Reviews tagging 'Death'

No Harm Done by Circe Moskowitz

6 reviews

elfcurrentlyreading's review against another edition

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic

halem13's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting

starredpages's review against another edition

2.5

dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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I was really disappointed with this anthology. It started out quite enjoyable, I liked the story and I felt the tone carried over from one story to the next but then it went downhill.

"Lights" might have been my favourite short story and I enjoyed "Be Not Afraid" and "All My Best Friends Are Dead".The Teeth Come Out At Night" was okay but I didn't love it. I felt the writing style was easy to read but after a while the story dragged and while I understand it was a short story, I felt the ending could've been wrapped up a bit better. I absolutely hated "I Love Your Eyes". The writing itself was not well-done and the plot twist made absolutely no sense given the POV we were in. "The Consumption Of Vienna Montrose" just left me confused and uncomfortable but not in the way I want to be when I enjoy a horror story. The writing itself was enjoyable but the plot was . . . . not. The rest of the stories felt very average to me and my biggest takeaway was that there seems to be an obsession with teeth.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail

kendal_reads's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Grief, Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Homophobia, Cannibalism, Death of parent

booksthatburn's review against another edition

4.0

emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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I liked most of the stories in this collection. My favorites are "Lights" for its take on monstrosity and genre expectations, "All My Best Friends Are Dead" for the way it plays with characterization and perspective, and "No Harm Done" for the sudden pivot into horror after an interesting but not obviously creepy opening. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Self harm, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Excrement, Vomit, Car accident, Abandonment

readthesparrow's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious sad 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: Complicated

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SUMMARY

In All These Sunken Souls, horror is explored through a blending of genres–ghost stories, folklore, and weird, among others–written by established and debut Black authors. 

REVIEW

All These Sunken Souls hits like hell and doesn’t stop. Every time I thought I’d surely found the standout story in the collection another came along and vied hard for the position, leaving me with three choices and no desire to choose favorites. So I shan’t! It's my review and I can do as I please.

 

“Be Not Afraid,” “The Consumption of Vienna Montrose,” and “Mother, Daughter, and the Devil” hit everything I want from a good horror short story. These three have fantastic prose that takes on a life of its own; it’s rare I feel like I can hear the protagonist's voice clear as day; these girls spoke. The narratives are fresh and unique while conversing with tropes, stories, and histories that came before them. And, as a bonus, they feature beautifully written female characters.

Save one, every single short story was as least three stars, with most of them being four or five stars. The single exception was a matter of purely taste–I didn’t enjoy the first five pages, skimmed ahead, and realized that my issue, the prose, persisted throughout. So I skipped it. (I only mention the fact I DNF’d this one story for transparency’s sake, as this was an ARC.)

Broadly speaking, this collection features tropes and themes I love love LOVE in horror. Body horror (tooth, flesh, and bone), names (and the lack of them), houses (sentient or otherwise), biblical imagery (of the accurate angelic sort), folk tales and ghost stories (told and acted), and the comfort–yet also the horrific pain–of isolation. 

And that’s not all, of course. But you’ll explore the rest yourself.

INDIVIDUAL STORY RATINGS

"Lights" by Kalynn Bayron - ⭐⭐⭐
"Be Not Afraid" by Ashia Monet - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"All My Best Friends Are Dead" by Liselle Sambury - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
"The Teeth Come Out At Night" by Sami Ellis - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
"I Love Your Eyes" by Joel Rochester - DNF
"The Consumption of Vienna Montrose" by Joelle Wellington - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (ok it's 5⭐ but GOD I loved this one so much)
"The Landscape of Broken Things" by Brent Lambert - ⭐⭐⭐.5 
"Mother, Daughter, and the Devil" by Donyae Coles - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"Papa Pearlie" by Ryan Douglass - ⭐⭐⭐
"No Harm Done" by Circe Moskowitz  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

FINAL THOUGHTS

If you like horror, you absolutely must read this collection. Doubly so if you have interest in diverse horror, horror short stories, or, like me, just really love a visceral piece of character-driven horror. 

Thank you to Amberjack Publishing for providing a digital ARC via Netgalley. If you are interested in All These Sunken Souls, it will be released 17 October 2023. If possible, support indie bookshops by purchasing the novel from your local brick and mortar or from Bookshop.org!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Stalking, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia