Reviews tagging 'Gore'

'Salem's Lot by Stephen King

55 reviews

chris_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I'm a fan of the few Stephen King adaptations I've seen, but this was my first time reading him. He has a very prominent reputation positive and negative, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. It ended up a pretty mixed bag. 

I enjoyed the plot and—while at times meandering—his prose was great. I liked the focus on classic vampire lore and how it connects to the characters' tenets of literature and religion in the modern world. But there were things that bogged it down as well. 

To start, there were so many characters referenced it felt like I was expected to learn the names and personalities of the entire town. I liked the main players, and thankfully I got over the confusion once the plot got going and focused more on them. There were a couple relevant female characters, but I wish they had a larger role in the story overall. And of course the casual use of homophobic slurs/mentions of rape/slut shaming really date the book. And I honestly expected it to be scarier. 

I'd heard about his lackluster endings more than once, but I quite enjoyed this one. I thought it worked for the story being told, if a bit simply. And I know horror endings are though to land. 

Overall a good book with flaws. I'm definitely willing to try more of his work, so if anyone has suggestions of where to start, please feel free. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Car accident, Death of parent, Grief, Homophobia, Alcoholism, and Animal death

Minor: Blood, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, and Rape

carrionkid's review against another edition

4.0

I actually liked this book a lot however it definitely was written in 2 different periods of time because in the first half, there's 7 uses of queer/queerboy and 6 uses of fag/faggot and by page 300 there are NO SLURS WHATSOEVER so I guess Stephen king had a moral crisis about using slurs somewhere in between halves of this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, and Alcoholism

alyssatuininga's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-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: Animal death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Child death, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Gore, Addiction, Blood, Car accident, Confinement, and Murder

spoookycat's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Animal death, Gore, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, and Rape

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

thestorydoer's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

This is a good story, however it was a little too slow during the first 300 pages for my taste. The last 500 and something pages were what made me love the book, but I still can't shake the feeling the 300 pages before werent worth it. 

Stephen King adding his trademark horror, and his other overlooked trademark of pretty gross mentions of things, as well as a small reference to something needlessly sexual, therefore adding a multitude of trigger warnings. he is a good writer when he sticks to the plot imo. 

Overall, good book, just a little too long to live up to the hype.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Animal death, and Gore

Moderate: Rape

leah_j's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

3.0

solidly did not enjoy this book whether it was his writing style or what; i found it was incredibly boring in between action parts and it made me lose any sense of tension that had been built up. also did not enjoy some of the themes in it so check TWs

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, and Death

Moderate: Pedophilia, Homophobia, and Gore

barrybj's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Blood, and Animal death

Moderate: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Rape

Minor: Terminal illness, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Rape

itsheyfay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Physical abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, and Infidelity

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Child abuse, Medical content, Physical abuse, Rape, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

avasweet's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

A satisfying book about vampires, with all the fixings (just like you imagined them as a kid). Great if you like mysterious books about small towns, or indulging your inner child. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Racial slurs, Homophobia, and Racism

A bit racist at times, a bit homophobic-- product of its time and also reflecting the small-town ideologies of the people living in "the lot"

shieldbearer's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Excellent writing, and the slow pace is absolutely a plus- like building an intricate domino structure before knocking it all down. Found myself particularly attached to Mark. King has a knack for portraying humanity at its most grotesque that is more fascinating than his monsters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Car accident, Grief, Sexual content, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Fatphobia, Ableism, Islamophobia, Transphobia, War, Bullying, Medical content, Racism, Racial slurs, Homophobia, and Vomit

Minor: Excrement, Addiction, Rape, Pedophilia, and Abortion