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theo_retical's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Vomit, Body horror, and Blood
Moderate: Abandonment and Death
shebbyreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Vomit, Body horror, and Blood
Moderate: Death of parent
foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Medical content, Mental illness, Grief, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Confinement
annagerman's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
However the plot itself was a bit underwhelming, especially the ending left me disappointed.
There was some really unsettling imagery that I enjoyed (especially as someone who is afraid of deep water and can't swim) but this was not a horror book. This was a beautiful emotional tale of love, devotion and loss. It was like the movie Babadok but instead of a single mother's depression it explored PTSD and loss though the lense of supernatural occurences.
Graphic: Body horror and Vomit
lilybear3's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
4.5
This is not a spoiler, but It's goes without saying that reading this book relatively shortly after the Titan Submersible incident (June 2023) was a weird coincidence and experience. Coming off of that, I made predictions on what would happen. Potential spoiler?: The second submarine media that I thought of was
Graphic: Confinement and Vomit
Moderate: Cursing and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content
maeverose's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
TL;DR: As other people have said, this isn’t so much horror as a book about grief with horror sprinkled throughout. I was interested to see what would happen the whole way through and I do tend to like books about grief, but in the end am left feeling overall ‘meh’ about the book.
A note on the horror elements for those worried about it:
If you’re especially bothered by body horror, gore, or themes of going insane I would go in prepared for that if you plan on reading it. I’m not a horror reader and I dislike reading those themes, but most of this book was fine for me (check my content warnings section for which parts to skip if you also dislike these themes but want to read anyway. You can’t really skip the ‘going insane’ stuff unless you just don’t read any of Leah’s chapters, but you’d be missing out on some parts of the story then). That being said, you know what your own limits are best. I have a moderate tolerance for gore in books and I’m rarely bothered by non-gory body horror. If you have a low tolerance overall, I’d probably skip it.
Now on to my thoughts:
(Vague/minor plot spoilers, but not really since this is not a plot-focused book)
I liked the way the Centre was depicted as this mysterious corporate entity, and wish that was explored more, as well as
On that note, I’ll end with some quotes about grieving missing loved ones that I liked:
“-grieving was complicated by lack of certainty, that the hope inherent in a missing loved one was also a species of curse.”
“In almost every case, the sense of loss was convoluted by an ache of possibility, by the almost-but-not-quite-negligible hope of reprieve.”
“Grief is selfish: we cry for ourselves without the person we have lost far more than we cry for the person - but more than that, we cry because it helps. The grief process is also the coping process and if the grief is frozen by ambiguity, by the constant possibility of reversal, then so is the ability to cope.”
Graphic: Confinement, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Terminal illness, Body horror, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, and Dementia
Moderate: Sexual content, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Vomit, Cancer, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Lesbophobia and Fatphobia
There are depictions of people gradually losing their mind in confinement,ashavila1's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body horror and Grief
Moderate: Chronic illness
Minor: Sexual content, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Vomit, Self harm, and Lesbophobia
julesreadsstuff's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Vomit
julesadventurezone's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It's a love story, it's a ghost story, it's a horror story.
Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, Death, Violence, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Suicide, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual content, Vomit, Abandonment, Dementia, Gore, Blood, Homophobia, Death of parent, and Cursing
Minor: Body shaming and Fatphobia
Contains descriptions oftheirgracegrace's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Body horror, Confinement, Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Animal death, Terminal illness, Cursing, Dementia, Mental illness, and Suicide
Moderate: Alcoholism, Addiction, Blood, Violence, Animal cruelty, and Alcohol
Minor: Cancer
One of the main characters is trapped in a submarine with two other people for six months and the three of them go clinically insane.