Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Leech by Hiron Ennes

84 reviews

sky_maris's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

Pros:
Beautifully written - the prose feels ripped from a Gothic novel but maintains its own modern twist. The narrative style shifts throughout, but in a wonderfully subtle way that you don't really notice until you're In It (TM). I was expecting a good old body horror romp when I started, but this is much more existential than that and I adored it. Leech is a perfect example of how horror can be used to explore difficult  concepts and make a point without losing the fundamental elements of the genre. I was creeped out the whole time while simultaneously pondering my own existence.

Cons:
The pacing is a tad slow, though never slow enough to become boring. The narrative style, particularly at the beginning, can be a tad hard to follow, but the author did an excellent job of orienting the reader.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Drug abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Blood, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

dani_wasia's review

adventurous 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

dellybear's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A stunning piece of literature that had me guessing till the very end. Loved every second of it. A fantastically unique main character, one entitity spread out over hundreds of bodies. Very gorey and tense. I enjoyed this book immensely. Lots of medical themes, wouldn't recommend if you can't handle parasites and medical scenarios.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Medical content, and Pregnancy

ellius's review

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? It's complicated

4.0

Wow. This was amazing. 

This is probably one of the most unique, atmospheric, beautifully plotted books, I have ever read. It was absolutely addictive.

The world was so gorgeous and well built, the characters where so smartly written and easy to get attached to or completely loath. And the set up of the book plays out absolutely wonderfully. I really loved the setting for the château. I could feel the environment leaping off the page. 

However, I struggled so much with wanting to pick it up and read it. Something about it was just a bit much to cope with in large doses. I think there were a lot of things that could’ve been done differently. It definitely could’ve used some technical polishing but it was still so good. 

Ultimately, very unfortunately, this is not a 5 stars. But still, a VERY positive 4 stars. I would definitely read from this author again, ESPECIALLY if it includes this world they’ve set up. 

9/10. Really solid debut.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

one of the plot twists of this book is that the mute servant is being raped and sexually abused by the son

soljovis's review against another edition

dark tense

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Infertility and Miscarriage

sam_emerson6's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Sexual harassment

barometz's review

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Blood, Medical content, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child death, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

odunayo_y's review against another edition

dark mysterious

4.75

Would’ve been PEAK if not for the the imo weaker last 15%. Which was excellent for the horror aspect but narratively it was not as strong as The rest of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

asriram's review

dark emotional mysterious slow-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

3.5

This was a decent novel. While I think it picked up more towards the end, and some of the themes this touched on were interesting, I feel like part of it bounced off of me a little bit. While I understood the overarching plot, some specific details in eluded me, and the beginning was a bit dull. That being said, Abigail Thorn did a fantastic job as the narrator, and the story was a fun listen. 3.5/5 stars overall.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

wordswritinstarlight's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

This book fucks supremely as a horror story. The Institute is a twisted knot of self-justifications and self-righteousness, the residents of the chateau are all compelling disasters, I really do think the twins were dead all along, and the newfound parasite is just [chef kiss] horrifying, 10/10 monster, will keep me up at night. 

The move of making Pseudomycota essentially heat-activated is a fantastic twist, especially after half the book resting on the Institute’s confidence and general genre tropes that “kill it with fire” is always the right answer.  The moment of realization that this battle was always over, from the moment they threw the first body into the furnace, really worked for me.

 Highly recommended if you have the stomach for truly buckwild levels of body horror.  Would especially recommend to anyone who really loved the Animorphs as a kid: the situations are wildly different and yet the vibes are very much the same.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Torture, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic