Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood

19 reviews

pointeshoebookworm's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Child abuse

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Gore

Minor: Sexual violence and Slavery

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Vomit, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Grief, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Cursing, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Chronic illness, and Emotional abuse

icapturethecastle's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Blood

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Blood, and Gore

Minor: Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, and Racism

toffishay's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

I loved the romance! Love Andromeda and love Magnus! Which is great because their romance is the biggest chunk of the plot, even more than the fantasy so if you don't buy into that then the rest of the book doesn't work. The fantasy elements were fine to me, they kind of fit that zone of generic YA fantasy. I like the haunted house aspect, which is a more interesting kind of story to me than other YA stories that would be more adventure based. It makes the story lean more Gothic, which makes sense because this is a Jane Eyre inspired story. The pacing is annoying and honestly, I didn't really care about the fantasy parts like all the fighting. I predicted some of the end, but that may be a reality of a retelling as well. The relationship between Jember and Andromeda was interesting too and <SPOILER> I liked that there were no easy answers with that one. <END SPOILER> The horror elements are well-done though, like I was really creeped out. Overall, a nice YA story that I could actually revisit again because I loved the romance!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Blood, Gore, Violence, Death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, and Body horror

Minor: Sexism, Racism, Trafficking, Infidelity, Gun violence, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Murder, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury

beingsimba's review against another edition

dark mysterious

3.5

In terms of vibes, I really enjoyed Within These Wicked Walls! Spooky and dark, following Andromeda as she works as a debtera is a lot of fun (in the the-situation-sounds-horrible-but-I-enjoy-reading-it kind of way.)

Where this book falls incredibly flat is in regards to the interpersonal relationships. Romantic, parental, friendships, all of them just didn't play out very well in this novel. Too much developed too fast for there to be any real weight behind any of them. And essentially all characters except Andromeda were fairly annoying.

Would be interested in more by Blackwood but this one was not for me. Very much did enjoy the audiobook.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Gore, and Death

madamenovelist's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Violence, Murder, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Addiction, Abandonment, Blood, Gore, Grief, and Confinement

Minor: Trafficking

There is a brief mention of a child being rescued from sex trafficking. The emotional/physical abuse, blood, gore, and violence are all very graphic. Not for the sensitive.

erandle's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Body horror

Moderate: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Colonisation, Death of parent, Suicide, Addiction, and Bullying

nannahnannah's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is a very impressive debut with some of the most witty dialogue I’ve ever encountered.

Representation:
- all characters but one are Ethiopian
- the love interest has depression
- one of the characters has chronic pain & a wooden leg

Within These Wicked Walls is a loose Jane Eyre retelling that takes place in an Ethiopian-inspired world. The MC, Andromeda, is a debtera (exorcist) who takes on the very dangerous job of cleansing a castle of the Evil Eye. Only four other people have successfully done this, and of those one is still alive to tell the tale. Even more dangerous, Andi falls in love with Magnus, the Evil Eye’s host.

This book has one of the most fascinating magic systems I’ve ever seen before: church-sponsored debtera cleanse places of their evil hauntings and their manifestations through use of silver amulets (the worst evil haunting is, of course, the Evil Eye). These amulets are created by sensing welded strokes and looping different colors of thread. It’s this magic system that immediately drew me in.

What kept me intrigued was the dialogue and Andromeda herself. Andi is an incredibly nuanced character, with her no-nonsense attitude, her own messiness when it comes to Magnus, and the fact she knows she’s being ridiculous. And even though I have some gripes with the relationship she has with her old guardian, Jember (I’ll get to that in a moment), most of the time Andi’s response to her past trauma and the way she decides to deal with it is incredibly realistic and evocative.

Jember was, and is, an abusive guardian. It’s a fact. There are a lot of scenes describing this abuse -- sometimes in great detail -- and even more in hints and mentions. Sometimes it’s incredibly overwhelming (I’m a survivor of child abuse and very sensitive to things like this, but I think this would be intense for anyone).

Though Jember does apologize for his actions, it feels like Andi’s way too casual about the past and current abuse, and I didn’t appreciate the jokes made about it (“shouldn’t tell him about Jember choking me,” etc.). And the line, “Every girl wants to marry someone like their father” is like a slap, especially. No abuse victim wants to hear that said.

I also think Magnus gets off way too easy when it comes to what he keeps from Andromeda (this story’s version of Bertha). I just want him to acknowledge that he actually does something wrong! Andi is the one who is made to apologize and feel ashamed -- and only when there’s a threat of losing her does he feel any sort of repentance. 

But overall I think these are the only two issues that come to mind (other than wishing there was more lore about the amulets!). Each character is vibrant and full of their own quirks and flaws and manner of behaving, and though this is a dialogue-heavy book, the dialogue sure makes it worth it. There are also scenes and lines written with such care they’ll stick with me for a long while (as I eagerly await Lauren Blackwood’s next novel).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Child abuse

Minor: Slavery

c4vyn's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

2.5

I liked the premise of the book, but the relationship between characters was just not ok. Andi and Jesper’s relationship is highly abusive and yet at the end she decides it’s ok because he loves her. Despite all the characters being adults, the main couple felt like they were emotionally 15.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Body horror, and Blood

Moderate: Torture and Addiction

clhtdr's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Colonisation, Blood, Physical abuse, Gore, and Emotional abuse