Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig

15 reviews

babyfacedoldsoul's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

Easily one of the best books I've read this year. It does infodump a fair bit about apples, especially at the beginning, but I promise it is worth hanging around for. It is so good to see horror done that doesn't focus on sexual assault or other punching down, Cheap shock horror. The body horror was so well done, especially the teeth! (Iykyk). The relationship dynamics between characters was really well done. Even the characters who I could not stand I still wanted to learn more about. The story is so well woven together and I will absolutely be looking up his books on the writing craft. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, and Cannibalism

Minor: Car accident

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, Cancer, 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

hanyaya's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.75

The beginning creepiness is much better than the payoff, but the creepiness is very good. Some moments where it was painfully clear these women were written by a man, but all in all I liked most of it.

Huge trigger warning for cults!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gun violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

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

zag95's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Sexual harassment

atamano's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Car accident, and Classism

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

maryellen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity

mwbuntin's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder

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