Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson

12 reviews

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful relaxing sad tense slow-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.5

The Details:
Narrated by full cast
Unabridged 

A Carrie retelling, with a podcast narration style, focusing on racial identity and segregation. 

It was a nice suprise to have the podcast style as I wasn't expecting that and I've been enjoying the use of this tool or podcasts being a theme in my reads this year (e.g. Sadie).

Reminded me also of Anna dressed in blood as well as Carrie.

This was such a moving and distraught story of a young girl forced to suppress her nature (in multiple ways) under the cruelty of her father and the racist, segregated town she lives in. It felt so dated in the way the views of the white people held on the Black community and demonised them and the themes about equality in this day and age was painful and poignant.

Just when you hope Maddy can catch a break, all hell breaks lose at an awful happening of police brutality and that's when the Carrie retelling really shines. 

This was a fantastic character study and discussion of deep rooted hatred of the 'other' with well done supernatural elements.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Murder, Religious bigotry, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Violence

taytayfondue's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

3.75

I feel like I almost liked this book but it was missing something. The writing was fine but a bit lacking sometimes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racial slurs, Torture, Violence, Bullying, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Racism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Mental illness, Murder, and Physical abuse

pandact's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Tiffany D. Jackson always has her way of making you think and delivering the most satisfying fakeouts, and her fans will enjoy it!
The plot is almost like

Spoiler

Wicked (2003) with the themes of  Riot Baby (2020) and epic gore. Two things bothered me though: why did Wendy think fake dating would help her? Also, I guess it's cool to have an extra with a hearing aid, but why did Maddy stop needing glasses when she got powers and a boyfriend?

The universe sings to meeee!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Police brutality, Racism, Violence, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Hate crime, and Child death

Moderate: Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Animal death, Death of parent, Classism, Outing, Mass/school shootings, Grief, Car accident, and Body shaming

Minor: Ableism

maya_cole321's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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: Racial slurs, Police brutality, Racism, Violence, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Torture, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Bullying

kaynova's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I am a BIG fan of Carrie, so to hear about this book as reimagined, inspired by the original Carrie by Stephen King, I had to read this. It was worth it! I could've finished it in one sitting, alas I have to sleep (darn the human body). I loved that though it's inspired by Stephen King's book, it kind of strays away from it by being its own thing. The racism, the colorism, the sexism, using social media and current media channels to update us what's happening is amazing. A lot of the characters are so morally gray that you don't know if you want to give them grace or tell them to do f****** better, because there's moments of growth but there's moments of backtracking. The pacing was great, I didn't feel the need for it to be rushed; you delve into each character's motives, connections with each other and back stories. You soon realize this small town...deserve what came to them and that's a great book: making you cheer for the ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Racism, Torture, and Gore

seetaylorwriteandreview's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

A retelling of Stephen King’s “Carrie”, this book gives a modern spin on the classic but with today’s issues included. Madison Washington, AKA Maddy, is an outcast who is constantly belittled and bullied. But when the bullies take things too far one time too many, Maddy’s unique abilities begin to present themselves alongside another secret she’s guarded closely. Maddy is biracial, a fact that her father has made her keep secret her whole life. This secret coming out causes the main event to start a snowball effect, starting with Wendy, the class president, having her boyfriend, the Black quarterback and future college football star, ask Maddy to be his prom date. Like in most cases, this doesn’t exactly go to plan for Wendy or the sleepy, racist town of Springville. 

The Weight of Blood had me captivated from the very beginning. I was constantly wondering what was going to happen next and wondering what Maddy’s breaking point was going to be. I honestly loved this book and Tiffany Jackson’s ability to put her own spin on this cult classic. It’s the perfect read for those who love horror. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Bullying

Moderate: Murder, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Death, Hate crime, Torture, Racism, Violence, Medical trauma, and Gore

samanthamurk's review

dark emotional

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

such a good book! omg i loved every second of this read! tiffany d jackson has quickly become one of my all time favorite authors! this book was emotional and powerful. Each character was incredibly well developed and wonderfully complex. this is definitely one of my favorite books, and probably my favorite horror book! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Torture, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, and Racism

Moderate: Grief, Classism, Slavery, and Religious bigotry

heilyara's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Bullying, Racism, Torture, Emotional abuse, Death, Blood, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Murder, Hate crime, and Child abuse

kumquats87's review

challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Murder, Death, Cursing, Blood, Bullying, Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Death of parent, Violence, Cultural appropriation, Religious bigotry, and Racism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Grief, and Gore

Minor: Classism, Confinement, Genocide, and Gore

scrubsandbooks's review

dark mysterious medium-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

4.5

I would read all future Stephen King retellings that Tiffany writes. This was superb especially as an audiobook. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Bullying

Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, and Religious bigotry