Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A. Snyder

18 reviews

miriam_in_life's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Chronic illness, Gore, Murder, Death, Medical trauma, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual assault, Excrement, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual content

riotgrrrl92's review against another edition

dark tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

What starts as a creepy, gory pandemic adventure slowly evolves into an eldritch, lovecraftian Handmaid’s Tale. I wasn’t sure if I liked or loved this book until the last quarter of the novel, and I didn’t know it would be a must-read until the very, very end. The book spends a lot of time setting the stage for us, which is something I struggle with, but can’t fault the book for that when the payoff was so rewarding. The messages are loud and clear, which is sometimes necessary, and it helps that I agree with all of them. Amazing female leads, great queer representation, and some of the most disgusting horror I’ve ever read. I’ll be recommending this to ever queer horror fan I know. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Blood, Cursing, Chronic illness, Excrement, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, War, and Vomit

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

grey_jayne's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

Sister, Maiden, Monster is wild! Lucy A. Snyder has a disturbingly fucked up bent for visceral body horror. This is definitely the best cosmic horror book in a while and I enjoyed how gay everything was. The imagery, the transformations, there is so much great horror here too. I will warn that the story's pandemic happens after the "coronavirus years" and follows the same procedures we had to, so could be triggering and too soon for some. Definitely check the content warnings.

Since this book is gloriously queer, I was let down by the use of "his or her" and other binary language. This is the second 2023 Nightfire book in a row to do this. We deserve better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Gore, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Body horror, Suicide attempt, and Chronic illness

kaiyakaiyo's review

dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

that was. something.

hmm. I would by no means recommend this book to anyone I know BUT the first and last thirds of this book were fascinating. the middle… I could’ve done without it or her perspective; simultaneously deeply depraved yet extremely annoying at the same time. 

i really like cosmic, unknown, uncanny horror and that’s exactly what this delivered on, if a bit more gorily than i would have liked. 

poor nurse allegra, she was who i was really rooting for 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Colonisation, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Self harm, Vomit, Murder, Pregnancy, Gun violence, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Cancer, Cannibalism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, and Dysphoria

blackheart's review against another edition

dark funny medium-paced

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

4.5

This was a disturbingly, delicious read. Incredible body horror and outrageous story. The feminine rage and sassy were top notch.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Cancer, Cannibalism, Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexism, Chronic illness, Death, Genocide, and War

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Misogyny, Sexism, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Self harm, and Child death

kelisabeth's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Police brutality, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, War, Alcohol, Cancer, Rape, Infertility, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Animal death, Cannibalism, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Pandemic/Epidemic, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Death, Medical content, Trafficking, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Miscarriage, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Animal cruelty, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, 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.

madelinequinne's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Well that was disgusting…

This book had my stomach churning and my eyes filling with tears at the same time, all whilst making me think how awfully the world deals with pandemics and people who don’t fit into our capitalist ideas of how society should run. There were a lot of metaphors for how chronically ill people are treated, how messed up the government is when it comes to global catastrophes, and honestly that may have been the most sickening thing about this book. 

I definitely need to read something lighthearted after this to recover 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Body horror, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Cursing, and Gore

Minor: Abortion, Alcohol, Bullying, Cancer, Drug use, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Infertility, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Dysphoria, Rape, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis