Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A. Snyder

14 reviews

thekazm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Violence, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Cannibalism, Cursing, Death, Pregnancy, Vomit, Cancer, Death of parent, Child death, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Infertility, Sexual content, Murder, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Chronic illness, Confinement, and Kidnapping

cleot's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

It's not that the writing quality was bad, the story was just intense in a way that isn't to my taste. See content warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual content, Violence, Body horror, Cannibalism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Self harm, Gore, and Medical content

Moderate: Confinement, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, and Police brutality

Minor: Racism, Body shaming, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Child death, and Cancer

under-negotiated kink, blood kink, self surgery, sexual gratification from murder, false rape claim, parasite/ parasitic pregnancies

stephanieluxton's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.5

This book was a bit of a roller coaster and it makes it so hard to rate. Let's start with what I liked. I went into this book pretty much blind. I didn't read the synopsis and all I knew is that it was about a virus and leans heavily into body horror.

I really enjoyed the first part of the book in which we see the horrors a new virus is inflicting on a normal person and how the world is responding to it. Super interesting concept! I also enjoyed the pacing of the story for the most part - it only dragged in certain areas. I liked the writing itself. I found myself fairly immersed in the first act and also somewhat in the final act.

But there was so much that I didn't like. The characters are all pretty irredeemable with exception to Mareva, maybe. Every single character is so far left wing, politically that I feel like even left wing readers would find them deplorable. I didn't write the book off because of this. Maybe the author wanted us to hate all the characters! Obviously I don't need to fully relate to the characters or after with their views to enjoy a book, but it got super preachy in the second act. White men = bad. Christians = bad. It wasn't subtle at all and was definitely pulling me out of the story. Erin isnt likeable but I could feel empathy for her. Savannah is the absolute worst scum of the earth. Part two was painful to read. Mareva was the best character but I feel like the book ends semi abruptly before we really got to see the consequences of her decisions. 

The other thing that pulled me out of the story was that there was a lot of time spent trying to explain the science of the virus but without really answering most of our bigger questions. The book ends just as it's starting to get interesting again.

Overall I think this book had all the potential but it almost was felt like it was trying to do so many things at once instead of just telling one story well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Murder, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Torture, Cancer, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Physical abuse, Body horror, Pregnancy, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Cannibalism, Death, Domestic abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Death of parent and Abortion

atranscryptid's review

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This was so gross. I loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Gore, Murder, Police brutality, Self harm, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Body horror, and Violence

shereadytoread's review against another edition

challenging dark

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

3.75

I think this is overall well-written, and something I would never want to reread. It definitely pulls off queer, lovecraftian, cosmic horror. However, the book is split into parts that make me feel like I'm watching random scenes of a film, but the connective tissue is missing. The scenes are striking and there is lots of social commentary to go around. I think there are some missteps in a few characters, but overall the choices do enhance the horror and depravity of the world the characters exist in. 
If you can't stomach gore and body horror, this might be one to skip.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Sexual violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Death

Moderate: Suicide attempt, War, and Infertility

Minor: Trafficking

lucasgallup's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No

4.5

A gory tale of the end of the world. Super fun and creative! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Body horror, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gore, and Violence

missymaus's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Body horror, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Medical content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, Vomit, Blood, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and War

swashbuckling_mathematician's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-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? No

4.0

Basically every trigger warning.  It's a good story but...graphic...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Genocide, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Vomit, Abortion, Self harm, Body horror, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Dysphoria, Slavery, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Gore, Sexism, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Violence, Sexual content, Terminal illness, War, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

It's graphic. Very graphic. Really, if violent imagery gets in your head and bothers you, don't read this book.

lllkilli's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Blood, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Gun violence, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Child death

cloudface's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes

4.0

Let me preface this review by saying that I am not normally a horror reader, and I am very squeamish when it comes to gore. Had I known how much gore was in this book, I probably wouldn’t have picked it up. 
That being said… I can still admit that this was a good book and that I was hooked from the beginning. If you DO like horror and can handle gore (seriously, I had to pause the audiobook because I was starting to retch), I would highly recommend this. It was fucked up and biblical and sexual all at once. There are some scenes that will haunt me for the rest of my life. 
Like other reviews have stated, the final act of this book lags a little and the ending is ambiguous in a way that could be frustrating, but I personally didn’t mind. I was, however, annoyed with the preachiness in the first act. The narrator frequently goes off on tangents that aren’t really saying anything; it feels like the author is just regurgitating stuff they saw on Twitter without engaging in any meaningful way with what they were saying. I think the narrative would have been stronger if those things had been left in the subtext. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Cannibalism, Violence, Gore, and Sexual violence