Reviews tagging 'Incest'

House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson

23 reviews

jasper_is_atypical's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gore, Grief, Violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Self harm, Animal death, Cannibalism, Classism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Body horror, Bullying, Gaslighting, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual content

Moderate: Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, and Torture

Minor: Death of parent and Incest

mary_stormageddon's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.25

Alexis Henderson has written another book I couldn't put down. While House of Hunger wasn't what I thought it would be, I loved every second of it. I will read anything she writes!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Sexual assault, Violence, Chronic illness, Drug use, Incest, and Murder

zany25's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I think this book might work best if you read it kinda fast because there are definitely some slowdown sections that might drag, but I found enjoyable anyways. To me this book is all vibes, gothic classist mean girl lesbian vampire vibes. Which I liked, I wouldn’t say the plot is terribly strong until the ending, but if you’re along for the ride it’s definitely easy to get pulled in.

Also I’ve drawn blood for work in the real world and their blood letting descriptions were pretty spot on, aside from the sprinkling of supernatural of course, I enjoyed how they described the veins and scarring as a nice realistic touch. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Drug use, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Domestic abuse, Death, Alcohol, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Minor: Mental illness, Self harm, Incest, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Terminal illness, and Addiction

tnm94's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Drug use, Gore, Body horror, Mental illness, Self harm, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Child abuse, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Animal death, Classism, Addiction, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Incest

minycrd's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Gore

Moderate: Murder and Death

Minor: Confinement, Death of parent, Incest, Drug abuse, and Drug use

citrus_seasalt's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

5.0

Oh I really loved this one!! The writing was absolutely gorgeous, loved the atmosphere too—it kept me unnerved even before the final gruesome twist was revealed. Marion was an interesting protagonist: a combination of some good values and sympathy, other times (particularly in the second act) a fascinating exploration of corruption and obsession. The bloodmaid dynamic was done well, with the show of the hierarchy and how Lisavet’s manipulation tore them apart easily being a strength of that. However, I do wish the other bloodmaids could’ve been explored a little more, as their individual personalities weren’t touched on a lot and it was more how they functioned/acted with Marion.

Some of those mental images…eugh they’ll stay with me for a while. I went into this expecting (and really only knowing about) toxic, sexually-charged sapphic madness—which, okay, we certainly got—but then came out more throughly disturbed with a book than I’ve been in a while?! Kudos to Alexis Henderson! The horror was horror-ing.


Overall, definitely some of the goriest and most lush gothic writing I’ve read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Confinement, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Toxic relationship

Minor: Incest

giulianalb99's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Ehm… ¿qué acabo de leer? 
La verdad es que el libro como tal no está mal y la pluma de la autora es espectacular pero me ha dejado un poco sin más.

Tenía unas expectativas medias tirando a altas porque la sinopsis me pareció bastante buena, pero ha acabado siendo otro libro que seguramente acabe olvidando desgraciadamente. La idea principal que es básicamente cómo la nobleza se aprovecha de los más débiles bebiendo literalmente su sangre es genial pero, durante todo el libro, no pasa absolutamente nada salvo el proceso que va tomando la relación bastante tóxica entre la protagonista y Lisavet. Estaba en el 70% y todavía no pasaba nada hasta que en los últimos capítulos BOOM, y después me he quedado en plan “¿ya está?”. Leer tantas páginas de puro aburrimiento (que repito, la autora escribe súper bien) y relleno para llegar al final y que se resuelva todo tan rápido no me ha convencido del todo.
Lo que sí me ha gustado es cómo la autora ha plasmado (de manera digámoslo extraña) cómo los ricos obtienen y hacen lo que quieren mientras se aprovechan de los que no tienen tanto para vivir, así como las cosas tan raras que pueden llegar a hacer pagando infinitas sumas de dinero.

¿Recomendaría este libro? Sí, pero no creo que sea para todo el mundo ya que contiene sangre, tortura, horror, es bastante gore, abuso de sustancias tóxicas, relación tóxica, canibalismo, muerte, y un largo etcétera. Recomiendo leáis los trigger warnings antes de empezar el libro.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Animal death, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Murder, Terminal illness, Addiction, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Blood, Bullying, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Torture, and Violence

flameoflareon's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.5

The book had an interesting premise but leaned so far away from the vampire genre that it was confusing (in my opinion, why bother? They're already drinking blood, just call them vampires). I found it predictable <spoiler >The supernatural elements were treated as a big end reveal.. And the start was slow. Despite this, the ending picked up the pace and maintained tension.
To me, the book's most damning fault is that the main characters lack chemistry. They are supposed to be desperately in love, but I just wasn't sold.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Toxic relationship, and Torture

Moderate: Incest, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Minor: Rape and Animal death

Needles.

phantasmaboo's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

House of Hunger is a horror/mystery book that tells the story of Marion, a young woman who has grown up in the slums of a large city and later accepts a position as a Blood maiden to Lisavet (a noblewoman). Marion quickly captures Lisavet's attention, but also notices that not all is right with this supposed contract. 

I thought the plot of this book was okay. The horror elements were much stronger than the mystery elements. Outside of the final 20% of the book, there really isn't too much investigating. The mystery is also quite easy to decipher and completely predictable. Still, there isn't a dull moment in this book, but without feeling overly action-packed. 

Character-wise, I loved Marion and Lisavet, but with that they and the other characters were a bit more developed. With five to 6 Bloodmaidens, the servants, and the two principle characters, there seemed to be little time to really delve into everyone with the same depth. Still, I found it sufficient to provide an entertaining and tense story. In particular, I thought that the bonds between Lisavet and Marion should have been explored more although there was enough there for me to extrapolate more about their relationships and their motives. 

Overall, I gave the book 3.5 stars. I think it's worth the read if you're into horror with a bit of mystery, but not the other way around. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Incest

Minor: Death of parent

m_lee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Vomit, Slavery, Torture, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Confinement, Drug use, Gore, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Classism, Abandonment, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Violence, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Grief, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Chronic illness, Cursing, Incest, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Pedophilia