Reviews with content warning for Gore - The Twisted Ones

Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

17 reviews

meganpbell's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This is a downright disturbing and deliciously atmospheric work of folkhorror, from hoarder’s house to haunted woods, narrated with unexpected humor by a woman who just wants to keep her dumb dog safe. What I didn’t know until the very end is that this book is inspired by a 1904 classic horror short story by Arthur Machen, and while you can definitely enjoy this book without knowing the story, I felt like I was missing something once I knew!

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podanotherjessi's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

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

4.0

I completely bounced off the writing style of this when I tried reading it physically, but it was well suited to audiobook. It's very much a story being told, a little direct-to-reader, and that just works better for me with a narrator.
Beyond this, the premise is not dissimilar from a lot of Kingfisher's other horror. A 30-something woman goes through a breakup (that has almost no relevance to the story) and is drawn back to a place from her childhood and quickly learns spooky things are happening. Of those (A House with Good Bones, and The Hollow Places), this one is my favorite. The world and mysterious elements are just so much more fleshed out, and I love a creepy woods.

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terapsina's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-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? No

3.5

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emzhay's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

The first 60% was a type of horror that really had me creeped out a scared to look out of the corner of my eye. It was thrilling, and I was sucked in. The last 30% I have mixed feeling about. The horror imagery still hit that same beat, but the plot direction and the cut-in humor was pulling me out of the story. I really don’t know exactly how I feel about the ending, but it’s not exactly positive.

I wasn’t too fond of the narrator either, but I also didn’t hate her. Mouse’s attempted southern jokes came off as sly classiest comments and that irked me. They did disappear in the later half, but there were enough comments early on for her to leave a bad impression.

I would rate lower, but I really did enjoy it a lot up until the end.

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queenie_ofthe_void's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

Idk it was good but I think it just wasn't my taste. I'm just getting in to reading horror so maybe I'm not used to it yet. Can't go wrong with a deer monster though.

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onthesamepage's review against another edition

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funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Kirkus said, "Read this one with the lights on", to which I said, "how else would I read a physical book?" but I get their point. I don't think this has a lot of jump scares, but it has this unsettling, creepy feeling that keeps building up. I'm not familiar with the story this is building on, but I always enjoy T. Kingfisher's writing. I loved all the characters, and the sense of humor throughout the story, even when it got a bit grim.

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