Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Depraved by Bryan Smith

2 reviews

shrikebait's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-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

I picked this book up based on the gnarly cover and was not disappointed. Depraved felt like watching a gory horror movie with just about all of the "classic" extreme horror tropes. 

It was interesting seeing how each character evolves as they commit heinous acts to survive. I usually don't like "where are they now"- type epilogues, but this one is an exception. It really hammers in the lingering, irreversible effects of that dark day. 

As with all extreme horror, heed content warnings. Depraved is especially heavy on SA. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Fatphobia, Slavery, Rape, Confinement, Ableism, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Torture, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Cannibalism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Blood, Child death, Murder, and Trafficking

Moderate: Car accident, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Incest, Sexism, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Misogyny, Racism, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Infertility

Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

afinalgirl's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

“Such a pretty speech.” 

Pete shook his head. “It’s not just a speech. It’s—” 

“The Prestons ate my fiancé.”

depraved is like the hills have eyes x house of 1000 corpses and honestly reads like some wildly unrealistic fanfic - but there’s something about it that is so compelling you have to keep reading? just don’t take it seriously.

i enjoyed the multiple POVs, even though they never crossed over at any point, and i loved how fast-paced it was. it never got boring. there’s a lot of violence and sexual assault in this, like it’s constant, and i feel that’s part of the shock value the author was going for. the coping mechanism of each character are HILARIOUS.

i found the author’s style of writing a bit stilted, and some of the reactions and thought processes of the characters felt like they were written by a teenager (i don’t know how else to describe it but i know the way i wrote as a fifteen year old and this felt like that). however there was a lot that i loved, certain phrases that were just so on point and clever 👏🏼 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, and Slavery

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Body shaming, and Rape