Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Lies We Sing to the Sea by Sarah Underwood

3 reviews

mirandyli's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.25

This was a beautiful story perfect for fans of queer Greek mythology. Very heartwrenching.

I thought this book was going to subvert the “kill your gays” trope, but in the end, a queer character does die. It isn’t a happy ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lesemaus2303's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

I loved every bit of it! 
Almost didn't want to finish it because i didn't want the story to end. Emotional and so thrilling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

hanne_'s review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.0

Gods, what a slog. Had one early moment with properly horrific use of familiar imagery (the feet, what else?), and then… kinda fell apart. This could’ve been sweet and lush, but tried to do too much with too little and was narratively all over the place. It’s a reimagining of how the Odys— okay, it’s not really doing that rigorously but it’s an intensely personal exploration of— nope, it’s one of those “monarchic inheritance acts like a reality show competition” books— but don’t worry, this YA love triangle’s *bisexual* and even drifting toward polyam— oh wait, now we’re doing the senselessly tragic nature of capital-F Fate— whoops, have two sudden twists… and it’s over. Exhausting. 

I think the author needed to pick one or two things to really commit to: the worldbuilding as an extension of The Odyssey, the consistency of the magic and plot elements she wanted to include, Leto and Melantho’s first-person voices (which started out refreshing and distinct but soon blended together), the three protagonists’ relationships, or the political/governing elements. Instead, the story rushes past each in turn in service of the others, and the only reliably well-developed element is actually… the violence? If you for some reason want to read a lot of detail about people, mostly children, being disturbingly murdered and assaulted, this is the book for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

It’s not creepy if the centuries-old entity having sex with a young woman also looks and acts like a young woman, right? No, nope, wrong, absolutely creepy, and some memory loss to reduce the weight of her years of experience does not fix it.