Reviews tagging 'Gore'

El laberinto del fauno by Guillermo del Toro

9 reviews

kaziaroo's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

I'm going to put this one down as "not for me". The fairytale style of writing grated on and frustrated me, as I constantly wanted more detail and depth but instead the narrative just glossed over descriptions and interspersed them with pretty platitudes. It felt like the author's only input in adapting the film for the page was to explain all the metaphors and leave nothing to the reader to deduce by themselves – for example: "The music Vidal listened to was playful and strangely different from the razor and the boots. It gave away that cruelty and death were a dance for him" (p. 56). It was as if the author thought they were writing for a child and needed to explain everything, but at the same time the book showed scenes of torture and death that are definitely not suitable for children.

The adult characters were well drawn but mostly one-dimensional. Oddly, the realistic scenes with Vidal and Carmen were much more impactful than the fantastical scenes with the Faun and the Pale Man. I've only seen clips of the film it's inspired by but I get the impression that the fantasy scenes that would have been chilling or even scary in the film were almost boring in the book. 

I went in not knowing much about either the book or film and wasn't expecting so much direct portrayal of real-life war and fascism; judging from the cover (which has an image of Ofelia serenely hugging the Faun), I was expecting the fantasy to be more important to the main story rather than a series of possibly-imagined side quests that distract Ofelia from the awful events of her wartime life. I almost feel like the book shouldn't really be shelved in the fantasy section for that reason.

Overall, I was disappointed by this and would have DNFed if it had been any longer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Toxic relationship, Torture, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Confinement, Death of parent, Child death, Gun violence, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Miscarriage, Genocide, Gore, War, and Drug use

Minor: Alcohol and Rape

borrelvissie's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Gore, and War

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Blood

14silja's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Violence, Blood, and Gun violence

Moderate: Cannibalism

Minor: Alcohol

xiggy's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, Death of parent, Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: War

Minor: Alcohol, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Drug use

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This is one of my favorite movies so I was excited to see it in book form. Love the cover! It's dark and beautiful just like the film. This is a great companion novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Violence, Misogyny, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Torture, Blood, Grief, War, Murder, and Sexism

Moderate: Gore and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Cannibalism, Abortion, Vomit, Child abuse, and Cursing

corriejn's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Blood, Gore, and Gun violence

Moderate: War, Cannibalism, and Pregnancy

Minor: Alcohol, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Fire/Fire injury

ts_anne13's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

Minor: Rape

mari_library's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

God-tier

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Gore, and Torture

Moderate: War

Minor: Child abuse and Medical content

kathrynleah's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

3.0

A short read, perfect for October and the spooky season. Read like an old fairytale, but definitely with darker themes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Blood