Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge

4 reviews

lanid's review

adventurous dark mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Body horror, and Death

Minor: Gore, Vomit, Grief, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia

clarabooksit's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Child death, Death, Body horror, Alcohol, Colonisation, Grief, Trafficking, Suicide, Self harm, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Gore, Blood, Stalking, Cannibalism, Animal death, Genocide, and Injury/Injury detail

the_literarylinguist's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.5

Magical realism

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Mental illness, Self harm, and Vomit

Minor: Forced institutionalization

ohlhauc's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

This was a disappointing read. 

Each chapter follows a formula of describing a new beast, sharing a story  tinged with mystery involving the narrator and that beast, and then revealing the true nature of the beast that explains the mystery. Each story builds upon each other in the sense that they take place one after each other in the timeline.

I liked the idea of the book and can see why others would like per other reviews, but I was bored. SUPER bored reading this. Even the social commentary fell flat as I felt it was so subtle that it was easy to miss if you weren't expecting it (as I was) and then, the ideas didn't share new perspectives or interpretations on common issues like environmentalism, racism, confinement, state control, etc. It felt basic and the stories themselves lacked a tension or energy. There was always a mystery so that drove the plot forward, but the reveals were predictable, which I'm not against in and of itself, but it felt like the resolutions were too neat and full of coincidences and plot conveniences.

I really only finished this as it was part of a larger project. If the other reviews and the plot sparks your interest, you may like this. But you may also be bored like me so it's hard to say whether or not I'd recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Medical content

Moderate: Death of parent, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Pregnancy

State-sanctioned euthanization/murder