Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand

46 reviews

danicampbell0506's review

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Murder, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Sexism, Sexual content, and Blood

lovelyannalee's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

1.0

I really wanted to like this … I really tried to like this … but I just couldn’t.  Cringey writing, bland boring characters, predictable storytelling, and slow-as-snail pacing cannot be ignored because of the queer representation—and even then, the characters were written so stereotypically that it felt like it didn’t even matter!!  Plus, why the man-hating?!  Why does every feminist novel I read crap on men?? 

I forced myself to speed-read this at midnight and halfway through ended up skimming and I know for a fact that I didn’t miss anything of importance because this novel didn’t contain anything worth reading!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Gore

Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual content

b10tch's review

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

If I could give it more than five stars I would

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia

mamawantsbooks's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Acephobia/Arophobia, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Grief, and Violence

eli_jw's review

dark emotional mysterious 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Animal death, and Gore

Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia and Body horror

space_bandit's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Gore, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Vomit, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Blood

sameehaha's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? No

4.0

This was addicting to read. I wish I had more thoughts to share but that's really all. I spent most of my free time reading this so I think that's a good enough review.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Child death, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Sexual content, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Confinement, Bullying, and Animal death

Minor: Sexual violence and Acephobia/Arophobia

_forestofpages's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.5

I enjoyed the writing immensely, it was creepy and immersive. I really enjoyed that each character was flawed in their own way and that none of them had a perfect relationship with their parents.

The mystery and the villain were super intriguing and I loved the symbolisms for feminism and the cruelty of man, though sometimes it seemed pretty heavy handed. I also liked that it had a Sapphic relationship, though I couldn't really enjoy it because of the context of the one character and her actions toward the other. Also, one of the main characters is ace and I really appreciated that since that orientation is very overlooked.

Now onto spoilers and why its not a four star read for me:

A big important plot point wasn't mentioned or revealed until act 3 which I find kind of weird. I also felt like the overt amount of feminism was unneeded. The second group of antagonists were all these horrible misogynists that didn't show up until act 3. It just felt really heavy-handed and really late in the story to introduce them. Just the likelihood of every one of those guys having the fact they hate women be the reason they do things the way they do them is unreal. Some of them had to want to do it because they wanted to live, or because they had a hero complex and it was for the "greater good" or something. Why were all of their motivations the same? Because it was convenient I would guess. The ending with that conflict felt rushed to me.

I did like the end and how Marian had grown so much that she was willing to die for them and for all the other girls. That was a great moment and I would say out of the three she was my favorite.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, Grief, Sexism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Vomit, Animal death, Gore, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Sexual assault

greeneggsandsam's review

dark mysterious sad tense 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

4.25

 Sawkill Girls is a YA horror with a bit of a fantasy element to it. Marion's mother and sister have just lost their father, and they move to an island called Sawkill Rock to live in a cottage on the Mortimer's property and become their maids. This novel follows Marion's persepctive, as well as Val and Zoey who already lived on the island. Young girls have been going missing for decades, and when the killing rate increases drastically, these three girls find themselves tangled up in a dangerous world of monsters they never knew existed. 
 This is the first horror novel I've ever read, so I didn't know what to expect. I'm happy to say I was VERY happy with this book. While being a horror, there was some fantastically developed parts of the book, and that made me like it even more as a fantasy lover. Legrand also did a good job at writing something scary, because I had to put the book down at times from being so spooked out (and reading in a basement by myself at 2 am). Despite being something I'm not used to reading, I flew through this book and didn't want to put it down. Sawkill Girls is also queer and Sapphic. I feel like the relationships in the book are well developed, and Zoey's love interest makes me absolutely swoon!
 I am definitely interested in reading more horror, and I am stoked that this is the one I started the genre with because it's amazing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Physical abuse

Minor: Rape

a_libraryghost's review against another edition

dark emotional 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: Death and Gore

Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia and Sexual content

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexism