Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig

6 reviews

audioaxolotl's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Gore, Physical abuse, and Murder

fkshg8465's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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? Yes

5.0

Horror was a genre I’d started away from for a very long time, but a couple years ago, I challenged myself to read books I’d normally avoid. So fantasy and horror were now officially on the list of books. I find I’m still picky about fantasy, but I’m a fan of well written horror now, and this one feels very well organized and plotted.

The story was, admittedly, a little hard to get into at first. I reread the first chapter several times, but once I got past it, I was hooked. I also had to wonder if it was a satire about MAGA, but the author’s note at the end said nothing about it, so I’ll try to skip assumptions. But if you’ve read it, you may see some parallels there as I did.

I really liked what my friend would refer to as the unlikely friendships that were written. It was they who saved the works, after all! I liked the epilogue and the seed of doubt planted (yes, I meant that internally and unironically). And in between, I liked that a range of LGBTQ relationships were normalized while still acknowledging transphobia just a bit, although I was sorry that sex shaming was still ever present (pretty sure that’s a leftover disease of Puritan influence, and that was appropriate too, given the discussion of settlers, John’s commitment to the Quakers, and the purity of faith our heroes had in the value of humanity).

I will be seeking out more of this writer’s works.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

rachelpoteet's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Suicide

ladykatka's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Every child eventually learns that their parent isn't perfect, but this book taught Calla one hell of a lesson.

I love a good Faustian bargain and I'm pretty sure this one counts. I haven't read a 600 page book and I really long time and I read this one in 3 days so clearly I enjoyed it. However, it turned from creepy and atmospheric for 75% of the book to instant body horror in the last 25%. So that took me by surprise. I also had to rate this down half a star because Emily was annoying and I didn't like that

John had the perfect death and then they brought him back just so that there could be a happy ending for the main characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

imstephtacular's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicide, Vomit, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Police brutality, Grief, Car accident, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol

professoremdash's review against another edition

dark lighthearted tense slow-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

3.0

I’m not a huge gore horror fan so this was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I liked the general premise and overall plot. It got pretty dark in the middle and I had a hard time wanting to continue because I just couldn’t see a way out for the characters, but the ending felt earned. The story also contained a surprising amount of politics/political correctness which felt kind of random. It wasn’t terrible, it just stuck out to me every time something came up in an aside or in a character interaction. Overall it was good but not great.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Murder