Reviews tagging 'Blood'

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

200 reviews

bre_'s review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Self harm, Death, Gore, Suicide attempt, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death and Alcoholism

Minor: Sexual assault, Abortion, and Vomit

jully_bean's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.75

The book started out a little bit slow in the early parts while introducing the characters and setting the scene. But once things started getting more tense, it was hard to put down! Such a unique story!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Blood, Gore, Emotional abuse, Death, Murder, and Medical content

Moderate: Physical abuse, Animal death, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual assault and Incest

catbaker07's review

dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Blood, Incest, Animal death, Vomit, Death, and Abortion

strawbrifieldsforever's review

adventurous challenging dark funny tense 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, and Blood

Minor: Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Vomit, and Incest

henrygravesprince's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective tense 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? Yes

4.75

This is a slasher that embodies just how effective the genre in horror literature can be. It’s exceptionally clever and easy to get sucked into. I’ve read a couple of Stephen Graham Jones’s books before, and I consistently rate his work highly. This one combines the things I enjoyed about the other two books of his I’ve read: the focus on cycles of trauma with underscores of political commentary in The Only Good Indians (5 stars), and the genre-savvy campy nature of The Last Final Girl (4 stars). While I think this is my favorite of Jones’s backlog so far, I think the execution on The Only Good Indians was just a bit more polished, and so I’m giving this a 4.75 and anticipating going higher with the next two installments.

I 100% recommend this to people who like slashers for both the gore/horrorfest and the sociological and psychological undertones and people who love horror media because it gives them control over the circumstances of their fear. The strongest aspect of this book is the perfect meeting of social commentary to a brutal slasher. The weakest is that I think the last chapter could be paced up quicker than it is to hold the momentum the last quarter picked up on a little more. I’m glad I finally gave this book a go after years of wanting to but not finding the time. If you can stomach gory writing and you’ve considered reading this book but haven’t yet, now is the perfect time to jump in before the final book in the trilogy comes out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Blood, Child abuse, Death, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Self harm

Discussion of child sexual abuse; Portrayal of gentrification

danimacuk's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Animal death, Gore, Death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Moderate: Incest, Child death, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, and Child abuse

Minor: Vomit, Racism, Rape, and Pedophilia

tesshersh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.5

I’m not sure if I extra enjoyed this book because I’ve read so many BAD books lately, or if it really IS that good, so take this with a grain of salt. But WOW. One of my only gripes is that it touches on some themes that I’m not 100% sure I love being talked abt from a teenage girl’s perspective written by a male author, but I think it was respectfully done. 
Spoiler for my other complaint:

I wish that the conclusion/reveal of the killer DIDN’T have a supernatural element. I think the author’s point of regarding real life not being like a horror/slasher movie, about things like gentrification & colonization being a type of horror and violence of their own, was backtracked a bit by letting jade’s theory of a supernatural element be true at the end.

Also: cannot recommend the audio book enough, cara gee was amazing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Abortion, Colonisation, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Death, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Suicide, Murder, Pedophilia, Racism, Child death, Incest, and Gore

HUGE trigger warnings - not just in the gore/violence you would associate with a thriller but for other content as well, please check content warnings before reading

melchncookies's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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

3.75

If this hadn’t turned supernatural,

it would have been at least a 4 star book, if not higher. The setup for the killer was amazing and I didn’t guess who it was.

I didn’t love that the little girl ended up coming back.

I wish that could have just been Jade’s imagination. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Suicide, and Self harm

Minor: Child abuse and Fire/Fire injury

lancemama's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Bullying, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Rape, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Animal death

davidvd's review

adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Abortion, Child abuse, Violence, and Sexual assault

Minor: Colonisation and Death of parent