Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

77 reviews

steppenfreak's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious slow-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Death

Moderate: Mental illness, Alcohol, and Drug use

Minor: Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Biphobia

haleysversion's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Classism, Rape, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Hate crime, Child death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, Suicide, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Biphobia, and Outing

redsflicker's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Body horror

Hard to tell when it is “real” for the characters because of hallucinations. Might be a tw for some

seaweedmonsterletmego's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I truly loved this book throughout reading it. The characters weren't all lovable but they were all interesting and I was absorbed into learning what happened to them. And as a queer person I do love that all the characters in this book did fall under that umbrella ( do wish this was more varied, but in a world where this normally doesn’t happen Im happy it did for this book) I found the horror scenes pretty off-putting but not scary which was what I was looking for. I also really enjoyed how the plot and mystery was developed through all of the different perspectives and the timelines. 

A couple of the issue that may be a problem for others is the slow read with a passing problem. It is a long novel and the first half of the book drags out a lot of the present timeline while the last quarter seems to move tif you like. If you like solid endings this book won’t be fire you. A lot of the mystery was left unsolved and in a way  that (in my opinion, dear Reader) was not executed well and made certain storylines seem unnecessary or less important. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Sexual assault and Drug use

There is a single paragraph near then end of the book that involves sexual assault. The woman was able to escape. One of the characters is doing drugs in every scene he is in. All together that’s about 5 pages. Much of the book describe pretty upsetting deaths that include a lot of physical damage like horrible bruising that causes face deformities.

beccaand's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Body horror, Grief, Child death, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Lesbophobia, Vomit, Homophobia, Drug use, and Sexual assault

Minor: Pregnancy, Forced institutionalization, and Fatphobia

clarkg's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Reading this book felt like being under a spell. There were so many delicious threads to unravel that I could not stop picking at it until I reached the end. My two main critiques are that 1.) The present-day narrative is noticeably less captivating than the historical narrative and 2.) I feel like there were missed opportunities to subvert established tropes. That said, it avoided being predictable and had some genuinely unsettling moments. Reader, I loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Sexual content, Body horror, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Suicide, Pregnancy, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Sexual violence, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Cursing

questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This was a re-read because I love this book. It's so weird and I can definitely understand why some people don't get on with it but it includes so many of my favourite elements - a story within a story, fictional famous people, illustrations, footnotes, queer female characters, a enigmatic narrator and a map at the beginning. Some of the intrigue was obviously lost because I knew what was going to happen but I still raced through the second half. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Death

celery's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Car accident, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Animal death, Cursing, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Blood, Suicide, Violence, Body horror, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Stalking, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

pjdotcom's review

dark funny lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Death, Grief, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Sexual assault

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

sauvageloup's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

glad to have read this, because the concept is fresh and interesting, and I need to read more wholly sapphic books. but it tried to do too much and didnt pull it off.
this review on tumblr by flying-elliska has all my thoughts well said:
https://www.tumblr.com/flying-elliska/672822130083233792/and-now-for-sapphic-reads-time-the-sequel-tm?source=share

pros:
- the setting was a fleshed out character in itself and I loved that. the orchard apples, the tower, the orangerie, the beach, etc.
- I liked the story of the original woman, simone, who lived on the land.
- some imagery was definitely creepy and disturbing, especially eating wasps.
- the main characters were interesting, and I liked that they became a poly triad rather than a love triangle.

cons:
- too many characters, too much rambling, too meta, too plotty and just too long.
- I never really got truly creeped out. it just didnt sink deep enough into that and there wasnt enough real danger. the deaths were distant and over fast. didnt feel that sad at any of them.
- more interesting to see more flo and Clara for sure.

a different read for sure and I'm glad I read it, but disappointing and a bit slow too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexism, Death, Infidelity, Cursing, Animal death, Body horror, Grief, Death of parent, Bullying, Child death, Alcohol, Murder, Misogyny, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Body shaming, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Vomit, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, Terminal illness, Classism, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Drug abuse, Addiction, and Suicide