Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Rache im Herzen by Xiran Jay Zhao

220 reviews

sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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 is like a Pacific Rim fanfic, but it's really good! 20 minutes after I finished it, I'm still thinking about the ending and I'm really excited for the sequel. 

So in this book there are these monsters that attack the cities that the main character Zetian lives in and around, and these male celebrities with their female concubine partners get in giant animal shaped robots and they fight these monsters. The woman often die after going into battle so there's always a need for female concubine pilots. The main character has a big sister who was sacrificed in battle as a concubine pilot and she wants revenge. Her plan is to get chosen to pilot along side the man responsible for her sister's death. 

Okay, so I really love how the

love triangle was handled, and as a polyamorous person, I'm so happy to see polyam representation in this book. This is the first time I've read a book where the author decides to make a trio out of the "love triangle" and it works perfectly!

I liked how much action there was and I loved how the action scenes played out, it was like I could imagine the scenes in my head while I listened to the audiobook. 

I really loved the twists and turns in the book and I'm so happy that I didn't get anything spoiled for me, because those surprises were worth the wait.

Does Zetian fall under the "evil cripple" trope that is apart of the "magical disabled persons" trope? I don't think so, I don't think Zetian is evil, though I think she's emotionally evolving. I think her character walks the line of the "evil cripple" trope though, so I could easily see how some people think she falls under that trope. 

<blockquote>"Typically, the disabled characters are limited to four types: the “magical cripple,” the “evil cripple,” the “inspirational cripple” and the “redemptive cripple.” An Evil Cripple is a villain or generally morally perturbed character who also suffers a debilitating physical condition, often taking the form of paralysis requiring the use of a wheelchair. The Evil Cripple doubles as the Genius Cripple a lot, providing an intellectual threat to compensate for their physical frailty. Alternatively, the Evil Cripple can become a physical threat if they use futuristic enhancements to overcome their disability, such as replacing missing or defective limbs with super-strong Powered Armor or cybernetic parts."

- tvtropes.org</blockquote>

Overall, this was a really good book and I enjoyed it very much. I'm giving this 
5 out of 5 stars. 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

libbyapp.com

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Child abuse, Child death, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Vomit, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, War, Chronic illness, Cursing, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Death of parent, and Sexual content

matturay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

I don't usually read sci-fi, but this book grabbed me by the throat and wouldn't let go.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Medical content, Child abuse, Child death, Torture, Blood, Cursing, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Ableism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Bullying, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Death of parent, Genocide, Murder, Rape, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Classism, War, Colonisation, Gore, and Sexual harassment

samanthamaejane's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark fast-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Alcoholism, Violence, Death, Murder, and War

caramia's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Holy crap this book just takes off right from the get go! The visceral depictions of bound feet made me feel so uncomfortable, just like I know it’s meant to. The descriptions about Chrysalis were so beautiful, I’m not into yugioh but maybe I should be. The love between them all is just so powerful.

I did call it that they were the terraformers! I also called it that they were humans in the ‘heavenly above’ it sounded like a human ship from another world way too much, especially since they never showed themselves.

I just want my babies to be happy, so hopefully Xiran doesn’t hurt them too much in the next one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Physical abuse, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, and Alcoholism

iane_reads's review

adventurous dark emotional 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? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Physical abuse, Ableism, Death, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Child death, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Gun violence, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Torture, Murder, War, and Hate crime

Moderate: Classism, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Xenophobia, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, and Trafficking

Minor: Biphobia, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Infidelity, Death of parent, Deportation, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, and Medical content

oliviathebookwyrm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, War, Murder, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Body horror, Colonisation, Cursing, Gore, Ableism, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcoholism, Genocide, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Death, Kidnapping, Addiction, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Gun violence

klamsc's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Violence, War, Addiction, Misogyny, Slavery, Body horror, Death, and Sexism

elgrell's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, and Violence

themiscyra_anna's review against another edition

fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, War, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Slavery, Sexism, Rape, Trafficking, Drug abuse, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Classism, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Body shaming

goodevening77's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

It surprised me from the start as I went in for the poly representation and was not expecting traumatising backstory about

feet

. It was one of those books where you think they’re gonna tie of a loose end but another just grows and it was a bit hard to keep up with at the end. However, I loved that for once there was a poly relationship that wasn’t just in my head. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Hate crime, Gaslighting, Sexism, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, and Body horror