Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Penpal by Dathan Auerbach

7 reviews

madfromonline's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Car accident, Gore, Stalking, Death, Grief, Violence, Dementia, Kidnapping, and Pedophilia

marslotus's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Dathan Auerbach has such a masterful handle on suspense and mystery, I was on the edge of my seat for the entirety of this read. I remember first listening to this years ago, back when it was a creepypasta YouTubers made into online audioreads and I'm so happy to return to it as an adult knowing it's just as creepy and engaging as I found it was when I was a kid. Even in moments where you can guess ahead of the narration what the horrifying reveal of each chapter will be, it still feels so earned and equally as terrifying. My only complaint is that it's not longer!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Car accident, Grief, Stalking, and Death

Moderate: Kidnapping, Blood, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Minor: Drug use, Pedophilia, Bullying, Mental illness, and Blood

fresh_guy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

It's formatting isn't perfect because its formatted for reddit, but it's only noticable in the narration itself. many of the stories repeat facts that were mentioned in other stories.

I'm likely bias because I grew up with TheNoSleep Podcast and this is just the "stalker episode book" from the first season, but I genuinely think this is good micro-horror (even if it is twelve years old).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking and Gore

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Rape and Blood

The gore is only on one or two pages but Auerbach goes into EXCRUCIATING detail on those one or two pages. The rape isn't expressly mentioned, but

it is slightly implied at the end

.

cdelligatti13's review against another edition

dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking

Moderate: Pedophilia

Minor: Mental illness

tpsebast92's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Death

Moderate: Grief, Gore, Mental illness, Stalking, Cursing, Child death, and Blood

bugsoup's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Stalking

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Murder, Child death, and Pedophilia

falchionm's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Car accident, Child death, Death, Dementia, Medical content, Mental illness, and Pedophilia