Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

53 reviews

slytherinlyss's review

dark mysterious reflective sad 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

3.75

At times it was difficult to distinguish which character was speaking; their personalities were just a bit too similar for their love story to truly blossom. Their motivations and traumas were nearly identical, as well. Overall, a short, enjoyable tale of two ruthless beings in an evil world. Realistic, yet incredibly magical. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, and Cannibalism

themorrigan43's review

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.0

This is a novella, it's very fast and it is very gory. A strange adaptation of The Little Mermaid story, mixed with some Frankenstein.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Violence, Cannibalism, Murder, and Pregnancy

cwerber's review

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Holy shit, y'all. 

This novelette is something else and I mean that in the best way possible. It will turn your notion of the little mermaid story upside down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape

Seriously, look at my warnings. This isn't for the faint of heart.

typedtruths's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

1.25

i didn't like this at all. yes, the themes of unconditional love are beautiful but everything else about this did <i>nothing</i> for me

▷ <u>Representation</u>: nonbinary sc/love interest.

<a href="https://typedtruth.wordpress.com/">  Blog</a> • <a href="https://triggerwarningdatabase.com/">Trigger Warning Database</a> • <a href="https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/typedtruths">StoryGraph</a>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

➸ Trigger warnings for misogyny, domestic violence recounted, rape mentioned, miscarriage, involuntary & voluntary medical procedures and experimentation, graphic body horror, graphic blood, gore, and injury depiction, graphic cannibalism, minor grief and loss, death of a child, death of a friend, murder, and cults.

lilmswolfe's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

The use of words not often used in everyday life was overwhelming. It’s fine if there a word here and there, I can usually decipher what it means by the surrounding text but dang 2-3 words every sentence or so? Sheesh. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

queerreaderchaos's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, Torture, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

cpratreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

A very interesting read. I really liked the style and the story. The gore was written in an interesting way, and the action moved at a good pace for a novella. 

Definitely interested in reading more from Khaw. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Sexual assault

stellarkai's review

challenging dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Blood, and Murder

bellebeaumont95's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense

• 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? No

4.25

 Brutal and beautiful in the same degree, The Salt Grows Heavy is a horror novella about narratives of power, and about two people shaped and rebuilt by horrifically traumatic events choosing to stay together.

The writing is lovely, if a little overdone, coloring the scenes in a way that had me both flinching away and immediately coming back, mesmerized. I would have liked to spend a little more time with the two main characters (who I found fascinating) and exploring their relationship, but as the horror fairy tale it is, the brevity works.

In my questionable habit of comparing things to other things, I might describe this as "What if The VVitch (2015) had a crossover with The Language of Thorns, written by the authors of This Is How You Lose The Time War . (All things I LOVE, so this is high praise). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Vomit

kylasmv15's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury