Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

The September House by Carissa Orlando

76 reviews

kit_icarus8's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

meagan123's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Self harm, Suicide, Dementia, and Gaslighting

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

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

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

gem114's review

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

I’m not usually a horror fan, but I couldn’t put this down.

I loved how the author explored the parallels of staying in an abuse relationship to staying in the haunted house. Of course Hal couldn’t adapt. As the abuser, he wasn’t nearly as practiced as Margaret at “making a heaven out of a hell.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Suicide, Excrement, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

michellefre's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

ceruleanseas's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-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

3.75

While I found the plot extremely predictable, I enjoyed the book quite a bit. It's well-written and although the twists are mostly the common horror tropes, it wasn't boring. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Police brutality

emstermeegs's review

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

The premise was interesting, however I wouldn't say the twists were surprising. I knew what happened to the husband from the start. 
I could tell this was a debut - it was clunky in spots, repetitive. The gore was also repetitive and at times felt unnecessary. The relationships were weird, as was the fact that people stuck around for no good reason. 

It had it's spooky moments and was quirky. The fact the main character refused to be afraid was also kind of fun, if not also frustrating. 

All in all, it was an experience. I probably wouldn't recommend to many people, but certainly a book that gives Halloween vibes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cannibalism

whatkatyread87's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail