Reviews tagging 'Death'

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

89 reviews

queergoth_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

Wow! That was so intense. I knew I would enjoy it but I was very blown away. The mixing of the real life horror of conversion therapy and the supernatural really made this book. Also had some very hellraiser vibes in parts. It was so tense.  

I do with we'd got to know a bit more about Saul though!

I also think it's worth mentioning how well done and inter sting it was to see the way Rose and Saul's relationship to their faith differed despite them both going through the same horrors at the hands of their church.  Even though I'm not religious myself I think it is good to see someone being able to keep their faith, like Saul, even when the main church hates him. And it's good to see him find that space for himself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Death, Medical content, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Gun violence

jhug63's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Body horror, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Car accident, Gore, Forced institutionalization, and Death

gman4757's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful fast-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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Death, Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Religious bigotry, Kidnapping, Body horror, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

qteabeans's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

A read for the queer who needs the reminder that there is nothing wrong with being queer. This book is in that sweet space where it is a horror novel but it is mostly about self-love and acceptance. Can you make repairs for past harms you've done? Can you find connection with those you love? You can. All you have to do is literally fight demons. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Death, Homophobia, Confinement, Grief, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, and Child death

Moderate: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

Minor: Cursing, Alcohol, and Vomit

orizenda's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I feel like I can’t be entirely fair in my opinion of this book right now. I really liked it in the beginning but about halfway thru i had to put it down because of time constraints and lack of motivation and i just kind of lost interest after that. also i’m not religious like at all so that makes things not click as. much with me i think

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Gaslighting, Gore, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Body horror

I’m not sure if this counts as a spoiler, but there are instances of bugs being… ejected from people

kristenreads's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and Body horror

Moderate: Car accident, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

minervacerridwen's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.5

Even though I wanted to like the queer autistic main character, something about the writing made it very hard to connect with this book. It's written in first person and throws in cliché sentences in odd places, making me wonder if this was done on purpose or simply escaped an extra round of editing. The pacing of the story left me with the same question. In the first half it was interesting to see the evolution in the main character from someone extremely faithful to her religion and everything she'd learned, into a critical thinker who is trying to find her place away from the cult, but there was a large chunk after that where I lost interest. The story picked up right at the end and there were some cool concepts, but overall the distance from the main character and the general feel made it so Camp Damascus wasn't the right book for me.

Something that bothered me was that while Rose explicitly considered that these "demons" were creatures from a different universe, she never had a moment's compassion for them. Only at the end did it turn out that they only attacked queer people because they were made to, and that they'd much rather torture the oppressors instead. It felt like a dissonant that she realised they might also "just be animals" but that she didn't even try reasoning with them before finding ways to kill them, at a point where I don't think she'd had the vision of them torturing people in hell (?) yet. But then she still allows them to be on the loose at the end. I think it would have been in character for her to give the question of "what if someone or something is used for evil and needs to be stopped for that evil to stop, while at the same time it's also just some creature" more thought. Especially within the context of people being tortured just for being different.

For a long time I wondered whether the Peter Pan reference right at the beginning would become important, and while it was small, I was very glad to see the image of Rose's shadow engulfing the city at the very end. That was a nice touch.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Torture, Vomit, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Gaslighting, Gore, Hate crime, and Homophobia

bites_of_books's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

This is Chuck Tingle's first adult horror novel and I am very pleasantly surprised! We follow Rose Darling, a young woman who is starting to notice that things in her very religious town aren't all that they seem but also that not everything she thought about herself aligns with said community. Her town is known for housing a 100% success conversion camp for queer youth and she hasn't thought twice about this until she starts feeling a certain way about another young woman in her school. Her therapist and parents are incredibly supportive so she's pretty sure she'll be able to figure things out, except her own curiosity is starting to peel back at the given truths around her until she finds.... way more than she expected to find... 

A true horror book that starts a bit slow but escalates to an ending that was deeply satisfying. I did almost wish for it to be multi-POV so that I could see things from the other character's perspectives as well, I'm super curious about their lives! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Car accident, Death, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Vomit, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, and Religious bigotry

the_vegan_bookworm's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Violence, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Medical trauma, Lesbophobia, Religious bigotry, Gore, Murder, Forced institutionalization, and Body horror

Minor: Animal cruelty

Insects are heavily involved with th body horror - I would recommend avoiding if that is triggering for you.

sarahemily's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gaslighting, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, and Car accident