Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Der Geisterbaum by Christina Henry, Sigrun Zühlke

10 reviews

sonygaystation's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Cool concept but muddy execution. Especially towards the end. Plus i felt the slurs and vitriol to express racism was so unnecessarily too much

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Child death, Racial slurs, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Racism, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual content, Murder, Gun violence, Hate crime, Adult/minor relationship, and Vomit

Minor: Body shaming, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Deportation, Pregnancy, and Infidelity

harleyqueen's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Loved it but at times felt like it read so fast that you would lose sense of what's happening. There is a town under a curse where once a year a girl has to be sacrificed to the ghost tree but when the wrong sacrifice is offered all rules no longer exist

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Eating disorder, Body horror, and Gore

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Alcoholism

ripxw's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-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, Gore, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Misogyny

apersonfromflorida's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Eating disorder, Xenophobia, Vomit, Racism, Racial slurs, and Alcoholism

Minor: Sexual content

andromeda_1998's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

The ghost tree is one of those books that isn’t really in my favorite genre but that I do like to read now and then. It’s refreshing to read something different. Now, what did I think of the ghost tree? 

Summary
This book is about Lauren and the other residents of the little town named Smith’s Hollow. There town is a quite peaceful one. Nothing ever really happens is Smith’s Hallow accept for the murder of Lauren’s dad of course almost a year ago. While her family is still healing from his death, strange things are starting to happen. Two broken bodies of out of town teens are found in the backyard of a villager and now it’s up to Lauren to find out the truth about the murders. 

Characters 
This is a though one. These characters are very well done but the aren’t written to please. They symbolize all different kind of people from Bigots to friendly mothers. There are characters with toxic ideals and there are characters that you will want to root for. Christina Henry doesn’t shy away from racism as well. If your looking for a book with lovable characters then this isn’t it. Are you looking for realistic characters? This might be the book for you. 

Worldbuilding 
The ghost tree is set in a world like ours so there isn’t a lot of world building but it has some twists that are well done. The only thing I miss is clear rules for the “magic/supernatural ” parts of this book. 

Plot 
The book started really strong but in the middle of the book it lost its flow for a bit. I feel like that has something to do with the repetition of the storyline. Towards the ending the book finds its way back on track. Just hand in there! 

Writing style 
Christina Henry had a way with writing that makes all the story’s she writes read like a fairytale. It’s a really compelling way of writing that I don’t get enough of. 

Overal thoughts 
This book is a good read for readers that are looking for a start in the horror genre. It’s fast, witty, a bit creepy but not to scary. I would recommend it to ages 14-18  but 14 years old is on the younger side of things. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, and Vomit

bearregretsthis's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

The book covers heavy topics such as murder, child death and pedophilia which some readers may find uncomfortable.

A great novel for anyone searching for a horror and dark fantasy. Although Lauren is the protagonist each chapter switches perspective and involves a diverse cast, each with a unique plotline. I found many of the characters loveable and others I loved to hate. For someone who struggles to read larger texts the book kept me hooked until the very end. 

I have previously read The Lost Boy by Henry and I hope to read more of her works however I found this story slightly less enjoyable than the  work I had previously read; however the book is nonetheless a great read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Racism, and Sexism

Minor: Fatphobia, Gun violence, and Police brutality

leahrosereads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

This was a wonderfully weird book. With a haunted woods (which instantly made me love it a bit more), a witch and a monster - I don't need much more in my horror.

I could've done without the racial slurs and slut shaming. I get that this was set in the 80s, but it was a bit much at times. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Gore, Grief, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Violence

sarahasyouwish's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

I liked the creepy forest with something sinister and supernatural haunting the town. The element of people forgetting what was happening was interesting. I didn’t like the toxic female friendship at the center and the very unhealthy relationship one of them has with food. The book lacked suspense for me and crossed into the overly angsty YA territory for me, which prevented it from being more than three stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Gore, Racism, Racial slurs, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcoholism

tashreads2manybooks's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

sizzlingsaturn's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Racism, Violence, and Grief

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Xenophobia, and Racial slurs