Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca

104 reviews

imogil's review

dark fast-paced

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

1.0

i should’ve listened to tiktok when they said it was lesbian torture porn. literally why was this written. even the authors note provided no clarity on why this was written. i hate that it was set out as if it was a true crime case - even though unfortunately that could make very poignant commentary on our societal obsession with “true crime” and not letting victims rest but i doubt the author went into this story thinking of that. he literally described their story as “a nightmarish fever dream of inspiration, an arduous ordeal of painstaking creativity.” i understand the want for portrayal of unhealthy bdsm dynamics i guess and the want for people to read gorey horror but it wasn’t even well written??? agnes did not show any signs of being mentally ill to the point that she could be exploited so whole heartedly. i HATED zoe and the fact that she did all of that to agnes - RUINED AGNES’S LIFE - just to see if she could. the only reason this book has 1 star is because the author - unfortunately - has a great grasp on descriptive language and i was able to picture a lot of this really well. 
i do realise that this was a dead dove clearly labeled do not eat and yet i chose to eat the dove anyway. i have read many dd:dne fics and stories before and been fine - i guess this dead dove just wasn’t to my taste. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Torture, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Child death, Animal cruelty, and Child abuse

Moderate: Vomit, Sexual content, Medical content, and Mental illness

Minor: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

unhealthy bdsm dynamics, graphic depiction of a tapeworm and the passing of it, graphic depiction and description of eating raw insect filled meat

laurianeisreading's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Torture, Self harm, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Gore, and Mental illness

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Miscarriage and Lesbophobia

cheyennedowls's review

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This book is absolutely deranged and unhinged. I would not recommend if you have a weak stomach. It’s quick paced and an extremely interesting book in the worst way. The amount of times my mouth fell agape while reading is unbelievable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Murder, and Torture

autismandniamh's review against another edition

Turns out I don’t have as strong a stomach as I thought…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, and Torture

rory_john14's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Child abuse, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Gore

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Vomit, Cursing, Pregnancy, Blood, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Toxic friendship, Pedophilia, Classism, Medical content, Abortion, Terminal illness, Slavery, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Dementia, Abandonment, and Death of parent

nimbos's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Fast-paced, this book works like a police report of e-mail and message exchange. The format was the first thing that left an impression on me, making the whole plot feel much more impersonal.

What starts as a suspiciously innocent interaction (derived from the naïvety of one of the characters which can sometimes be almost irritating), soon turns into a twisted and dark tale that I couldn't have anticipated. While short, it still retains enough detail that allows the reader to have a vivid (too vivid) image of the events, even appealing to other senses. It's hard for me to find a piece of writing that makes my skin crawl, but this one did exactly that. As much as I found myself frustrated by the end of the book, with many questions unanswered, I think this is one of those cases that teaches you that you don't have to find the meaning behind everything.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Gore, Toxic relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Slavery, Mental illness, Sexual content, Torture, and Medical content

Moderate: Torture and Vomit

kirstylp's review

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

This book was so much fun to read and each story had its own way of drawing you in and keeping you until the end. 
The first story was my favourite and I found the second story to be a little too drawn out with some unnecessary plot points. Overall I really enjoyed this book. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Torture, Suicide, and Animal cruelty

thomasina's review

challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Mental illness, Violence, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Gore, Torture, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror

sleepylit's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

A really good read! Kept me hooked the whole way through. A lot of people dislike it, and I see why, but I love psychological horror like this, so it was right up my alley. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Gore, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Slavery, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Suicide

peckreadsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Child death, Suicide, Murder, Vomit, Grief, Death, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Animal death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Physical abuse, Torture, Miscarriage, Murder, Self harm, and Pregnancy