Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The Dead Take the A Train by Richard Kadrey, Cassandra Khaw

32 reviews

thiscryptidreads's review

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

3.75

 📖 - 393 pages
Genre: occult horror 
POV: Single
Read via the Libby app

This was a vivid gory acid trip. Constantine meets American Gods vibes with a dash of Angels Wolf, Ram, and Hart. 

I loved the characters they all had so much depth you wanted to know more about them with each page turn, you're endeared and invested with Julie and her friends until the end and their mysterious, magical and macabre world.

 The book is a bit stuffy to read at times. Using some verbiage, I felt you might need a dictionary or Google search to make sure you were following along right. There were so many layers to the story, and each chapter Ping ponged you somewhere else so quickly it was occasionally hard to follow, so much so that the ending felt rushed and a bit cliffhangery. I was left needing more. (Hopefully a book 2 happens)

The slow burn added a nice tension that really drove the characters all the way to the end despite their being no actual romance most of the time. You want to cheer for them. 

Tyler can eat a bag of dicks. (No I won't explain further)
 You can find more of my reviews on all social platforms under the username ThisCryptidReads. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Body horror

Moderate: Death, Self harm, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Addiction, Torture, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, and Vomit

autumnrevisited's review

adventurous dark funny hopeful medium-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? Yes

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Drug abuse, Addiction, Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Alcohol, Blood, Death of parent, Body horror, Cannibalism, Classism, and Death

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Domestic abuse

odunayo_y's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.75

Damn the horror tag was no joke lmao. This was gorier and more body horror than i was expecting. I loved it though(the edgelord in me will never die it seems).

The prose/writing was great! Unless when it wasn’t. I guess this is just what happens when two authors write a book. There were bits that felt disjointed and i felt didn’t really add anything to the overall story nor where they character building either. Also there was the occasional contradiction in characterisation. 
But all those i could forgive, what majorly tanked my enjoyment was the romance…it was written kinda badly these women were 30 yet they were acting all blushy and awkward like teens in a badly written fanfic 💀 and i really couldn’t buy that they were that totally 100% head over heels in love with each other. It would technically be instalove if not for the fact that Sarah and Julie had known each other for years prior to the story. I still ride hard for my sapphics and they were cute together but their romance could’ve been written better.

Now enough whinging! The magic oh the Magic it was glorious! Gross and Erdrich and beautiful. Julie was a fvck up but i felt for her like a drowned stinky rat, kinda gross but a little cute too. 

I’m still extremely pissed that Tyler didn’t die by the end what a weasly backstabbing bitch man. Imo he had more plot armour than the actual protagonist 😭. I know he’s obviously being set up as the main villain for the next book but damn hate him so much, especially for what what he did to my queens Annabeth & Clarice 😞 

Also loved the Barghest twins, big buff funky eldritch abomination werewolf-thing ladies mwah.

All in all pretty darn good book and highly recommend if you can tolerate the gore(it gets really nasty God damn) and won’t be bothered by jarring writing shifts. 

Bonus: No Sexual Assault! The worst in terms of sex stuff is a sleazy albeit consensual off page sexual encounter between two adults.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Body horror, Death, Murder, Vomit, Self harm, Addiction, and Cursing

Moderate: Alcohol, Classism, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Stalking, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcoholism, and Addiction

Minor: Sexual content

mmuutthh's review

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

5.0

This is a fun, brisk read that is my introduction to both of these authors. I would be happy to pick up something by either individually to see if some of the things I didn't really latch on to were general interests of both authors or elevated more by one than the other. That tone is one of those "everybody sounds the same and says 'fuck' a lot, does drugs, and is way cooler than you," which is fine, but I kind of feel like I grew out of that after reading too much Warren Ellis. To each their own. 

I loved the horror elements and some of it worked good twists on those tried and true cosmic beings from beyond tropes. 

I want a book all about St. Joan! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Self harm, Violence, Death, Cursing, Gore, Body horror, Suicide, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Murder, Gun violence, and Blood

soloros's review

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Great book. Some of the dialogue is a little ham fisted but overall a fun read. If you’re squeamish, be prepared to skip some pretty detailed and graphic descriptions of gore and violence to organs. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Gore, Violence, and Drug abuse

vicious's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Gore, Death, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Suicide, Drug abuse, and Domestic abuse

garyosu's review against another edition

dark funny 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? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Alcoholism, Blood, Drug abuse, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Murder, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Vomit, Suicide, Violence, and Torture

embee007's review

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

“Fiction is the lens through which humanity makes sense of the mystical.”

Well, this was...interesting. Jarring POV changes at times, especially the random throwaway POV characters. I've read Kadry before, but I haven't read Khaw yet, but it seemed like I could tell when it changed from one author to another (maybe it was just the severe changes in POV tho).

I did enjoy it overall, but it was just so jarring at times that it took me out of the book & I would take a (several hours long) break & have to force myself to come back.

“Someone bring me pants,” she demanded grandly. “I’m going to kill a motherfucker.”

I do not suggest this book for anyone whom is not okay with body horror, lots of gore, viscera, tentacles, & random eyeballs in places they do not belong. Murder is absolutely negotiable/implied. The characters range from loveably morally grey to "why are they not dead yet?!" To you actively cheer for their death. This is not a sweet & cozy book.

Something I did not understand:

it's stated the magic system is basically that rich people have magic. Harvard teaches a class on magic, but it's secret. Wall Street runs on magic... But our MC is & always has been poor, & it's never explained how she got her magic?

"The universe spins. Worlds whirl in the great void. Most of all, things change."

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, and Torture

pm_me_book_recs's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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? Yes

3.5

 I really liked the conceit, but some of the writing took me out of the story. I don't know if it was one of the authors, or if it was supposed to be part of a character, but SOMEONE kept using super obscure words without any leads to their meanings. I'm the weird kid that read the thesaurus for fun, and there multiple times it was necessary for me to drop the book and research what the heck was trying to be conveyed. It also made the character feel very edgy in an already bluntly "I'm a badass GIRL who does inappropriate BOY stuff, like swear and do drugs. YEAH."

Anyways... aside from that, the story is a really cool concept! I enjoyed the urban aspect and the corporate greed analogy, the magic system, tying things together with deep seated trauma, the come-uppance, and the demons felt so creepy and insidious! I want to add that there is excessive substance abuse and alcoholism, which I did not mind because of the context with trauma and depression (been there), but some of the dialogue surrounding it was borderline edge-lordy...

Super LGBTQ friendly, surprisingly heartwarming in that department considering the horror/thriller focus. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Murder, Torture, Death, Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Drug abuse, Addiction, Blood, Medical content, Alcohol, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

gabertron's review

adventurous dark funny 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? Yes

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug abuse, Sexual content, and Violence