alternating timelines added to the suspense of the story. We see the present day as filmmakers go to the old mining town to make a documentary about the murder of a woman and disappearance of nearly 900 residents from the 1950s. The other timeline takes place during 1959, revealing the events that led up to the murder and disappearance.

I also liked the characters. They were complex and well developed, even the supporting characters! The plot twists usually caught me off guard and a couple I was able to guess. But the ones I guessed were the only logical solution as things became revealed so I wouldn’t call them predictable or cliche. 

There are one or two things that were left open ended and wish would’ve been addressed more. But I can’t say more without spoiling it 😅

The only other thing I didn’t like was the way mental illness is handled; it wasn’t great and was fairly problematic. The author uses the character’s misunderstanding of mental illness as a plot device. I don’t want to go more into it and give away any spoilers but there were several statements that just didn’t sit well for me. This made me drop a star from the overall rating.

It’s a perfect spooky season read given the concept and suspense. I’d recommend if you enjoy ghost stories or unsolved mysteries! If you choose to pick this one up, be aware of the use of mental illness and the other trigger warnings (there’s a lot). 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Body horror, and Gore

Minor: Alcoholism and Miscarriage

dylpickles's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Brain washing

niamhdee's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicide attempt, and Murder

spacecadelliot's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Violence

Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Genocide, Medical content, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt

mooniemushi's review against another edition

sad 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

1.0

this is the worst book ever lmao 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Abandonment, Body horror, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Violence, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Racism, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, and Mental illness

archaicrobin's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

1.0

I have a real pet peeve about publishers marketing books incorrectly. This novel was described as a mix of Blair Witch and Midsommar and all I can say is how? There was nothing paranormal about this book at all, nothing creepy or eerie, it’s just another mediocre “crazy” cult book. I figured out the twist less than an hour into the audiobook, so the whole reading experience was me hoping I was wrong because the “twist” is dumb.  I was so excited to read this one, and despite some disappointing reviews I decided to still give it a try, I shouldn’t have. 

Alice is attached to this old village where her grandmother grew up. Alice heard all these stories and is enthralled with figuring out what happened to everyone in the village. Who stoned this lady to death? Where did everyone go? Why? To answer these questions Alice gathers a film crew made of friends and acquaintances with limited experience to travel to this town and film a documentary trying to figure out what happened. 

Weird but mundane things start happening, none of the characters are like able or even  seem like actual people. Alice is also absolutely the worst,  no redeeming qualities at all in my opinion. As the gang bumbles along they start to realize they might not be alone.  The story jumps back and forth between Now and Then. You see how this town starts to turn into a cult, kind of. It’s more like everyone wakes up one day and decides to just be psychos. The author tries to create a scenario where this whole cult thing makes sense, but it’s just too weak. “They all lost their jobs and this new hot guy says he’ll be their hot priest so now they’re a cult” isn’t really a good set up for me…

I did not enjoy this, I was disappointed and just kinda irritated honestly. Positives? The audiobook was great, very well done and the writing was also great. It was just everything else that sucked. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Death, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Violence

literarilythrilling's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Ableism, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual violence, and Body horror

Minor: Alcoholism