Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

64 reviews

natreviews's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

I had heard a lot about this book. Originally, I'd heard about the Italian film, then the American re-make, and found it all started with this book. It's the perfect October read. It's scary on multiple levels (from violence, to pedophilia, to gore) and I think it handles these topics well and with the respect they deserve. It isn't a easy read, but it is very rewarding if you can get through it. I also appreciate how it's set in the 1980's, that way it isn't bogged down with modern devices and having to work around those. Yes, there are some weird translation issues (words not making grammatical sense, or simple words missing), but the writing overall makes up for that. 
In the back of my copy there's a page advertising John's next book. I don't know if I'll read it, but Let The Right One In is a book I will keep on my shelf.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Drug use, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, and Fire/Fire injury

bodiesinbooks's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Car accident

bakerreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Review in progress

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Blood

Moderate: Bullying and Racism

Minor: Alcoholism

tking250's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death and Child death

sofipitch's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Many books with sympathetic vampire characters leave you desensitized to the horror of either being killed by a vampire or being a vampire. This book does neither. Absolutely amazing. This book has lots of little plot points that come together in a kind of intricate web by the end, it's really impressive. For as many events that happen, I really like that not one character probably understand how this web connects, the only person who understands everything that happened and why, is you the reader.


For diversity I put it's complicated bc a character can be read has being nonbinary or gender fluid but it's not concretely addressed in the book (this is my understanding of the character). It also makes the romantic relationship in the book gay. But the book is a little vague on this

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, and Excrement

Minor: Domestic abuse

mysimas's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.5

I did it! Took me a month but I read this whole frigging thing in GERMAN! Woohoo!

I liked the book a bit less than on my first read a few years ago, my main issues being pacing and how dark the tale was. Now, this book is supposed to be dark, it’s a horror about vampires after all — and the related gore and description of Eli’s kills and the body horror of becoming a vampire was great. But then there were other things, unrelated to vampires, and the author may have taken them a tad over the top, especially what with the pedophilia and some details of Eli’s backstory. None of those things needed to be there; in fact, I would argue they bogged down the pacing, which already had its issues due to the sheer multitude of the POVs. Most of the characters were likeable, but my favourites were Oscar and Eli, and whenever the focus shifted from them I felt my attention shift away, too.

Still, I think it’s a very good book. The vampire lore was captivating enough, the characters all behaved believably, and the prose was solid, with some smooth transitions between the POVs and a collection of powerful scenes. I will likely reread at some point.

PS — I’m still not over the fact that the first time Oskar saw Eli, it was in a mirror. How awesome is that?!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Trafficking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death and Death of parent

Minor: Xenophobia

meganelise's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

I was a big fan of the movie when it came out but hadn’t rewatched it in years. I read the book as part of the translation challenge but also because I was curious about how it compared to the film. Turns out I’d forgotten whole chunks of the story, so it was cool to read the original book, and I think I’ll rewatch the movie sometime soon now that the book is fresh in my mind.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder

shiv123's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Pedophilia and Physical abuse

kristinhunziker's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Trafficking

sucrose's review against another edition

Too dark for me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Blood, Trafficking, and Murder