Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

80 reviews

sphinxofblackquartz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Medical trauma, Murder, and Blood

ofbooksandechos's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Gore, Medical content, Blood, and Child abuse

Minor: Pregnancy, Cannibalism, Torture, and Domestic abuse

additional content warnings: dismemberment, evisceration, corpse mutilation, cult like society, being forced to eat one self’s body parts

kurumipanda's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Gore, Child death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, and Grief

Moderate: Animal death

librarymouse's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

The gore and viscera of this novella sheaths a love that is tender in that it is beautiful, and tender in that it is raw to touch.

the narrator growing to look more human in the epilogue harkens back to the miss the reference of the falsehood earlier on about a mermaid's ability to become human if they love a prince deeply enough. The plague doctor's empathy becomes the narrator's upon their eviceration and subsequent death. The space and tenderness the plague doctor holds for the children being mutilated by the surgeons who killed and revived them over and over again is transmuted in their death to make the desire to preserve life something tangible to the narrator.

I enjoyed the way readers were dropped into the story after the narrator had taken a sort of revenge, and is figuring out where to set herself in the world after, and I enjoy that some things are left unexplained.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Vomit, Murder, Death, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Violence, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Misogyny, and Torture

abookwormspov's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Cannibalism, Body horror, Child death, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Violence, Slavery, Grief, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, and Death

regans's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, Toxic relationship, Death, Torture, Body horror, Medical trauma, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Miscarriage

blacksphinx's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

While being leagues above the other book I've read by Cassandra Khaw, Nothing But Blackened Teeth, it is still a mixed bag. 

It has some gruesome moments of gore and cruelty that earn it the label of horror. Nothing made me laugh or roll my eyes like the previous novella I read. And yet, I finished it not having the faintest idea what on earth a "mermaid" was in this universe. Perhaps it would have been better less as a standalone and more as a novella in a story collection taking place in the same universe?

The romance also took me by surprise in a bad way, considering how much I winced listening to one half of the couple muse about the other's gender.

The things I liked and the things I didn't balance the scales of my opinion. This will almost certainly be the last thing I read by this author.

Also, really didn't like the audiobook. It was the first time I've gotten completely lost and confused about who was speaking, which didn't help my experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cannibalism, Violence, Death, Torture, Medical trauma, Body horror, Child abuse, Blood, Medical content, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Transphobia, Vomit, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, and Domestic abuse

queenkath32's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Violence, Medical content, Gore, Body horror, Blood, and Death

jessereadsthings's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

Super interesting, but wish it was a bit longer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Misogyny, Gore, Medical trauma, Torture, Body horror, Child abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Rape

lady_bountiful's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Child death, Gore, Medical trauma, and Violence