Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home by Jeffrey Cranor, Joseph Fink

9 reviews

ashely_56's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

This was such an incredible read! As some who was introduced to Weclome to.Night-Vale by a friend this books had just enough of that Night-Vale Grim-Whimsy to hook me. 
It had the found family trope that I always enjoy and surprising great asexual representation in the charming Andre. I am happy that our protagonist got some happiness in her life. Yet I must say the Albert section broke my heart into a million pieces.

Yet, This book tell the tragic story of a girl life that was destroyed by vengeance, that in turn bleeds into her afterlife. It shows what revenge can do to a soul when it is the only force guiding you. The Faceless woman is a complicated protagonist while I admire her distain for capitalism and industrialization I can't really get behind Spoiler Alert:


<Murdering each son in the lineage of the person who destroyed her life

I can get behind her murdering the person that actually did it they deserved it but the other people are innocent.>

Yet this books has so many poetic prose and profound moments that I had to give it 5 starts.

A great story if you love, found family trope, paths of vengeance, poetic prose, and pirates!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Car accident, Death of parent, Death, Gore, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Torture, Gaslighting, Violence, Antisemitism, and Alcoholism

fox_at_the_circus's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I enjoyed this book immensly! I always love a good heist and found family plot and this book really gives us great characters with great relationships. I loved the character development of the faceless old woman who secretly lives in your home and seeing how she became the person we know and love from WTNV. She has a really interesting character arc and seeing her revenge story unfold is very interesting and tragic. 
This book is full of mystery and plot twists and intrigue and it is so fun to theorise while reading. And sometimes I saw things coming, but never the whole twist, never all of it; great foreshadowing with great pay-off!
It also has some amazing prose in it, in the earlier flashbacks especially with the "what X smells like" paragraphs, those really hit hard for me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Body horror, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, and Car accident

toopunkrockforshul's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Absolutely loved this book! The first two novels where good and very night vale vibes but this one was just absolutely stellar, both in the plot and the execution. The prose was absolutely beautiful, and there were so many good motifs and foreshadowing and pay offs. Also Mara Wilson's narration is fantastic. Wonderful book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Murder, Violence, Gun violence, and Gore

Moderate: Cancer

hexe_19's review

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Stalking, Gaslighting, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Car accident, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Antisemitism, and Cancer

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Child death

mixmousereads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism

librarymouse's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

You don't need to listen to the podcast to understand this book, but if you listen to the podcast you should read this book. The length to which the narrator's life is systematically and fundamentally destroyed explains her idiosyncratic behaviors on the podcast in a way that makes them make sense in the context of Night Vale's weirdness. The writing is incredibly well done and immersive, and the narrator slow descent into the violent and creepy old woman from the sweet and curious young girl were first introduced to is fully believable in the narrative.

the lengths to which Edmond worked to completely destroy not only the narrator's father's legacy, but the narrator herself are impressive and obsessive in equal measure. The effort he put in, in making sure she would never have joy, have a future, or know her family is astounding, and the revelation about lady Nora is so heartbreaking. The authors did an incredible job making the reader love the narrator even as we watched her become what she becomes. She genuinely loves Edmund's heirs right up until the moment they have a son of their own. Her sense of reality is so twisted and her need for revenge so entrenched that the cyclical nature of her revenge is both astounding and understandable. I really enjoyed that we got to see little Josefina and her angels make the faceless old woman feel welcome for the first time in a long time. After everything, Night Vale is the only place where she could belong.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Car accident, Grief, and Suicide

voilajean's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Stalking, Death, Violence, Murder, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, and Body horror

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Suicide, Alcoholism, and Antisemitism

Minor: Slavery, Colonisation, and Acephobia/Arophobia

theoldestbennetsister's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, and Stalking

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Abandonment, Animal death, Antisemitism, Body horror, Car accident, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Torture, and Alcoholism

avatarjini's review

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Of all the Welcome to Night Vale novels that have been put out to date, this one is my personal favourite. The story about the Faceless Old Woman's past is full of thrilling adventure and betrayal, and there are some parts of the story that are positively exciting in the turns that occur. The Faceless Old Woman herself is an enigma given shape and meaning, and while I was skeptical of any Night Vale character being given more depth than necessary - essentially stripping them of their mystery - this story solidifies an already wonderful character and answers questions that you perhaps never had, casually side-stepping any information that would make her character lose the charm and mystery that drew you to it in the first place, and instead adds new dimensions to her character.

Anybody that hasn't engaged in the world of Night Vale before this will find it an easy book to get into, and no prior information of Night Vale is required to sink your teeth into the story. Those who are familiar with Night Vale will only find themselves more enthralled with the Faceless Old Woman and the journey that brought her to Night Vale. 

I listened to the audiobook , narrated by the bold and calculating voice of Mara Wilson, the original voice for the Faceless Old Woman, who does the story justice, as we all knew she would. I would even recommend the audiobook, as having the Faceless Old Woman narrate her own story is a delight to listen to.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, and Gore

Moderate: Death, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Suicide