Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

95 reviews

spadedigsbutts's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.75

A book that was fun to read for the visual language and descriptions, but was much weaker elsewhere. 

The main conflict is essentially a dysfunctional friend group's issues being exacerbated by a ghost haunting when they were already at the breaking point. Like in most horror media, the cast is pretty unlikable and are mainly defined by their relations to each other, without much nuance independently. This is a normal convention for this scenario in the horror genre, but I wish characters had more arcs or at least more detailed interpersonal relations than "x slept with x once" as the few details we do get just don't have much payoff in the book.
Most characters feel like they start and end the same, which may partially be the point considering it's a super toxic friend group, but it does leave you up in the air when it just comes to an end without much of a huge conclusion. If you read it hoping for some sort of character resolutions, you won't get it.

If you came for a cool japanese influenced haunted house story where interpersonal relationships come to a tragic head, you unfortunately really don't get that. I wish we'd had more time to develop things in the book as while the writing style is lush and detailed, the actual set elements and characters are flimsy. A good read for a bus ride or waiting at a doctor's office, but not much out. I doubt I'll ever reread it.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Blood, Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Alcohol, Chronic illness, Classism, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, and Bullying

Minor: Confinement and Misogyny

davinmotion's review

dark sad 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

2.0

This is the first book I’ve read by this author and if it’s a good example of her I think I’ll avoid reading another. It’s barely coherent; I frequently lost track of what was happening and every time I tried to like a character they would somehow become worse than before. Why the author bothered mentioning the main character knew Japanese and then refrained from explaining anything alludes me. I can’t remember if she even said what a yokai was besides peppering the word on almost every page near the end. This book would have at least had style if the incoherentness was intentional in the lead up to the desperation of a climax, but it starts just as bad as it ends. This would have been better if it was shorter, more polished/tighter, and part of a collection of other short stories. There’s a fun idea in here but I personally think this was not finished to its full potential. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Alcohol

What the absolute fuck of an ending. I think this is worse than saying, “it was a dream,” because it was not only less satisfying but the attempt at giving the characters a little more depth felt like a Hail Mary to make us feel for Phillip, when I think it’s obvious he’s the only one we can feel for since he died in such a brutal and unnecessary way. Skin is an organ you dipshits, just a small sliver of that with your other bullshit ingredients and this could be over! Faiz was all gung-ho about cutting out his heart when he could have cut off his pinky finger and solved x3 offerings at once. No death. Done. I won’t even start with that last offering. I can’t imagine Talia and Faiz staying together after this though. Who would want to stay with someone that murdered their friend to save you?

melissaslibraryy's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Violence

traa's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Cursing, Bullying, Gore, Murder, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Mental illness, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Self harm, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, and Vomit

Minor: Biphobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

aparker89's review

dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.5

If you are looking for a quick, terrifying read- look no further. You can smell the rot of this haunted tale and the adventure you take, although predictable, is not a disappointment. You can't help but feast upon the evil, the ghosts and the terror. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Alcohol, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Excrement, Suicide attempt, Classism, Biphobia, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Self harm, and Abandonment

livlamentloathe's review

dark 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

3.0

I tried to listen to the audiobook a year ago and it didn’t take, so I gave it a second attempt in hardcover, and I sure finished it.

I got 30+ pgs in and was so blank on the situation. it was so caked in metaphor that i struggled to follow conversations. very over-the-top. but then i got high and the metaphors blended together in a way that it worked. By the end I was like oh okay. fuck. wait! The characters were soaked in so much vitriol, I struggled to understand why they were even friends. And their connections were so weighted with unspoken meaning that I really couldn’t follow things. Hard to decipher under all the merit of words.

This wasn’t good per say… I don’t know that I’d recommend the book. But it sure was an immersive high. So the end really hit me hard.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Grief, and Blood

Moderate: Alcohol, Mental illness, Murder, and Death

Minor: Drug use and Excrement

peachani's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Self harm, Blood, and Bullying

Minor: Abandonment, Classism, Alcohol, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

karmapen's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

2.0

This book feels like a promising first draft— desperately in need of some editing. The characters are obnoxious. Too many things are hinted at but not explained, while other things are TOO detailed. I was disappointed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Gore, Cursing, and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Mental illness

pizzaisjesus98's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny informative mysterious fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Cursing, Gore, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Alcohol, Excrement, Vomit, Bullying, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, and Mental illness

serenityfound's review against another edition

dark funny 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

4.5

Jesus fucking Christ. I read a lot of horror and not even House of Leaves fucked me up, so believe me when I say this one is intense. Poetic and fascinating....and intense.

The audiobook is beautifully read. I would recommend either doing it in one go or only stopping at chapter breaks. There is almost a spoken word poetry quality to it that makes it tough to put down at random places & pick back up smoothly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Death, and Excrement