Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron

17 reviews

zombiezami's review against another edition

medium-paced

3.0

I feel like the magic being introduced in the last third wasn't executed well

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Body horror, Confinement, Violence, Death, Child death, Abandonment, Gore, Grief, Cursing, Death of parent, Murder, Blood, Animal death, Child abuse, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Vomit, Sexual content, and Racism

bookb1itch's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

i read this to check its suitability for the 12 yo readers who "want horror". (Short answer - no). BUT I loved it and was completely hooked.  As someone who only came to horror in my 50s, I am fairly unaware of the tropes employed by slasher films, referenced in this book.  So much fun, with a really great twist at the end.  The supernatural element was great too.  Can't wait to put this in the hands of the right 15yo.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Abandonment, Death, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing

vixenreader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

More of a cult folk horror than a slasher, and with a messy narrative structure, a cast of likeable teens with strong friendships, twists that I genuinely did not see coming, and visceral horror and gore made up for the book’s shortcomings.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Abandonment, Animal death, Child death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Stalking, Child abuse, Violence, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Medical content, Cursing, Gun violence, and Torture

Minor: Sexual content, Police brutality, and Racism

There is also police negligence, ritualistic sacrifice, weaponry, horror movie spoilers and bodies hidden in lakes.

arkwen452's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

You're not supposed to die tonight, dated me in the beginning of the book but as Charity is the main narrator of the story, her thoughts and back history, as well as the back history of her friends, all became repetitive and the actions of her friends and those who might be involved ended up spoiling the narrative for me.

 There were several instances where there was this buildup of the stereotypical, crazy woman rambling all things in the woods, and is perceived to be the scary entity in a story. There were the stereotypical of the lake that were ignored, and the disappearance of the other  Staff set on the team that was over look for basically a week. While charity is only 17 years old, she was basically the manager of the entire crew. 

They were points where she seemed like she was capable and in charge and then in the same sentence would express how she was scared, and shaken up.  it did not help to suspend my belief in charities character as being a regular old team, who was in love with her movies and being the "Final Girl" and then turning around to be scared in certain instances.

The whole thing with Kyle secret was clear on. And I didn't help that with charities perception of him in the narrative because it was like the author was trying to oversell , how he was feeling or acting. And it didn't make sense when they got back to the campsite that he was still there and a number of other things. I think that it had a good build up overall until the midpoint, and then things started to just fall altogether.  I was disappointed by the end to learn that it was all connected to some secret society, and although her girlfriend Bezi was not into the hard stuff and was very kindhearted, I did not really care for Charity and her relationship at all. No matter how much charity said her girlfriend was like her anchor, and that they were in so much love at that point .  There were plot holes that bugged me at the end too. Why was Ms. keen there at all if her husband owned the camp site? She was going to show up later anyway. No need to be there. What happened to Charity and Bezi's friend? And why did they leave the camera behind? That was a good thing to use as evidence

Overall, the book is riddled with stereotypes from scary movies; down the line about unwanted kids going missing while away at camp. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Grief, Blood, Body horror, Gun violence, Murder, Animal death, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racism

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Grief, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Sexual content, Stalking, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Blood, Kidnapping, Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, Medical trauma, and Physical abuse

tey_lynn's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense

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

1.75

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Child death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Animal death, Murder, Violence, Child abuse, Death, and Cursing

laird_br0wn3's review against another edition

Not well written, completely woke, very boring.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting and Cursing

Minor: Sexual content

queer_bookwyrm's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

4 ⭐ CW: Violence, blood, gore, violent death, human sacrifice, dead animals, murder, gun violence, cursing

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron is a YA horror, perfect for fans of slasher horror films. Let me be clear, I'm not the biggest horror fan. I'm a bit of a wimp and don't care for the gorey stuff, but I did enjoy this short read with a black lesbian MC and final girl. 

We follow Charity, the final girl of Camp Mirror Lake's full contact terror simulation. Charity's summer job is to be the final girl and oversee the simulation of scaring the pants off the guests that pay to be on the site the movie was filmed at. When a couple of staff go missing (assumed to have just quit), Charity invites her girlfriend, Bezi and their friend Paige to come help with staffing the simulation. Soon Charity and her friends find out something fucky is up with Camp Mirror Lake when some lady comes in swinging a gun around. Things get really weird and really gorey until we get to the end where my response, out loud, was "well shit ". 

This was a great scary book for spooky season! It has all the vibes. It's kind of meta in the way that it's about a terror simulation based on a movie similar to Friday the 13th, but then actual murder starts to happen, but the characters don't have genre blindness. They know about the horror movie rules. I do love how Bayron has subverted the final girl trope, and given it to a queer girl of color. 

As previously stated, I'm not a fan of gore, so I could have gone without that in here, but the suspense did keep me on my toes, and made me blow through this in two days. I was surprised that all the twists were not predictable. The end left me feeling like something else is about to happen, just like a good horror movie makes you feel like it's not quite yet. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Violence, Blood, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Animal death and Cursing

readwithsophsx's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Torture, Gore, Death, Murder, Gun violence, Violence, Physical abuse, Cursing, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

jay_da_bookworm's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, Violence, and Body horror

Moderate: Gore, Animal death, and Cursing