Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie

5 reviews

angie11290's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Grief, Racism, Xenophobia, Death, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexism, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Violence, Gun violence, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Dysphoria, Toxic friendship, and Blood

zarakoconnor's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Great exploration of trauma and internal struggles that fuel people, asking questions about existence and science and the supernatural and what that means for humanity. The mixed media style made the story flow quickly and characterisation was uniquely engaging. This is not just a ghost story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Gun violence, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, and Police brutality

sky_maris's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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

Moderate: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Child abuse, Gun violence, Murder, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, and Violence

blacksphinx's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

As a lover of horror and the epistolary format, this book was a highly anticipated release for me. While it turned out to be a fun ride and would make a GREAT movie, it stumbled a bit at a basic level that constantly nagged at me. See, the two hardest aspects of the epistolary format are "does this sound like an authentic record a person would make?" and "does it make sense that this information is being recorded in this situation?" 

A large portion of this book is journal entries. The reasoning behind having the characters journal (excerpts would be pulled from them for blog posts to promote upcoming episodes of the TV show) is great. But, often these "journal entries" felt like regular first-person narration, of the kind that constantly pinged my brain as "someone is making stuff up in a reddit post." (who the hell is out here writing down conversations word-for-word with quotation marks hours after the event??) While these entries bothered me, there are other aspects that truly shined - I loved the text messages between Jessica and her sister in particular.

The closer we get to the end of the novel, the more it cracked my suspension of disbelief that people in threatening, possibly lethal, situations with a ticking clock would stop every couple of feet and write about their feelings. It's okay for there to be gaps the audience gets to puzzle over! I promise! 

Overall, it is still an entertaining book and a solid B horror movie, but it didn't set the genre on fire or anything. I will be checking out the author's back catalog in the future. If you are looking for more epistolary horror, may I recommend the short story collection Among the Lilies by Daniel Mills? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Death, Murder, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Police brutality

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, Self harm, Excrement, and Physical abuse

Minor: Death of parent, Cannibalism, Racism, Alcoholism, and Injury/Injury detail

saric7's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Death

Moderate: Confinement, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Vomit, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Police brutality and Abandonment