Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The September House by Carissa Orlando

240 reviews

maregred's review

challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Mental illness, Suicide, Vomit, and Cannibalism

youngloveleroy's review

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Blood

reading_oyster's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

A decent read. Not my typical genre choice but I chose it for the spooky season. Read a review saying that it was a little predictable and at first I thought it wasn't but once I got near the end, I made a spot on guess of parts of the plot. But then it hits you with a plot twist which was reasonable and made sense. Then it hits you with another plot twists (a reversal actually). This book is mainly plot driven and has a great plot for a mystery/horror book. Would be a great movie/show adaptation honestly. Very similar vibes to "Haunting of Hill House" 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Blood

Minor: Suicide attempt

rajaraks's review

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcoholism, Cursing, and Mental illness

witchymermaid's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book. I don't want to give much away, but this book had so many layers that slowly peeled away. I couldn't put it down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Murder, and Gaslighting

lmconway_ak's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

The perfect Halloween read! An excellent story well written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Murder

the_vegan_bookworm's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This book was recommended to me as an exploration of abusive relationships through the metaphor of the haunted house. I would definitely agree with this explanation and think that this is emotional horror at its finest with a great exploration of abuse, trauma and family dynamics. 

Though it's solid horror and the stakes felt very clear throughout, the ending felt a little lackluster for me. I can't figure out what I'd have wanted to see differently, but it did feel a bit anticlimactic. Maybe it was that some things felt unresolved, like why the house was so attached to Margaret in particular, what her childhood was like outside of the instability that gets referenced in passing, etc.

I'd still recommend this book really highly and look forward to other works from this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Domestic abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore and Fire/Fire injury

carrie562's review

dark sad medium-paced

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

3.0

This book had a fantastic premise, but the execution was somewhat disappointing. Still, I enjoyed it and wanted to keep reading and find out what was going to happen. A lot of gore and violence but not enough chills or moments of real terror. The tone took me by surprise, too - it’s not one of those mounting-dread, what’s-going-on-here haunted house stories. It’s a little bit sillier, but the reason for that literary choice does become clear as the story progresses.

The story is told in first person, both as the harrowing events of the present unfold and in flashbacks to explain the history of the main characters and their family dynamic. The MC and her husband have purchased a gorgeous old house that turns out to be haunted by a bunch of murder victims, mostly children, mostly (but not entirely) harmless but extremely upsetting. The narrator’s elaborate system for coping with the various ghostly presences is presented as an allegory for living with an abusive spouse. The author, unfortunately, does not trust you for a hot second to notice this symbolism on your own and points out the parallels over and over again. Her constant “see? see what I did there?” gets tiresome pretty quickly and dulls what could have been a sharp piece of social commentary.

As for the horror plot, it’s pretty standard issue: bad things happened in the house, and the restless spirits are trapped there until they get satisfaction. Revenge? Justice? Whatever, the details aren't important. The first person perspective allows for some clever ambiguity - is this a reliable narrator? what’s really going on here? - but more could have been done with that to build suspense throughout the book. Still, it was a quick and entertaining Halloween read, if not an enduring classic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

andy5185's review

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

2.0

I wanted to like this so much based on all the buzz, but in the end I found it too cliche for my taste. That said, the ghosts were all really well rendered and it definitely had some truly horrifying chiller moments.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

mlthomas234's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, and Blood

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol