Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

You've Lost a Lot of Blood by Eric LaRocca

20 reviews

kairipaopu12's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Car accident, Death, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Alcohol and Cursing

Minor: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

rosage's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

what did i just read?! this was the most incredible horror novel i’ve ever read! i want to read any and everything by eric larocca now. this book was phenomenal! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Confinement, Death, Grief, Murder, Stalking, Torture, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death of parent, Medical content, Child death, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Blood, Car accident, Death, and Kidnapping

elwirax's review against another edition

dark fast-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

2.5

"I’d drown you in dark water if you weren’t so beautiful."

I read Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke last year and didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped. Unfortunately, I felt more or less the same about  You've Lost a Lot of Blood

There was nothing really terrifying about it (a part from the way that sex scene was written). The atmosphere and vibes were great though. I liked the story within a story more than that of Martyr and Ambrose, had that been the main plot I would've enjoyed this novella more. 

I love LaRocca's strange concepts and their writing is amazing at its best, but the executions don't really do anything for me. The characters are rarely likeable which isn't the issue rather that I'm not invested in anything that happens to them. In this novella there doesn't seem to be a distinct plot though an an attempt at explaining the disjointed nature is provided at the end. I can't say that by the end I really understood the point ( there's a line about that somewhere in the book but I need there to be a purpose as an incentive to stay invested in a story). 

Overall, I think that LaRocca might not be the author for me which is fine. I'm glad I gave their books a proper go but I'll most likely not read anything else they put out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Death of parent, Body horror, and Gore

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Alcohol

thereaderfriend's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.0

Okay I'm confused I think in a good way. I've not ever read something like this so I think that's why my review is limited. But I still want to reread it and read more of the authors works. Definitely was a super creepy mind fuck of a read. I preferred the story within the story more than the ambrose and martyr section and didn't really care for the poems either but I think that's bc I didn't see all the connections this time around. Not sure if I recommend bc I literally only understand a few things lol 😅 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Minor: Cancer, Alcohol, and Animal cruelty

stephanieluxton's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book. What's it about? I don't even know. It's kind of a dialogue between two men who are dating. One is a serial killer. It switches back and forth between that and a novella written by the serial killer in which we follow the story of a video game designer and her little brother who move to a rich/well-known game developers estate because she was hired to work on one of his new games. There's a lot of strangeness surrounding the designer and his estate. Weird stuff happens. Best to go into it not really knowing anything.

Things I liked:

• This book is very eloquently written. I literally enjoyed the words used. It was poetic.
• It felt like reading two books in one and neither part was boring. It did this incredibly well despite not being a lot book itself.
• There was a lot of ambiguity but it seriously worked in this book. No information dumping!
• I was surprised. Little hints are dropped throughout the book that certain things were happening and it really comes full circle (mostly in the novella portion).
• I found a lot of the characters to be likeable and colourful.

Things I Didn't Like:

• That it ended. I wanted to know more!! Although I suspect knowing too much would take some of the magic and the mystery away from this book. This might be my favourite book of the year.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Child death, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual content and Alcohol

Body Horror:

After playing the video game, characters become part machine with oil, gears, and wires beneath their skin.

There's obviously some blood. Child Death/Death:

Lots of characters die. It hard to say if a child really dies, or if his soul is trapped inside the video game and he can be saved. Much ambiguity.

Murder/Toxic Relationship:

One of our main characters is a serial killer and wants to kill his boyfriend.

Some alcohol use. Sexual Content: Most of this is talked about rather than witnessed.

There is one lesbian sex scene. Not too graphic.

thebookishlibra_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Torture

Moderate: Vomit, Murder, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Child death

Minor: Alcohol

jaedia's review against another edition

challenging dark tense

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Body horror, Death, Gore, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Cancer, Car accident, Child death, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, and Death of parent

mikimachtchaos's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Incredible. I've never read anything  like this  ever before. I was unable to stop reading or to take my mind off the book. It's depicted in such an interesting way, truly a masterpiece

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Toxic relationship, Violence, Physical abuse, Gore, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Cancer, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, and Terminal illness

Minor: War, Vomit, Alcohol, and Self harm

beesbookss's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Abandonment, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Child death, Car accident, Alcohol, and Blood

howlinglibraries's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

 

I didn't kill him because I wanted to. That would have been too easy.

When Eric posted a surprise announcement for this novella's release earlier this week, I was absolutely beside myself. There are some authors in this world whose work I enjoy so deeply and am held so captive by, that each and every new piece of fiction feels like something I need to get my hands on right away. I ordered a copy within mere seconds of seeing the announcement, but was lucky enough to be allowed to read the ebook while I waited for the shipment, and I'm so grateful for that, because I think I would have been counting down the hours and days until it arrived!

Now that I've experienced this bizarre little treat, I don't even know how to possibly describe You've Lost a Lot of Blood without spoiling it. There's a very good reason the synopsis for this story is so brief and vague: you need to go into it without knowing what to expect. In fact, even if I did tell you what to expect, spoilers and guts and all, I'm still not sure anyone could be fully prepared for the sheer unraveling chaos within these pages.

All I know is that, yet again, I've been reminded of why Eric's books hold such a special place in my heart. Dark and entrancing, their works always leave me reeling to process what I've just read in the best possible "what the hell just happened" way, and as always, I'll be counting down to their next release.

✨ Representation: multiple queer characters 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Murder, Death, Child death, and Body horror

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Death of parent, Grief, Alcohol, Cancer, and Pedophilia