Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

8 reviews

dreaming_cosmos's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The romance plot is very annoying, imo, but the rest of the story is compelling enough to get me through it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Misogyny, and Kidnapping

bellabells113's review against another edition

4.5

I'm so glad the dog lives and as much as I did cry when Atl left Domingo behind, I think it is the best for him AND the dog. They both deserve to live good and comfortable lives. Also, Domingo being 17 and having a relationship with 23 year old Atl *siri play All Too Well by Taylor Swift*. Ultimately, I really enjoyed this (the narrator was utterly amazing, like by far the best narrator I've ever listened to) and I think I'll actually end up giving it a higher rating after I give the ending some time to marinate.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, and Blood

madnabox's review

dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I rate books using CAWPILE created by G from bookroast on YouTube. 

This book only got 4 stars because I did not enjoy this book. I think I gave it a 3/10 for enjoyment. I took me almost 2 weeks to read it and I dreaded listening to the audio book. Not because the narration was bad or that the writing was bad. The characters were well written and believable. I even like the author's parallel to colonialism with the vampire world. I loved this fresh lore on vampires. 

I wish I could articulate what I did not enjoy. I can say that part of it is Atl's stubbornness. 

This book will be going in the unhaul pile. I am happy to have read it. I will read other books by this author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, and Blood

macknificent's review against another edition

dark 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? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Drug use, and Vomit

ruthlessreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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? Yes

3.0

I thought this book was okay. It was well written but I didn’t feel a very strong connection to any of the characters. The action felt a little forced and I was honestly bored at times. It wasn’t bad, by any means, but it’s not something I would read again nor that I would recommend to anyone who isn’t a hardcore vampire fan. I found the details about the different kinds of vampires to be fascinating and wish I’d been able to learn more about that specifically. I liked Domingo a lot even though he felt kinda flat to me, very typical “I’m obsessed with vampires” human. I wish we knew a little bit more about him as a person. The same with Atl, whose background I feel we only got the lightest of sketches of to explain why she was on the run and in Mexico City. I would’ve liked a longer book or for this to be the first in a duology about these characters, Atl specifically but also other important characters & the different clans. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Torture, Violence, Grief, and War

Minor: Sexual content

arce's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.25

Oh good Lord, where do I start?
It definitely was not, what I was expecting from the blurb. There it sounded like Domingo was 12 years old and Atl more like 30+, and they were forming some sort of makeshift family. Very disappointing to read about two stupid teenagers (yeah, I know, Atl's 23, but her behaviours tells something different).

I hated nearly everything and everyone in this book, but least of all Bernardino, which makes him my favorite humanoid character. My favorite character was by far Cualli, the dog. At least the dog didn't get killed, else I'd have thrown the book out the window.
Chapter 32 was very bad, but chapter 34 was way worse, but the worst by far was chapter 40. Atl's now suddenly trying to behave like an adult? I'm not buying it.
I definitely wasn't sad about anyone's death, every single one was deserved.

The idea behind the different vampire species is however very interesting, and I liked the appendix.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

hanz's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug use and Kidnapping

jmross10's review

dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail