Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

94 reviews

knitting_sword's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Gore, and Body horror

percival_wise's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Body horror, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Cannibalism, Death, Murder, Blood, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

mar's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-paced

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

4.5

literally had to come back and up my rating after a couple of days bc i cant stop thinking about this book. i want what they have

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Animal death and Miscarriage

jdieperink's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Kidnapping, Blood, Gore, and Medical content

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

rookdigoo's review

4.5

Oh, how I love retellings that twist deep, deep into the lifeblood of their sources. 
Prose that tastes like the other side of the coin from Andersen's. The seamless twining of The Little Mermaid and The Three Army Surgeons? Not an expected combination and I adored every dark, dripping moment of it. This isn't a "dark" retelling where the "dark" bits are played for shock value, to make you gasp, "this didn’t  happen in the Disney version". It's a story that knows itself, that doesn't care what pre-conceived notions its reader brings. A fairy tale horror story of love and staying. 
I'm so delighted to find a retelling of such totally different fairy tales, mixed in which a healthy helping of more pieces of folklore stitched together with nearly invisible thread.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Medical content, Blood, Child death, Violence, and Body horror

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Miscarriage

imreallyjk's review

challenging dark reflective slow-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

The prose was beautifully written despite the very gruesome subject. Not for the faint of heart but perhaps for those who need to break away from humanity for a short time…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Murder, Blood, Child death, Kidnapping, Gore, Torture, Physical abuse, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Body horror, and Cannibalism

skullmotif's review

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

• I enjoyed this book so much that I read it in about three hours. The writing is impeccable. 
• Developed an instant, tiny crush on the plague doctor; right now to their description and mannerisms. How do I find my own genderless plague doctor? Asking for a friend.
• Was also devastated when said plague doctor first perished! I actually shouted "No!" HELP.
• Everything was so raw and the medical terminology used had me NERDING OUT.
• "How do you kill any religion? You convince its flock that their shepherds are wolves." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Medical content, and Gore

fox_at_the_circus's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

I loved how poetic and flowery and even animalistic at points the writing of this book got. It really pulled me into the world and set the atmosphere of the story perfectly! And I love this world; even though the book is pretty short, it still felt like a developed setting with hints and more lore.
And I really like the two main characters and their relationship with each other, too. This is a story about two people dealing with their trauma together, healing together in a way, and supporting each other throughout it. They are not perfect or try to be, but they feel realistic and are loyal to each other. I especially loved the line, where the plague doctor calls out the "your trauma makes you stronger" bullshit. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Grief, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Confinement

ktkumpf's review

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

An absolutely gorgeous short story. Will absolutely be looking into more work from this author. They dynamic was excellent, the prose were phenomenal the pacing worked wonderfully. 0 complaints except that I can never read it again for the first time. But please be mindful this is graphic, profoundly so, and if body horror or child death is not something you can tolerate do not touch it with a 10 foot pole. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Miscarriage