Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Gathering Dark: An Anthology of Folk Horror by Tori Bovalino

5 reviews

thewordapothecary's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

2.5

I come from a lineage where folk stories are passed down as the main form of teaching and entertainment. I’m finding it hard to establish how this anthology is considered “folk” and not just scary campfire stories? Is the setting the main part of what classifies them as “folk”? I’m just not sure. I appreciate the queer representation and I think it’s important we see that in our folk stories. I just wasn’t impressed by the majority of these. The cover is dope though. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Drug use, Body horror, Cancer, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Murder, Animal cruelty, Car accident, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Dementia, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

spookily's review

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Violence, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction, Classism, Pedophilia, Grief, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Torture, Vomit, Car accident, Alcoholism, and Bullying

Minor: Cursing, Dementia, Cannibalism, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, and Rape

readingwithkaitlyn's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Grief, Child abuse, Death, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Alcoholism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Bullying and Cancer

Minor: Homophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Racism, Rape, Infidelity, Car accident, Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Fire/Fire injury

Medical issues, abuse, overdose, illness, drowning, missing child, neglect.

ash_hernick's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cancer, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Car accident, Death, Drug use, and Toxic friendship

This book is an anthology, so content warnings vary from story to story. Most only apply to one or two stories, and are shown at varying degrees of severity on a case-by-case basis. The book includes its own content warning in the front cover, mentioning warnings for "implied sexual abuse and trauma, body horror, gore, violence, death of a child/teenager, mentions of drug/substance abuse, terminal illness" but does not detail which stories these warnings apply to specifically.

catapocalypse'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Enjoyable horror collection! Though it is YA, it was one of my most anticipated reads for the year, and I had a good time with it. It's generally pretty solid, though I wonder at what limitations were placed on entries, since a couple felt like they either struggled to fit into the brief length or even stretched a bit with repetition.

My personal favorite stories from the collection were "One-Lane Bridge" by Hannah Whitten, "The Burning One" by Shakira Toussaint, and "Petrified" by Olivia Chadha. I'd be interested in a longer work in the setting of the latter, especially!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Bullying

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Racism, and Slavery