Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Vértestvérek by Ania Ahlborn

87 reviews

emmamee11'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? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Violence, Gore, Religious bigotry, Torture, Physical abuse, Animal death, Sexism, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Gun violence, Incest, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Cannibalism, Vomit, and Religious bigotry

clamb21's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Child abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Violence, Sexual assault, Child death, Death, Incest, Physical abuse, Murder, Rape, and Body horror

aleen_elizabeth's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Stalking, Gore, Body shaming, Cancer, Incest, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Child death, Death, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cannibalism, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Slavery, Vomit, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Sexual harassment, and Violence

lethridge's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Murder

Minor: Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Death, Child abuse, Animal death, Cannibalism, and Child death

erinmg's review against another edition

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Body horror, Rape, Blood, Sexual violence, and Murder

Moderate: Cannibalism, Child abuse, and Child death

Minor: Misogyny, Violence, Kidnapping, and Pedophilia

mckenley14's review against another edition

dark tense

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cannibalism, and Child abuse

xdawnsii'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? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Brother felt like you combined the movies Wrong Turn and House of a Thousand Corpses. The Morrows were deeply unsettling. This story was disturbing, uncomfortable, and so heart-breaking. As a fan of horror and darker themes, I found myself shocked by how dark this book was several times throughout the story. 

While reading, it felt like the beginning had been a bit slow to start. After finishing to book, I appreciate the time the author took to give us a deeper look into the characters and how they got to the events of the book. I would highly recommend this book! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Child death, Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Grief, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, and Sexual assault

Minor: Kidnapping, Rape, and Abandonment

kirahaycock21's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This book was heartbreaking. I didn’t like the ending, but mostly because it just didn’t wrap up nicely. It was also a little slow until the ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Body horror, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Violence, Child death, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, and Blood

Moderate: Kidnapping, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Torture, and Cannibalism

Minor: Torture, Abandonment, and Sexual violence

ryankaybee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Vomit, Rape, Sexism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Body horror, Torture, Violence, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Homophobia, Cannibalism, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Grief, Incest, and Injury/Injury detail

the_coycaterpillar_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

 Brother has ruined me for other horror novels. This was the piece de resistance of extreme. Darker than a motherfucking black hole.

To say I have a soft spot for horror stories that push against the boundaries of what is deemed acceptable in modern literature is an understatement. For this reason, I have been getting into extreme horror lately in a big way. It’s the kind of story that ends up like a sticky spiderweb – you turn and get trapped further, the spider a never-ending threat that pushes further on the edge of your peripheral vision. It stalks you slowly, ramping up the fear and the anticipation. That is exactly how I see extreme horror.

Brother is one such book that evoked all the emotions from me. As soon as I finished the book, I had considered throwing it across the room due to how it was left. I felt angry, shocked, annoyed, I felt it all. I will always rate a book 5 stars that is able to exude that kind of emotion from me as a reader. I felt destroyed. I was walking around the house aimlessly, not knowing what to do next. I knew I couldn’t have started another book, but I didn’t know what to do either. I read this as a buddy read with anna_reads_horror on tik Tok and I could barely wait for her to finish so we could talk about it. I felt unhinged!

So, Brother…out in the West Virginia sticks live the Morrow family. They are a family with secrets. Bloody ones. Micheal wants to break free of their bloody secrets. He isn’t like the rest. Maybe because he isn’t. The Morrow family took Micheal as a three-year-old boy and brought him up like their own. They taught him to hunt and prepare a carcass for butchering. The things that that prepared him for doing was diabolical.

One thing this book does incredibly well is the examination of Nurture vs. nature. Is a killer made or born? In Brother’s case it is certainly nurtured into one. Micheal was only a baby when he was taken from his family. He is surrounded by bloodlust predominately from his mother and his brother Reb.

Now, Reb is a different beast entirely. He is sadistic, calculated and hates his adoptive brother Micheal. He does things to Micheal that only a psychopath would be capable of. Adding someone of my comments during the buddy read to show just how this made me feel at different points –

‘Momma liked her girls young’ urgh, I’ve a really bad feeling 13%

‘Why do you think your family left you outside. They don’t want you no more’ 14%

‘OMG just imagine if that firework had gone off in his hands. 30%

‘He yearned to touch her, but the idea of doing it while she was breathing scared him.’ URGH 43%

‘a party aint a party without a splash of red’ OH NO 77% 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Animal death, Blood, and Death