Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Der Knochenwald: Roman by Christina Henry

84 reviews

lishstu's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Blood, and Abandonment

hyperashley's review against another edition

dark 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Violence, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting

Minor: Murder

justagoos's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

dcnireads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.25

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD

i usually dont do well with books that have less but beefy chapters, but ooh boy this was journey and i have to say i was invested almost right from the beginning. meeting mattie and being horrified by her current state to getting skin crawls as her real background slowly unfolds? chills. the back and forth "dialogue" and way of thinking as she switches between mattie and samantha's separate ways of thinking and seeing how both sides dealt with their situation internally? honestly excellent.

watching sam suffer through william's abuse and seeing her come to terms with what she lost because of him and how he affected her in many ways--especially after she escaped him--was heartbreaking. but at the same time, i admired how she refused to let the damage that he'd done dictate her fate and her future, and that no matter what he did to break her, sam was still there deep down, and she never lost her spirit. from beggining to end, she was a true fighter and it paid off for her in a satsifying way and that's what i'm fucking here for. plus, i loved the contrast of how sam dealt with trauma, danger and pain in a way that C.P. and the others couldn't, and how she was able to use her experiences and endurance for things like that to help them survive. it was a good way to show the definition of "pain makes you stronger" and i actually liked that.

i also liked the twist of there being two monsters who were actually parent and child, and how that explained why the mother only attacked the weakest and most vulnerable out of desire to protect its offspring. that was pretty clever. i do wish the "sorting" and "warning" behaviors of the cryptids were given more elaboration, and i think the last moment with them was a bit anti-climactic, but i have no other complaints. it was scary, imposing, unique and overall a pretty great creature feature.

i definitely got hooked on this one a bit more than i expected. the atmosphere was so eerie and intense, and every moment of danger [whether with william or the monsters] was quite thrilling and harrowing at the same time, to a point where i don't even mind that the final confrontation was kinda underwhelming. i'm just glad sam and C.P. made it out alive, and it felt cathartic that sam ended up being the one to end william's nasty ass. that along with the final paragraph and line of the book is enough to make this one is a strong 4.25 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Death of parent

kyra_joy's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

i have a bone to pick with Libby (or my library i’m not sure). despite it potentially being a spoiler to the reader, i think books should say when a book is going to contain supernatural/sci-fi/fantasy elements. that is 100% not a deal breaker for me but i HATE being surprised by that. on Libby, it did not say it in the top genres or the synopsis. 

aside from that, this had some good aspects and some bad aspects. i think the underlying abuse

(kidnapping)

storyline felt a little bit of a caricature to me. some parts of it didn’t make sense/pan out

Is her sister even real? Why wasn’t she ever mentioned and nobody has any information on that but know everything else about the case? also, i feel like a lot of the stuff that the main character did didn’t make any sense for her situation. also, where did the drug stuff come from? that felt like it came out of left field.

there’s definitely lots and lots of trigger warnings.

the paranormal portions didn’t really work despite them being a surprise

How does the main character seem to understand and sense the “monster” perfectly despite any experience with anything of that nature? the proportions of the “monster” never made any sense to me either.

overall, i’m mad at Libby and don’t think this was done very well. take that as you will.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

atipsygiraffe's review against another edition

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Gore

meemawreads's review against another edition

Bad writing, obvious plot, one-dimensional characters. Domestic violence doesn't entertain me in my fiction. The only thing scary about this book is that anyone liked it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Animal death

moxiereads's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

crystal689's review against another edition

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit and Religious bigotry

Minor: Drug use