Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Seed by Ania Ahlborn

9 reviews

maevedora's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-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? Yes

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gaslighting, and Body horror

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Cannibalism

ilaxaria's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Violence, Child death, Animal death, Murder, Death, Animal cruelty, and Car accident

Moderate: Gaslighting and Mental illness

Minor: Suicide attempt and Alcohol

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The Details:
Narrated by Eric G. Dove
Unabridged

August pick for the Horror Summer Camp Book Club.

This was fantastic. It took the child possession trope and created more of a psychological and eery narration.

I thought the characters were excellent to read about and I loved how we flipped back and fourth to Jack's early life.

I kind of wished we got even more information about the dark entity, and I wasn't sure how it was going to end but it shocked me! 

Really enjoyed this one and I think it was a great final pick to close out the summer camp of horror reads 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Torture, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Gaslighting, Violence, Car accident, Cursing, Death of parent, Death, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

read_y_picker's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Violence, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Murder, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

hannanni41's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.0

If you're familiar with horror, particularly possession horror, it's pretty predictable. There's some good tense moments, but also a tremendous amount of gore/violence, gaslighting, and characters being absolutely unlikable. 

It feels like there were the beginnings of using possession as commentary on inherited mental illness and cycles of violence, and people's ability/inability to break them, but it just doesn't go all the way with it. It falls flat with no resolution to those themes.

If you have certain content sensitivities, do not read this book without checking out a list of content warnings. Some things are extremely graphic (almost to the point of gratuity)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Child death, Animal death, Gaslighting, Murder, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Torture, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Religious bigotry, Classism, and Forced institutionalization

lexi17d's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, and Body horror

maximauve's review against another edition

dark slow-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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Child death, Child abuse, Stalking, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Animal death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Murder, and Blood

caru_antivist's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.75

The first book I have read by Ania Ahlborn and I was VERY impressed with this story.

It’s a disturbing demonic possession tale that pulls no punches! Very engaging and had my jaw dropped at the store as I listened to the best/worst ending I had ever read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Child death

Moderate: Death of parent and Gaslighting

Minor: Cursing, Mental illness, and Classism

sarah984's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

This was an interesting take on the family curse idea, but I just didn't think it was that well-executed. None of the characters are particularly memorable, and I think the possession happens too fast - the father thinks often about what the daughter used to be like, but she's barely ever like that on the page so it's hard to get invested. The writing uses a lot of mangled metaphors and weird adjectives (so many things are skittering, someone’s dialogue slithers, hearts are hammering in people's chests like three times per page). Also I know it's part of the theme of inevitability but SO many times in this book the main character would think of what he should do and then just completely fail to do it and it got really annoying. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Moderate: Ableism, Alcohol, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Cannibalism, Drug use, Fatphobia, and Forced institutionalization