Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Leech by Hiron Ennes

74 reviews

gilroi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

 I feel strange for not having more to say about this book, other than it's genuinely some of the best speculative fiction / fantasy / scifi / horror (pick one) I've read in years. It's a smooth, sleek little novel that knows exactly what it's doing and does it. While it's not perfect, I can't think of any flaw great enough to bring up in this review.

I think what I appreciate most about this novel is how much it trusts its readers, how confident it is with what it's trying to do. The twists aren't mindfucks, all reveals are telegraphed well in advance. Every change seems earned, all the dread is meaningful, and in the last sliver of the novel it goes from genre to literary, elegantly straddling both qualifiers to say something interesting, detailed, new, and worthwhile about identity, colonialism, gender, and medicine.

I cannot recommend it enough if you like a story bright with darkness, full of intention, inventive prose, lush worldbuilding, and smart narration. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Medical content, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Pregnancy, Classism, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Child abuse, Racism, Cursing, Death, Grief, Vomit, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Suicide, Colonisation, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Dysphoria, War, Miscarriage, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness

a1exander's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Medical content, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Emotional abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Blood, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Confinement

bleepbloop's review

dark tense slow-paced

4.25

this started slow but I ended up really enjoying it. i liked how you drop right into the world and context is slowly revealed without any exposition. the end dragged though, and took me a while to get into it. very gender fucky 😈

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Body horror

Moderate: Rape

harpybuns's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book answers the question, what if Tamsyn Muir wrote a gothic horror novel set in a post-apocalyptic society as told by a hivemind symbiote? It's gross, it's cryptic, it's heartbreaking. I fucking loved it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Blood, Body horror, Medical content, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Violence, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, and Infertility

Minor: Animal cruelty, Grief, Vomit, and Gun violence

seawarrior's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

Skin-crawingly disturbing and one of the most brilliant novels I've read. Leech begins as gothic science fiction with wildly creative atmosphere and worldbuilding, then seemlessly twists into a horror story about lack of bodily autonomy. It's a scream, a vengeance, and a triumph. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Infidelity, Infertility, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Physical abuse

falloutrocker's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content and Gore

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

aerolich's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Gore, Medical content, Rape, Body horror, Child abuse, Medical trauma, and Miscarriage

vulgarboy's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

Something in this had a grip on my throat that refused to let me go, and I am so glad it didn't. I thought I knew what I was getting into- a weird A Cure For Wellness retelling or something tht drew inspiration from it. Good god was I wrong. There was so much in this that scratched such a specific itch for me, it was incredible. A bizarre post-apocalytic world where humanity is trying to regain their footing, folklore being retold and genuinely being real in this world, humans integrating machinery (that had lead to the apocalypse itself) into their bodies so they can keep living. Characters are so brutally human, their actions so sorrowfully believable. It's not so clogged with medical jargon that I, who has no knowledge of anything medically in-depth, couldn't keep up. I found myself unable to put this down. What a delightfully freaky little book this was. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Gore

Moderate: Sexual assault, Racism, and Animal cruelty

kylieqrada's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

While this did indeed take me 12 years to read (my new normal thanks to pregnancy), it never lost my interest. So fascinating and explores so many important themes. Plus it was just gross enough without feeling gratuitous. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Medical content, and Gore

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, and Physical abuse

unboxedjack's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Medical content, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Sexual assault