Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims

53 reviews

slime_retro's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Vomit and Drug use

endaira91's review

dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, and Child death

Minor: Racism

aylaoaktree's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Violence, Body horror, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Child death and Addiction

Minor: Transphobia

gracecrandall's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Classism, Violence, Terminal illness, Colonisation, Murder, Gore, Police brutality, Confinement, Blood, Abandonment, Body horror, Cannibalism, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Transphobia, Death of parent, Racism, Deadnaming, Grief, and Deportation

evelphysicist's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

A tense and intriguing read. I really enjoyed the style of this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Blood, Terminal illness, Kidnapping, Violence, Murder, and Body horror

Moderate: Slavery, Cannibalism, Deadnaming, and Medical trauma

Minor: Child death, Alcoholism, Grief, and Colonisation

artmajorese's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

4.0

If you enjoyed the Magnus Archives, you'll probably enjoy this. Jonathan Sims stays true to his brand of spookiness. He also sticks with his characteristic tendency to build slowly on a narrative through small episodic arcs.  

While I enjoyed it, it didn't quite hit 5 stars for me.  It felt both too fast and too slow. By the time I got familiar with a narrator, it changed to a different narrator in a different chapter.  By the last chapter, when all the threads were tied together, I had forgotten which character was which.  Things happened fast for each narrator, but the build of all information together was too slow for my taste, so that when we hit the big reveal it felt rushed rather than foreshadowed and earned.   

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Trafficking, Classism, Colonisation, Police brutality, Medical trauma, War, Genocide, and Xenophobia

songofthewolfy's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

Excellent debut novel by Jonathan Sims! I loved The Magnus Archives, and thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I did feel that the end went a little fast for how much of a build-up there was to the climax. But I found it very enjoyable, and can't wait for more from him!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Murder, Police brutality, Blood, Body horror, Torture, Classism, Mental illness, Alcohol, Colonisation, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, and Cannibalism

Sims uses the listed content warnings to deliver a scathing critique of society. However, he does not shy away from depictions of mental illness, gore, and trauma. Please use discretion.

bigofheartdumbofass's review

challenging dark 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? No

5.0

I like the way the horror was constructed, and there wasn't a single individual story I didn't like. My favorite was Cari's. The ending was a bit on the nose with the theming during the villain monologue but it doesn't take away from anything imo. I also really liked the epilogue. The only thing I actively don't like was the fact that Jonny Sims made three characters who all had relatively similar parts to play ALL have names that started with "D". It was so confusing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death, and Gore

Minor: Alcoholism, Transphobia, and Addiction

Most of the gore is at the end and in Jason's story.

Death

is in Jason and Alvita's stories and the end.

erakkorapu's review

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cannibalism, Classism, and Death

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Deadnaming

raphthebard's review

dark mysterious reflective slow-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

4.75

This book is probably one of the most enjoyable I've read. You find yourself being immersed in Banyan Court and it's uneasy atmosphere, and you find yourself rooting for the residents within the halls. I like how the horror portrays a reality for people living in dire situations, like it portrays the horror of capitalism and exploitation. Personally, I'm doing a re-read and post-noting it a lot, because i found the implementation of these themes to be truly intriguing. My personal favourite chapters were Inbox, A Stubborn Stain, and Round the Clock. Please read this book if you enjoy a set of cool, mysterious stories with enjoyable characters and concepts. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Body horror

Moderate: Classism

Will update this when I re-read, but there's generally a lot of body horror and violence (it is Jonny Sims after all.)