Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

13 reviews

zachari's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

baroque yet spare, clinical in its violence, the desperate brutality of Khaw's prose leaves me thirsty for more without feeling unfinished; on the contrary, I'm left feeling charmed by that special combination of  self-completion and open-endedness which keeps one up late mulling over the details of ghost stories long after the campfire's ashes have gone cold. in four brief chapters Khaw sketches just enough of a queer, cruel fairytale landscape for the reader to intuit horizons beyond its horizons and depths beyond the depths, only to send the whole thing up in an ambiguous inferno which leaves me blinking hard at the afterglow and struggling to make out just what it is I've read. fans of the  mytho-banal-horrific trifecta in Ken Liu's "Good Hunting" and Madeline Miller's Circe will notice resonances, amplifications and elaborations on certain themes and motifes. I look forward to watching where the literary subfield and Khaw herself go next in the wake of The Salt Grows Heavy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

drazihnya's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

"That I want to die here, mired in the cold. That I want to race them to Death’s carriage, exceeding their pace but only just, never going so far as to be unable to turn and corset their fingers in mine. That eternity is a worthless bauble without their conversation. That I would follow them into the demise of the universe where every heaven and each hell is shuttered, and there is nothing of us but motings of wan light, and there is no bodily apparatus with which to express affection, no recourse save to glow weakly in worship until at last, such things are swallowed too by the dark. That I would love them even then. As long as a moiety of conscious thought persists, I will love them. I will love them to the death of days."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Animal cruelty

leafhead's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Genocide, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

lovesagespages's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, and Gore

nicoleonbooks's review

dark emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

I've never read anything like this and I likely never will again. A story fit for ancient mythology. So incredibly gory. No appetite post read. Heartbreaking. Breathtaking. Absolutely insane, bonkers, wild. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Blood, Cannibalism, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, and Fire/Fire injury

andibrimi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.5

i don’t know what the fuck she’s saying, but girl i am living!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, Medical trauma, and Murder

moonytoast's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

caitlinemccann's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement

Minor: Rape and Pregnancy

jesus_wept's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

yenanena's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Violence