Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Ruins by Scott Smith

26 reviews

princessmeg's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I've seen the movie version multiple times and it always gives me the creeps. The slithering vines with minds of their own. The terror of being stuck with no way out. The characters were not as complex as I wanted them to be. I wanted them to interact more than they did, to have the relationships between them all be a bigger part of the story. But they felt bland. Jeff was kind of a jerk and I didn't root for him.  The focus on sexual gratification for a male character as a means of "comfort" for a female character was warped and I did not like it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, and Blood

redbee9's review

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Blood, Death, Alcohol, Gore, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

tgaddie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-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? No

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Medical content, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Cannibalism

feainnewedd's review

dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

I usually end up liking the books that my favorite author Stephen King praises, but not this one. I felt that it dragged on for too long; might have worked better as a short story or a novella.

Spoiler

Also, I can't get over how there were no signs or sentry posts or something warning people not to go near the vine-covered hill since at least one entire village and one driver knows exactly how dangerous it is. I've seen reviews saying the Mayan villagers don't care, but that doesn't seem to be true given how much they attempted to stop Jeff's group from going up the hill.

I simply don't understand. It's clearly inconvenient and disruptive for the Mayans because when strangers unknowingly decide to climb to their deaths, the Mayans have to mobilize a lot of their fellow villagers to surround the base of the hill and stand guard 24 hours a day for at least a few days to make sure no one escapes. Surely they're not having fun doing that?

Another thing — did nobody really think of trying to set fire to the vines and seeing what happens? Jeff saw how the tendrils retreated from the flames of his makeshift torch when he and Amy were looking for the "cellphone" down the shaft, so I find it odd that it didn't cross his mind again.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Toxic friendship and Toxic relationship

ptaylor's review

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content

xeslaro's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Vomit, Body horror, and Gore

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Cannibalism and Excrement

thetinybookworm's review

adventurous challenging dark sad 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

5.0

Genuinely found this book to be horrific (quite a bit of body horror). It was also written in an interesting way as there are no chapters or sections of the book. 

While reading it, it made me feel like I was there in the jungle with the characters, experiencing the intense humidity, the dread that something is not quite right, the subtle oppressiveness of the

Spoiler

vines. We are never told what exactly the vines are or how they came to be but suffice to say, I've never been more afraid of plants than I am after reading this book 😂

Giving this a 5 ⭐ not because I found it enjoyable and would like to read it again, but because the horror is palpable.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Self harm, and Violence

Minor: Cannibalism

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense 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

3.0

Horror Summer Camp Book Club / June Pick

The Details:
Narrated by Patrick Wilson
Unabridged 

I really wanted to take part in this group read so for the first time, I purchased more credits!

This was a fun read. Once we got into the meat of the horror, it had me in mind of the Day of the Triffids. I think I'd be interested in reading more plant based horror.

The body horror was quite grim (in a good way), but I didn't find that it made my stomach turn or had me feeling nauseated.

There were no distinct chapters, which made it hard to pause but helped to amplify the blurred lines of time as terror set in for the characters.

The characters themselves weren't very likeable but felt believable for the most part, though some feeling more 2D (or more caricatures of a person) than others. I think my favourites were Matthias and Pablo.

I don't think this will be a strong story that would be very memorable long term, for me, but it was fun for whilst I was listening, I'd recommend it to others and I'd be interested in giving the movie adaptation a go.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Torture, Death, Violence, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Gore, Gaslighting, Excrement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Confinement, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Suicide, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Grief, Cannibalism, Body horror, and Abandonment

Minor: Cannibalism

mblanke's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Body horror, and Gore

Minor: Cannibalism, Toxic relationship, and Grief

bccorrea's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

1.0

Do you like being stressed out about lost in a jungle kind of book? Oh boy do we have the book for you. The book is actually well written. But there are a lot of weird parts that made me go well I can't wait to be rid of it. I hated as a Latina reading about descriptions of Mexico from a WASP perspective. Parts of the text made me feel hated and gross. Take that as you can. The horror is there, but there is also a certain amount of inevitable predictability. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Car accident, Classism, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Sexism, Self harm, Suicide, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Excrement, Death, Cursing, Blood, Toxic friendship, Torture, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts