Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie

10 reviews

eerieehobbit's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Bullying

fseely's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I got creeped out within the first forty pages and thought that I maybe wouldn’t be able to finish the book but I kept reading a hit further and got hooked. The plot and format of the book held my attention and made me want to keep reading even at parts that creeped me out.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Gun violence

Minor: Vomit, Physical abuse, and Self harm

darepng'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse

Minor: Vomit

squambles214's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Domestic abuse and Physical abuse

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

kittiesss's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Police brutality and Physical abuse

Minor: Gun violence and Self harm

_forestofpages's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Gun violence

Moderate: Vomit, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse

aileron's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma and Death

Moderate: Physical abuse, Self harm, Child abuse, Gun violence, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit, Alcoholism, and Blood

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

emimli's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Wait, I actually really liked this.

Was not expecting it to go full House of Leaves at the end, but I’m so glad it did!

If you’re looking for a more traditional haunted house/ghost story then I would recommend skipping this one. But if you enjoy sci-fi horror with cosmic/Lovecraftian themes then definitely check it out!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Death

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Self harm, and Physical abuse

Minor: Alcoholism and Medical trauma