Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Laws of the Skies by Grégoire Courtois

89 reviews

rubonyx's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• 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

5.0

It almost feels wrong to give this 5 stars. This was very disturbing, to put it mildly. At one point I felt sick to my stomach. But that (and the plot, of course) is what makes this such a great horror story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual assault, Excrement, and Vomit

superstormnora's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark fast-paced

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

4.5

Woof. This is a GRAPHIC story of if it can go wrong it will with 6 yo’s camping in the forest.

the last scene was so gory and begun with “you might think being eaten is abstract so let me tell you exactly what happened” told in 2nd person as a wild hog eats a child and oh my god is it bad. It’s bad.

I had to take breaks. I did like the writing style where the exposition in 3rd person wove between characters, the children were thinking big thoughts right along with the adults so the “adultification” of the children’s thoughts made it a little easier(?) to process? It took me multiple sittings to read this one despite the short length because of the graphic nature of the content. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

a child murders the children and one adult. A drunk driver crashes his car in a lake. Children die of poisoning. A child is eaten by a hog while alive.

virgilsinferno's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

5.0

One of the most fucked up books I've ever read. Absolutely brilliant, I loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Gore

charmarie's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

cwiita's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Bordered on feeling unrealistic in the sense that the verbal communication and (hopefully) barbarity of children has its limits, but usually managed to turn the worst moments into something worthwhile.
I find the perspective interesting, mainly the way that Courtois acknowledged and discusses children’s realities and fears through the language and context of adult understandings. 
Initially I struggled to grasp the timeline and the way our focus as an audience shifts so frequently, but eventually I realized how important it was to the film-like pacing and building of suspense. 
It made for a very interesting read, with some decent gore.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, and Excrement

Minor: Stalking

mblanke's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

madamesmiley's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

A shattering, challenging but incredibly fast read about the reason educators are required to maintain adult to child ratios. As a teacher, this is now my worst case scenario. 
Stories about children in survival scenarios always chill me, and draw me. I see the social dynamics of my students played out in small, horrible ways that seem all too plausible.
The transitions in this book are incredible. They have a frenetic, almost liquid quality of plopping the reader from one horror to the next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Torture, Blood, Vomit, and Murder

raebies_03's review

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault and Alcohol

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

if you can suspend your belief and just enjoy this gory and unrealistic lord of the flies parody, this isn’t a bad book. a lot of it is implausible but if you can look past that and just read, this is fine.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

thebookcloser's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book was everything I imagined and more. 😍 If you loved Lord of the Flies, this book is your gold mine. LOTS is a modern take on this classic but I would say the darker, adult version. 

I saw many reviews on Goodreads that poorly rated this book because you had to “suspend your disbelief.” This is a true horror book in every form and those that rated based on that missed the point of this book. 

For another reader to get the same “wow” factor it gave me.. I can’t spoil, but if this book peaks your interest know the themes are deep and they are the biggest takeaway from the story which is why I picked it up to begin with. 🖤

Lastly, the writing style is unique. There is no “chapters,” there are obvious “breaks.” POVs would jump sometimes between paragraphs but it became easy to follow once I understood. I actually enjoyed it. 😊

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty