Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Here There Are Monsters by Amelinda Bérubé

8 reviews

tacochelle's review

dark mysterious tense slow-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

2.5

I liked the concept, the setting is well-developed, the handcrafted monsters were a nice touch. And after thinking on it, I kinda like the twist reveal at the end. But the pacing at the start was really slow. It starts with the little sister disappearing, and a frantic search over the next couple of days for her, but this is cut up between flashbacks to their old home, the relationship between the sisters. The info is necessary, but the way is was fed to the reader was not great. Naming the chapters between both sisters, but only having the older sister's perspective was weird, I was expecting a dual narrative. I also didn't like any of the characters. The main girl was very cold towards her family, and while some of it can be explained with teenage angst, it felt too mean when they're in the middle of a crisis. The friends were flat, especially when the mc starts driving them away, they just become stereotypical mean kids. The little sister doesn't get much sympathy from me, either. As a weird outcast teen, I struggled to relate to this lonely girl when she comes off as selfish and manipulative from page one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, and Car accident

Minor: Homophobia

brookey8888's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I mean this was fine. It was kind of interesting and creepy, but nothing happened I felt like for like 150 pages. Also nothing really gets explained. I also did not like the main character and the ending of this. I appreciated that the author went there, but I just personally didn’t love that. Honestly I would probably skip this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Physical abuse, Grief, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Bullying

kat_rowlen's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

The story draws you in from the very beginning but is definitely slow which I feel like is true for most horror novels. It could’ve been about 50-100 pages shorter, but when it gets to the thick of the plot it’s good! Definitely a creepy read. The ending left a little to be desired. I’d still recommend this book however especially around Halloween!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, and Medical content

sarah984's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.0

I was a little disappointed in this book because I loved The Dark Beneath the Ice so I had really high expectations. I thought Skye was a great character and some of the scares and conflict worked really well. However the sister Deirdre felt a bit like a caricature and the relationship between the sisters didn't feel strong enough considering what was going on. The story also dragged a bit in the middle, but the ending was great.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Child death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Violence

Minor: Ableism, Cursing, Homophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Stalking

abomine's review

dark slow-paced

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

This is a dark, bleak, angry book, full of characters who are both wretched and compelling, with all of the ingredients for a grim and horrific story. By the time I got to the end, however, the whole experience felt a bit hollow. What was the point of all this? Most of these characters are pretty much the same as when the book started, and nothing really interesting or fresh was presented about the themes of codependence, bullying, violence, poor parenting, etc. Again, all of the ingredients were there, but not much was done with them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Bullying, and Animal death

Minor: Homophobia

ravenofoctober's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This was a pretty perfect spooky book, exactly what I wanted it to be. I liked that the main focus was on Skye and her complicated relationship with her sister and herself. It also had some twists I didn't expect that kept me guessing at what was going on.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Grief, Violence, and Animal death

penguininabluebox's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Car accident

lauren_elizabeth91's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Grief, and Self harm