Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

169 reviews

chersonese's review

dark funny 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? It's complicated

4.25

Loved the characters, especially Jade, they're all so well-written and impact the story and Jade herself throughout.

The ending though not really a twist did feel like it fell a bit flat, and although I loved the end chapter and the imagery it invoked, it felt tacked on. The book already had a solid end before the forest fire, so it seemed strange to add this in last minute. Felt like SGJ either had to trim this to fit or added it on late when he realised it was a trope he hadn't touched on yet.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Suicide attempt, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Body horror, and Gore

Moderate: Gun violence and Animal death

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Child abuse, and Adult/minor relationship

saint_eleanor's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

I love stephen graham jones!! Hit it out the park again with this one, with a character so incredibly delusional you can’t help but hate her at first, until you realize how perfectly he has written her to deliver us into the story. This one is blood and guts and laughs and some cries for sure, and i feel like Jones always somehow reaches that extra level of writing where he can grab onto something so abstract in his character’s thinking or etc and pull it into the pages, idk how to explain it but just read it lol (.5 stars off bc we were denied some answers)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Torture, Death, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Rape

moonlitemuseum's review

adventurous challenging dark funny reflective sad 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

Hey man I love Scream too

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Blood, Child abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Self harm, Animal death, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, and Vomit

incestuous father-child rape is alluded to as part of the protagonist's history

victoriarose12's review

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicide, Self harm, Body horror, and Animal death

Minor: Rape and Incest

averagesparrow's review

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Animal death, Cursing, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Incest, Rape, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Alcoholism and Alcohol

apestforwrens's review

adventurous 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

SGJ is an incredible writer and the way he presents Jade really lets the reader ride along with her. I literally stayed up all night to finish this book because I could NOT put it down. It is a horror book, so there is a lot of genre-typical heavy content, but it did not feel gratuitous to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Blood, Body horror, Violence, Gore, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Grief, Animal death, Colonisation, Pedophilia, Medical content, Gaslighting, Racism, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Classism, Mental illness, Alcoholism, and Stalking

Minor: Rape, Cultural appropriation, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Suicidal thoughts

kyra_joy's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense 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

5.0

Kept me guessing up until the last minute! I can now see why everyone speak so highly of his writing and this book. Jade is wonderfully complex character and telling her story through slashers is beautiful and chilling! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, and Blood

lottieingham's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Vomit, Animal death, Death, Gore, Self harm, Death of parent, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Rape, and Incest

chloseencounter's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-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

4.0

An ode to the slasher, this novel really stole my heart pretty quickly. I enjoyed the MC (and maybe related to her a little too much…) The reason this isn’t a 4⭐️ for me is that the first 100 pages and last 100 pages where so fun but in between it was rather dense. As someone who has loved the slasher genre ever since Scream graced my eyeholes for the first time, I really enjoyed exploring the mind of the MC and all the slasher input she had on the genre, but I think this could be a harder read for most general audiences. The second book in the trilogy comes out this month and I’ll be excited to see how the story continues. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Rape, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Confinement, Abortion, Blood, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Self harm, Violence, Vomit, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Misogyny

sagebrush_'s review

dark mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

It’s a slow read until about 60% where all hell breaks loose.

I’m not that knowledgeable about slashers so the “Slasher 101” chapters were necessary for me to understand the full story. Those chapters could easily be tedious for people who already are familiar with the genre though. 

I’m not very squeamish but there were a few descriptions of teeth and jaws that had me wincing. Gore should be a given but I did see some negative reviews only because the descriptions were gross 😂

Pretty disappointed in the ending where it is revealed

that this is a supernatural slasher. Don’t really care about those personally.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Moderate: Self harm, Animal death, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Child abuse and Sexual assault