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blackcatkai's reviews
916 reviews
Berserk Volume 1 by Kentaro Miura
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
CW: blood, gore, violence, body horror, sexual content, death
Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
cw: blood, violence, colonialism, sexism, war, death
I love Nena & Nestor so much. this was sad, beautiful, funny, and dark. I adore Caña's writing so much.
I love Nena & Nestor so much. this was sad, beautiful, funny, and dark. I adore Caña's writing so much.
Only The Stains Remain by Ross Jeffery
slow-paced
1.0
the repetitive lines & constant spelling mistakes are just a little annoying but the being constantly beaten over the head with the fatphobia & body shaming? fuck right the fuck off. thank you.
CW: gore, violence, blood, death, cancer, child abuse (sexual, physical, emotional: some implied, others on page), fatphobia, body shaming, villains can't be villains if they're not fat & ugly & some form of 'not normal looking' of course. and we gotta be reminded of it CONSTANTLY.
CW: gore, violence, blood, death, cancer, child abuse (sexual, physical, emotional: some implied, others on page), fatphobia, body shaming, villains can't be villains if they're not fat & ugly & some form of 'not normal looking' of course. and we gotta be reminded of it CONSTANTLY.
Smilin' Sam's Corn Maze by Stephanie Perry Scissom, Stephanie Perry Scissom
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
cw: blood, murder, death, kidnapping, unhelpful law enforcement, gaslighting, cancer, medical content, violence, casual ableism
this one was pretty good & kept my attention very well. a couple unanswered questions that big me, but nothing story-breaking overall. a bit repetitious at times, but not that much. will definitely read more from scissom in the future!
this one was pretty good & kept my attention very well. a couple unanswered questions that big me, but nothing story-breaking overall. a bit repetitious at times, but not that much. will definitely read more from scissom in the future!
Driving in the Dark by Jack Harding
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
CW: car accident, hospitals, chronic illness, grief, fatphobia, body shaming, food shaming.
not a fan of how a short story can still be full of fatphobia & food/body shaming, and knowing how it ends makes it worse because the characters never going to realise his internalized issues so it's not mentioned how awful that mindset/belief is. either way, it wasn't as tense as I expected, but its not written terribly. I like how the end ties into other aspects of the short story, but ultimately this one wasn't for me.
it's labeled as horror, supernatural, a thriller but those don't actually feel right. suspense does, but ultimately, it's just sad. which is fine, I love sad stories, this one just wasn't marketed properly for my taste and I ended up with expectations that simply weren't met. would read more from this author in the future, though!
not a fan of how a short story can still be full of fatphobia & food/body shaming, and knowing how it ends makes it worse because the characters never going to realise his internalized issues so it's not mentioned how awful that mindset/belief is. either way, it wasn't as tense as I expected, but its not written terribly. I like how the end ties into other aspects of the short story, but ultimately this one wasn't for me.
it's labeled as horror, supernatural, a thriller but those don't actually feel right. suspense does, but ultimately, it's just sad. which is fine, I love sad stories, this one just wasn't marketed properly for my taste and I ended up with expectations that simply weren't met. would read more from this author in the future, though!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia and Body shaming
Moderate: Car accident, Chronic illness, and Medical content
Mary: An Awakening of Terror by Nat Cassidy
dark
funny
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
CW: blood, animal death, murder, misogyny, sexual violence, ableism (casual and otherwise), demonization of mental illness, cults, gaslighting, bullying, abuse, ageism, gun violence, racism (don't get me started on the only latina character being blamed for things she didn't do), body shaming/fatphobia, fire, forced institutionalization
too long and drawn out.
I NEED people to get fucking abelistic words & such out of their vernacular. stop using words like schizophrenic to describe things. demonizing and minimizing mental illness & the like is gross & annoying af. the horror genre needs to let this shit go, especially from people who don't deal with or do actual research into the things they're writing about, ok? good talk.
feels like a swing and a miss in an attempt to write a novel about ageism & sexism against cis-women in particular. kudos for trying, I guess? could've used a lot of adjusting at least in length and making the story a bit more cohesive. lots of things seemd thrown at the wall in an attempt to make them stick but ultimately come across feeling muddled & incomplete, for me.
personally feel the afterword made it worse. nothing like a male author admitting to having thoughts like a violent misogynistic serial killer to make you go yikes, bro... imma need a bit more specifics there & less vagueness please, cuz that can NOT be what he meant, even if that's exactly what it sounds like.
idk, the more I think about it, the less I like it, and I kinda wish I could get my time back.... I have read worse books, the beginning of Mary & the parts between Mary & Eleanor while working in the hospital basement were decent. some of the cult portions were fun for me. but overall, I just didn't like this one.
too long and drawn out.
I NEED people to get fucking abelistic words & such out of their vernacular. stop using words like schizophrenic to describe things. demonizing and minimizing mental illness & the like is gross & annoying af. the horror genre needs to let this shit go, especially from people who don't deal with or do actual research into the things they're writing about, ok? good talk.
feels like a swing and a miss in an attempt to write a novel about ageism & sexism against cis-women in particular. kudos for trying, I guess? could've used a lot of adjusting at least in length and making the story a bit more cohesive. lots of things seemd thrown at the wall in an attempt to make them stick but ultimately come across feeling muddled & incomplete, for me.
personally feel the afterword made it worse. nothing like a male author admitting to having thoughts like a violent misogynistic serial killer to make you go yikes, bro... imma need a bit more specifics there & less vagueness please, cuz that can NOT be what he meant, even if that's exactly what it sounds like.
idk, the more I think about it, the less I like it, and I kinda wish I could get my time back.... I have read worse books, the beginning of Mary & the parts between Mary & Eleanor while working in the hospital basement were decent. some of the cult portions were fun for me. but overall, I just didn't like this one.