Reviews tagging 'Death'

Out of Salem by Hal Schrieve

7 reviews

softgalaxy's review

dark 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? No

2.0

This book had a great strong start, especially with the different POVS. But after a while, it lost me.

I don’t really know what this book was about? I only finished it because I thought there might be some meaning to it, but it just ended like, bam!

What was the point of this book? I really don’t know. To explore bodily autonomy through fantasy racism and xenophobia? There were no explanations to how Z ended up being undead. There was no conclusion or explanation to Aysel’s powers towards the end. 

Was it the power of friendship? Maybe? Was it to do with marginalised communities coming together? Kind of? If it was to do with community, it really didn’t make its point. 

Whenever a plot started, it seemed to fizzle away. It never got resolved. What happened to rest of the werewolves? What about Mrs Dunnigan? What about Mr Weber? Some weird choices. 

The characters also suddenly changed in certain sections. Like Tommy, he suddenly got involved. There was a moment where Z gets angry at Aysel for having a home? Like that felt out of character. 

This book just left me confused and unsatisfied.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Violence, Death of parent, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Torture, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Vomit, Racism, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Fatphobia, Child death, Body horror, and Deadnaming

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Murder

directorpurry's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Bullying, Police brutality, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Medical content, Deadnaming, and Body horror

Moderate: Fatphobia, Death of parent, Body shaming, Car accident, Child death, and Medical trauma

Minor: Domestic abuse

dylanlouise's review

adventurous dark 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

3.25

This book wasn't bad, and was a really cool October read. It had me feeling fired up for the characters, and I thought the found family and protectiveness was really cute. Having said that, the body gore got a bit much for me sometimes, and I still question the decision to make all queer characters monsters, even if it is to prove a point about society. Allegories and YA have been crossing over a lot lately (think Ace of Spades) and it's not my favorite. Not because I don't think they carry important messages, but it catches me off guard and especially here, with the demonization of queer people in society, feels almost counterproductive. I don't know, maybe that's a bad take, but that was my main gripe with this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Homophobia, Grief, Bullying, Child death, Death, and Gore

sappho's review

Writing style was incredibly dry and difficult to get into. I would've liked it more if maybe only the zombie pov character was dry and the werewolf's was vivid and poetic? I think that could've been an interesting artistic choice! But no it was just dry and unpleasant.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Death

jed_undead's review

dark emotional hopeful slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gun violence, Police brutality, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, and Vomit

Minor: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Transphobia

willemke's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Transphobia, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia

lucyf's review

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Grief, and Police brutality

Moderate: Deadnaming and Racism