Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

30 reviews

hugo_pc's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexism, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Medical trauma

keerak's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

anapauggarcia's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved it! 
It is so scary just to be in the kid's mind!
I am so glad I got to read this book, it has been by far one of my favorite horror books I've ever read. 
First, let's talk about the main character: Frank. OMG, he is scary! He is a kid and young adult, and a psycho in the same mind. The beliefs he holds in his head and the obsession he has with every single aspect of his life just scared me so much. 
I was more scared to be in his mind that to read what was going on around him. 
It scared me so much the line that took the story, from making us disgusted with this kid to actually understanding him. It was such a great story, I have never enjoyed that much being in the villain's mind. 
Then his brother...OMG he is also scary! Every telephone call they have I will just get super scared. I was so tense until they hung up. The way the brother spoke made him sound even more unstable than Frank, and all we knew was that he was coming our way. 
The only complaint I will have would be that the book kind of makes us think that the story will be about the encounter between Frank and his brother Eric. So during the entire book, I was waiting for these scenes to happen, and the resolution to this feels kind of rushed and super short. I was expecting more from this plotline. 
But it was also interesting to get such an immersive sight of the protagonist's life. As I said before, it was impressive how we started hating him and then we understood. 
I wasn't expecting such a good plot twist. I thought the story was going to go in another direction, but WOW. It really changed my perspective toward the main character and made me question if someone could really get that evil for the same reason as he did. 
It was a great book. My mind was completely blown away. I give it 5 stars easily. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Murder

This book might not be the best for people that would not feel comfortable understanding certain reasons why someone could certain violent acts.

laurengeorgia's review

challenging dark 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, and Fire/Fire injury

abithereader's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

kawooreads's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-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? Yes

2.0

Its been awhile since I rated something 2 stars...this book...it is insanely graphic and obscene one minute and borderline boring the next. Essentially Frank, the protagonist lives a hermetic lifestyle on his family's small island in Scotland with his father. At the beginning they learn that Frank's older brother Eric has escaped an institution and is making his way back to the island.  As Frank awaits his inevitable arrival, he divulges the frightening reasons as to his brother's incarceration. Frank admits that he himself has a dark secret, that he killed three of his child relatives in his youth, including his little brother. The rest of the book is Frank nonchalantly describing the grisly ways in which they died while roaming around the island, engaging in intense animal cruelty and performing psychotic rituals with his "Wasp Factory". I held out to the end for 2 reasons, 1) its relatively short, just under 200 pages and 2) every dang person on tiktok said this is one of their favorite disturbing horror books and I'm trying to read Spooky for October...I do not recommend this book to anyone unless someone just wants to indulge in torture stories and relishes a read that will make them regret the time they wasted. Its an extremely disturbing story that had no redeeming qualities and quite a bizarre and lackluster ending. But maybe these kinds of stories just aren't for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

grimfrown's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

temsu's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, and Blood

mettenikkessen's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

This book left me feeling really confused and puzzled. The plot was very unexpected and quite random, and I felt as though I missed a deeper meaning or layer to the end. It did not feel like an end to this story really.
But having said that I did enjoy reading this book - even though it has plenty of horrific scenes. I just really love Iain Banks writing style. His magical atmospheric writing and storytelling which makes the landscape and characters come to life, but also his almost humerous dry sentences about quite gory events. Even though the main characters are very unlikable people, it is still interesting (and not as frustrating) to read the story from their point of view. Overall, I liked this book but I cannot really explain why and I would understand other people dislike to it as well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Murder

tabithalevis's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Lots of animal abuse, and a confusing plot that leaves me with many questions. Finished it in one day so definitely something to quickly get through!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Vomit, and Medical trauma