Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Sign Here by Claudia Lux

50 reviews

soshereads_'s review

dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Violence, Self harm, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide, Self harm, Grief, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Pedophilia, Murder, Gun violence, Blood, Bullying, and Cancer

Minor: Abortion, Torture, and Child death

cheezh8er's review against another edition

dark emotional funny medium-paced

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

3.5

This was a fun and engaging version of hell! The prose was surprisingly poignant, although a bit flowery at times. My one main issue is that the two story lines felt very disconnected through most of the book, almost being two completely different stories. There were certainly times I really couldn't bring myself to care about the high school drama and wanted to get back to exploring the underworld. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Body shaming, Bullying, Self harm, Suicide, Child abuse, Alcohol, Cursing, Eating disorder, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Torture, Sexism, Grief, Death, and Drug abuse

Minor: Car accident, Child death, Death of parent, and Gun violence

buttercup_reads's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

I really enjoyed this book, the characters and the story were engaging and I just wanted to know more. There are a few moments which pulled me out of the story, but it doesn’t stop this book being a great read. It might have left me with a few more questions than answers, but in an intriguing way that makes me wish for a sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Torture, Body horror, Murder, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Suicide and Violence

Minor: Drug use and Eating disorder

thatswhatshanread's review

challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

It took me SEVEN MONTHS to finish this novel. There are many reasons why:

1. From BOTM’s description and the book’s general marketing, I fully expected this to be a horror/thriller. It was not. It was more just a family drama with a supernatural sort-of twist with half of the book’s POV set in literal Hell.
2. Every time I picked this book up to read it over the last several months, I was bored. The first half of the book seems like it’s going NOWHERE and nothing stuck. The storyline that follows Peyote in Hell seems completely irrelevant to the storyline in present day that follows The Harrison family.
3. But then, it finally picks up. Once I finally pushed myself to get more into it (after almost DNFing many times), something shifted. The stakes changed. Suddenly the Harrison family story is dysfunctional and mysterious and gripping. The Peyote storyline shows potential of intersecting with the other, some interesting twists come about.
4. Still, it’s confusing. I still have no idea how they will connect, just that now Peyote is actually referencing the Harrison family members and their dilemmas. 
5. Peyote and Cal’s plot becomes even more confusing and drawn out. But I’m very intrigued with the POVs from the Harrisons’ side. 
6. I finish the last 250 pages within a couple days. The pacing finally hit a sweet spot for me. The imminent ending seemed promising; everything would finally make sense.
7. Except… it wasn’t? And it didn’t? 

This really felt like two different books in one. In the end, I was still confused, and disappointed in all of that buildup to… what, exactly? I would have rather read about only The Harrisons. But I guess it was entertaining, nonetheless. Something different. Just maybe not the different I wanted it to be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Blood, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Violence, Cursing, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Suicide, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Confinement, Body shaming, Genocide, Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, Cancer, Child death, Pedophilia, Sexism, and Stalking

kingsteph's review

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Self harm, Child death, and Pedophilia

Minor: Rape, War, Violence, and Torture

nagem's review

dark funny 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Child death, and Torture

Moderate: Child abuse

ktdakotareads's review

dark funny 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Gore, Murder, Medical trauma, Drug use, Violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Blood, Grief, Self harm, and Death

kirkland433's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

2.5

I don't know.... like.. 

Did I hate mostly every character in this book? Yea.
Was the story somewhat confusing? Yea.
Did I keep reading because I was kinda intrigued? Also yes. 

So like... I didn't HATE it but I forsure didn't like it lol 

2.5 stars? (I have no idea. I'm about to trust nothing I say about this book.) I wouldn't reread it so I'm going with that. 

There was a lot of drama for the sake of drama in this book that I didn't care for.

i.e. Like the friendship of Ruth and Mickey.. where she introduced a 14 yr old Mickey to cutting and alcohol? Trigger warning please because that was aggressive. The gross implication of Silas kind of being a creep on Ruth. VOMIT. Lily cheating and Silas cheating. Ugh. I can't with cheating. Like no character  is redeemable to me for cheating. That's a hard pass.

 

The characters... lord. Lily is unlikable and unrelatable to me. She's the pretty girl who was a bitch to the not popular girl and got the guy she liked but didn't get all the affection she wanted. Like sorry, I don't feel bad for your spoiled ass. Silas is gross. He thinks he's cool and a good person but really he's just shallow and also unlikable. The kids are fine I guess. Cal is.... unreliable? So like didn't care for her. Peyote is selfish. Everyone is too interconnected and I hate it.

I don't know what else to say. It was a book. I finished it. The end. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Torture

kmacskimming's review

dark lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

Two separate and distinct stories that are enjoyable on their own, but as a whole make for a confusing book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Torture

Moderate: Drug use and Murder

Minor: Suicide

chloerachel's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

The book is fantastic and I loved the plot. Multiple stories all heading towards each other in a perfect circle. The concept and rules of Hell in the novel are all done really well. Through the entire novel you are making discoveries and connections as a reader, so if you don’t like being confused and kept in suspense while reading it’s not for you.  Few reasons I’m not giving 5 stars is that the book is easily digestible, except for one plot point where the details are muddled. Since the book bounces around so much I think this plot point gets somewhat lost, so when I finished the novel I had to sit down and map it out.  Also, the dad has a very unsettling attraction to his daughters 14/15 year old friend and you hear about it a lot. I’m also unsure how I feel about the ending. Spoiler- it takes you literally right back to the beginning, like nothing happened and there was basically no growth from Peyote. Why do that to your reader? But overall for sure read this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Violence, Child abuse, and Torture