Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

The Bright Lands by John Fram

9 reviews

cameronpetrovich's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual assault, Mass/school shootings, Pedophilia, Murder, Homophobia, Hate crime, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Death, Blood, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Addiction

ramintah's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gore, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Sexual assault, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Murder, Drug abuse, and Gun violence

ashcrash's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad 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

love the classic “horror lurking beneath a tiny town,” and it’s executed v well. characters are flawed but lovable and their relationships are real. think IT mixed with a gritty teen drama. a few too many characters to keep track of for my brain.

the ending was honestly very anticlimatic for me, and the main reason i didn’t give this a higher rating. as compelling as the beginning and middle is, it builds so much that when we actually get the reveal it isn’t as interesting as the fake outs and proposed theories we got earlier, which is sad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Murder, Pedophilia, and Racism

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Addiction, and Toxic friendship

mr_cain's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

This book has so many twists and turns, it's a beautiful maze. It had me sobbing at the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Drug abuse, Violence, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Outing, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Cursing, Sexual content, and Grief

Moderate: Body horror, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Homophobia

Minor: Death of parent, Suicide, Vomit, and Addiction

hawkguyscoffee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.5

Even with it's slow start the story doesn't fail to make the reader intrigued about it's mistery and at it's climax definetly keeps the reader on their toes (my hands were quite literally shaking as I did). What's more, even if you think you won't, you ultimately fall in love with th characters and start cheering for them. The hard topics of racism and homophobia were, to my opinion, well tackled and even tho I have my criticism about certain plot points I do believe this is an important story that succeeds at talking about the kind of homophobia and toxic masculinity young men are subjected to in the world of American Football. What's more, I loved the dynamic between Joel and his brother that very much reminded me of the one I have with my own and I feel I will always carry their journey and characters in my heart (as well as the rest of the cast who, each for their own reasons, managed to make me fall in love with them too). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Homophobia, Murder, and Suicide

Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Violence, Hate crime, Racism, Drug abuse, Body shaming, Outing, Child abuse, Addiction, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, and Pedophilia

katelynprice's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

I was really into the mood, atmosphere, and mystery of this book. The first 70% was really good, and then...it got weird. I realize that there is a social commentary going on here, but I am just not a fan of the execution.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Gore, and Homophobia

lizflynn's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

3.75

That was W I L D. The first 3/4 of the book is a really well-laid, suspenseful crime thriller, and then the last 1/4 twists and turns into some good ol fashioned horror and I loved the ride. This is definitely a step above the rest of the thrillers/crime fiction out there. There are so many well-done layers and secrets and conflicts and wow, I really hated that suffocating town of Bentley.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Addiction

folkmare's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

There are a lot of mixed reviews on this book and I think the reason is this: if you're not queer, this book isn't for you, and it doesn't care. That doesn't mean you CAN'T enjoy this book if you're not queer, it just means that it's not going to apologize and hold your hand. Additonally, if you aren't queer AND grew up in a small/medium town where high school football reigns supreme, you quite literally might just not get it.

This book is ultimately about internalized homophobia, toxic masculinity, and small town secrets closing the walls in around you. I won't spoil anything but I saw a review that called the supernatural elements a "twist" that happened 3/4ths of the way through, but I gotta say that that person just wasn't paying attention. There is spooky shit happening from chapter one, and it's not even that subtle.

I don't know. I really loved this. I thought the crime/thriller mystery elements were really well balanced with the horror-elements and the world building. I found the characters compelling even if they're not "likeable," and I couldn't stop reading it.

Note: I'm adding content warnings but the warnings themselves might spoil the book somewhat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Homophobia

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Mass/school shootings, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Suicide

In regards to the spooky stuff not being obvious, I turned to my wife like 5 chapters in and said "idk I think there's a malevolent old god out in the desert and people are getting sacrificed to it, we'll see."

florencia's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

This is a pretty solid debut. The mystery is intricate enough to keep you interested, but not difficult to follow and it ties up nicely.
The small town vibe is really well achieved, and I loved the level of wtf throughout the story. There's a lot of shitty people, and shitty situations and an overall feeling of dirtyness in this town.

We have different points of view, most of which I really enjoyed and felt that added well to the story. I specially enjoyed the badass woman police officer that's really tenacious and goes against the bullshit of this town. (Every female character was pretty badass , which I appreciate).

There were some relevant themes explored here, like sexuality, shame and toxic masculinity.

The only reason I didn't enjoy it more is because it's a pretty plot driven book, and though we learn a little bit about some of the characters backgrounds, I never fell in love with them. (We do learn enough to at least care about them)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug use, and Sexual assault