Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt

52 reviews

sabzidyke's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Cursing, Eating disorder, Self harm, Body horror, Dysphoria, Excrement, Grief, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Transphobia

madelinequinnee's review against another edition

dark informative fast-paced

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

3.5

I have no idea what I just read

This was so so weird, but I think I enjoyed it? There were parts that made me feel so icky, the language and descriptions are grotesquely detailed and don’t shy away from anything.

This book certainly isn’t for the faint hearted or easily offended, there’s a lot of dark and disturbing stuff that probably isn’t for your casual horror reader. I do think there should have been a content warning on the back of the book because this was being sold in Waterstones where anyone could pick it up not realising how graphic and sexual it is until they begin reading. 

I can’t say I was a huge fan of the writing style, the ‘slam poetry’ kind of sections were a little hard to follow at times. I get the effect they were going for, but it was just a little difficult to keep up with. 

I do think the author was trying a little too hard to make this book disgusting, and it felt at times that the actual message of the story was being strayed away from in favour of grotesque descriptions. I get what the worms and the whole community around that was trying to represent, but i don’t know, it felt a little bit like it was missing the mark at times. 

I don’t really know what to take away from this book other than that i’m now really fucking grossed out by worms

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Kidnapping, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, Sexual content, Mental illness, Blood, Body shaming, Drug use, Dysphoria, Incest, Medical content, Abandonment, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Body horror, Cursing, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Classism, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Rape, Sexual assault, and Vomit

cburns13's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Classism, Drug use, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Self harm, Sexual violence, Violence, Eating disorder, Excrement, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Rape, Gore, Homophobia, Infertility, Murder, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Child death, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Animal death, Death, Grief, Racism, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Vomit

janbabs's review

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This is not a book for everyone. Literally all the trigger warnings. It was messed up, disturbing and disgusting. It was like picking a scab. I was compelled to continue reading, even though it was uncomfortable.The major themes of transphobia and political terrorism/fascism felt worryingly relevant to society today, and if anything were amplified by the gruesome horror setting. The writing was brilliant and I thought the shifts between first and third person narratives worked well. This was not an easy read, but I think it's gonna stay on my mind for a long time to come

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Excrement, Gore, Incest, Sexual content, Dysphoria, and Transphobia

Moderate: Child abuse, Incest, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Medical content, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Self harm, Rape, Toxic relationship, Hate crime, Infertility, Fatphobia, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Misogyny, Mental illness, Bullying, Blood, Antisemitism, Deadnaming, Drug use, and Alcohol

catatlanta's review against another edition

dark medium-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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Dysphoria, Body horror, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Rape, Classism, Sexual content, Transphobia, Gore, Outing, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Blood, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Grief, Hate crime, Incest, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Self harm, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

minxtte's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

5.0

I had to physically force myself to stop reading this for my own welfare. Obsessed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Incest, Gore, Hate crime, Murder, Rape, Stalking, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Homophobia, Alcohol, Blood, Mental illness, Death, Excrement, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Cursing, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Self harm, Transphobia, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abortion, Body horror, Child abuse, Infertility, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Islamophobia and Fire/Fire injury

erica_reads_things's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

My second read by Alison Rumfitt and I was so excited to be brought back into her world and unique writing voice. I was not disappointed in that regard! I do think this would be a 5 star for me on my second read, as the themes were a bit harder to follow than in Tell Me I'm Worthless. Im for sure going to give this a second read in the future to focus more on what it all means, what the wryms represent, and so on. That's really a huge part of what I have loved about Alison's work thus far. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, Incest, Gore, Transphobia, Body shaming, Infertility, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Death of parent, Hate crime, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Animal death, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Medical content, Fatphobia, Dysphoria, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Kidnapping, Homophobia, and Outing

joy_ong's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Dysphoria, Violence, Body shaming, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Vomit, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Excrement, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Incest, Kidnapping, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

yavin_iv's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Body horror, Excrement, Kidnapping, Rape, Transphobia, Blood, Death of parent, Self harm, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Drug use, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Gore, Incest, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

maecaitlin's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

So grotesque - I loved it. The content warnings should definitely be heeded before starting the book.

I had to take multiple breathers and breaks to get through due to how graphic the horror is. But, it’s a really effective analysis of the horror of this TERF Island. 

The only reason this hasn’t been rated higher is that I’m not a massive fan of how the book sometimes structurally derails itself into rambles every now and again. Sometimes the portrayals of kink were just too much for my innocent mind.

I would not recommend this to any of my friends or family as I fear they would have their opinion forever changed of me, and I feel that’s a good sign of a strong horror. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Biphobia, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Excrement, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Transphobia, Body horror, Dysphoria, and Gore