Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Recursion by Blake Crouch

28 reviews

_pauline's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No

3.5

I‘m glad I‘m not the only one who struggled to understand everything (judging by the other reviews)

I didn’t dislike it but I had higher hopes for it & it was just a lot of disaster & suffering (

esp towards the end, happening over & over again, getting worse each time

) + confusing at times

also

if everyone remembers everything - including US retaliation -, wouldn’t they stop dropping atomic bombs after a few times? or am I being too optimistic here

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Terminal illness, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Cancer, Sexual content, and Mass/school shootings

pulp's review

dark hopeful 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

almostsweetmusic's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

3.5

Plot-driven time travel story that had a compelling premise and good execution. The last third of the book focuses on a romantic relationship that feels underdeveloped and I didn’t feel very emotionally attached to the characters. Still a worth while read if you enjoy time travel sci-fi.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Body horror, Blood, Dementia, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

amyg677's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Suicide, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Fire/Fire injury, and War

jazhandz's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

3.0

This book has a really interesting premise and sci-fi twist, which it promptly proceeds to squander through lackluster characters and a bloated, complicated plot. Unfortunately it feels like it’ll join the ranks of scifi books that were almost good enough for me to remember, but not quite.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Medical content, Dementia, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Cancer, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Most of the self-harm serves an in-story purpose, rather than being the result of mental illness. Additional CWs for extreme depictions of life under nuclear attack and trauma when faced with an apocalyptic scenario.

ababytapir's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.75

This book got me excited about reading again. It was part sci-fi thriller, part mad-time travel paradoxical brain-fuck, part horror, part romance, part philosophical musing on the human condition, and I loved EVERY second of it. It's a book I couldn't put down. A book I immediately recommended to everyone I know who loves sci fi and thrillers. It's one of the most thought-provoking books I've ever read. I literally only took off a quarter star because it's a little too nice to police, and the romance was a touch too heterosexual for my tastes, but that's just based on my own personal politics. It's a book I'm immensely glad I read. I spent the days after reading it just going "wow. What? Wow." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

This is a very violent book and there's some pretty graphic descriptions of mass violent acts like being right inside a nuclear war and terrorist attack. The book opens on a suicide and the story is often driven by the main character's deaths and suicides.

andrearahman's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

4.5

Incredible. Wondrous. Tense. Horrific. Brain-melting. Impossible to put down. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Gore, Suicide, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death, Dementia, Grief, and Mass/school shootings

laurenmiller100's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

3.0

This book is really terrifying. The ideas about memory and identity are very interesting, but it gets a little preachy toward the end. I also found it a little overly sentimental by the end.

That said, the descriptions of Barry and Helena dying in a nuclear fall out are truly gruesome and horrific. It’s awful.  The ”hell” that the characters get stuck in during their 30 year loop is so scary. Especially for all the people who ARENT Berry or Helena.  The book doesn’t focus enough on that. It’s truly terrifying.

I agree with what others have said about the lack of chemistry between

Barry and Helena

. The story skips a lot of their love story and it leaves the reader feeling sort of left out of their connection.

3 stars

• Characters: 4
• Atmosphere/Setting: 5
• Writing Style: 7
• Plot: 5
• Intrigue: 6
• Logic/Relationships: 4
• Enjoyment: 4

War, torture.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Torture, Violence, and War

Minor: Suicide attempt

msappear's review against another edition

reflective 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? No

4.25

I picked this one up after reading Dark Matter. It's much slower paced than that book.

At first it starts out as a mystery. I liked the unwraveling and discovery portion of the book a lot. However things really slowed down once the concept is fully realized. The back half of the book drags on a bit and it lost it's luster for me.

Overall I enjoyed the book. I think I would've rated it higher if I didn't read Dark Matter first, but in comparison it's not my favorite by Crouch, so I have to rate it lower than that book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

evelynritzi's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

This is one of those books where you just need to accept that it will be a bit confusing. Keep pushing through because you don’t need to understand everything completely to follow the plot and it will get a bit repetitive anyway.  That said, I really enjoyed this one! I could see this being a movie or show for sure. Like Dark Matter, this is a love story wrapped in a sci-fi novel! 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Suicide, and War