Reviews with content warning for Gore - Thirst

Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk

12 reviews

batbaby's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I devoured the first half of this book in one sitting with thunderstorm sounds and gothic classical music in the background and it really matched the vibe.We follow a vampire for a few decades and watch how the city of Buenos Ares grows and changes in that time. I loved how dark the story felt and anytime you might be foolish enough to think the vampire had changed and maybe had a bit of humanity she’d prove to you the monster she was. There’s a point where the vampire doesn’t know how much time has passed and the chapter doesn’t have a number, I thought that was really clever.

The second half was a little harder for me to get into at first but I still really enjoyed it. We follow a main character who is continually grieving as her mother slowly succumbs to a degenerative disease. She becomes obsessed with things and ideas maybe in a way to distract herself from what’s really going on. She spends a long time considering and worrying about a Pandora’s box that her mother tells her not to open and her need to rebel against that. My only complaint is I that I wish the ending wasn’t so opened ended and we got a tiny bit more maybe even a page.

I just don’t understand how she could abandon Santiago like that when the majority of the book we see how infatuated she is with him.

This book looks at the complexities of identity and humanity when facing death and grief.

#ad I received this book for free as an arc but the opinions are entirely my own.

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inlaraland's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

In "Thirst", the author has you walking the line between life and death with our two main characters in this story. The parallels between their emotions and experiences makes this novel an emotional read. Set across two different time periods, the story follows a vampire from Europe who just arrived to Buenos Aries and a woman in modern times struggling to come to terms with her mother's terminal illness.

Our characters are connected through time, events and experiences. A monster and human mirroring one another either through their connections or finding their opposing traits in each other. This story touches on themes of identity, isolation, sensuality, motherhood, grief, hunger and mortality. Death is pretty symbolic in all aspects of this work, where life is either taken through our vampire or naturally lost through our human's eyes. The setting is also pivotal at not only showcasing the passage of time, but also at reinforcing what is lost and will be lost in the present.

This is a vampire story that is beautifully written and absolutely heartbreaking. I particularly enjoyed the overall mood of this work as the ambience was tense throughout the story. I thought part one was excellent, but I did feel like part two had a slower build up. Towards the end I was just sad and it was quite unexpected. The novel itself is surprisingly touching, and as far as vampire books go, this one is fantastic.

I recommend this to readers who love vampire literature, gothic horror and historical fiction.

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readingpicnic's review against another edition

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3.75

Erotic, but also deeply sad. The dreary, crumbling cemetery setting of most of the novel works so well towards creating a bleak atmosphere. This book wasn't the sapphic romance I initially thought it would be. It centers more on persecution and murder in an ever-changing and unfamiliar world in the vampire's case, and being a single mom and drifting away from everyone while grieving her ever-ailing elderly mother in Alma's case. I do think I preferred the vampire's chapters over the latter half of the book and found them more interesting; Alma's chapters dragged for me at times and it didn't feel like much was happening.

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dfrancis's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

I was excited by the concept of this book. And I did enjoy it. But it left me wanting more, and not in a good way. I feel like there needed to be more of a build up to the ending and a bit more mingling of the two POVs. It’s a translated book, and I feel like at moments it felt a little stilted and I can’t tell if that’s the author’s writing or the translation. Overall, enjoyed but expected/hoped for more.

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keightychandelier's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.75

feels like an excellent first draft - a lot is left unexplained and unexplored, which both adds to the mystery of the book and rushes what could be a much more beautiful, complex, and compelling story

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amandall's review against another edition

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Graphic, violate death

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tifftastic87's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-paced

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

3.5

In Buenos Aires two women are united through odd circumstances. An unnamed vampire arrives on the shores of Buenos Aires and watches as the world around her changes, after the Paraguayan War in 1870 a plague hits and the vampire's connection to the city begins to change. In the modern day, Alma is struggling with her mother's terminal illness, her own medical troubles, and motherhood accidentally awakens the vampire from her long slumber changing Alma's life forever.

This was very poetically written, eerie, and tense at times. Very low on plot, high on vibes. Both women's lives were tragic in different ways and overall was just a sad book. There was a lot of grief and anger here. I really liked the conversation around religion from the vampire's story, honestly, my favorite part. Both women lost in different ways, their whole family. I really appreciated the view on rage and anger and how emotions are processed within the constructs of the time. However, the ending was so meh. I just wanted a bit more explanation. Based on the setup it didn't feel like a valid ending for Alma and I am disappointment by it. Overall, it was a bit boring and didn't live up to some of the expectations given by the listings.

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