Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

They Were Here Before Us: A Novella in Pieces by Eric LaRocca

13 reviews

nittiotvaan's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Self harm, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Homophobia, Dementia, Child death, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

Minor: Vomit and Excrement

kawooreads's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Tiktok put this author on my radar, and I found the audiobook on Libby. What a strange assortment of short tales that are brutal, vengeful, and twisted. The first story is told through the perspective of a beetle who falls in love with the woman's corpse it is feeding on... This book isn't for the faint of heart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Gore, and Murder

mirnda's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Gore, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Dementia, Homophobia, Suicide, and Vomit

Minor: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Pregnancy, and Torture

blackcatkai's review against another edition

dark fast-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

CW: violence, blood, body horror, gore, death (animal & human, child & adult for both), torture (animal & human), self harm, miscarriage/pregnancy, mental illness, ableism, homophobia (including use of slurs & other derogatory statements), interspecies love/bestiality mentioned, necrophilia, insects, murder

this was an event of a novella. a collection of short stories with a similar theme, this is gross & amazing. you get mostly stories from the viewpoint of animals & insects, with a couple human povs at the end. any content warnings you find, take seriously. LaRocca is a pro at descriptive horror and this is a very visceral experience.

a lot of ew, gross moments. but also some sweetness in a few spots. definitely not recommended for anyone new to horror or more extreme genres. but I really enjoyed this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal death, Body horror, Violence, Blood, Child death, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Car accident, Chronic illness, and Miscarriage

Minor: Terminal illness, Excrement, Death of parent, Medical content, Pregnancy, Vomit, and Sexual content

disyarning's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

For your own sake, heed the content warnings at the start of the book.

If you can stomach it: Lyrical, evocative prose combined with intensely uncomfortable, frequently disturbing, sometimes gory, imagery and themes. LaRocca uses horror to explore how love can unravel us, from unexpected perspectives. Some of the shorter stories are equal parts humour and horror, while others (particularly the final two) are viscerally horrifying with zero levity. I can't say I liked every story, but I didn't regret reading the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Animal death, Blood, Death, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

uchihas's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

I hated “Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke” and I hated this one decidedly less. 

Now that I’ve had time to process: I was not a fan of the first story mostly because I’m not super into the

anthropomorphism of insects

but it was written very well. The second story was alright but I’m not sure that a story that perpetuates the

gay men as zoophiles

ideology is… super cool but maybe I’m missing some underlying moral or something. Loved the third story’s karmic retribution even if it was a tough read at first. Fourth story was okay. Fifth story did not do it for me, again I wasn’t sure how to feel about the perpetration of

queer folk being sexual predators

and I think if not written by a fellow queer person it would’ve really rubbed me the wrong way. Loved the last story, very

cosmic horror

that I wasn’t expecting but am certainly not mad at! I do like LaRocca’s writing style and it felt that they had more of a voice this time. I did read it on KU but wouldn’t have been mad about spending money on it like last time LOL… 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Animal cruelty, Death, Self harm, Blood, Gore, and Animal death

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Dementia, Car accident, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Cursing, and Suicidal thoughts

Mentions of bestiality/zoophilia.

lanid's review against another edition

dark tense

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, and Death

Moderate: Homophobia, Child death, and Body shaming

stephb96's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Animal death, Blood, Death, Gore, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

gorbon's review

dark tense fast-paced

4.25

Pay attention to the trigger warning at the beginning as well as the warnings posted here. This book is not for the squeamish. 

Disturbing, disgusting, discomforting Eric LaRocca pulls no punches. However, at the center of this novella in pieces is love in its rawest, most depraved state. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Child death, Gore, Animal death, Body horror, Miscarriage, Blood, Pregnancy, Homophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

lilabachere's review against another edition

dark

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Self harm