Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes

22 reviews

ekcd_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

2.75

The one line reviews make it seem like it’s going to be this gritty juicy horror book, but aside from very detailed gore and body horror / injury descriptions the plot wasn’t actually scary. I think the author tried to make it a psychological thriller but made the MC so uniquely and extravagantly insane that you could see right through to the end. The world building was meh, the prose wasn’t distracting. It’s like a less vibrant version of a fan fiction mash up of 2001, Firefly and Levithan Wakes. It did them all a disservice. That’s said, not my worst read this year 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

han_pear's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I absolutely LOVED this book, I was hooked from the first chapter and I was telling everyone I knew about it, I even told a customer at work about (I work at a doggie daycare lol). The story is interesting and I think the direction the author went in was interesting regarding Claire. I LOVED the twist. In all honesty I put this book down for a bit because of life and work, but the twist sucked me right back in and held on tight until I was done. I was a bit disappointed the book ended where it did, and honestly I would devour an entire book about the Aurora’s voyage, the ship is so fascinating. HUGE RECOMMEND!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcohol

sonygaystation's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal death, Drug use, and Alcohol

cait's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

50shadesofrae's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

I wanted to like this book. I love horror, love sci-fi, love mystery. 
I loved the atmosphere, and the descriptions of the cruise ship were cinematic and beautifully horrifying. 
But the main character well and truly sucked. Brutal case of telling not showing all of her issues, and none of her relationships with other characters felt real or earned.

Killer setting and concept, unbearable protagonist. I only stuck it out for the murder mystery. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Medical content, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Pandemic/Epidemic

singalana's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.75

Titanic meets Event Horizon in this atmospheric space horror. 

A crew working on the edges of the known space picks up a distress signal from a luxury space liner Aurora that disappeared 20 years ago. They can't pass the opportunity to lay claim on the ship. When they board the Aurora, they soon discover that something is very wrong. 

We follow Claire Kovalik, a team leader of a five member beacon-repair crew. Even though the characters have their own personalities, I still feel that they need a little bit of work. Even though Claire is the main character, she seems to be keeping the reader at arm's length, and it's hard to feel connected to her somehow. Claire is a deeply traumatised person and that can be a bit overwhelming sometimes. Also there was a slight romance subplot that didn't really add to the story. 

Spoilers! 

The main strength of this book is definitely the imaginative, atmospheric horror elements. The first ⅔ of this book builds uneasiness and the horror elements nicely. However, the last ⅓, though still intense and pretty horrible, somehow ends up feeling almost like a Scooby Doo villain reveal. The style seemed a bit different, almost like I was reading a thriller instead of a horror story. I know it's difficult to come up with a satisfying ending to a story such as this, but still somehow I feel like the ending was a bit lacking. And in my opinion, the epilogue was a bit unnecessary, I could have done without it.

Still, good horror that makes the reader uneasy is hard to find. The author certainly manages to set up the scene and keep the reader guessing what horrors lie ahead. Despite the shortcomings, I would still recommend giving this book a go. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicide, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Confinement, Medical content, Abandonment, and Alcohol

cosmicpanda's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content and Suicide attempt

babyfacedoldsoul's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.0

This book wasn't for me and that's okay. I highly recommend checking out the content warnings before embarking on this book as it has the potential to be triggers ahoy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

brookey8888's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Omg I really loved this. It was spooky and creepy, but I also feel in love with the characters and felt for them. It made me emotional at one point. Also there’s a bit of a romance and I ate it up, I loved it. This was such an interesting concept and so creepy and intriguing. I didn’t read the comparison and as I was reading I was like it’s like Titanic but in space and everyone losing it. I enjoyed reading this so much that I wanted to read it but I didn’t want it to end and I didn’t want anything to happen to the characters so I would post pone reading it. I’m so happy I read this and loved it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

haleybre's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail