Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

All Hallows by Christopher Golden

18 reviews

phantomgecko's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.0

I saw a blurb for this book that described it as a "twisty" horror story. And I thought, how can a creature feature be twisty? And yet. The book isn't neck deep in twists, but there was one or two that caught me off guard.

Positive points for interesting use of folklore and New England vibes. Negative points for it was gory gross.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol

ktb97's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.5

A spooky October read that I’m happy I picked up. It’s a bit confusing at times, but that didn’t distract me from the character arcs, which really are the highlight of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Violence, and Outing

Minor: Vomit

finnsnowbevi's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Racism, Self harm, Vomit, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Outing

Minor: Sexual content and Medical content

carbinara's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-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

3.75

Tony Barbosa I would die for you. I reallt enjoyed the relationships between the characters and how the whole book was spanning over one night, but sort of felt the children (especially Arthur) were a little underdeveloped.

Additionally, I felt like it was missing some sort of background about Carmun and the Cunning Man. He seemingly kidnaps kids for her but also stops those kids from taking other children? Also, why did he kill Ruth and Zach (not that they didn’t deserve it)?

Very fun Halloweeny book, maybe should have saved for October. Still, even though this review may seem a little negative, I very much enjoyed reading it and that’s the important part imo :) Definitely recommend

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pedophilia and Racism

sonygaystation's review

challenging dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Homophobia, Violence, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cursing, Pedophilia, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse and Infidelity

maregred's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gore, Infidelity, Pedophilia, and Death of parent

hollyberry_books's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Outing

Moderate: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

mishmashreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

Not a terrible book. But definitely not a good book either. 

The writing was good… ? I loved the feel of the neighborhood. Gave me Donnie Darko vibes. I love getting to know the characters and seeing their lives intersect. But also, the writing was bad. The phrase “hitched his/her breath” was used so many times it was distracting. One chapter literally spent pages building a climatic situation and then ended with the full sentence “And he died.” Also the whole Ruth and Zack storyline is super weird and I did not like it. Are we supposed to be learning about monsters among us? Cuz very bad job of pulling that metaphor off, if so.

There are a lot of characters with each chapter focused on one of them. Don’t put it down for too long or you will forget who is who. 

The book does not actually get anywhere close to action until 150+ pages in. Thank goodness the chapters were short. Christopher Golden should skip horror and just write fiction novels. I liked his characters. I liked his writing when it wasn’t in the “spooky” part of the book. The horror part of the book (aka the second half of the book) is not good.

3 stars, but if I was rating based on horror alone, it would have been 2. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Lesbophobia, and Outing

Minor: Self harm and Suicidal thoughts

louiepotterbook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Outing, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

yomireads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

Often, horror as a genre takes the fear of innocence lost and social taboos and uses sexual infidelity/deviance as tool to do so. All Hallows certainly has plenty of infidelity and the like, but I don't feel it furthers the horror. If anything it muddies the waters of the story with the characters personal drama. It felt out of place with the Cunning Man and these mysterious children.

The couple on the block proported to be an open couple that swings being used as a villainous presence outside of anything supernatural felt very close-minded especially.

Done well is the alienation children feel as their parents' troubles bleed into the rest of the family, and the fear of leaving behind the familiar. The lesbian character does feel a touch on the nose, but the fear of being outed and the tenuous hold on who to trust is good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Alcohol

Moderate: Confinement, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Kidnapping