Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Small Game by Blair Braverman

11 reviews

erinoconnor's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

I read an advanced uncorrected proof copy - so I’m not sure if anything changed with publication, that being said - I really enjoyed the story. I wanted more and wish there was a more fleshed out ending, but I appreciate the mirror image of the beginning at the end. Some things seemed rushed and not fully answered - I want to hear EXACTLY what happened to Lenny and the crew, while I think it’s probably their last theory about money but STILL! - but I thoroughly enjoyed this read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal death, Medical content, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Sexual assault, Rape, Blood, and Sexual content

pebbletown's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal death, and Violence

growintogardens's review

dark medium-paced

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

3.25

Rushed ending and just so-so characters. It did keep my attention though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Grief, and Gore

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Violence, Vomit, Blood, and Suicidal thoughts

ezahn17's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Death, Animal death, Violence, and Vomit

lovedubbles's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Blair does a beautiful job writing the suspense and fear of the woods. It’s not a book of jump-scares, but a tighter and tighter bow of tension.

the  ending absolutely fucks with you. After all the tension build up it’s not aliens, it’s not a pandemic. It’s just people and their capacity for tremendous harm. That is, in some ways, more frightening than some big supernatural event. We don’t get a grand happy ending either just - they lived.  

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder

zombiezami's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Abandonment, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Gaslighting, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, and Cursing

Minor: Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Excrement

hedytf's review against another edition

dark fast-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? No

3.0

I'm so conflicted about this book. 

I loved it until the end: I wanted to hear about what Mara brushed aside as unimportant.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Torture, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

tacoshark's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

2.0

I really like Blair Braverman and I wanted to like this, too, but Jesus it was mostly depressing. The pace was really weird, maybe because the story kept signaling at what was to come, which made me expect something more eventful - it built up a tension that was never really delivered upon, in my opinion. I was hoping for something tense and thrilling, and all I got was miserable. Really disappointing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail

kassy182's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I think that a lot of people that found fault in this book found it in the ending. It feels rushed and almost like the story of the survivors isn’t wrapped up, it’s just barely grazed over in a final paragraph. 

Almost— but honestly, I think it was a perfect ending. Reading about survival is hard and tense and there’s a lot of introspection as you could expect. And ultimately, when the main characters find the strength, physical and mental, to move forward— that’s when the story ends because you know that their survival is the meaning of this book and that we aren’t supposed to see too much of the closure or the future because that’s not a part of their journey— that’s a separate space and world for the characters. We got to accompany them and know that, they do have an ending and the ending is just enough without overshadowing the intensity of their time in the woods.

I will say, this is a tense read. It’s hard to swallow and sticks with you but it also shows a side of humanity communing with and battling nature in a way that feels entirely separate from our world, or at least my world. Also— never realized how much an entry about eating a worm would traumatize me and that’s not even the biggest trigger. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Vomit

bonkish's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was all of the things I love, reality tv, suspense, and a journey. I love Blair from her appearances on You're Wrong About and those episodes primed me to absorb and adore this book. Amazing! I recommend it highly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Death, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts