wiley_coyote5's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Death
Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Transphobia, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Torture
This is a dark, heavy book. Each story is about awful people, doing selfish things and getting punished for it.glaybor's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Death, Self harm, Violence, Excrement, and Grief
Moderate: Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Child death, and Terminal illness
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Trafficking, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Police brutality
anouk_adriana's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Self harm, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Murder, Physical abuse, Child death, Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Sexual assault, Vomit, Abortion, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Suicide, Trafficking, and Violence
pages_with_panda's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Angelita Unearthed: 5/5
Woman is haunted by the dead baby corpse of her great-aunt.
Really liked the story! Very simple but super creepy and unsettling. I thought the relationship between the two characters was kinda funny - almost siblings. Lowkey the last scene made me chuckle.
• Moderate: Death of a child, Body horror, Gore,
Our Lady of the Quarry: 4/5
Teenage kids sneak into a quarry for the summer.
Good story, nice build up. Love any kind of revenge story and this was no exception. Good for Natalie.
• Moderate: Sexual content,
• Minor: Death,
The Cart: 2/5
A mysterious stranger shows up the neighborhood before horrible things start happening.
I did like where this story was going for the most part,. Again, I like revenge stories...But the story fell apart at the end and I couldn't really make heads-or-tails of what happened.
• Moderate: Excrement, Violence, Classism,
• Minor: Racism, Suicide, Animal death, Cannibalism
The Well: 5/5
A young girl suffers from severe anxiety of death and monsters.
Another favorite. Very, very unsettling and dark. The mystery surrounding what happened to her during that first trip was so interesting. Very well done. Sad ending.
• Moderate: Suicide,
• Minor: Rape, Suicidal thoughts,
Rambla Triste: 2/5
A neighborhood is haunted by murdered children.
I couldn't really understand the premise for this one at all. Was a little interesting but didn't seem to have a point to the story.
• Moderate: Pedophilia, Child abuse,
• Minor: Excrement, Child death,
The Lookout: 3/5
A Lady in a tower overlooks the hotel where she lives and invites another women to visit.
Had a nice "The Shinning" vibe and also some mystery regarding the Lady Upstairs. An okay story.
• Graphic: Self-harm,
• Minor: Rape, Attempted suicide, Drug abuse
Where are you, Dear Heart? : 5/5
A girl becomes obsessed with irregular heartbeats and tries to find the most imperfectly perfect one.
Incredibly unsettling. Can't stop thinking about this premise and the absolute horror of it. "What the fuck did I just read!?" But in a good, horrific way.
• Graphic: Medical
• Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Ableism,
Meat: 5/5
Two super fanatical fans of a rock star exhume his body and eat his corpse.
Another very disturbing story. Very well laid out and I really liked it. Horrific.
• Graphic: Suicide, Cannibalism,
• Moderate: Self-harm, Vomit
• Minor: Blood
Neither Baptism or Birthday: 3/5
A man tries to record a girl's hallucinations.
Very creepy story. Interesting build up as well. Ending fell a little flat.
• Moderate: Sexual content, Pedophilias, Mental illness, Self-harm
The Kids That Came Back: 5/5
Hundreds of missing children rematerialize but are the same age as when they disappeared.
I really liked this one. Super unsettling and creepy. Had a nice buildup as well and an interesting POV from Machi. (Interesting enough, compared to the Spanish version, the English version of this story had added a few sections of backstory that I think were completely unnecessary, especially because they added some slurs. And really added nothing to the story.)
• Moderate: Child abuse, Suicide
• Minor: Kidnapping, Death, Transphobic slur, Drug abuse,
Dangers of Smoking in Bed: 1/5
Woman smokes in bed.
Uninteresting. Couldn't really get into it. Thought the title story would be great but it fell flat.
• Moderate: Fire,
• Minor: Death, Sexual content, Blood
Back When We Talked to the Dead: 3/4
A group of girls use an Ouiji board.
A basic premise but interesting anyways! Unsettling but not too bad.
• Minor: Ableism slur (Spanish version)
Overall review for the book: 4/5. Solid stories! This is a horror book so check content warnings. Not suitable for young readers.
Graphic: Medical content, Sexual content, Self harm, and Death
Moderate: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Ableism, Vomit, Gore, Excrement, Violence, Classism, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Cannibalism, Child death, and Body horror
Minor: Racism, Animal death, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death, Cannibalism, and Rape
Spoiler
Use of transphobic slurs and ableist slursgrace_alice's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Self harm, Mental illness, Gore, Rape, Suicide, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Child abuse, Trafficking, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, and Drug use
clara_mai's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Rape, Mental illness, Cannibalism, Violence, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, and Excrement
Moderate: Alcoholism and Transphobia
lala_reads's review
- 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? It's complicated
4.5
By far the stories that stick with me the most are:
- Where are you dear heart (that final line 😮)
- The Lookout
- No Birthdays or Baptisms
- Kids who come back
- Meat
Also, never did I think I’d read a book where someone pooping in the street would be one of the least weird things to happen! This happened in two of the stories!!!
I loved the spookiness and the pacing of these short stories. The imagery 10/10! I definitely need to venture into short story territory especially for horror because I’m amazed at by how much mystery and drama can be conjured up in a few pages!
I’d love to see these stories turned into a tv series! I’m definitely going to check out “Things we lost in the fire”
Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Transphobia, Cannibalism, Suicide, Child death, Mental illness, Self harm, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Excrement, Blood, and Classism
cosyskog's review
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Death, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cannibalism, Sexual violence, Child death, Child abuse, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Excrement, Grief, Body shaming, Drug use, Sexual assault, Suicide, Ableism, Classism, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Cursing, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, and Violence
Minor: Car accident, Gun violence, Infidelity, and Police brutality
cady_sass's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Ableism, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Bullying, Child death, Drug use, Classism, Grief, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Abandonment, Animal death, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Violence, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual assault
chloeantoinettereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
It was beautifully written but was very hard to read at times and would leave a bad taste in my mouth after certain chapters. Very original though and worth the read as the perspectives in it are nothing like I've ever read before.
Wonderfully horrible. Beautifully grotesque
Minor: Drug use, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Violence, Child death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Grief, Addiction, Body horror, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Murder, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment