Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

14 reviews

keegan53's review

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

This book is the kind of book that makes you stop, ask yourself “what the heck did I just read”, and reread the sentence. I mean this in the best possible way. Annihilation is such a mind-bending story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, Violence, Murder, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Alcohol, Cancer, Sexual content, Self harm, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, and Suicide

A note on the body horror:

things that should not be made out of flesh are made out of flesh

lumorise's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, Violence, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Gore, Self harm, and Suicide

Minor: Gaslighting

msradiosilence's review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Self harm, Body horror, Confinement, Grief, Murder, Suicide, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Suicide attempt, Violence, Cursing, Death, and Sexual content

jjjreads's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Violence

rickvsthebooksagenda's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Death, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Medical content, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Violence, Alcohol, and Cancer

ambientdusk's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Gun violence, Violence, and Body horror

kinddog2073's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective fast-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? Yes

3.75

Read this because I loved the film based on it that came out a few years ago and have rewatched it several times. I didn't know much of what to expect going in, but had read Hummingbird Salamander a few months ago and found that there was much to recognise in the tone and attitude of the narrator towards the reader. Vandermeer likes narrators that hold back information, at least between these two novels. This book landed better than Hummingbird Salamander for me, mostly due to it being far less hopelessly nihilistic. I suppose Vandermeer might be feeling a bit less hopeful about climate crisis recently... can't blame him for that really.

The themes in this book felt a lot more relatable to me, regarding assimilation and especially guardedness in relationships. Hummingbird Salamander had far fewer relatable elements in it for me, perhaps aside from the paranoia of the narrator as a security researcher.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, and Suicide

Minor: Alcohol, Gun violence, and Animal death

scifi_rat's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, and Self harm

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Mental illness, Body horror, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Cancer, Alcohol, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Blood, Infidelity, Animal death, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Self harm

Minor: Child death and Physical abuse

Further warning for descriptions of drowning, and a very brief mention of child-on-child sexual abuse.

_forestofpages's review

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.25

The atmosphere, tension, the sense of dread and the mystery, and the prose were enthralling all the way through. However, this was missing deep characters and character development. I didn't root for anyone or really care about anyone. If you are looking for stron  characters or a protagonist to root for, look elsewhere.

Great atmosphere. Perfect for cosmic horror fans, and just generally existential. I will be thinking about this for long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Gun violence, and Suicide