Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Call by Peadar Ó Guilín

6 reviews

ribbenkast's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Immediately, I was very interested by the premise of this book. Right from the start, although the subject matter is quite dark I was having so much fun reading it. However the book took a little while to convince me it was not only fun but also clever and good. The ending was worth it though.

The premise: 25 years ago Ireland got cut off from the rest of the world and now every teenager at one point in their live gets "called" and transported to the Grey Land/the fae realm where they have to survive being hunted for sport by vengeful sadistic Sìdhe/fae is amazing. This premise has also major implications for how society will shape itself around this conundrum. A good example is that we follow a physically disabled main character who got polio as a young child because there weren't any vaccines. That's good world building and I'm so happy to read some good disability rep.

This is also where the book gets a little bit frustrating sometimes. You can tell O'Guilan is a good world builder. I'm willing to bet they've written up a Lore Bible and a many page document about the history of the Sìdhe and how the Irish society and its politics as it's currently functioning within the book. However all this clever world building is mostly hidden within throwaway lines from random characters in favor of showing of the teen drama. 

The book has some of the most creative body horror I've seen in a while. However, in a lot cases the scene fades to black to soon. Afterwards the body horror is only described as "terrible" by the other characters without further details. I understand that the author was probably going for "nothing's worse than your own imagination" trope, but I do think O'Guilan missed and excellent opportunity to show just how sadistic and twisted the Sìdhe are. 

Both of these issues could've been resolved by making the book 30-50 pages longer. And I would've gladly read it. I'm picking up part 2 soon. 7.8/10 - 4/5⭐

P.S. It's horror, please check the trigger warnings and take care of yourself! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Ableism, Body horror, Violence, Torture, Kidnapping, Death, Confinement, Blood, Alcohol, Addiction, Chronic illness, Grief, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Child death, Abandonment, Colonisation, Genocide, Violence, Mass/school shootings, War, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Animal death, Confinement, Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical content, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

alisonvh's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.5

This book is good, but I’m not sure I enjoyed it. It’s very dark, and I didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I started reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcohol, Suicide, Self harm, Physical abuse, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Violence, Murder, Blood, Addiction, Child death, Torture, Ableism, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Colonisation, Bullying, Body horror, Alcoholism, and Animal death

mermaidsherbet's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Bullying, Child death, Gore, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Hate crime, Cannibalism, Confinement, Colonisation, Sexual harassment, Excrement, Genocide, Grief, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

loscamp4lyf's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

a fast pace fantasy-horror-blood bath! theres so many characters its hard to keep track of who is who, but

they most all end up dead so its not worth remembering their names

. I found the Nessa's absolute devotion to Anto a bit annoying, but if its the only thing keeping you going, go for it girl. 

Conner was also annoying and im a bit miffed his storyline very much ended abruptly

with nessa killing him

and with no real resolution of

deal w the fae to end the pact

, like it just ends!! I know theres a sequel so hopefully that picks it up some.

Otherwise, a good quick story! its definitely brutal in the torturing of the kids but tbh it was so intense you couldnt put it down. Theres tiggering subjects (body horror, a lot of death, etc), but the characters rarely react strongly to it.

Highly recommend the audio book for the authentic irish accent experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Body horror, Torture, Animal death, and Child death

noveltay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

I am 25 years old and read a teen book, and it was good!! I thought it held my attention pretty strongly through out the book. I do think it was a little predictable who would survive and who would not, but the storyline was still captivating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Physical abuse, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

jenny_librarian's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

This is about as dark as it comes when you talk about faes.

I expected horror, but I didn’t expect that kind of body horror and gore. Some of it is stomach-turning, not for the faint of heart.

The Irish folklore is interesting and very well integrated. It makes you want to learn more about the Sídhe. However, I would have appreciated a glossary or a guide at the end for readers less familiar with the folklore.

One of the unfortunate downsides (and the reason I didn’t round it up to 4 stars) is the amount of misogyny, slut-shaming, ableism and bullying. The incel behaviour of Conor is part of the themes explored (and that ending was delightful), but I’m not sure if those things expressed by other characters was necessary. In any case, it’s something you need to be aware of if you want to read this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Colonisation, Torture, and Misogyny

Minor: Animal death, Fatphobia, Islamophobia, Vomit, Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide