Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

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

8 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. 

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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

bex47's review

dark mysterious 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

2.25

Yeaahhhh this one didn't really do it for me. It was a fun enough quick read, but none of the stories really stuck with me; I read the book in one sitting and couldn't remember half of the stories by the end. None were completely awful, but none were bringing anything new to the genre, and the collection didn't really feel like the folk horror that it was advertised as. There wasn't nearly enough focus on classic folk elements, and most of the stories felt more like urban legends at best. "Petrified" had some of the focus on nature that I would've liked, had the writing and pacing caused it to be my least favorite. My favorites were probably "It stays with you", "One Lane Bridge", and "Truth or Dare", but even those didn't do anything revolutionary. Unfortunately, a letdown overall, and left me wanting a lot more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Genocide, Murder, Pedophilia, Blood, Colonisation, Alcohol, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Grief

Minor: Toxic friendship, Dementia, and Toxic relationship

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

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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

bgibs122's review

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

There are some real high highs in this collection (“Stay,” “Ghost on the Shore,” “Petrified”), but there’s also like, one too many that didn’t quite sing for me the way I wanted them to. First delve into horror, though, so that’s neat and fun.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Slavery, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Pedophilia

dsarbear's review

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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Child abuse, and Sexual assault

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

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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!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Body horror

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

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Racism, and Slavery

lizgriffinwords's review

dark 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

4.0

Overall, a great anthology with all sorts of spooky, goosebump-raising rural tales and urban legends come to life. Favorites were Ghost on the Shore, One Lane Bridge, and Truth or Dare (which resonated so chillingly. I wish I had a tunnel to drown my ex in).

Content warnings (general): gore, blood, phobias, psychological horror and fear

Additional content warnings specific to “It Stays With You”: suicidal ideation, cancer, sexual abuse, child abuse

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Sexual assault, Gore, and Cancer

Moderate: Toxic relationship

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

This is a HORROR anthology and contains elements deliberately included to thrill and scare the reader. Content warnings specific to “It Stays With You”: suicidal ideation, cancer, sexual abuse, child abuse