Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

753 reviews

milooo's review against another edition

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

3.0

i’ve got to be honest, i was a little bit disappointed with this book. it started out really well, the setup is expertly executed and the concept is really cool. the dark side of this book is pretty well paced in the sense that you feel this growing tension and sense of dread. the female rage and the kind of helplessness and entrapment some of these women feel is palpable and imo very well written. the frustration of the characters very easily translates to the reader (especially if you’ve been raised as a girl). however. not all is well in mt pleasant, and i think the author should’ve put a bit more time into really exploring the intersection of race and gender, especially when it comes to these rich white women not acknowledging that the only well developed black character is the woman who did the bulk of the work and was the most affected. the subject of white privilege is touched upon, but it feels a bit like it’s dismissed in the end because of how much is happening. other than that, the action takes a LONG time to happen, which is not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just that when you have this really good and drawn out setup, it’s not really satisfying to have everything be solved in a chapter. finally, and this is purely a taste thing, it got a little bit too gory and disturbing for me at some points. this type of horror is very poignant and well written, it just happened to hit every. single. one. of my phobias (being buried alive, bugs and parasites, general ‘things burrowing under your skin’ kind of stuff), so bear that in mind if you have phobias, not just fears, of these things. overall, pretty good but personally i will not be bringing this for my book club :)
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skellie_ellie's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

2.0

I liked the first half of the book even though it was slow. 
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mariah_g's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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roonilxwaslib's review against another edition

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

5.0

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urnee's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

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mushymargo's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Lots of gross details you can tell it’s a man writing women. Lots of unnecessary naked women with WAY too many details and the sexualization of a minor
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beckjaeckels's review against another edition

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dark

3.0

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cuppajoy's review against another edition

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

5.0

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mommacusses's review against another edition

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

2.75

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galexywitch's review against another edition

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

4.0

I have mixed feelings about this book. Overall I would say I enjoyed it but I also HATED some parts of it. 

My main issues with this book were:
1. The extreme feeling of frustration during the first ~2/3s of the book. I  had a pit in my stomach while reading, not due to the horror elements or tense moments, but because I was just SO frustrated with how everyone was treating the main character. While I understood that the other characters needed to mistrust her for the plot, it often felt too extreme too quickly and drove me crazy. I would’ve preferred a little less mistrust and gaslighting, especially coming from the people closest to the main character. That or I wish there were more in depth/reasonable explanations for why some of these characters were not on her side since it didn’t always seem justified.
2. The unnecessary sexual violence against women and children. I mean, I just don’t think this was needed? It felt like it was included for the shock value more than the author having anything meaningful to say about rape/sexual assault, which is something I really do not appreciate in books, especially coming from a male author. 
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