Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

6 reviews

jennswan's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Body horror, Gore, Torture, Suicide, Abortion, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Drug use, and Medical content

sakisreads's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

1.5

I truly wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. The premise of reincarnation and time travel are ones I thoroughly enjoy, so I had high expectations. It was also recommended by friends of a friend; two people with very different tastes in books had said they had enjoyed this one thoroughly. 

So yes. High expectations were there and were not met unfortunately 🥲

Harry August drags on… and on… and on… I really had to pull through the first 50%. It then started picking up a bit and I was hopeful again, before the dragging resumed at 60% 😫
I had to skim through so much of it; it was so unfortunate.

1.5 out of 5 stars for me unfortunately ✨ Sorry!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, and Torture

spookily's review

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-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? No

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cancer, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Medical content, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Mental illness, Suicide, Death, Genocide, Medical trauma, Body horror, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment, Drug abuse, Drug use, Child death, War, Death of parent, Rape, Self harm, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Classism, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Infidelity, Sexism, Grief, Pregnancy, Fatphobia, Alcohol, Addiction, and Car accident

radinsh's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

Fluent writing style that pulls you in. However, plot repetitive beyond measure, even for a time loop.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

lilifane's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective tense 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

Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would. The premise was really cool and interesting, but I struggled a lot with the rest. The atmosphere was quite depressing, and I really didn't like the detailed descriptions of torture, injuries and diseases. If you can think of any trigger, you can be sure it's in the book. I also didn't care for any of the characters, most of them were pretty unlikable. And it probably didn't help that I didn't like the German translation or the German narrator of the audiobook. Kinda wish I'd had access to the English book/audiobook.

There were some things I liked, though. The premise, like I said. But also how the story was structured. You get these random episodes of Harry's lives, and with each one you get a piece of information that explains how living your life over and over again works. All the pros but also cons are explored really well, and I like how they play a big part in the showdown of the story. I think it was cool, how many historical events around the globe Claire North was able to insert in the plot, the research must have been really extensive. Oh, and some of the settings were really cool. 

But all in all it felt too long in some places, too short in others, and the ending really dragged a lot because of so many repetitions. This felt like a 1000 pages book without actually being one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

candace's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Torture

Moderate: Medical content, Murder, Rape, and Sexual assault