Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Leech by Hiron Ennes

24 reviews

racl's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Very cool, love a hivemind, love a fictional doctor. How about a hivemind that's a doctor? Easy win for me. So far post apocalyptic we're in fantasy territory.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Infertility, Alcohol, Confinement, Body horror, Alcoholism, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Vomit, Sexual assault, Suicide, Child death, Rape, Sexual content, and Gore

Minor: Animal death and Domestic abuse

jully_bean's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I absolutely loved this book! The strange post-apocalyptic world sucked me in and kept me wanting more information. I will say the ending was a little dull and there were a few things that never got answered or resolved, such as

what ended up happening with the twins?

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Gore, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual assault, Suicide, Child death, Medical content, Alcohol, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, and Physical abuse

quirkydrinkerofink's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual assault, and Body horror

Moderate: Alcohol, Child death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

ribbenkast's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

3.75

This book really impressed me with the way it is wirtten, Hiron Ennes really manages to write from the perspective of a super intelegent hivemind and sell it. The world building is amazing and is probably the best part of the book. It's got to be one of the most creative uses of the ghotic genre I've seen so far.

However the books suffers a bit from the gothic pitfall where in the first half it's just vibes and nothing much really happens. The pace really picks up near the ending though! Admittedly I do think the book ends on a bit of a weak note. I think there's space for a sequel I'll gladly pick up if it ever gets published. 

All in all, this was a great debut. I'll be certainly be on the lookout for any books that Hiron Ennes writes in the future. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Body horror, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Ableism, Xenophobia, Racism, Racial slurs, Mental illness, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, Classism, Chronic illness, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Rape

eilif_has_no_gender's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is one of those books where you either love it or you hate it. I loved it personally. 

If you are considering this book LOOK AT CONTENT WARNINGS FOR THE BOOK! I personally had to add a lot. 

This story follows a genderless doctor from a strange organization named The Institution. It does't have a name and later in the book are called The Institution. The reason I referred to it with It/It's/Its is because it is a parasite in control of humans. The story follows a woman who was controlled by The Institution. She eventually escapes a long with her nonhuman friend, Emilè (There is a high chance I misspelled that).

The story has characters who are terrible people (Which I personally love. It shows nonantagonists can be terrible people has well) so if you don't like this this book is for sure not for you.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, and Child death

Moderate: War, Alcohol, and Miscarriage

Minor: Ableism and Death of parent

justinecm's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Gore, Miscarriage, Murder, Violence, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Body horror, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Gun violence, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicide, Genocide, and Alcohol

voxvenati's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Unique and goddamn refreshing. I earnestly cannot say I’ve read something like this before, and it was so very welcome.

So many of the things I could say in favor of this book are spoilers, but even the premise alone is a treat. I can’t express how often I’m let down after a promising synopsis and excellent first chapter. This was not one of those times.

Every chapter builds. Tension. Drama. Intrigue. Every character was crisp and distinct. Every nugget of world building fascinated me. The dialect of the locals. The fables. The history. I am left wanting. Ravenous for more.

It’s dense. It can be clinical at times. I loved it because it fits the narrative. And it does start to change.

I have never had a book reveal the narrator’s pronouns/gender so deep into the story, only to have me second guessing all my previous assumptions.

I have never had such a seamless experience reading about LGBTQ+ characters where they just are. It isn’t clumsy or ham-fisted. It’s natural. It’s real. It was so fucking good.

And my dear dead gods, the slow reveal of the post-apocalypse, that the Institute and Pseudomycota are a part of that of that too? Exquisite.

The only reason this wasn’t a full 5 stars is because I never got that overwhelming sense of dread. Still, pretty damn close.

This is all said with the understanding this is a horror. There are some difficult topics. There is medical horror, body horror, and all sorts of other things. Read the content warnings if you have triggers. 

But if the premise piques your interest, and if you’re not too squeamish, this is a must read.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Suicide, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault

Minor: Eating disorder, Animal cruelty, and Cannibalism

uncreativeoops's review against another edition

The worldbuilding was fascinating, but I just couldn't deal with the characters making one stupid choice after another. Some of them were also comically evil or unbelievably cliché.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Gore, Violence, Alcoholism, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Body horror, Death, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Suicide

danimacuk's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Death, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Classism, Violence, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, and Body horror

Minor: Ableism, Confinement, Cursing, Infertility, Drug use, and Grief

chezler24's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Wow! Hiron Ennes with an absolute knockout of a debut novel! This fed my love for Gothic science fiction and horror and left me wanting more. I'm excited to see what the author creates next. Here, they excellently craft this unsettling post-apocalyptic world which leaves just enough in question to disturb the reader while egging them along to learn more about its secrets. Ennes is able to tackle ideas surrounding identity, bodily autonomy, personal agency, and morality under the umbrella of this grotesque yet beautifully written story. 

(I should have finished this book a week ago, but headaches and a busy schedule halted me. If I wasn't hindered by those two things I would have absolutely torn through this book quicker than my timeline shows.)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Gore

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcohol, Dysphoria, Suicide, and Sexual harassment