Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman

23 reviews

itsjustgrumpy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

Savage, brutal, heartfelt and hilarious. What an absolutely stellar religious grimdark tale.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Excrement, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Incest

lessie's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

way more than just a lone wolf and cub type of story. good lord! this is the kind of religious/medieval horror i dig. despite all of my marked warnings in this book, the ending is very satisfying. just before the middle, the pacing drags some, but it picks up again very quickly. the back half of this book had me by the throat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Violence, Blood, and War

Moderate: Homophobia, Antisemitism, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Vomit and Suicide attempt

zachbrumaire's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

wow

mixed feelings on this one

the first 3 parts functioned really well as environmental/climate fiction, the portrayal of society from the mundane to the metaphysical under the pressure cooker of the Black Death

part 4 was bold and weird and reorinted the narrative to more interpersonal papal court politics at the same time a shift from magical realism to a more ordered clash of capabilities and powers, and something was lost that made the first parts so weird and great. 

the end, especially the detentmont, was very neat and tidy, very just so, and while some of the surreal poetry of the earlier parts of the work reemerged the impression was one of a shift from the horrors of a heaven and earth abandoned by God to one micromanaged by  him just-cause.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

callandor19's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

Right up my alley. The French side of the Hundred Years' War and the apocalyptic perception of life during the Plague were both interesting new perspectives to me. The "lone wolf and cub" setup has the potential to be obnoxiously saccharine or tropey, but I think Buehlman strikes a good balance here. Brutal and horrifying as fits the setting, plus an extra layer of brutality and horror due to the overt supernatural stuff, but the latter doesn't feel like it comes at the expense of stakes or credulity.

RE: Bingo, the POV character is a brigand who has deserted from the French army after the battle of Crecy. Even though the world is generally lawless after the plague's outbreak, he and his companions are definitely still considered criminals.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Cannibalism

robotfanclub's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and War

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Vomit, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury

emilyplun's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Vomit, Antisemitism, and Grief

jellygh0st's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Antisemitism

It's not ill-spirited, i.e. portrayal is obviously not condonement - but antagonists mention/voice intent on sexual assault, antisemitism, and religious supremism very frequently. The author doesn't take pleasure in the idea of exploring those ideas out of morbid curiosity, as some books might, but they are mentioned and given proper emotional weight and punishment when necessary.

garrettcz's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I liked it, but it felt longer than necessary and the ending was pretty confusing. I kept having to reread parts of the end over again before I really understood what was going on. The last 15% could have been tightened up. 

The characters and dialogue were the best parts. 

It had a lot more horror tropes than I expected. Very dark in places. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Pedophilia and Rape

darkpizza's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Animal death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Excrement, Vomit, and War

alexiasp's review against another edition

dark tense

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, and Vomit