Scan barcode
A review by cakeboxing
Woom by Duncan Ralston
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.5
I don't want to go into too much detail so that I can leave this a spoiler free review.
Be sure to check trigger warnings if you read this book.
I bought and read this book on kindle immediately after watching a tiktok saying it was the most disturbing thing they had every read. While I don't think it's deserving of that title (at least for me), I can definitely agree that it's not your typical horror novel.
The writing style was decent, though the author felt the need to explain everything to the reader, at least eventually. Because of this, I saw the ending coming from a mile off. That was surprising to me, since a lot of people had said they'd never read something so horrible and that the ending had left them in shock.
I haven't read very many horror stories, and I've never read any body horror so this was my first. I would not say that I am particularly accustomed to scenes like these, I don't go out of my way to read about or watch bloody depictions of various violations to the human body. Maybe I'm just a millennial existing in a dystopian society called the US of A, where I've become desensitized to gore in mainstream media, politics, and everyday life.
All that said, this book did literally nothing to really freak me out. (I really don't want to know what that says about me as a person.) Sure, there were definitely scenes that were grotesque, where the descriptions made me a little sick. To me, the majority of the disturbing scenes are in the first half of the book. At around a quarter through, I started to feel uncomfortable in my own apartment even when not reading, and I became scared for one of the characters - everything a person wants in a horror book. But those feelings quickly faded as the pacing changed and the plot became obvious and predictable. Since I saw the end coming, it wasn't very satisfying or unsettling. Someone who doesn't see the end coming, however, would likely find it to be incredibly shocking.
Be sure to check trigger warnings if you read this book.
I bought and read this book on kindle immediately after watching a tiktok saying it was the most disturbing thing they had every read. While I don't think it's deserving of that title (at least for me), I can definitely agree that it's not your typical horror novel.
The writing style was decent, though the author felt the need to explain everything to the reader, at least eventually. Because of this, I saw the ending coming from a mile off. That was surprising to me, since a lot of people had said they'd never read something so horrible and that the ending had left them in shock.
I haven't read very many horror stories, and I've never read any body horror so this was my first. I would not say that I am particularly accustomed to scenes like these, I don't go out of my way to read about or watch bloody depictions of various violations to the human body. Maybe I'm just a millennial existing in a dystopian society called the US of A, where I've become desensitized to gore in mainstream media, politics, and everyday life.
All that said, this book did literally nothing to really freak me out. (I really don't want to know what that says about me as a person.) Sure, there were definitely scenes that were grotesque, where the descriptions made me a little sick. To me, the majority of the disturbing scenes are in the first half of the book. At around a quarter through, I started to feel uncomfortable in my own apartment even when not reading, and I became scared for one of the characters - everything a person wants in a horror book. But those feelings quickly faded as the pacing changed and the plot became obvious and predictable. Since I saw the end coming, it wasn't very satisfying or unsettling. Someone who doesn't see the end coming, however, would likely find it to be incredibly shocking.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, Gore, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence