Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig

9 reviews

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

paracosim's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

4.75

My only complaint about this book is that it is going to read as very dated, very soon. The Gen Z lingo and references to tiktok will age Black River Orchard beyond comparison within just a few years lol. The last line was also very lackluster, which brought the score down solely because it made me roll my eyes at what was otherwise a flawless book. I already want to reread it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Police brutality and Kidnapping

Minor: Racism

kylieqrada'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

YES. An author’s hyperfixation novel that makes me scared of fruit?? I’m sooooo here for it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Homophobia, and Sexual content

Minor: Grief

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

abbyweber's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

3.75

Ok 3.5 stars. Maybe even close to 4? The first third of this book was great. Then I started to get over it but then the last third was great again. This story was so good, even if it should have been about 200 pages shorter. Even books about demonic cult apples don’t need to be 600+ pages. But seriously… demonic cult apples?! It was strange and weird and f’d up sometimes and annoying sometimes and overly long, but it was great writing and a fantastic story. A little more body horror than I like, but it all was forgiven because ultimately, this was a book about good and evil and a goddamn demonic apple cult! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and Murder

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

pandaplantain's review against another edition

dark 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Gore

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

beaniebabyidiot's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Vomit