Reviews with content warning for Blood - They Were Here Before Us

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

They Were Here Before Us by Eric LaRocca

21 reviews

mirnda's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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blackcatkai's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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: violence, blood, body horror, gore, death (animal & human, child & adult for both), torture (animal & human), self harm, miscarriage/pregnancy, mental illness, ableism, homophobia (including use of slurs & other derogatory statements), interspecies love/bestiality mentioned, necrophilia, insects, murder

this was an event of a novella. a collection of short stories with a similar theme, this is gross & amazing. you get mostly stories from the viewpoint of animals & insects, with a couple human povs at the end. any content warnings you find, take seriously. LaRocca is a pro at descriptive horror and this is a very visceral experience.

a lot of ew, gross moments. but also some sweetness in a few spots. definitely not recommended for anyone new to horror or more extreme genres. but I really enjoyed this one.

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disyarning's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

For your own sake, heed the content warnings at the start of the book.

If you can stomach it: Lyrical, evocative prose combined with intensely uncomfortable, frequently disturbing, sometimes gory, imagery and themes. LaRocca uses horror to explore how love can unravel us, from unexpected perspectives. Some of the shorter stories are equal parts humour and horror, while others (particularly the final two) are viscerally horrifying with zero levity. I can't say I liked every story, but I didn't regret reading the book.

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uchihas's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

I hated “Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke” and I hated this one decidedly less.

Now that I’ve had time to process: I was not a fan of the first story mostly because I’m not super into the

anthropomorphism of insects

but it was written very well. The second story was alright but I’m not sure that a story that perpetuates the

gay men as zoophiles

ideology is… super cool but maybe I’m missing some underlying moral or something. Loved the third story’s karmic retribution even if it was a tough read at first. Fourth story was okay. Fifth story did not do it for me, again I wasn’t sure how to feel about the perpetration of

queer folk being sexual predators

and I think if not written by a fellow queer person it would’ve really rubbed me the wrong way. Loved the last story, very

cosmic horror

that I wasn’t expecting but am certainly not mad at! I do like LaRocca’s writing style and it felt that they had more of a voice this time. I did read it on KU but wouldn’t have been mad about spending money on it like last time LOL…

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stephb96's review against another edition

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dark reflective fast-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? No

2.0

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gorbon's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

4.25

Pay attention to the trigger warning at the beginning as well as the warnings posted here. This book is not for the squeamish.

Disturbing, disgusting, discomforting Eric LaRocca pulls no punches. However, at the center of this novella in pieces is love in its rawest, most depraved state.

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