Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

16 reviews

allyareads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

I'm currently on a horror kick and this book has me obsessed. I haven't stopped thinking about it and already desperately want to reread it. I feel like it may be a story you get something different with each read.

Please I implore you, take your time when reading this. The atmosphere, characters and actually all of the writing is handled with so much deliberate care. Even the most violent or gory scenes (i.e. most of the book) are written so beautifully and delicately. No doubt heavy on the purple prose, but I found once I was in I was in (I also read an Ebook version and we love a quick hold-down thesaurus check).
I’ve always hated the story of the Little Mermaid and this does a fantastic job of exploring the dark suspicions, the various myths and the cyclical nature of storytelling. Getting to hear the story from the monster/victim in their own truth was perfect.
I’m livid it was so short, even with the original short story attached. It may be controversial but I think I might have enjoyed reading the short story before.

But as someone who works as a bookseller, I know it will be divisive. I can tell some people will love this wholeheartedly and others are going to fucking hate it. So I can't recommend this to everyone.
If you don’t like books heavy on vibes, body horror and with big pretentious words, this ain’t your book.
Recommend to fans of tv series Hannibal, the dark elves from the Magicians, dark fairy tale retellings and the people who cheer on the monsters.

If anyone has any simliar books, GIMME! I would love some suggestions please.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Torture, Toxic relationship, Confinement, and Pregnancy

Minor: Rape

ceruleanseas's review

dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.75

This is a stunning fantasy horror novella. Khaw reimagines a version of The Little Mermaid where the prince wasn't so sweet and spins a tale, not about revenge, but about the aftermath. The mermaid (for lack of a better description or a name) leaves her husband's kingdom in ruins, accompanied by a plague doctor who is more than they seem. I adored the elegant and imaginative prose, and appreciated the complex motivation of characters who are unapologetic about their natures. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Physical abuse, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Torture, Grief, Self harm, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, and Medical content

Moderate: Kidnapping

Minor: Confinement, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Rape

laurareads87's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

"Mermaid. A word that demonstrates the ineptitude of human language, and the species' predisposition for ingantalizing the unknown. ... [P]alatability is prized over accuracy. It is easier to market a nymph than a viperfish."

The Salt Grows Heavy is a horror/fantasy novella of a murderous mermaid and a gender non-conforming plague doctor travelling through a near-dead kingdom, each with a traumatic past to contend with.  Very well written, though it's hard to say 'beautifully written' when the subject matter is, very often, viscera.  Heed the content warnings on this one - not for the faint of heart.

Content warnings: graphic gore & body horror throughout. Cannibalism is on page & described in detail. Blood, death, deaths of children, murder, violence, medical content, medical experimentation, misogyny, sexism, abuse, spousal abuse, rape (not on-page or described in any detail), kidnapping, mass murder, cult violence / religiously motivated abuse.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, Medical content, Death, Child abuse, Gore, Sexism, Violence, Body horror, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape

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

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

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

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

➸ 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.

clynns's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Pregnancy, Rape, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Vomit, Confinement, Death, and Torture

aedoran08's review

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Rape

uncreativeoops's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.75

Took me a while to get into but once the main characters had an actual goal i was hooked. Gorgeous writing and creative similes; you either spend a very long time reading it to catch everything or you can find new things upon rereading it. The body horror is also very graphic in a lyrical way. I have no idea, where the setting was supposed to be, how the world or magic works. This felt like history, fantasy, and postapocalyptic at once and I didn't even mind. Also yes to violent reinterpretations of mermaids; beings from the ocean are terrifying and this should apply to mythological male fantasies as well.

Also I wasn't expecting the most raw love confession followed by torture followed by characters dying several times followed by a Frankensteinesque scene that had me giggling (??) and I still haven't processed it.

I was expecting the body horror, but not body horror mixed with so many emotions it was WILD.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, Gore, Medical content, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual violence

lakinlindsey's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, War, Kidnapping, Medical content, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Slavery, Child death, Gore, Death, Murder, Rape, Violence, and Torture

caitlinemccann's review

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

Moderate: Confinement

Minor: Rape and Pregnancy