Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Englefald by Susan Ee

36 reviews

saucy_bookdragon's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-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? It's complicated

1.0

I can see how Angelfall would standout at the time it was published as a paranormal YA dystopia with teeth. The angels are deadly, the world is horrific, and it's not an outright romance. None of that actually made the book good though.

Everything about the novel was paper thin, half-baked, or misplaced. The horror, humor, and romance just do not gel in the slightest. The humor was often out of nowhere, the romance made no sense, and the horror was so gruesome it crossed the line into gratuitous. And I understand saving world building for later novels, but I don't even have a bare bones idea of who the angels are or what their world is like even though there were opportunities to give something throughout the book. Penryn spent the entire book with an angel, why was there no discussion about what heaven's like, or if that's even where he's from?

The novel was also incredibly ableist. Penryn's sister Paige is paraplegic and is belittled significantly by the narrative (and magically able to walk at the end). Penryn's mother is implied to be divinely mad or schizophrenic and its depiction is as yikes as you'd expect. There's an albino angel whose features are exaggerated to be considered monstrous. And overall none of the disabled characters are allowed to be full characters with wants and desires, characterized entirely by their disability which either makes them helpless, monstrous, and/or ugly. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Gore, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

cjmoon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Child abuse, Violence, and Blood

esther626's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious fast-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? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Gore

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Cannibalism, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Child death and Blood

laurellen_h's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism and Mental illness

Minor: Gore and Cannibalism

lilymeibean's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

2.75

mmm it sped up a lot at the end which kept me invested but i'm still not sure if i'm willing to continue the series based on where it left off -- i found some of the characters and the world-building interesting, but not too significantly -- and the amount of gore was a lil "ew" at times which left me wondering what the purpose of the gore was and if they'll show the reasoning for it in upcoming books. but enough on the gritty, i thought it was really well written for a YA book, the descriptions were very illustrative (for better and for worse sometimes :D) but a smooth read overall!

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Violence, and Cannibalism

bamfling's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Abandonment

zuha_kh's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, Cannibalism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

rafacolog's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Violence, Kidnapping, and Cannibalism

ameydireads's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

“When you're small enough to have to look up at everyone around you, there's no such thing as a dirty fight.”

Basically, the world as we know it has ended, angels are everywhere and humans are trying to survive. An interesting plot! We have angels against angels and Penryn who is trying to survive with her little sister who is in a wheelchair and mother who has schizophrenia and is both intriguing and scary. I didn’t expect her mother to survive and I was surprised to see how self-reliant she was when left on her own. I hope she’ll get a bigger role in the next two books.

The writing felt a little off in the beginning, mainly because of the over-explaining and this made it harder to really get into the book. But I have to say that it got better or maybe I just got used to it. The story also got more interesting later on, so that helps!

Now I’m debating whether to read the other books or not. I didn’t love this book, it was okay but on the other hand

I want to know how Paige ended up in a wheelchair–because I don’t believe it’s their mother’s fault–and why the angels are even on Earth and what is going on with them.

 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement

Minor: Alcoholism, Death, Slavery, Vomit, Abandonment, and Alcohol

bsmulca's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Violence, Cannibalism, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness and Sexual harassment