Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

1427 reviews

lavendar_fr0g's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-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

4.0

I don’t like dystopians too much, so I kept that in mind as I went in. 

The scenes are gruesome, detailed in a wonderful way but nothing special if you’ve  a reader of extreme horror in general. To people who aren’t used to intense horror and gore, it’ll definitely be a hard one to get through. 

I strangely felt more sad than horrified, but there’s something nice about that- horror doesn’t always have to just scare you; it can invoke other emotions too. The ending surprised me, but looking back at the course of the book- it makes sense. 

Don’t go in expecting for the protagonist to change the world and society (a common trend in dystopians); he’s complicit in it. A participator and even an enforcer. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Physical abuse, Rape, Death, Child death, and Death of parent

Minor: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

wh101's review against another edition

dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Cannibalism, and Murder

Minor: Child death

tarklovishki's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

1.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Pandemic/Epidemic, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Classism, Child death, Cannibalism, Murder, Violence, Slavery, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, and Physical abuse

moonwillow27458's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual content, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, and Trafficking

kadbee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexual assault, Blood, Gore, Dementia, Death, Cannibalism, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Child death

Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, Infidelity, and Rape

bobaa_frog's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

5.0

A story marketed as a cannibal horror story, that is really about the cruelty of dehumanization.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Sexual assault, Body horror, Trafficking, Rape, Blood, Colonisation, and Child death

parkerluck's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.75

I was rec'd this based off of how much I like Oryx and Crake and it was indeed in line! Good writing, I didn't feel like the violence or content was "gratuitous" or shock over substance or whatever else. The subject matter is horrific so heed warnings, but it's explored well and I felt it was pretty in line with, again, O&C or other bleak dystopia stuff. Enjoyed the character work for the MC, the rest of the cast wasn't as fleshed out but didn't really need to be for such a quick read. 

The people saying the ending was a "twist" don't know how to read imo. The book does a good job of building Marcos, showing you who he is, who he thinks he is, how he fits into the world.

As far as unreliable narrators go, he's not even very unreliable and the story doesn't try to conceal what he's doing or capable of doing at any point. Combined with the Icarus thread he tells himself at the end (it doesn't matter if you fall, what matters is that for a moment you were a bird), it's a very basic set up and execution of him as a character. Frustrating to see other people have so much trouble with the dissonance between the actual narrative and the narrative Marcos himself constructs tbh but what can you do. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Infertility, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Child death, Misogyny, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Slavery, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Violence

Moderate: Torture, Rape, and Gore

lulublanche368's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Dementia

Minor: Pregnancy and Child death

50shadesofrae's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

The kind of book so dense with social commentary that it should be taught in schools, if only it wasn’t so uniquely horrific. I loved, and I can only recommend it to a handful of people.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Death, Classism, Cannibalism, Violence, and Rape

s4r41d's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Child death, Blood, Murder, Animal death, Death of parent, Gore, Cannibalism, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Sexual assault