Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

8 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Gore

Moderate: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, and Confinement

Minor: Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Child death, Infertility, Racism, Death of parent, and Dementia

traa's review

adventurous 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Slavery, and Violence

Minor: Car accident

dreamy_demon's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Animal death, Body horror, and Blood

zachisreading's review

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? It's complicated

3.75

The Twisted Ones is a book that does a lot of things right. You'll find yourself propelled forward by the main character's wit into a curious mystery that becomes more and more strange the further in you go. The haunting refrain of her step grandfather's journal, from which the book takes it's name, will stick with you between readings. It is a hard book to put down, and even harder to stay away from.

Then, in the last handful of chapters, I felt the book fumbled the dismount. Too much was revealed too fast and too completely. Significant parts of the mystery wind up tossed to the curb in the fantastical reveals. The monsters wind up being too human, largely discarding the eldritch horror that fueled the book up to this point. The unknowable becomes known, at least in part, and that removes some of the terror. 

Still, it's not a book to be left unread. It's creeping horror is a lovely, well-crafted thing that could easily have felt dated if not for the protagonist's thoroughly modern voice. Plus, there's a dog. And everyone needs more dogs in their lives. Even fictional ones. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, and Infertility

Minor: Body horror, Car accident, Child abuse, Violence, Blood, Stalking, and Racism

thekeytotheend's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Body horror, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Blood, Alcohol, Dementia, Emotional abuse, and Pregnancy

Minor: Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Gun violence, Racism, and Torture

missingteacup's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

It helps if you're familiar with Arthur Machen's story "The White People" going in. I wasn't, so I feel like I was missing some context, but I do like that the narrator provides some much-needed contemporary commentary on the old-school book-within-a-book (I mean, the original is called "The White People" -- you need the commentary). The horror is very much about atmosphere and dread and slowly growing tension, with the occasional weird creature and unsettling rock formation. Also, there's an adorable dog.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Blood, Confinement, and Dementia

If you want to know what happens to the dog:

the dog runs off toward the end of the book, but he's ultimately fine.

jenniferlynnkrohn's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Animal death

lou_o_donnell's review

mysterious tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

A frustrating book in many senses. Parts were absolutely terrifying and Kingesque. I absolutely got the “Blair Witch” vibes.  For the most part, however, it felt both repetitive (we get it - the dog is stupid, hungry, smells etc.) or used very convenient plot devices (the phone has a bug which causes it to overheat and die regularly, especially when you’re on a super important call), skin is white, bone is white, bone clicks and clacks and taps. I wanted so much to enjoy the book - the ingredients were excellent. It under-utilized the house’s condition, for example and then meandered into stranger and stranger plot twists. The concluding Chapters were painful to read! It over explained unexplainable phenomena, completely unnecessarily. What a disappointment.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Minor: Blood and Mental illness