The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
carnbostrikesagain's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Body horror and Chronic illness
Minor: Rape and Sexual assault
clemso's review against another edition
- 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? No
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Excrement, Medical trauma, Trafficking, Suicide, Violence, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Rape, War, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Incest, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Murder, and Pedophilia
archivofrances's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Blood, Body horror, Death, Excrement, Gore, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Classism, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Violence, War, Murder, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Terminal illness, and Vomit
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Cursing, Medical trauma, and Abortion
wendel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Rape, Suicide, Violence, Gore, Vomit, Chronic illness, Confinement, Excrement, and Alcoholism
elijah_leaf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
the average is low for what it is, reading through many either didn't like the genre (which is no fault of the book) or got bored because of the slower pacing, and therefore didn't actually read the book; i don't think it's as horrendous as people describe it to be since it's a pretty average sized book, if it were 1,000 pages i'd be inclined to agree but if you can get yourself invested in the characters it's a smooth read!
another criticism is that people think that the characters are flat or shallow, while i think my tolerance to worse characters is probably larger than other people's, i was still able to enjoy them. it's a short crime novel, they don't have much time to flesh out and develop a range of characters but they aren't completely 2D, they have their own traumas and are easy to tell apart! it's not explicitly said but you can pull apart the way they work, impossible for such shallow characters as they describe. there was a lack of diversity in the way that most of the characters were male and, as far as i can remember, there was only one character who was described to be dark-skinned; but there is a canonly queer character (though i wouldn't exactly say it was the best representation...) and the female character is named and has a portion of the book dedicated to her in her POV!
i saw a review say that it was targeted at the male-gaze but as an afab, i think they've took that term and ran with it. in my eyes the male gaze would be sexualising the female cast (going out of their way to describe their breasts, ect.), and just baking misogynist ideas into the text - that was not this book.  the book is set in 1793 sweden, a classist and misogynistic time period, it's only period accurate to have the girl to go through the troubles of the time. she is never described to enjoy it, or be wholly submissive to it - she plays the role of a girl of the time, she knows her place in society and dreads what comes with it.
that aside, i enjoyed it! i'm not much of a gore person myself, always hated the people who flexed that they didn't flinch at the sight to it, but it was written so well that i could feel my heart in my chest! the two mains (cecil winge and mickel cardell) didn't pull on any classic golden tropes for their characters or dynamic but i still found them lovable as a pair; i'm shocked that most people didn't like them as much as i did?
overall, i'm very glad i read it! i'll probably pass it around to as many people as i can, in hopes that i can reference it in conversation ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
Graphic: Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Death, Gore, Suicide, and Torture
Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, War, and Rape
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Child death
the book itself is very gorey, i'm not going to tag these as spoilers in case people need them but there is description of public execution, amputation and a scene where one of the characters crawls through an enclosed area with a corpse. there's also some references / a short description of eating faecal matter.debbie13410's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Torture, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Excrement, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, and Rape
hanarama's review against another edition
Multi POVÂ
1793 Stockholm
Mystery thrillerÂ
CW: extreme body horror, extreme physical and mental abuse, medical trauma, medical content, injury detail, abelismÂ
More extreme and bleak in its depictions of gore an human cruelty than I want to engage with. I'm not usually squeamish in regards to true crime or medical content, but I found the descriptions in this book to be very vivid. The mood of this book honestly made it hard for me want to press on. As such, I'm calling it quits.Â
I'm sure others will enjoy this book, but I just found it to be too much.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Torture, Violence, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail
napoleoniq's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, and Body horror
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Excrement, Gore, Physical abuse, and Sexual content