Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

10 reviews

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

thebiblioboo's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Vomit, Suicide, Death, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual content, Stalking, Violence, and Child death

darquedreamer's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

I spent most of the time reading this book thinking "what the hell am I reading?", but I also couldn't put it down. The writing was dark and atmospheric, and the story was nothing like I've read before. There was a little bit of predictability to the ending, but there was enough of a twist to leave my jaw hanging for a few seconds.

This one was both full of color and void of it in the same time. Like movies in color with black and white flash backs. That's how I can best describe it. It gave Stranger Things vibes, as well as a little, My So Called Life vibes, in a way. It was emotional and shocking and gripping!  It was both beautiful and grotesque, and now I want more! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Gore, Death, Sexism, Vomit, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content, Drug use, Sexual assault, Child death, Body horror, and Suicide

xuxy's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child abuse, Kidnapping, and Child death

Minor: Death, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

lvosler21's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Sexual content, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Addiction, Child death, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Gore, Alcoholism, Drug use, Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Suicide, and Violence

redefiningrachel's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal cruelty, Gaslighting, Animal death, Child death, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Body horror

Moderate: Child abuse, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Sexual content, Alcohol, Mental illness, and Stalking

Minor: Drug use, Drug abuse, and Bullying

kt2e56's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

Okay so this is described as a dark fairytale on here, but it’s actually a bleak fairytale. One of the very few books I’ve read that doesn’t waste a single page. It genuinely holds you captive from beginning to end. Nothing feels wasteful. Nothing feels unnecessary. All of the characters are compelling. The twists and turns and reveals feel earned. I just really loved this book a lot. Krystal Sutherland has such a visceral voice as a writer, I can really feel and see and touch and smell and taste EVERYTHING she puts on the page.

Very much looking forward to reading more from her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Body horror, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Child death, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcoholism, Stalking, Suicide, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Vomit

frankiejo's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.75

two words: holy shit.

this was an incredible read that I tore through in less than a week. a definite page turner if there ever was one.

to be honest, the beginning left me a little bit worried. while i very much enjoyed the atmosphere and mood that beginning set, i felt at the start that things were a little overdescribed/overwrought/overdramatic, what have you, and that the exposition was a little heavy-handed and unsubtle, interrupting the narrative to explain what the girls were like as young children, or telling us their personalities, or describing the past reactions to their disappearance. i think the book could have benefited from a chapter or two at the beginning, maybe one showing their disappearance and the immediate aftermath, and the second showing their return and subsequent weirdness? the prologue could still be the same, because it's a brilliant hook, so it would be prologue - flashback - flash-forward - continue as written. i think that would have helped with the sometimes heavy handed exposition.

but these issues either dissapear completely or become negligible in the face of this book's fantastic middle and ending—or, like half the beginning, the middle, and the ending. i don't know, structure points like that are blurry as hell.

i honestly could not tell you if the exposition was poor after the beginning—it certainly seemed like less of an issue to me, but it might have just been so good i completely ignored it. the twist (which i wont spoil) is brilliant. it was perfectly executed. just enough clues and foreshadowing were given that i almost guessed it  (i guessed something kind of similar, i had one major element wrong) but it wasn't obvious, although in hindsight there are definitely enough hints to guess the twist in its entirety, which isn't a bad thing! in fact i think its a good thing.

another thing i like about the twist is that i think the book would still work if you went in already knowing it. i feel like today we act like knowing a spoiler is the worst thing that could ever happen to a reader or viewer, especially with franchises like Marvel not even telling their actors the context for the scene they're doing to avoid them accidentally spoiler their Sacred Movie, but my honest opinion if that if knowing a spoiler ruins your movie's/book's/tv show's rewatch/reread value. and i just put this book down and i already want to reread it to see all the foreshadowing i missed. like go through with a highlighter and everything, haha. so if you already know the twist, don't worry, there is still plenty of value in the book, youll just have a different kind of fun realising all the foreshadowing i may have missed!

also, the ending leaves plenty of room open for a sequel if Sutherland wants to write one, but it's still a satisfying ending if there is no sequel, which is a skill!

all in all, a brilliantly plotted and executed read, with a slightly rocky beginning more than made up for once the ball gets rolling.

rep; bi main character, lesbian major character, gender-nonconforming major characters, korean major character 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Vomit, Child death, Grief, and Gun violence

Moderate: Blood, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Murder, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Stalking, and Suicide

Minor: Ableism, Child abuse, Drug use, and Misogyny

moderate nudity, moderate smoking, graphic binge eating, graphic bugs (entomophobia trigger),

xoxlululuxox's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? N/A

5.0

What an absolutely beautiful book. House of Hollow was intriguing and thrilling in all the right ways.

The story follows Iris as she tries to figure out the mystery of what happened to her and her sisters when she was seven after her eldest sister goes missing. There is so much that happens as we follow Iris and Vivi on their journey to find Grey. Each girl is so unique in the way that they are written about, you can definitely understand the intense draw they must have in their world, even on the page. 

This book is written beautifully. The language used to describe the events, the scenery is just stunning, you are truly able to envision exactly what the author wants you to. 

I truly loved this dark and modern twist on classic folklore. If there was more to this story I would definitely want it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Medical content, Sexual content, Vomit, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol, and Stalking

booksonhermind's review

This is not a YA book. It's just tedious and not what I was expecting. I'm almost done but I can't be bothered to finish.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual content and Sexual assault