Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

107 reviews

maresuju's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

almostqualified's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Toxic friendship

alexisgarcia's review

dark 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death, and Murder

weatherwax's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.0

I really liked the folklore and imagery of this book, but the plot was, for me, a bit predictable, and the emotions fell a bit flat. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic friendship

noemi_qu's review

dark emotional 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol and Grief

Minor: Suicide attempt, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

wrensreadingroom's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Cursing, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

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

the_books_music_life's review

dark mysterious tense fast-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

0.75

The premise sounded so good, like a really scary Japanese horror story, but for me, it missed the mark entirely. This book is so short and they is a lot of background with the characters that is important to the story itself, but is glossed over due to how short the book is.

I was confused a lot of the time about many, many different things. I disliked every single character, none had any redeeming qualities.

The whole 'horror/ghost story' aspect of the book wasn't even the main focus. That's right, a horror book where the actual ghost story/horror wasn't the focus. It made no sense!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Blood, Gore, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Classism, Excrement, Death, Mental illness, and Violence

Minor: Grief and Suicidal thoughts

booitsnathalie's review

dark 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? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Toxic friendship, and Suicidal thoughts

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