Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

417 reviews

thepomegranateseeds's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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? No

5.0

I usually don't write reviews, but this book has a chokehold on me, it's like it gets better every reread I do. The concept, the writing style, the characters, just everything about TSBIT is just amazing.

Especially when Silas sliced Luckenbill's throat with that shard of glass, fuck that guy. Oh, and also fuck George, who just tries to kill their own brother like that?

.

Daphne and Silas, my beloveds <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Cursing, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, and Medical content

Moderate: Deadnaming, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, and Dysphoria

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

For the minor homophobia part, the reason I put it is because the of the comment that Mary makes saying Daphne looks like she'd rather "bugger men" (this is while she's still male presenting)

livelaughlovejackie's review against another edition

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

5.0

this book had me on an absolute chokehold while reading which is v rare for me <3333

The actual rating is probably something like 4.5 but the experience is just so fun i need it higher 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Death of parent

xosirenox's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

jocielu's review against another edition

dark emotional tense 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? No

5.0

I have only read one other book by Andrew Joseph White, but what I can tell from his writing is he is someone who knows how to make super complex and interesting worlds. I think I liked this book a little better than Hell Followed With Us, but both books were so well written.
This book follows Silas, a young trans boy who is in a society that is based in reality (London 1833) with some bits of fantasy in it. He was born with purple eyes that makes it so that he can speak to spirits. This is something only people assigned female at birth are able to do. All Silas wants is to become a surgeon but because everyone around him sees him as a girl he is unable to do so and they determine him to have veil sickness. Although this book is a Fantasy horror, it touches on a lot of things that actually happened to people in this time and like the author mentions at the end specifically people of color and queer people.
I would really recommend this book to others, but please go into reading this knowing that it has a lot of graphic scenes of what is probably best describe as "medical gore." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Gore, Transphobia, and Medical trauma

kellamyles's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexism, Transphobia, Medical content, Abortion, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Bullying and Rape

sincerelyeriss's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Blood, and Medical trauma

keepcalmblogon's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth initially drew me in because of the cover, it’s absolutely stunning and it’s not even a special edition!  I had seen it around here and there, but I’m not always drawn to books with references to ghosts and hauntings, personally I have a fine line between paranormal gothic-type reads and straight horror.  I enjoy horror movies, but not so much books.  But having read that this was about an autistic, trans boy and not overtly a horror story but more like a story with horror elements, I couldn’t bring myself to stop thinking about it, so I put a hold on the audiobook and the moment it came through I absolutely devoured this book.

Immediately, I related to Silas’ experiences with autism–it’s not called this in the book, but it is what it is.  He is overcome with his own emotions sometimes, nearly prisoner to them when he can feel and watch himself be lost to too many feelings.  He has touch and sound sensitivities that I share, as well as a hyperfocus on his passion to the point of overlooking his own safety.

CW pregnancy:  The other thing I related so viscerally with was Silas’ feelings/fears/disgust about his body’s ability to become pregnant.  As a woman who very staunchly chooses not to have children, a large part of my reasoning is my body.  It’s hard to describe without sounding superficial, but Silas put so many of my own feelings into words and I felt so validated.

As much as most of this story is heavy, haunting, gory, and nearly hopeless, there are beautiful moments of resistance, self-identity, hope, and connection that made this my favorite read of the month and definitely one of my faves of the year. Five stars!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

chrisb913's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

I was not prepared for this book. While I loved it, I probably should have read some of the TWs before hand 😅😅. This was weird and creepy and I loved the medical aspect of it along with the gorey subject matter. Overall this was a fantastic read but again please check TWs before hand as the author handles a significant amount of tough subjects throughout the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Transphobia, and Medical content

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, and Vomit

devs_frog's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, and Medical content

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Pregnancy

rueys's review against another edition

4.5

another difficult read!!! Thank U andrew joseph white i love queer horror <3 

time to read: 3hr, 15 min

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Gore, Misogyny, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, and Medical content

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Abortion, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Vomit and Colonisation