Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Sign Here by Claudia Lux

19 reviews

blissofalife's review

dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

If you like putting together the puzzle pieces, this is the book for you! I thought the ending was a bit rushing and lacking the narration of the rest of the book, but a satisfying end nonetheless.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Death, Torture, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, and Violence

Minor: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Child death, Chronic illness, Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Cancer, Classism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Sexism, and Sexual assault

symabee's review

adventurous dark funny reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

I thoroughly enjoyed Sign Here and was shocked to learn this was the authors debut novel. It is a dark comedy, a murder mystery, a coming of age tale, and a moving story about humanity and love, all rolled into one. I love the way this author writes and look forward to her future books. 

Things of note:
✅️ Short chapters
✅️ Lots of alternating POV 
⚠️ Check content warnings. While this book can be humorous, it also contains a lot of dark subject matter.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Infidelity, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Eating disorder, Self harm, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Torture, Blood, Gun violence, and Murder

Minor: Gore, Kidnapping, Cancer, Pregnancy, Drug use, Abortion, and Fire/Fire injury

kalzoni's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense fast-paced

• 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Child death

Moderate: Bullying, Body horror, and Abandonment

Minor: Cancer and Abortion

gabedon's review

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

I have complaints about this book but I kept reading and felt drawn to the actual plot. The writing style wasn't my favorite: the dialogue was unrealistic, there were too many exclamation points, it was trying too hard at times, and some of the characters felt 2-dimensional (KQ; Trey; Sean, at the beginning). It began as a 2-star but as I continued, it bumped up to 2.5, and then my final rating of 3. It was doing a lot at once but the main plot interested me, was easy to read a lot at once, and I wanted to see how it would end. I would try reading this author again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Violence, Drug use, Pregnancy, Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, and Alcohol

lauramparis's review

dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Alcohol, Child death, Death, Grief, Pregnancy, Infidelity, and Violence

Minor: Bullying, Body horror, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Blood, Eating disorder, Cancer, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Suicide

readwithjessj's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I enjoyed getting to read this debut novel from Claudia Lux. You follow Peyote in hell and then you follow three family members on earth. I was much more interested in the sections set in hell and found myself feeling like I was reading two separate books. I felt like the ties between the two story lines were slightly weak and not very important. That being said I did find myself reading through this in almost one sitting and was very intrigued with where it was going. I don't think that everyone will find this book good, but it will be for some people. I look forward to more in the future from this author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Torture, Self harm, and Murder

maregred's review

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Confinement, Eating disorder, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Self harm, Sexism, Torture, and Violence

cassielaj's review

challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This book surprised me in a lot of good ways! I didn’t know what to expect, but what I got was a twisty, shocking tale full of cynicism and hope, darkness and heart. And best of all, this book really makes you think: about goodness, about love, about choices. 
I was impressed with all of the threads the plot kept up with. I guessed some things along the way, but a lot of it still ended up surprising me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Grief, and Self harm

Moderate: Alcohol, Pedophilia, Drug use, and Infidelity

This book is about Hell, and in some ways it’s what you’d expect… do with that what you will

lklitup's review

dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.0

Not at all my typical go-to book, but hey— it’s spooky season! I’m so glad I went outside my comfort zone; and given the premise of this book, I stayed there.

Claudia Lux does a superb job of building two worlds and the characters within. I had a nagging suspicion that SOMETHING was about to happen, but I couldn’t figure out who, or to whom, or what it would be. I felt somewhat rushed along at the end when both storylines were coming to a conclusion, and while I felt surprised (in a good way!) by the end, I realized after some thinking I had lingering questions about some plot holes.

Am I going to dive head first into this spooky suspenseful genre? Nope, I’m going right back to rom coms, thank you! But I will recommend this book, and I will keep an eye out for anything else this author writes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Physical abuse, Body horror, Blood, Child abuse, and Death

Moderate: Grief and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Self harm