Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

98 reviews

feyreofthestars's review

dark funny hopeful mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, and Gore

Moderate: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Stalking, Bullying, and Vomit

Minor: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Animal death, and Drug use

bloomingrose92's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

While horror isn't really my thing, this book was incredibly well written. I particularly liked the descriptions that Sutherland gave. They provided a strong sense of rotting darkness throughout the book with novel phrases I'd never heard before.

And the twist of them not be chased by something that hides in the dark, but being the thing that hides in the dark was excellent. That they killed the three little Hollow girls, stole their bodies, then left them, unburied, as they took over the Hollow sisters' lives. I especially liked the line that Grey called out to the Hollow sisters for help, and they listened, because Grey was a little girl too. And the masked killer haunting them is actually the Hollow's father, coerced by their unholy magic to suicide, and refusing to pass on so that he can finally bring down his children's killers? Chef's kiss. I loved the detail of him finding his children's discarded bodies in the Halfway place, and making graves for them to finally rest. I have a particular fondness for protagonists putting everything they have into fighting a big bad, just to find out that they were the bad they were fighting. And the characterization of our protagonist in this book as a mousy bookworm who just wants to escape the weirdness of her past adds to the twist.

A well-written book, with unlikeable characters that only adds to the ultimate payoff.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Torture, Biphobia, Blood, Body horror, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, Self harm, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual assault

zonnestraal's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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? N/A

4.0

I don't read a lot off horror, but I do read fantasy, so this book was right up my alley. It wasn't to predictable, although some plottwists didn't seem that twisty to me. I borrowed this book from the library so it had the smell of old perfume and dusty pages. There was also a suspicious stain. It fitted really well with the contents of the book since a lot of smells and suspicious fluids are mentioned. I loved it. This book was a quick read, with beautifull descriptions. I didn't like the epilogue, it made it more open ended and I don't like open endings so I'll pretend it doesn't excist. On that not this is what I want to say:

Poor Tyler Yang.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence

Moderate: Gore, Vomit, Child death, Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Bullying and Alcoholism

aseel_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes

4.0

I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. This was super eerie and creepy and even with all the vibes, the plot actually managed to close itself properly, which is really impressive 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Gore, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Child abuse, Suicide, Stalking, Death, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, and Child death

of_fantasy_and_fibre's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad slow-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? No

3.75

An interesting take on the folklore surrounding missing children. Will add full review soon 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Violence, Bullying, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, and Vomit

Minor: Torture

sylvestra's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Gun violence, and Body horror

bzliz's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

Big trigger warning for body horror.

Ten years ago, Iris and her two sisters went missing for a month. Now her eldest sister Grey is missing again and has left clues for Iris and Vivi to be able to find her- or her body- because something from their forgotten past is coming back to haunt them. 

The only reason I can’t give this five stars is because of how easily I was able to predict the two major twists. The imagery was so beautiful and disgusting that I could really feel Iris’ fascination, obsession & revulsion. My favorite character ending up being Cate. Although she is a deeply flawed, haunted woman, I came to understand her controlling tendencies and her big heart. I’m not a mother but I believe only a mother could climb a mountain of trauma and still find love on the other side. 

I spent several hours after I finished this book thinking about it and how I would rate and review it. It’s been a while since I needed to sit with something for a while to gather my thoughts, which is a point in its favor. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Vomit, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Medical content, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Kidnapping

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Drug abuse, Alcohol, and Eating disorder

I’ve tagged eating disorder as a potential content warning. Although the behavior is caused by a different condition, the Hollow sisters (get it?) do engage in binge eating behaviors. Their continued description of being thin in defiance of how many calories they must consume daily could be triggering for someone struggling with their own disordered eating.

tessvosper's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Stalking, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Grief, Death, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Gore, Suicide, Violence, Gaslighting, and Child death

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Rape, and Alcoholism

aehollins21's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Drug use, and Alcoholism

Minor: Sexual assault

necroplasm's review against another edition

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? Yes

5.0

GODDD THE DESCRIPTIONS IN THIS ARE SO GOOD. from practically square one the atmosphere is just so intoxicating, shit drew me in so strongly i read almost all of this in a single day which is something i can almost never pull off for books this long

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Child death, Blood, Mental illness, Vomit, Suicide, Body horror, Death, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual assault, Bullying, and Stalking

Minor: Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Cursing