Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Penpal

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Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Penpal by Dathan Auerbach

74 reviews

rubys100's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

3.75

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darkdahlia9's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

YALL. This book was a goddamn doozy.

I knew sort of the themes in this book, and how this was originally short stories published on an online forum so I was concerned that the timelines/narration would be really choppy and it kind of was- but it WORKED for this.

This book is the type of horror where it’s scary because it’s so real. There’s no supernatural creature, there’s no ghost or demon, there’s none of that. There’s just pure childhood purity turned to terror that the MC doesn’t realize until he talks to his mom as an adult.

The way this book is set up is in non-linear events that take place during his childhood, and he navigates them with an adult mindset and which new knowledge that he obtains later, and the way the chapters/stories are laid out, you get to puzzle it together along with the MC which I feel like really helped create the really disturbing and unsettling revelations.

The way the author adapted the short stories had me GLUED to the pages and my jaw dropped a few times. I’d absolutely recommend this to anyone who wants horror that will genuinely unsettle you, and have you looking behind yourself while walking alone in the woods.

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sp00ky_girl28's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I really enjoyed this book! Such a gutwrenching read that made me feel so disturbed and angry. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep for a while 😅

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laneychaney's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

So disappointing. Some parts were creepy but nothing scary. The writing was simple and easy to get through. I liked the idea of different memories/stories that tie together…but the end was so bad and rushed and made no sense. It was almost silly.

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