Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman

12 reviews

cold_boy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.0

What a strange and original horror novel. You often see Christianity influencing the horror genre, but I've never seen the religion used in a way that's quite this pervasive, effective, and unique. Buehlman leans into the bizarre and often surreal parts of Christian mythology on both the demonic and angelic sides, to great effect. The setting is probably my favourite aspect, especially the way he presents plague-era France as a truly apocalyptic place, with the emptiness and paranoia reminiscent of zombie movies. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Body horror, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Antisemitism, Sexual assault, Torture, Misogyny, Homophobia, and Sexual violence

emergencily's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, War, Rape, and Pedophilia

This book was such a page turner for me - I finished the whole thing in about 3-4 hours. It takes place during the Black Plague in France and follows the mysterious, holy journey of a young girl with unexplained spiritual powers and prophetic visions, a disgraced and aged old knight whose made it his sworn duty to guard her on her journey, and a gay priest ostracized by his own flock seeking a reason for his own faith. Absolutely loved the fantasy/historical setting with the Black Plague, the inquisition, war, and total social upheaval ravaging Europe -- all the while, metaphysical wars are waged between heaven and hell in dimensions beyond human comprehension, holding human life on earth as collateral in the balance. The settings were perfectly complementary, with the body horror of the Black Plague & the violations of humanity's self-destruction amid total social collapse juxtaposed against the unknowable, unexplainable vengeful violence of god's angels and hell's monsters. I'm a sucker for historical fiction with a fantasy twist. The ending was perhaps a bit cliche, but by then the main characters have suffered so much that you don't even care that it's a bit cliche, you just want to see them have a modicum of any kind of peace.

storyorc's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

If the Souls games were set in medieval France during the Black Death. Hideous, but imbued with great sense of purpose and poetry. The characters mostly feel very real despite being quite archetypical. A very immersive feeling of pilgrimage; no idea if it's actually historically accurate but it feels right. The climax was stretched a little too long for my taste however - after a certain event, the momentum took a stumble. The final confrontation was biblical and worthy, yet I enjoyed the journey most, if enjoyed is the right word when there are Elden Ring bosses in the rivers and ruins around every corner. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, and Homophobia

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Ableism, and Rape

nanthills's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Gore, Pedophilia, Death, and Sexual assault

emimli's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I absolutely adored this book. A must-read for fans of medieval horror, religious history, the found family trope, and Old Testament angels. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Torture, Antisemitism, Body horror, Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, Islamophobia, War, Grief, and Medical content

Moderate: Alcoholism, Pedophilia, and Rape

kurumipanda's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Body horror, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual violence, Violence, Animal death, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Torture, Cannibalism, Classism, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Outing, War, Xenophobia, Rape, Pedophilia, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Infidelity, Self harm, Suicide, and Vomit

antimonium's review

Very male gaze. Starts with a group of brigands wanting to rape a young girl. Homophobic characterization of a priest.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Pedophilia, Homophobia, and Rape

katiehoneydew's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Pedophilia

emilyharmonica's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Vomit, Sexual assault, Torture, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Cursing, Excrement, Grief, Homophobia, Violence, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, War, Pedophilia, Gore, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

danifueck's review against another edition

I never DNF a book, but I just couldn’t go further in this one. The set up sounded so promising - a quest through a plague stricken European countryside with a peculiar saintly girl? Sign me up! But the writing style and way of story telling just wasn’t for me. The “horror” in this book was mostly: look how gross this plague victim’s body is. The monsters described didn’t quite do it for me. The narrative was choppy, and felt like there was one story chapter, one horror chapter, story, horror, etc and it got uninteresting. I really wanted to enjoy this especially since it seems everyone else loved it, but I couldn’t do past 60%. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Medical trauma, Excrement, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia