Reviews with content warning for Body horror - 1793

Holy shit dude that was some good shit! Beautifully written, disturbingly graphic, and thoroughly enjoyable. It is a startlingly constructed debut. A debut! There is so much talent on display here. Everything connects and comes together in the end in a way that is satisfying and not drawn out.

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anne_marie_samp's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

This is a hard book, dark, disturbing in a number of ways. People do dark things, some to survive, some because they can.

Not an easy read, but I do now know more about the Russo-Swedish war, the Swedish royal family, and Stockholm in the 1790s - which is enough for me to know that I am very glad not to have lived in Stockholm in the 1790s.

Good book, well told, but definitely need something lighter now.

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archivofrances's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

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wendel's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

Extreem plastisch beschreven historische horror. De gruwelijke details blijven je achtervolgen en - net als de karakters in het boek - krijg je de neiging een stevige borrel te pakken om alle narigheid weg te spoelen.

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elijah_leaf's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

don't let the reviews lead you askew, other than the book being extremely gorey, i disagree with most of they have said upon my first read - i'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre (and is okay with the warnings, which i strongly suggest you check if you could be effected by anything, but if not then don't spoil it for yourself!). i feel as if i need to defend it, it didn't have me gripping onto each page as i cried on the edge of my seat, but it's a pretty good book, hence the stars.

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 😭😭

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debbie13410's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

Gruesome, gorry, disturbing

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hanarama's review against another edition

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Book at a Glance:
Multi POV
1793 Stockholm
Mystery thriller
CW: extreme body horror, extreme physical and mental abuse, medical trauma, medical content, injury detail, abelism

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.

I'm sure others will enjoy this book, but I just found it to be too much.

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